​Then there were the “Duke Invitational” events held in Hawaii beginning in the mid 60’s.  The top 24 surfers in the world were invited to compete and for the first time were flown to Hawaii and taken care of with hotel and food etc.  We always got to say hi and all that, had our photos taken with him a bunch of times.  I was fortunate to get invited to the first seven “Duke meets,” and consider those to be at the top of the highlights of my competitive surfing years.
 
There were dinners at “Dukes” in Waikiki where he would be there and Don Ho would do a show.  They gave all of the competitors these beautiful gold trophies that looked like “Oscars.”  It was Duke standing in front of board, an image that became very famous and is now many statues around the world.  Duke would hand them out to all of us and always thanked us by name when he gave us our “Duke.”  It was like “Thank you so much for coming over Corky, aloha.”  I always felt like he meant it.  
 
My best personal memory of Duke comes from one day I was invited to ride out to the North Shore with him, Paul Strauch and Freddy Hemmings in Dukes personal Rolls Royce.  I think Freddy drove.  Amazing just what a tranquil and sweet person he was out of the limelight.  You got the feeling that he really cared about you when he talked to you, wasn’t just thinking of himself or trying to be impressive.  Really an easy guy to like.  They loved him so much in Hawaii that no matter where he went for a meal it was always “on the house.”  Cool side benefit of hanging out with Duke was it always meant free lunch.  
 
“American Masters: Waterman – Duke – Ambassador of Aloha” premiers May 10 at 9 PM eastern time on PBS.  The documentary has narration by Jason Momoa and features comments from some of todays surfing greats such as Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton and Kai Lenny.  It is a great film and should be required viewing by every serious surfer under the age of 40 or any others who don’t know the legend of the great Duke Kahanamoku.  A beautiful and well done tribute.  
 
 
 
 

I have been harping on this a lot lately in my social media posts and have mentioned it here before too.  But it needs saying again and maybe in a stronger tone, sometimes I gloss stuff over with trying to be glib or non-judgmental.  But here it is.  There are too many people in the water these days that have no clue as to the proper surf etiquette as far as who has the right of way and who needs to get out of the way.  People need to be taught this stuff and I am not sure that a lot of today’s surf instructors are really paying enough attention to that part of the learning process, as well as enough safety guidance.  
 
I watched a guy give a beginning class the other day.  He did a great job of telling his group how to pop up, but that’s all he did.  He gave them exactly no tips on safety.  Not even to cover their head when they fall off, THAT is the one main thing that should always be taught to beginners.  He did not tell them anything about what to do if somebody was riding in their direction either.  

Over and over, I have mentioned that the main problem I have in the water these days is not with people taking off in front of me, although that happens all the time, but with clueless people paddling out who are so freaked out about getting over the shoulder of the wave that they paddle right directly into my path.  Nobody has told them to let the rider go by.  They are not gonna die if they have to eat a little white water, even though they think they are.  Stop you geeks, let me go by.  Argh.
 
This very thing came to a head at my local surf break a couple of weeks ago.  Our first Women’s World Champion, Linda Benson, was visiting and out surfing.  Linda is in her mid 70’s and still surfs great.  Super cool chick too.  She took off on a wave and two other girl surfers paddled directly into her path causing her to have to straighten out.  One of the girls panicked and jumped off her board with no attempt to hold on to it.  The board hit Linda in the leg causing serious damage.  She had to have surgery on it and spend a night and day in the hospital.  Three weeks later she is still laid up as it is a slow heal.

The girl let go of her board for no good reason, it wasn’t a giant wave.  Obviously, she was not taught what to do and not do.  I have had the same thing happen to me many times and it’s always the same story.  “Why did you let go of your board?”  “I was afraid the wave was gonna cream me.”  “It was a two-foot wave, you were not gonna die.”  “Well, what was I supposed to do?”   
 
There it is right there…. They don’t know what they are supposed to do. Surf teachers out there, do your jobs.  Friends of beginners, take the time to educate them before they kill somebody else.  
 
