Sea Notes
Pool surfing
Jay Adams, David Hackett and Christian Hosoi, three of skateboarding’s top legends, were in my backyard a few months ago. Initially the skaters had gathered to talk about the Hosoi biography that I was co-writing. Priorities quickly shifted, however, when they noticed that I had a swimming pool in my backyard. I think it was [...]
Looking back on fallen friends
I first met Pat Flecky at a house I shared in Encinitas with him and Texas transplant turned Sunset Superman, Ken Bradshaw. Flecky and I became close right away, building surfboards in our garage while our roommates gagged on the fumes and, eventually made us quit spattering resin everywhere. Once the resin had dried, it [...]
An Evening in the Haunted Museum
The idea of a surf museum had never really occurred to me when my friend Jane Schamauss started collecting classic surfboards and other surf memorabilia nearly 20 years ago at George’s, the restaurant she owned in Encinitas. Once a week I’d sit down for eggs and toast and look around to see a classic surfboard [...]
Typos are more bane than boon
I’ve been aware of him as a craftsman and designer for half a century. I’ve known him personally for more than 40 years, ridden some of the boards he shaped, rode his skateboards and used his fins and fin boxes for decades. So, how is it that I misspelled Bill Bahne’s name in print recently? [...]
Shifting sands and changing tides bring unstable bluffs
I don’t remember when I first became aware that the beach was not a stable place.
‘A Paradigm Shift’ hits La Paloma
I’ve known Steve Cleveland for so long now that I’m not even sure where I first met him.
‘Bird’ house is place for surf wonders
It’s just occurred to me that I don’t know Bird Huffman’s real first name. I have no idea what his parents called him, but I’ve always known him as “Bird” and that’s what everyone I know has called him for more than 30 years now.I first met him either at Windansea through some of the [...]
Rediscovering kneeboarder George Greenough
I had been surfing for a while in the mid-60s when Bruce Brown’s classic surf movie, “The Endless Summer” premiered. The entire movie was such a revelation for a land-locked gremmie that I barely noticed the kneeboarder flying across the screen. The wave peeled at Santa Barbara’s Sand Spit as the rider flew off into [...]