Surf spoken here
Nothing, in my experience, can replace the feeling of riding a wave. Nothing! Billabong had it right with their tagline: “Only a surfer knows the...
Chris Ahrens
Selling the last secret spot
Surfers guard directions to secret surf spots like pirates guard treasure maps. Or, they used to. Until recently, surfers were bound by an unwritten code...
A lifetime of surf stories
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...
UCSD, the Green Marines and surfing for a cure
It’s been 33 years since I first sat around a table with Rusty Preisendorfer, Debbie Beacham, Ignacio Felix, Fred Borelli, Sam Armstrong and John Otterson...
Ancient Hawaiian surfcraft in Oceanside
It’s been over 40 years since the late, great Donald Takayama requested I announce the 2nd annual Oceanside Longboard Surfing Club Contest and Beach Festival....
Joey Cabell and the pig that changed surfing
From the mid-1950s clear through to the mid-1980s, Hawaiian-born surfer Joey Cabell was revered as one of the best surfer/watermen in the world. His competitive...
Check out ‘Pinch’ pod
I like history, but am too lazy to dig through 20-volume sets on the fall of the Roman Empire to get to the juicy bits....
‘Good Things Love Water’: When surfing had a soul
Maybe it’s just me, a 40-year, post-prime, stay-at-home surfer who used to be an okay rider. Maybe, but I don’t really think so. Once surfing...
Surf documentary ‘Changes 2’ explores faith, purpose
“From the creation of the world the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made.” — Romans 1:20...
Working for a living
I was walking through one of those discount department stores when I noticed that William Finnegan’s book, “Barbarian Days,” was on sale. A crowd had...
Pure Hank: Farewell to a shaping legend
“Surfing lost a legend in Hank Byzak.” — Joel Tudor, three-time Longboard World Surfing Champion In the mid-1970s, there was a surf shop standing where...
Two kids on the block
I can still recall the summer day when I met the gremmie. He had spiky hair and was tanned, fit, talkative and very funny. He...
Honoring the fallen and the standing
There’s a joke about a rich man who dies and goes to heaven, only to find that his celestial home is made of inferior materials...
In the shadow of the pier
By the summer of 1962, I spent most weekends hitchhiking from Montebello to Huntington Beach Pier with my best friend, Chicky. As often as not,...
The long goodbye
I don’t know when I first realized I had more dead friends than living ones. That hurts, you know. If you don’t know, you will....