There are more people surfing today than ever before.  Way more girls for sure, many starting when covid hit and the gyms were closed.  I am sure that most did not take lessons.  I wish people would realize that some simple early-stage help would go a long way to not only providing themselves with a better experience but also to save others the problems caused by those out there who just don’t know what they are doing.  
 
TAKE LESSONS.  And all of you surf instructors, and so-called surf instructors too, pay attention to all phases of learning.  Safety first. Etiquette too.  Skills yes, but being smart is better than being hurt or hurting somebody else.  
 
I am gonna say this one more time too.  If you are paddling out and are in the path of an oncoming rider it is your responsibility to get out of the way.  If you can make it over the shoulder without impeding the rider, then great.  But if not then you must stop and let them go by.  And by all means DO NOT let go of your board where it can hit somebody.  Hold on to that sucker with all your might.  The head that you cave in might be mine and that is a huge NO NO.  ​

by Corky Carroll

One of the more common questions that I get asked is what it was like doing the Miller Lite beer television commercials back in the 1980s and ’90s — and more specifically, how did I get involved in that in the first place.

For me, this was one of the best parts of my career and a period that I look back on with great memories. Plus, it was the most money I had made in my entire life.

For those of you that are too young, or just don’t remember, at one time Miller Lite was one of the leading beer brands in the country. This was on the shoulders, at least in part, of a mega-successful advertising campaign that featured retired athletes from different sports. Some of the athletes from the commercials were also part of what they called the “Miller Lite All-Stars.”

I was one of the lucky ones who did both the commercials and was part of the all-star program. That group did personal appearances around the country and were the national spokespeople for the brand. Some of the guys I worked with were Bubba Smith, Boog Powell, Billy Martin, Bob Uecker, L.C. Greenwood, Bert Jones, Sam Jones, Red Auerbach, Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds and Dave Cowens. It was a very cool lineup of really great dudes who were funny and amazing to hang out with. What Miller Brewing Company looked for were guys that people would want to hang out with and have a beer.

So, how did I get selected for this?
They had a guy in New York that researched sports figures and selected those he thought would fit. As most of the mainstream sports — such as baseball, football and basketball — appealed to the over-25-to-dead market they were looking for somebody to appeal to the “just turning drinking age” group. A surfer seemed a good choice for that. And, lucky for me, the dude doing the selecting came up with me.

by Corky Carroll

Which brings me to todays subject.  Clark Little.  Clark grew up in Hawaii and was known as a fearless wave charger in the infamous Waimea Bay shorebreak. He took up photography and decided it was his mission to show the world what it looked like to be in that “tunnel” that is inside a breaking wave.  We started to see his photos turn up in the magazines and most of us, at least I did, thought “Wow, what a great shot, but I bet the dude took a beating getting that one.”  
 
He would stick himself right at the edge of the water where the most gnarly and nastiest waves broke to get the shot as it broke over his head.  Of course this left him in the danger zone and he had to have gotten totally annihilated right after to pushed the button.  I can’t imagine how much sand the dude has probably had to clean out of all those places that sand likes to go.  But he was getting really spectacular photos that went well beyond what we had seen in the past.  
 
Over the past few years we have seen more and more of his work and his shots never fail to get a “WOW” out of me.  He has taken his particular style of surf photography to a new level and it’s amazing.  Not only have his photos been seen in the surfing publications but also in National Geographic and they hang on the wall of the Smithsonian Museum.  He has been seen in Nikon commercials as well as many national television shows.  
 
This week Random House has released a beautiful book of Clarks work, CLARK LITTLE: THE ART OF WAVES.  Over 150 of Clarks images along with stories by journalist Jamie Brisick telling us how Clark gets the shots.  There is a forward by eleven-time World Surfing Champion Kelly Slater too.  I can truly say that this is one of those “must get” books for any surfer or any lover of the ocean and it’s beauty and moods.  It is going into prime position on my coffee table, I can tell you that. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

by Corky Carroll

It’s been said that Kemp Aaberg is “possibly the nicest guy to ever set foot on the sands of Malibu.”  This could be a totally true statement; Kemp is truly one of the nicest and coolest guys I have ever met.  The dude is also one of the surfing world’s greatest living legends, still going as he smoothly moves into his eighties (born in 1940).  
 
