My first surf story was published in 1971 by the now-defunct local San Diego surf newspaper Waves. Named “Song of Doheny,” the 500-word tale concerned the destruction of the beautiful surf spot Dana Point in favor of the disaster known as Dana Point Harbor.
I was grateful for the $40 I was paid, and proud that I had achieved my lifetime ambition of being a writer. It would be another two years until I was published again, this time by the Australian surfing magazine Tracks. Later that year my byline appeared in Surfing World and Surfer magazines.
While I called myself a writer, I was really was not. I was a storyteller, a label I still prefer when referring to my occupation. Dickens, Faulkner and Chesterton are writers – flawless grammarians whose sentences sing and breathe. I ain’t no grammarian, and I sure ain’t no English major. If you’re looking for those in the surfing world, check out the brilliance of William Finnegan or Matt Warshaw.
My best stories come from living them, hearing them told firsthand, or eavesdropping on conversations held in various lineups or restaurants. My goal is to replicate the insightful language of everyday folk. To me, phrases like, “Go home, kook,” deliver a punch equal to the best lines of “The Sun Also Rises.” Hemingway was a literal hunter of defenseless animals and the deeds of brave men. I am a hunter of fool’s wisdom.
After 64 years of gathering intel from surfers riding waves from Rincon to Baja, Santa Cruz to Victoria Island, Oahu, Maui, Australia, and New Zealand, I have assembled 29 nuggets that fall to the bottom of the pan, to shine brilliantly after the dirt has been washed away.
These include firsthand accounts from Phil Edwards on his maiden voyage to Hawaii at age 15 where he is thrown off Sunset Beach’s deep; Paul Strauch choking with laughter as he tells of his friend Chubby Mitchell getting stuck in the car while hanging a BA; and Joel Tudor hardening his determination in the fire of the VW van that caught fire.
Greg Noll, Butch Van Artsdalen, Dale Velzy, Rabbit Kekai, Joey Cabell and Joe and JoJo Roper join a chorus of voices to make up “Good Things Love Water.”
One of the most humbling parts in making a coffee-table book is that people always compliment me on the photos, the layout and the paper choice. For that, I am thankful, even though none of this volume’s pretty look has anything to do with me.
The credit belongs to the legendary surf photographers who sometimes laid their lives on the line to get the shot: Dan Merkel, Jeff Divine, Warren Bolster, Leroy Grannis, John Witzig, Leo Hetzel, Richard Graham, Ron Stoner, Don James, Ted Grambeau, Jess Loiterton, Tommy Pierucki, Frank Quirarte, Mickey Munoz, Greg MacGillivray, Bud Browne, Nick Liotta, Grant Ellis, Steve Wilkings, Nathan Lawrence, Mark McInnis, Clarence Maki, Steve Brown, Guy Motil, Tim McKenna, Stuart Gibson, Chris Peel, Jeremiah Klein, Kirvan Baldassari, Alby Falzon and Art Brewer come under the baton of the conductor, aka book designer Michael Cassidy, and layout artist Mel Lyons.
I sincerely hope you admire the photos, the paper and the layout. But please read the words. It took most of my life to get them onto paper, and while they may not be laid down in exactly the right order, or with the commas in the right places, they cost me all the love, sweat, and joy that I have.
Excerpts from “Good Things Love Water” will be read publicly for the first time at the Cardiff Library at 2081 Newcastle Ave. in Cardiff on Thursday, Aug. 27, 4-6 p.m.
