Remembering Mike Hynson
I don’t remember the exact photo, but I first became aware of Mike Hynson in Surfer Magazine circa 1962. It was either in a small...
Waterspot
That ’70s crew
I’m not sure when I first met surfboard shaper Tim Bessell, but he was not yet old enough to drive. His family, who had moved...
Where summer never ends
I don’t remember when I first heard the name Mike Hynson. It was probably a caption in Surfer Magazine, which in the ’60s was a...
Fond memories of San Onofre
I had been surfing for about a year when my sister’s boyfriend, Larry, offered to take me to San Onofre. San Onofre was open only...
Surfing on Christmas
When I was a gremmie, in the early 1960s, most people near the coast came from functional and traditional families. Christmas day was generally split...
Windansea’s guiding star
It was in the early 1980s when I first met Ozstar De Jourday. He was and still is a nuggety, determined goofy foot, capable of...
Wetsuit season
Anyone born in this century is tired of hearing how rough previous generations had it. In my youth the stories were about walking 5 miles...
Windansea is in the eye of the beholder
My writing of a book about Windansea began in the summer of 1980 when I sat with Windansea local and one of the world’s top...
Surfing never gets old
Watching the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight the other night caused me to reflect on the plight of the aging sportsman. Here was a YouTube sensation,...
Can surfing be taught?
“Nobody teaches anyone to surf. It’s like learning to ride a bike. Somebody gives you a push and then watches as you crash into a...
Be a rebel
In the beginning, when I was 14 years old, I embraced surfing, not because it was healthy, or even fun, but because it was a...
Meet the Ropers
You may know Joe Roper as a San Diego surfing legend, but I first heard of him when he was a skateboarding for Gordon &...
The Bob McTavish revolution
I spent last Saturday looking for Bob McTavish, the man who ignited the spark that became a wildfire called the Shortboard Revolution in 1967. McTavish,...
Surfing: The ultimate exercise?
Many of us believe that surfing lives up to the title of Leonard Lueras’ brilliant book, “Surfing: The Ultimate Pleasure.” While others may not regard...
Surf class is in session
I began teaching surf P.E. at the Grauer School more than 30 years ago. Surf P.E., what a concept. Most of us coast dwellers are...