The first time I became aware of him was when I saw him in Bruce Browns surf film “Slippery When Wet,” which came out in 1958.  He was one of the stars of the movie and had a great style with a big back arching bottom turn.  A photo of that turn that was run in one of the first issues of SURFER magazine actually became the logo for that mag and lives on in surf photo history.  Kinda like Jerry West being “the logo” in the NBA, Kemp is “the logo” in the surfing world.  

​I am not sure where I first met Kemp, but one of my favorite early memories of him was on the North Shore in Hawaii.  The first day I went out and rode Sunset Beach it was big and I was pretty scared.  On my first wave I took of behind Kemp, figured he knew what he was doing so I would be ok if I just followed him closely.  I did and we both made the wave and came out over the shoulder just flying.  He looked at me and I looked at him and we both just hooted and laughed.  He says, “well, whaddaya think?”  I was just kinda beaming and said, “let’s do it again.”  

I became good pals with his younger brother Denny, both through surfing and playing music.  Super cool guy, my age, and amazingly fun to hang out with.  We have surfed together and played music together many times over the years.
 
Which brings me to my next favorite memory of Kemp.  In the early 1970’s right after I retired from competitive surfing I moved up to Ketchum, Idaho.  (commonly known as Sun Valley, the ski resort that is located there).  I rented a house in the “warm springs” part of town, not far from the ski lifts.  Kemp came up for a couple of weeks one of the years I was there and came over to visit one day.  He brought his guitar with him.  Kemp is a fantastic classical and flamenco guitar player, super good.  At that time I was learning how to play violin and also working on the cello.  I had a nice cello that I had brought up from the beach.  So, we decided to record ourselves doing a guitar and cello duet.  I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing, but I could stay on key and play a few notes in a couple of easy keys.  I had a tape recorder and we cranked it up and actually made a kinda cool sounding recording.  I just played a couple of basic notes, within whatever key it was, and Kemp played a beautiful guitar piece.  And it worked.  I wish I still had that tape.  But I do still have the memory and it’s a good one.
 
Kemp has lived in Santa Barbara for it seems forever, drove a UPS truck for a living until he retired.  His wife Ella is beautiful and posts regularly on FACEBOOK about how Kemp is doing and a lot of nice stories that he tells about different times and people.  In his early days he wrote a lot of stories for the surfing magazines.  He has been dealing with Parkinson’s for many years but is hanging in and doing it, as Ella puts it, amazingly graceful.  That kind of sums of Kemp, his surfing and his personality.  Amazingly graceful.  
 
Glad I got to share this memory of one of the best and coolest surfers ever.  Kemp Aaberg.

by Corky Carroll

​Getting back to my series on days that stand out as special in my zillion years of surfing, 67 and counting as we speak.  My plan is to weave these little tidbits in with the normal coverage of surfing and surf culture related topics and reviews.  
 
Today I stuck my finger into the wall socket to stimulate my two remaining semi functional memory cells and came up with my first day of surfing in Hawaii. Some of this is taken from my newest book “Not Done Yet.” (Available at www.bluemangosurf.com or on Amazon.)
 
