Surfing Waves

Just saw New that Bruce Brown has died.
An iconic Surf Film maker who ignited the search for endlessly new surf spots with the the Epic The Endless Summer,
He certainly effected me with the travel bug.
Thank you Bruce Brown

I randomnly saw Endless Summer on TV one summer holidays when at school, when I didnt surf, didnt live on the coast and was much more into fishing. But I think it must have stuck with me, a little grain of sand in my brain, because not surfing always niggled at me until the sand grew into the pearl of actually doing it. If that metaphor hasnt been stretched a bit too much

Its still a great film, probably both reflected but also created a lot of the surfing mythos that is still around

I think Endless Summer was the first real surf movie that I saw in a regular theater. Now I have a DVD of it and can watch when the mood suits me.

The Cape St. Francis Clip.

"When you go looking for surf, you don't look for a really big wave...What every surfer dreams of finding is a small wave with perfect shape. What we call a perfect wave. "

Great clip from a great movie but I hear that Cape Saint Frances is rarely good to surf and they way overstated how good it usually is.

Cape St Francis then had no development on the unconsolidated fore dunes, offshore winds fed sand onto the the breaks cobble underpinning, and made the taper which groomed the break.

Housing development stabilised the dunes which meant replenishment of the grooming sand was no longer continuous, nor was the wave.
It was as good as was shown, maybe not as often as artistic licence would allow but there none the less!

Sometimes I wish I want to live in that era where the breaks our so empty and it feels like life is so much simpler back then.

BaNZ wrote:Sometimes I wish I want to live in that era where the breaks our so empty and it feels like life is so much simpler back then.

Yeah, but no women in the lineup. I think modern day egalitarianism has made the sport so much more enjoyable. The old, hyper-masculine days were actually not that fun--more like apartheid.

RinkyDink wrote:

BaNZ wrote:Sometimes I wish I want to live in that era where the breaks our so empty and it feels like life is so much simpler back then.

Yeah, but no women in the lineup. I think modern day egalitarianism has made the sport so much more enjoyable. The old, hyper-masculine days were actually not that fun--more like apartheid.

Alway there have been women in the line up the heavier boards cut down the number. Agree there was a certain maleness about the early 60s in Australia but the first woman to surf in Australia surfed in 1914
Surf bathing during daylight hours was only begun in 1903 two years after Australia became a nation in its own right.

Go back to the shores of California and see that women were featured very early, Calhoun sisters, Joyce Hoffmann, Gidget ( Kathy Kohner) there were women surfing on redwood planks before the fifties.
Consider Hawaii, there is a continuum of women right back to Hawaiian

Surf was actually where women were judged by their ability at many surf spots if they could handle it they were a welcome addition to the line up.

Apartheid hardly , the land borne attitudes were more chauvinistic, and the hyper- male was a later attitude against all comers.

Movies I agree , featured mainly men, and was based on that chauvinism, women surfers were seen as cute or bikini features.
There were still plenty who could match or better a lot of male surfers.
End of reply rant of surfing history

BaNZ wrote:Sometimes I wish I want to live in that era where the breaks our so empty and it feels like life is so much simpler back then.

Yeah. As they told us in the movie, "There are no waves in Tahiti!"

The way I used to judge a surfer was based on what they can do compared to "da braddas" or the group of guys I surfed with. It was rare to see women better then that group but Margo Oberg would surf the same break sometimes. There was a woman/girl who used to surf as well as da braddas named Laola and she was absolutely beautiful as well. I think she gets more recognition for her surfing than the braddahs do because she was the unusual one a girl who surfed as good as the boys. The only males who got any more notice were the ones who entered contests and won. Laola objects to getting recognition because she knows she wasn't as good as Margo Oberg. Now I judge surfers compared to me ......between a total beginner and me or the same as me or between me and the pros. There aren't that many female surfers still where I surf but then there aren't many male surfers too

jaffa1949 wrote:

RinkyDink wrote:

BaNZ wrote:Sometimes I wish I want to live in that era where the breaks our so empty and it feels like life is so much simpler back then.

Yeah, but no women in the lineup. I think modern day egalitarianism has made the sport so much more enjoyable. The old, hyper-masculine days were actually not that fun--more like apartheid.

Alway there have been women in the line up the heavier boards cut down the number. Agree there was a certain maleness about the early 60s in Australia but the first woman to surf in Australia surfed in 1914
Surf bathing during daylight hours was only begun in 1903 two years after Australia became a nation in its own right.

Go back to the shores of California and see that women were featured very early, Calhoun sisters, Joyce Hoffmann, Gidget ( Kathy Kohner) there were women surfing on redwood planks before the fifties.
Consider Hawaii, there is a continuum of women right back to Hawaiian

Surf was actually where women were judged by their ability at many surf spots if they could handle it they were a welcome addition to the line up.

Apartheid hardly , the land borne attitudes were more chauvinistic, and the hyper- male was a later attitude against all comers.

Movies I agree , featured mainly men, and was based on that chauvinism, women surfers were seen as cute or bikini features.
There were still plenty who could match or better a lot of male surfers.
End of reply rant of surfing history

Yeah, you're right. There have always been women in surfing. I'm glad to see them in the lineup in greater numbers.

Me too, I’m also glad, to me even more women in the forum too, makes our world a better place.

Godspeed, Bruce!

Jaffa, thank you for sharing this sad news.