This unattributed interview with Mike Hynson ran in the June 1969 issue of Petersen's Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited

First of all, Mike, could you give us some general information about yourself, and your life as a surfer today? 

My primary interest in life is surfing. That is, surfing, designing and shaping surfboards; all aspects of it. This also includes the spiritual aspect. I am searching for new ideas and new directions in design and style, while at the same time searching within myself through the studies of astrology, numerology, the practice of yoga, and the Urantia Book, for ways to give my life totality; to bring the physical pursuit of surfing into absolute harmony with my spiritual being through participating in Krishna consciousness—by viewing life through mystic concepts and developing the psychic centers so that the senses are purified to further the realization of Krishna.

During your 26 years, you’ve managed to spend quite a lot of time in Hawaii, haven’t you?

Yes. During the first nine years of my life, I lived and went to school in Hawaii; but I returned to California before I began surfing. Yet I’ve returned a thousand times to meet the surf there. The waves draw me back, but so do the people, and the memories of my childhood. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon at one point in my life to fly over on the weekends just to surf for a couple of days. 

What about now? Are you still on the move, or are you staying pretty much in California?

There is no danger of me ever taking root here, or anywhere, but I am not traveling as much right now as I have in the past. As I said before, my present emphasis is on spiritual exploration within, instead of the physical odyssey I have been on. My present status is working out the illusions of artificial status, and purifying my status with God. In God's eyes, my present status is seeking to know Him better, and worshiping Him more completely.

A few years back you were working for Gordon and Smith Surfboards. You were a top shaper, noted primarily for the "red-fin" model board. You were a progressive leader in surfing, and an innovator in surfboard designs. Why did you leave that scene?

The red-fin era is a legend; it should stay that way. The only thing I can say about it is that the surfer at that time helped build the red fin by participating in it. I was the surfer’s medium of relating the designs to the the surfer’s desires. That hasn’t changed. I am still surfing, shaping, designing—still part of a progressive, innovating revolution in surfing, and I’m still my own man, as I have always been, creating my own destiny. That is why I left [Gordon and Smith]. I felt that I had to leave because the place was becoming stagnant, or at least making me stagnant by its size and big-production schedules. I had to leave in order to fulfill my desire for more understanding, and my need for freedom of creative expression. So I split for Hawaii on an eight-month experimental trip—which turned out to be very successful. 

So you stayed in Hawaii and shaped non-commercial boards, became known as a free soul, lived and believed it. Then you quit that and went to work for Hobie. But that was a short-lived program, wasn’t it? Why did you let the Hobie deal end so suddenly

I left Hawaii because the winter surf stops in April for four months, and it was time for a change. I decided a new job was needed at Hobie—got the job—then let it go for personal reasons. I left the job at Hobie for someone else to be burdened with.

What is your plan now? Where are you in the surfing picture?

Right now I’m designing for Bahne, Olympic Surfboards, and Fins Unlimited. I am making a movie called 

, which should be put in action sometime in 1970. Nothing else except surfing, surfing, surfing—until I can’t do it anymore. I continue loving the life I live and living the life I love. 

[Note: Cosmic Wave ended up being Rainbow Bridge, and was released in 1971] 

How does surfing look to you at present? Board-design, and the technical progression of the sport. 

How does surfing look to me today? It looks just like it did the day I started: untouched, pure, free, beautiful, and a thousand opportunities. As for the board design, I think it will eventually refine itself to become a better product for the consumer. Surfing as a sport can only be determined by an objective-rules contest where the surfer displays all his abilities against pre-set criteria. The technical progression is maintaining itself as well. Everything will eventually get better: new materials, better production techniques, professionalism, wave machines, artificial reefs, international meets, and then broadening the scope of creativity into movies and books.

How will you fit into surfing now and in the future?

I’m not a round peg trying to squeeze into a square hole. I don’t have to "fit," I'm just there. The future is what I make it. I am planed out on a continuum until surfing becomes something other than it really is—a free, pure, joyous, and blissful experience.

Do you ever plan to retreat, the way Phil Edwards did?

First, Phil Edwards hasn't faded. He just carried his concept of surfing into another realm, into another type of wave-riding vehicle, boats, and he's sailing waves so big that no surfer would think of riding them. Phil is completely his own master, as he has always been. Someday I hope to hear that Phil Edwards is the greatest sailor the world has seen. I know he can do that, if he hasn’t already.

But I may retreat, yes. Fade left into the hook at Sunset and never come out—that’s one way. Or I may fade into a life of complete devotion to the worship of God in a temple. I can’t tell when, until the material world brings distress and misery into my life. 

Who are the surfers, in your opinion, who are presently doing the best job?

Gerry Lopez, Reno Abellira, Mike Kunnis, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Jock Sutherland, Jeff Hakman, David Nuuhiwa, Nat Young, Joey Cabell, Mike Doyle, Rusty Miller, Skip Frye, Bob McTavish, Russell Hughes, Midget Farrelly, and Gary Chapman.

That’s quite a list. Who, besides other surfers, do you admire in this world?

Actually, I don’t admire anyone in the material world, other surfers and me included, because we are all living the life of material illusion—of ourselves and everyone else. The "great" men of today are either killing everyone, or worshiping the almighty dollar.

Could you elaborate a bit on how these more spiritual pursuits can have a direct effect on surfing?

Yes. Yoga, for instance. Surfing can relate to yoga if properly practiced and put together. A yogi can, through control of his physical being and the concentration of his thought, find within himself the mystery of God’s realization. Now a surfer, through the same types of control and concentration, can go beyond, through, within, and above the wave, become a part of the sea, and through that, of another aspect of God. As the yogi does, the surfer can attune all his senses to the profound concentration on God. The only drawback is that the surfer cannot escape his attachment to the wave completely, and through the wave, his attachment to shore, and to the material world. 

You have to eat too. That is a kind of necessary attachment to the material world. How do you resolve a mundane pursuit like eating to spiritual attainments?

What you eat becomes important. Food is the energy material which we exist on. I feel that health foods, like organically grown fruits and vegetables, are very important because a surfer needs vitality and strength to perform. Dead food is dead energy; just dead weight. Live food is live energy, and it is of concern to a surfer to have a pure, healthy diet. Personally, I am evolving into a vegetarian.

Is surfing a spiritual experience for you?

Yes. Surfing to me is relating the physical, mental, and spiritual identity of human form to the dominating energy of the ocean; seeing the ocean as an example of God’s power and beauty and, through this, realizing that He is all-powerful and beautiful. The surfer can realize his identity with God in riding the cosmic waves. God teaches us that life is made for joy, bliss, happiness, and the pleasure of knowing him. I am totally enjoying myself playing in His musical bath of cosmic energy and totally absorbed in His divine creation. The thing that everyone is talking about, that draws them to the ocean as if it were a magnet—this is the divine force of God drawing the soul of the human to the ocean for a delightful, blissful, joyous experience. So when I go surfing, I am going to God because it is freedom, pure bliss, and super fun. When I am free, happy, joyful, God is also free, happy and joyful, because He takes pleasure in me taking pleasure in Him.

[Photos: Brad Barrett, Ron Stoner, Jeff Divine, Lee Peterson]

Mike Hynson (1969)

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