It was the summer of 1963 and had I talked my parents into letting me spend the summer in Hawaii.  I had a friend who I had gone to school with the year before whose father was in the Navy and had been transferred to Pearl Harbor.  His name was Mike Ferguson and he had invited me to come stay at his house.  My parents were always good about supporting my surfing addiction and also, for some reason that I could never quite understand, they trusted me way beyond the levels that I should have been trusted.  If they only knew the trouble that I “almost” got into, or “barely missed” getting into.  But somehow, someway, I managed to get away with things that I should not have been able to get away with.  Blind luck probably.  I am sure everybody has some of this in the history of their youth. ​​When I got to Mike’s house I found that he was about a thirty to forty minute drive from the place that I wanted to surf.  Ala Moana.  This first day I was there I had to wait until the afternoon for Mike to finish summer school before we got to go surfing.  In Hawaii you could drive at 15 and Mike already had his own car.  The surf that day was fantastic and I totally fell in love with the short stretch of surf between Kaisers and the Ala Moana bowl on the south shore of Oahu.  In the summer the south swells are good in what they call “town.”  In the winter the big north and west swells break on the other side of the island, the famed “North Shore.”  This was summer so I was surfing town mostly, with the occasional trip out to Yokahama Bay, at the far end of the west shore, which picked up south swells and had a ton of power.

 
It was that day I met two of my all-time surfing idols, even to this day.  George Downing and Paul Strauch.  The waves were big, bigger than I was used to anyway.  And they had the Hawaiian power and speed which was much more powerful and faster than California waves.  I had taken off on a big set wave and was screaming down the line going as fast as I could go.  All of a sudden I was deep in a very dark tunnel and the wave was roaring over my head like a freight train.  I panicked and jumped off, in the process I think I let out a very girlish like scream.  George and Paul had been paddling out and saw, and heard, the whole thing.  When I came up they were both rolling off their boards laughing.  Geeze, how freaking embarrassing was that.  Two of the biggest surf stars on the planet having witnessed THAT.  Argh!   But, to my amazement, when I finished swimming all the way in to get my board, and had paddled back out to the lineup, both of them were super friendly and offered kindish words of encouragement.  It was a humbling afternoon to say the least.  Definitely one I never forgot.  
 
That was the beginning of an incredible summer.  A few days went by and I met a dude named Curt Mistalka.  Curt lived right across the street from Ala Moana in an apartment building named the Driftwood.  He said I could make a bed on his balcony and stay there.  He worked at night and slept during the day.  So the deal was I needed to be out of the apartment by about eight in the morning and not come back until late afternoon.  Not a problem at all, the surf was right there.  So I moved out of Mike’s family home and onto the balcony of Curt.  This little fact was never discovered by my parents.  Fifteen years old and on the loose in Waikiki for the summer?  OH YESSSSSSSSS!!!
 

by Corky Carroll

​​I get tons of stuff pitched to me constantly from people, agencies and companies that are looking to get some publicity for whatever it is that they are pitching.  Most of it isn’t anything that I deem interesting for my wonderful and faithful readers, so I don’t bother checking it out too closely.  But once every now and then I take a peek if there is a “maybe” factor involved.  And, upon closer look, most of those get the big “pass” too.  If I am gonna cover something I sincerely want it to be sincerely good enough to deserve your attention.  
 
Well, you guessed it.  This week I came across something that I really think is that good.  It’s a new documentary titled “Havana Libre.”  An inspirational film about a couple of young surfers growing up in Cuba.  Now at this point I have to admit that I wasn’t really all that sold on writing about this until I took time to watch it all the way through.  The whole reason that I started to view it in the first place was that I have always been curious about what kinda surf they have down there.  I have surfed all over the Caribbean, but never really had a lot of firsthand real info on what it was like in Cuba.  I had heard that there wasn’t all that much surf and that it is very “reefy.”  But still I wanted to know and figured that I could get a real look at it in this film.  
What I got was so very much more.  Yeah, there is some surf there.  It’s not Hawaii or probably even Puerto Rico, but there are some good waves if you travel and search them out.  But that isn’t really the story.  There is so much about Cuba that I never knew that is brought to light here.  Like, for one, I had no idea that surfing was illegal, and they can arrest you and put you in jail for paddling out.  Nor did I know that you had to apply for permission to do any kind of sport.  Yeah, we all hear that it’s very different there, but it’s way more different than I thought.
 
