12/18/2020 1 Comment A PROPER PAYBACK, SURF STYLEBack at ya...by Corky Carroll Today I thought I would share a little inside story with you that happened some years back. Surfers, in a way, are like chicks. They can be “catty.” This little episode started way back around the beginning of the 1960’s and involves some of my closest friends, Mark Martinson, Bill Fury and Robert August. Robert and I became very good friends as time went on but it wasn’t always that way. One day I was hanging out at “Water Tower” with Mark, surf was pretty good and there was a good-sized group sitting on the beach after surfing. Robert and Fury where there and Fury had a new board he had just got from Dewey Webber. I was about 12 at the time and was stoked to see them as they were already the “hot surfers” in the area and Mark and I were just up and coming gremmies. They would have been about 16. I remember Robert drove a cool light blue ’57 Ford station wagon. When they went out to surf both Mark and I watched them to try and pick up new moves or whatever. When they got out of the water I asked Fury if I could try his new board and he handed it to me and said “sure.” He was always a very nice guy. I went out and rode a few waves and came in. His board was a lot longer than what I was riding and I had a hard time turning it. When I gave him the board back I said, “it feels like a great board but I am not used to one so long.” Then, right in front of the whole group gathered on the beach, Robert says, “Naw Carroll, you are just too crummy to ride it.” (note: he used a stronger word than crummy.). The whole group kinda went “whoa, Robert August just dumped on Corky.” I was mortified. I walked the block up to my house in tears, Robert August had just crushed me in front of everybody. My mom saw my face and asked what had happened. I told her and she tried to comfort me, but I took it really hard. The old saying “childish cruelty cuts deep,” was in full swing here. I was mortified. I walked the block up to my house in tears, Robert August had just crushed me in front of everybody. My mom saw my face and asked what had happened. I told her and she tried to comfort me, but I took it really hard. The old saying “childish cruelty cuts deep,” was in full swing here. Robert and I were not pals at Huntington Beach High School, he was a senior and student body president when I was a freshman. He wore cashmere sweaters and had all the hot looking chicks; I was a surf rat. It wasn’t until many years went by that we grew to finally be friends, well after our respective surfing careers where in their later stages. Mark Martinson and I had always been close pals and hung out together a lot. One day we were sitting on his deck on the North Shore and that little incident back at Water Tower came up. We both had to laugh about it, but I mentioned that one day I would get even with Robert for the public humiliation he caused me as a kid. That day came at a big surfing event that we all attended in Florida. Mark and I were both working with Robert August Surfboards at the time and the three of us along with Wingnut Weaver were back there for the event to promote Roberts boards. They had a big VIP tent set up and it was full of all kinds of, well, “VIPs.” I had gone out to catch a few waves on the morning of the finals and was in the tent with Mark when Robert came in and asked if he could take my board out for a couple of waves as he had left his back at the hotel. Of course I said sure. My board was a Robert August Corky Model but it had one of Bob “The Greek” Bolens new Turbo Tunnel fins on it. They are great for noseriding longboards. So, Robert paddled out and got one of the best noserides I ever saw him get. Hung ten all the way across a long wall. When he came in he walked back into the tent and said, “Great board, not sure about that weird fin though.” PERFECT. So, I deadpanned, “Naw Robert, you are just too crummy to ride it.” (note: the word I used was stronger than crummy). The whole tent let out a gasp, DID YOU HEAR WHAT CORKY CARROLL JUST SAID TO ROBERT AUGUST? OMG!!! A moment of silence. Then Mark falls out of his chair laughing and I am bouncing around lifting my arms in glory. Robert is in total shock. But then he remembers and his jaw drops in disbelief. He gets a huge grin and admits, “you got me, you really got me.” We all laughed about it even though the group sitting there had no idea what that was all about. Just one of those little inside deals. We are all still great pals today.
1 Comment
Michael Herman
12/19/2020 12:08:04 pm
Loved the story!!! As I get older I reminisce about the stories of surfing with all my friends throughout Southern California and how they really did define me....
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