5/20/2023 0 Comments SUMMERTIME SURVIVAL GUIDE 2023By Corky Carroll As this weekend is sort of the unofficial opening to another summer at the beach, I thought it a good time to present to you my annual “survival guide”to help you get maximum fun and minimum damage from your time at the beach this summer. This is primarily for those of you who are new to spending time at the beach and in the sun and are not aware of the many obvious and not so obvious hazards that are lurking there, just waiting to ruin your day. This is all material that I have covered before but is vitally important. Even if you are a seasoned professional beach dweller it might be a good idea to read this anyway, just in case. First off and mega important fact: the sun is not your best bro. You need to do everything you can to protect yourself from it, starting with sunblock. Use it, and use it more after that. Put it on 20 mins BEFORE you go to the beach, reapply often. Yes, you will still get that nice tan you are so desperately seeking and No, you won’t go home looking like Larry or Linda Lobster. You can use the ten zillion SPF and still tan. Don’t worry, that golden bronzed and weathered look can still be yours, but you do not want to get sunburned, trust me. Skin cancer is no joke, I know all about it. Every time my skin doc sees me coming he gets a big grin and shouts, “WD-40 the register Vivian, here comes Corky.” Todays burn is tomorrows fight for life. To further protect yourself wear a hat and sunglasses. The sand and water reflect sunlight and that can severely damage your eyes. Those pretty sparkles on the waves are like a ka- jillion tiny mirrors. Keep covered up as much as possible. Also take something to put on your feet. The sand gets hot as the day goes on and the trip back to the car could be a lot different than the trip down. You do not want a case of dreaded “fried feet.” The famous “burning sands,” is called that because they are actually just that, freaking BURNING sands. If you don’t have something to put on your feet you are in for a world of hurt. First you will start to hop, then run, then run as fast as you can while screaming, sometimes with a lot of swear words, as your feet blister right under you. This, once again, is no fun. And the total idea of going to the beach is to have fun. Getting burned is a bad thing. Take along some water. Being in the sun can dehydrate you quickly. The result is very similar to feeling like you have stomach flu or food poisoning. Nausea, chills and all the other not fun activities that require a bathroom and a lot of moaning and groaning. The extra danger in this is that extreme dehydration can cause a stroke. Take water and drink it. Beer is not water and in fact works the opposite. If you are drinking beer, make sure you have one glass of water for every glass of beer. Same with coffee or soft drinks. Now let’s talk about the ocean itself. Depending on the swell and surf conditions there are currents. The more surf and bigger the swell, the stronger the currents are. Even on days when the surf is tiny there are still currents. The currents will be going the same direction as the swell. If we are looking at a South swell, one coming from the South as is normal in the summer, the direction of the current will be going from the south towards the north. There are some who get all techno and want to tell you the coast goes East and West, but I am not one of those. In my mind if you are looking towards San Diego that is South. If you are looking towards Los Angeles that is North. So, on a South swell the currents go South to North. You can jump in the water and without even knowing it be a hundred yards up the beach in a few minutes. The dangerous part of this, besides losing track of where you are, is that these currents turn and go out to sea. This is called a “Rip.” Once you are stuck in one of these it’s not easy to get out. You need to swim sideways, towards the north side, to get out of the river heading out to sea. Then swim back to the beach. Do not try to swim against the current, you will wear out and then you have a serious problem. We always tell people to stay near the lifeguard towers. No matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you are not experienced in being in the ocean, you can get in trouble very quickly. If the surf is big the best idea is to have fun watching it and stay out. That is the short version. I hope this helps you get back home happy, safe and pain free, not looking like a piece of fried bacon. Have fun.