The film gives you views of all kinds of local neighborhoods and a look at how many things that we take for granted would be full blown luxury there.  Made me look around the room and be grateful for a lot of little things that those guys would not have.  ​

​What I got was so very much more.  Yeah, there is some surf there.  It’s not Hawaii or probably even Puerto Rico, but there are some good waves if you travel and search them out.  But that isn’t really the story.  There is so much about Cuba that I never knew that is brought to light here.  Like, for one, I had no idea that surfing was illegal, and they can arrest you and put you in jail for paddling out.  Nor did I know that you had to apply for permission to do any kind of sport.  Yeah, we all hear that it’s very different there, but it’s way more different than I thought.
 
The film gives you views of all kinds of local neighborhoods and a look at how many things that we take for granted would be full blown luxury there.  Made me look around the room and be grateful for a lot of little things that those guys would not have.  
 
The story revolves around a young couple, Yaya Guerro and Frank Gonzalas Guerra.  They are both surfers and Frank shapes and builds underground boards.  They are on a mission to try and get surfing actually recognized as a “sport” and for it to become legal.  They, and the other members of the local surf tribe, are forced to be super stealth when the go in the water.  Part of the story is of them traveling far from Havana to try and find what we would consider good waves.
 
Towards the end of the film they travel to Hawaii and get to see the “North Shore”.  There they meet with some well known surf legends including Rob Machado.  I have always been a fan of Rob and this was a cool part.  
 
Then Frank gets invited to compete in an International surfing event in Peru that is a Pre Olympic qualifier for the Japan Games.  His quest for permission to go and how all this plays out is really fascinating.  The Olympics are very important to Cuba.
 
While all this is going on there is a side story about a whole group of little kids who are learning to surf on plywood homemade boards.  They are taught by the girl, Yaya.  She puts on a little championship for them complete with awards ceremony and the whole thing.  Very very cool and fun to see.  During all of this Yaya has a baby girl and we see her grow as the movie progresses thru the years.
 
So many things in this film brought back memories and emotions for me.  I surfed on a plywood board when I was little too, just before my dad bought me an air matt.  And seeing the surfing event at Punta Rocas in Peru reminded me of traveling there in 1967 for the International Big Wave Championship.  Just the whole spirit of this story, the scenery and the total stoke of the people involved really captivated me.  I knew half way through watching it that I was gonna want to tell you about it.
 
HAVANA LIBRE will debut at the Santa Barbara Film Festival on March 4.  Then the release date for all digital platforms is March 22, (Amazon, Apple TV, iTunes, Google play and most all the others).  I loved it.  The production quality is excellent, scenery incredible and the story is super compelling.  Highly recommend it.

by Corky Carroll

​​Last Sunday became a monster day in the surfing history book.  Mark it, February 6, 2022.  Kelly Slater at the age of 49 (just five days shy of his 50thbirthday) won the Billabong Pipeline Pro for the 8th time.  He did it in convincing fashion too, scoring two near perfect rides with a heat total of 18.77 out of 20. The first time he won it was 30 years ago.  He is now both the youngest and oldest to have won this event.
 
It came in big and kinda gnarly conditions against a kid less than half his age, a north shore charger named Seth Moniz.  Adding to that is that Kelly had competed against Seth’s father, Tony Moniz, many years earlier.  Just think of how many guys much younger than Kelly that have come and gone with great careers in the books, and yet this dude just keeps on going.  And doing THIS.  Amazing.  My wife, jokingly so don’t take this seriously please, says it must be some secret wonder drug.  Hey, if so, then gimme some of that.  No, gimme a lot of that.

​I had been following the results of the event and knew that Kelly Slater had made it to the quarter-finals, and was in the first heat.  I have known him since he was a small kid and (patting myself on the back) had predicted he would one day be World Champ when I was announcing a final heat in Florida when he was like 10 and winning the Menehune division. So, I always try and follow to see how he is doing. Wondering if it was on or not, I kicked back in my lazy boy and cranked up my steam powered old laptop and dialed up the link.  Wow, there it was.  And just getting ready to start.  Kelly totally nailed that first heat over a local Huntington Beach kid, Kanoa Igarashi.  Kanoa was born in Japan but grew up and lives in Orange County and is a fantastic surfer.  This was kinda one of those moments when you want both of them to win, even though only one can.  After that for the next few hours I was glued to the screen as I watched all of the quarter finals, semifinals and the final.  It was an amazing show with mind blowing great surfing.  The heat where Seth Moniz beat out John John Florance was breathtaking.  Man, these guys can really surf.  
 
