Before I begin, let me get this out of my guts. Okay, I hate the world “log” in reference to surfboards over 10 feet. And, if it’s offensive to me, imagine how it hurts skilled artists like Josh Hall, Chris Christenson, John Kies and Skip Frye.
After pouring decades of knowledge into a blank, and having it finished by the best glass shops in the world, it’s given the same label as a rotten tree branch. Please, adopt a kinder, gentler term. Thank you.
In the early ’60s, we referred to surf craft over 10 feet simply as surfboards. Obviously, that’s because big boards were all we knew before we cut down masterpieces worthy of the Sistine Chapel. I guess I’m not one to speak. I may not have these board called logs, but I treated them with less respect than I would a bundle of firewood.
What I have termed the longboard renaissance began quietly when a handful of surfers who had ruled the ’60s came roaring back into the lineup. Notable among them were Donald Takayama, Herbie Fletcher, Ben Aipa, Nat Young, Mickey Munoz and Frye. Yesterday’s surf stars were not only back, but they were also ready to finish what they had started.
I’m not aware of any kids who rode longboards in the ’70s, but by the late ’80s, a handful of them were showing promise on them. From down south came Kevin “Magic Feet” Connelly, Phil Castagnola Jr., Ben Murphy, and Eric Sommers. Closer to home, Josh Baxter, Mitch Abshire, Devon Howard, Peter Johnson Jr., Travis Zylstra Jr. and Joel Tudor made a big splash.
While North County longboarders leaned toward the traditional side, the San Onofre crew was getting more involved with the lighter, more maneuverable tri-fins, primarily made by Bill Stewart and ridden by Stewart’s top test pilot, Jeff Kramer.
Since youth are generally ignorant of what brought them to the ground (wave in this case) they stand upon, it can be forgiven that many of them gravitated toward modern longboards. Just when it seemed traditional longboarding was about to be buried for the second time, the 14-year-old Tudor took up the banner and surfed his way to legendary status in much the same way his celluloid mentors, Young, Fletcher and David Nuuhiwa had done.
Without Tudor making the move toward the days of future past, I believe that today’s longboarders would all be blasting airs similar to those of their shortboarding relatives, rather than cross-stepping to the nose to stylishly hang ten.
While I have long been impressed by young Tudor’s surfing, I was far more impressed by the character he displayed as a youth. He couldn’t have been much older than 15 when he was competing in the U.S. Championships at San Onofre.
From what I observed that day, he was by far the top surfer in the final heat. The judges, most of whom were shortboarders and did not understand traditional longboarding, had Tudor in third behind surfers with a more vertical approach.
Once the results were announced, I heard a disappointed Tudor tell his mother, “I don’t care if I get last in every contest, I will not change my style.” Thank God, he never did.
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While I have never been bitten by a stingray, last week I was stung by one. And man, did it hurt! To avoid getting stung by a stingray, shuffle, don’t walk, over the sand. I had always considered stingrays a summer phenomenon. Apparently the one that whacked me didn’t know that.
