Pelican Parts Forums - My Own Surfing Thread!

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Has anyone been to N-Land in Austin Tx ?

Is it worth going for the heck of it?

Thanks

Thanks for the photo, Baz. From that group, Paul Strauch was my favorite to watch .. a true stylist. The first real "floater" I ever saw was Strauch @ Canoes, and amazingly, he could surf goofy with the same ability as regular stance. It's a pity we don't have more footage of him in 6-8' surf, where he really performed ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mtx6diOaKw

Geary....you're welcome. Thanks for your commentary which I always enjoy very much!

Right now I'm reading MR's autobiography. It's been out for a while but trying to get more reading in, especially what I consider inspirational works. Very interesting stuff that you'd never know about unless you had his book. For one, his parents always attended his contests. He was very close to them - their only son. They shunned publicity and always chose an out of the way spot to view the contest. More on that in a future post.

Re-organizing stuff in my back room and thought some would get a kick out of these surf movies all in VHS I have collected through the years. I also have the Bruce Brown series in VHS and a whole lot of DVD flicks. That "Free Ride" is a very rare item, BTW. One of my fav. surf movies....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526768926.JPG

Just remembered also from the book - MR was let go from Lightning Bolt right after he won his fourth in a row world championship and ddn't understand until later he found out the whole organisation was in financial trouble and ended up closing shop so all employees were out of work too. Apparently Bolt Australia was a separate entity and they stepped up and kept MR on.

https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...41&oe=5B974087

Took a couple minutes out while doing my re-organizing to browse a couple mags from my massive collection yesterday. SW was my fav. surf mag because it featured mostly Australian surfing but they also had the best ads and fewer of them plus the editing was more tastefully done than both Surfer and Surfing Magazine.

From a 1982 issue.....some very exciting times in pro surfing and Gary Elkerton aka "Kong" exemplified all that was Aussie surfing.

I loved the centerfold shot of Kong cranking off the bottom at Burleigh Heads!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526908303.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526908303.JPG

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526908303.JPG

My friend JL just posted this pic on FB...one of his airbrushes.....it's a Redfish for those who didn't know.....pretty cool....

https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...52&oe=5B7D8A20

Speaking of JL...here's a couple pics I took of him from back in '75. We were best buds and surfed every day there were waves.....

This was the year everyone was riding Natural Arts....;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526928947.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526928947.jpg

Couple fuzzy old pics of me at our inlet.....single fins '79-'81?...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526929037.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526929037.jpg

Present day JL in the water teaching...coaching.....mentor......I'm so proud of my old friend....

https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...eb&oe=5B7A226E

There were 3 major milestones in my 60+ years of surfing: Foam boards, the short board revolution, and tow-in surfing. There were of course many smaller milestones, but those were the major ones for me.

The first surf book I had (just before foam boards made the scene) was Surfriding by OB Patterson. This was a few years before Surfer Magazine, so quite an influential book in its day. Here are some of the better photos from the book (I couldn't scan without destroying the binding, so I just took photos):

The "modern" balsa surfboard design:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

Waikiki on a "First Break" day (which while common during summers in '50s & '60s, is quite rare today):
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

Ala Moana break was the closest we had to a glassy California type wave:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

Young Fred Hemmings @ Ala Mo:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

The most popular big wave break was Makaha .. Here's a medium-size "Point Break" day:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

To the left of the above photo of Point Makaha is "The Bowl" .. the end section of Makaha's wave. Making it from the Point all the way through the Bowl section was a big deal .. at least in those days. Usually, you either surfed the point and proned out, or you took off at the Bowl. My worst wipe-out ever was at Makaha Bowl (I remember it like yesterday).
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

Rabbit Kekai was one of the young, handsome Beach Boys in Waikiki, and a wonderful mentor to us young kids. In his prime, it seemed as though he scored a new lovely co-ed every day. Rabbit at small Makaha:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1526934932.JPG

Thanks, Geary....those are some really great photos and that's great you have that book and appreciate it so much. I love books about surfing.

That wave at Makaha looks very powerful! No wonder you remember that gnarly wipeout!

Rabbit looks so young in that last pic...wow!

Very cool, Peter. One of my snowboarding buddies has the same lower leg replacement (ripped it off racing motorcycles). I can't keep up with him ..

Just saw this clip of Bethany yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8BJhTkv4LA

No, Bethany's footage is at Kelly Slater's wave pool.

I looked up N-land and wasn't that impressed .. a rather tiny wave @ $80 per hour (gag) .. and they don't share many wave photos on their website. However, there appears to be another wave pool in Texas that looks amazing ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t13Ftce68QY

Friend of mine at our inlet a week or so ago. He's a year younger than me so about 62.

Has always maintained a very smooth yet powerful style.

https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...84&oe=5B7F3078

Received a new slide viewer in the mail the other day and today took a few minutes to dive into some old slides I had stored away. Been well over 20 years since I looked at any of these.

I was surprised that I even had some of these......didn't remember having them but grateful because of the heritage they represent....if that's the right word (?)

I will be posted some on my FB account - there's still a huge circle of the old guard here who will appreciate and enjoy seeing some of these.

I owned several fishes including a David Nuuhiwa which would be a nice collector item today. Couple pics of me (wearing the glasses) with my friends Matt and John along with their fishes which were crafted by local board makers.

'72-'73 maybe......looks like Sunglow Pier in DB Shores.....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1527966280.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1527966280.JPG