The final heat itself was all Slater.  For the beginning portion not much happened.  Both surfers took close outs and no scores of any matter.  Then Kelly blew up with a screaming right barrel that got him a 9.  (zero to ten scale).  Moniz was not able to match it, or anything close.  But Kellys second score (its best two rides) was only a one point something, so the door was still open.  Until he put it away with an incredible fear drop deep covered back door that netted him the 9.77.  At that point it was over.  History was made.  Nobody can say this guy is not the greatest surfer of all time, he is.  
 
After it was over I was sitting there feeling kind of excited that this was truly an historical moment in surfing and happy that I had been able to watch it.  Then I got a message from my old pal Gerry Lopez, “Mr. Pipeline” himself and a former winner of this event.  He said, “remember when it was us out there?”  I had to smile big when I read that.  It has been 50 years since I was in this contest.  I messaged him back saying that if I could get one of the rides that these guys were scoring even a 7 or 8 on I would be screaming at the judges that it should actually be a 300.  He laughed, I laughed, and so it goes with two old dinos who had their day.
 
Congratulations Kelly Slater.  You ARE the G.O.A.T.   
 

by Corky Carroll

​The other day I was on Facebook and some guy had done a post roasting Kelly Slater.  At least it looked that way.  He said all kinds of slanderous stuff about every aspect of Kelly, personally and as a surfer.  It evoked zillions of comments, mostly all defending Kelly, the person that almost everybody in the surfing world considers the greatest ever (GOAT).  I have known Kelly and his family since he was about ten years old and have always liked him and respected everything he has done.  I think he is a great guy and solid human being.  So, I was sifting through some of the comments and somebody pointed out that the post was actually a compliment and everything the guy said was done as sarcasm to point out all of the great stuff that Kelly has done. It was meant as a joke and actually to honor Kelly.  On the surface I didn’t see it at first, but then when I read it again I totally got it.
 
Humor is a funny thing.  (wow, that is a cool statement…glad I said it.).  It’s an art to pull it off, and if you are on the edge you risk the fact that not everybody might “get it.”  I know for a fact from many, ok many many, experiences of my own that sometimes you say something in total jest and there will be some who think you are being serious and ridicule you for it.  Especially in print.  If you are in person and face to face with people you have the advantage of facial expressions and nuances to give whatever you are saying focus.  Like if you are saying, “Joe’s a jerk,” and winking over and over, people will know you are kidding.  In print if you say that people will think you actually think Joe is a jerk, and if they don’t agree with you then you are gonna hear about it.  Like for instance I can say here that Corky Carroll is the coolest, most handsome, smartest, greatest surfer, studly dude on the planet and beyond.  You would think I am an egotistic geek.  But if it were in person you could take one look at me and realize that what I said was totally impossible and I had to be joking.  

​Anyway, the gist of all this is that it got me thinking about how people view people who are in the limelight.  It can be surfers, other athletes, celebrities or whatever.  Getting good enough at something to be successful is not easy.  And to get good enough at it to be famous is ever harder, that’s why there are a lot less famous people than not.  But with fame comes the razor sharpe magnifying glass of scrutiny.  Not everybody is gonna like ya because you are the best at something, there will always be “haters.”  Some are jealous.  Envy is a meanie.  Some just don’t like the way you look or something you said.  (here’s the ya gotta watch what you say thing.). Others have a different “favorite” so they want to tear you down to build up the other one, or maybe the other one is actually themselves.  The old tear you down to make me seem cooler thing.  Surfing is and always has been teeming with this kind of behavior.
 
