Waterspot: Surfing’s little brother? Skateboarding
When I began surfing and skateboarding in 1962 the two sports were so closely linked skateboarding was called “sidewalk surfing.” Those who grew up at...
Chris Ahrens
Waterspot: Surf heroes
The term surf hero is thrown around casually, and tends to include anyone who rides waves better than the majority of us. But surfing is...
The ultimate surf vehicle is coming
In the 1960s, termite-rotted, oil-spewing, 20-miles-to-a-gallon (of oil) Woodies, or rust-and-duct tape Ford panel trucks were the surfer’s vehicle of choice. By the 1970s, the...
Colors of the coastline
Surfing and art have been linked in my mind ever since Rick Griffin’s “Murphy” cartoon entered my eyes via Surfer Magazine in the early ‘60s....
World Surfing Champion Tom Curren shares invisible waves
It’s rare that your favorite things come together in one place, but on June 6 I was immersed in a sea of friends, surfboards and...
Waterspot: Surfing forever!
I went to San Onofre once in the late ‘60s and was amazed to see senior citizens riding waves. We were young and arrogant and...
Waterspot: Relearning beach breaks
Having grown up surfing near Huntington and Newport, I was raised riding beach breaks. Those sand-bottom, unpredictable shifting peaks made the transition to the reefs...
Waterspot: Whatever happened to Dessa Kirk?
I’ve always been attracted to people who not only march to different drummers but also build their own drums, strike the tune as they go...
It’s all about ‘God and Gangsters’ for Cardiff’s Chris Ahrens
After earning a straight line of Fs in writing in the sixth grade, Chris Ahrens would never have guessed he’d grow up to be a...
Waterspot: Tougher than lumber
Jack “Woody” Ekstrom is an original, a surfer since the 1940s, a board builder and a big wave charger. The surfboard in the adjacent painting...
Waterspot: Sidewalk surfing
Grab your board and go sidewalk surfin’ with me. — Jan and Dean I’m not sure how The Beach Boys’ flop, “Catch a Wave” morphed...
Waterspot: Surf houses
I woke up this morning to the distant rumble of breaking waves and knew that the first winter swells had finally arrived. In the past...
Waterspot: The night Bruce Brown slept on our floor
Many of us who began surfing in the ‘60s can thank (or in some cases blame) Bruce Brown for how their lives played out. At...
Waterspot: We might just be hodads
I first heard the word “hodad” in 1962, the year I began surfing. A surfer had used that strange word to describe my friends and...
Waterspot: Surf Story II
As a surfer, I was exposed to surf stories from the first day I surfed in January of 1962. The first story came from my...