Why don’t people just respect somebody for what they accomplish?  Like so and so is an incredible surfer with amazing style, he has won many events and is on the cover of all the surfing mags.  Respect.  But nooooo.  There are those who gotta find something to belittle the accomplishments.  “Yeah but the dude is a jerk and takes every wave.”  “Yeah but the dude is a jerk who think’s he’s hot.”  Geeze, the list of “Yeah but’s go on and on.  
 
I found myself doing the same thing in reverse just yesterday.  I am a devout Lakers fan, and sometimes write for one of the Lakers fan pages (Lakeshowlife).  I was being critical of recent play of one of their star players and tagged on it, “Yeah but the guy really tries hard and comes to play every night and really wants to win, he’s a good guy.”  So there it is, the image of the person vs what they are actually doing.  Why does it matter if the greatest surfer, or basketball player, or singer, or whatever hates cats and parks his car on the lawn.  Or has a big ego?  It takes a lot of ego to get great, who is gonna believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.  
 
Kelly Slater is the greatest surfer of all time and whether he picks his nose and farts a lot has nothing to do with that.  Yeah, but it’s sure fun to gossip about it.  True huh.  

by Corky Carroll

​Today I am going to continue with a second installment of my most memorable surf days series.  These will probably be spread out at different times with other more time sensitive stuff thrown in as it falls.  The following in a excerpt from my book, “NOT DONE YET.”
 
Something that had a profound effect on me was seeing my first surfing movie.  There were a couple of brothers who lived down the street from us named Mike and Marc De Cheveroux.  They were fellow air matt warriors with me and also were getting into surfing at the same time as I was.  Their mom, Ruth, was a huge fan of the bullfights and would head down to Mexico all the time for that.  She would also occasionally pile us all in the back of her station wagon and take us surfing down the coast to Doheny and San Onofre, excellent surf spots in the southern end of Orange County.  One night she found out about a “surfing film” being shown at a little artsy kinda theater up in Hollywood and loaded us all up to go see it.  The name of the movie was “Surf Safari.”  It was filmed and narrated by a dude named John Severson, who would later go on to publish SURFER magazine.  I will never forget the adrenaline rush I felt when the big wave sequence came on the screen.  The music got cranked up.  It was the Theme from Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini.  And the narration went, “On December 15th the biggest swell to hit the Hawaiian Islands in over 50 years came marching out of the North Pacific.  And only a handful were there to meet the challenge.”  My jaw dropped and I was totally swept away with the enormity of this.  I was “STOKED” to the max.  I had a full-blown case of surf fever (a later John Severson movie title).  
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That did it.  From then on I went to see every surf film there was and collected every surf photo, surf poster, surf anything I could get my little hands on.  All the walls in my room and the ceiling would eventually be filled with surf stuff. Surfing consumed my life.  Yeah, I still played little league baseball and all that kinda stuff, but it was surfing that became my passion.  Everything else took back seat to that. 

​In 1959 the movie “Gidget” hit theaters all around the country.  It was based on a real chick who had hung out at Malibu during the summers and had become part of the surf pack there.  Her father had written a book about her and the surf crew and it became a Hollywood movie.  Like everything else that had anything to do with surfing I couldn’t wait to go see it.  A lot of the local surfers thought it was not very realistic, but I loved it.  Some of the big name surf stars did the surfing in it, like Mickey Dora.  A dude named Mickey Munoz, who is a little guy himself, did some of the surfing for Sandra Dee (Gidget) wearing a girls two-piece bathing suit and a blonde wig.  The rest was done by Linda Benson, the top female surfer in the world in those days.  That movie had a HUGE impact on surfing.  Before that the entire surfing population in the United States consisted of a few pockets of what were considered “beat-niks,” “bohemians” and “lunatics” along the west coast and in Hawaii.  After the Gidget movie all surf-hell broke loose.  Everybody wanted to be a surfer.  America had this romantic notion that surfers were all free-spirited party loving nomads that didn’t work and spent all their time surfing and making out with hot chicks at beach parties and in the backs of their “woodys.”  This was an image that I could definitely sink my teeth into and grasp it as a workable vision to ascend to.  I was as stoked as a kid could be.