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4/21/2023 1 Comment 500 Summer storiesby Corky Carroll I am totally stoked to the max. Actually, more like stoked to the IMAX would be more to the case in point. I just received my copy of Greg MacGillivray’s magnificent new book, “500 SUMMER STORIES, a life in IMAX.” It’s incredible, amazing, excellent and all other adjectives that mean really really good. O.K., let me give you a little low down on Greg MacGillivray, just in case some of you aren’t familiar with who he is. Here is the short version. Greg is a lifelong surfer who grew up in South Laguna Beach, learning to surf at Salt Creek and Doheny State Park in the 1960’s. He started making surf movies during the mid 60’s and was very good at it. His early “A Cool Wave of Color” established him as not only an excellent photographer but also a very creative film maker. He teamed up with another excellent photographer named Jim Freeman. Jim had gained acclaim from having made the first surfing movie in 3D. Together they formed MacGillivray Freeman films. They, more or less, took the top spot in the surf movie business and further established their creative genius with the beautifully done “FREE AND EASY,” blending surfing with artful effects and editing. Their biggest surf movie hit was the legendary “FIVE SUMMER STORIES,” regarded by many as the greatest surf movie ever made. Highlighted by a fantastic original soundtrack by the amazing Laguna Beach band “HONK,” this film marked the first time any of the surfers featured actually got paid for being in it. Where I really got to know Greg was during the filming of 5SS. He had rented a house on the North Shore of Oahu near the surf spot called “Log Cabins.” He let me stay there, along with one of my best friends Mark Martinson. Mark and I had come up in surfing together and had been pals since the very early 60’s. It was hanging out with them that I became aware of what a wonderful person that Greg is. Aside from doing all this cool stuff the dude was just an out and out good guy. I really liked him. Later, when I was concerned on how a certain sequence in the film came off, he sincerely listened to me, understood my feelings, and made a slight change in the narration that made all the difference. Probably nobody else in that business would have done that. I always respected him for that. The team went on to amazing success producing films for the Smithsonian Museum, working with Stanley Kubrick for “The Shining” and breaking ground in the production of IMAX movies. Jim Freeman was killed in a helicopter accident during the filming of one of their projects. Greg went on to be the undisputed master of IMAX, always keeping the name MacGillivray Freeman Films in honor of his friend and partner. OK, that brings us to the new book. “500 SUMMER STORIES” is a beautiful 302-page adventure taking us from the early days of Greg becoming a surfer and thru all of the phases of his career as a film maker and his life. There are fantastic stories of the making of the early surf movies and adventures with the greatest surfers of the era including Gerry Lopez, Billy Hamilton, Mark Martinson and many others (hey, I’m even in there….awhooo.). From the surf move days it phases into tales of working with Kubrick and also John Milius with “Big Wednesday.” Their credits started stacking up with work on not only successful but also critically acclaimed projects such as “Jonathon Living Seagull.” The first IMAX movies, such as “TO FLY,” led them into a whole new direction. They kinda pioneered a whole new thing and made it their own. Probably one of the high points was the huge hit “EVEREST.” The book takes us on a journey thru all of these phases, not only with gripping stories but with hundreds of fantastic photos. It is one of those “coffee table” books that you will make sure you never spill coffee on. Thru all of Greg MacGillivrays success over all these years I can attest to the fact that he never changed from the really cool and fun kid that I first met back in the 1960’s to today. Super good guy, family guy, honest man and always and foremost…. Surfer. 4/7/2023 3 Comments POWER SURFERSBy Corky Carroll It’s interesting how in surfing people get sort of “categorized” in one way or another. Some due to their personality. This would be the standard “cool guy (or chick)”, “colorful character,” “stuck up,” “jerk,” “nerd, dweeb, goon, geek,” or “kuk.” But this is just the way it is in life in general, so why would it be any different with surfers? But I am not talking about personality stuff here. I and talking about surfing “styles.” There are surfers who are known for being smooth for instance. Like Billy Hamilton, Skip Frye, David Nuuhiwa and Don Craig. There are those who are typed as “small wave specialists,” Gary Proper comes to mind. That dude could rip a one-foot wave better than anybody. And, of course, “big wave riders.” Greg Noll, Mike Doyle, Eddie Aikau, George Downing, Pat Curran and others. There have been “all around water-men,” like Doyle, Laird Hamilton and Kai Lenny. Some surf “pretty” and others “flamboyant.” Today I would like to toss out some love for some of the great “Power Surfers” I have known. These are surfers who might or might not fit into one or more of the other “types,” but their overall vibe is that of surfing with sheer power. The first that comes to mind is the great Barry Kanaiaupuni. Man, this dude could out and out “shred” a wave. His bottom turns at places like Sunset Beach, on the North Shore of Oahu, were state of the art and amazing to watch. Sheer flat-out speed and style to boot.
Another stand out in the power zone was the first “Mr. Pipeline,” Butch Van Artsdalen. Butch grew up surfing the reef breaks around La Jolla and took to the big surf in Hawaii like a dog to a steak bone. His early exploits in big waves at the Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay are legendary. Just guts up going for it to the max all the time. That was sort of the way he was in life too. Australian Nat Young could be tossed into the mix on this one too. He was just so ultra-aggressive in the water and was one of those “never give an inch” kinda dudes all the way around. His surfing was very powerful. He would just ride over, around and through anybody and everybody. I give him credit for starting the short board revolution. Another Aussie that was known for his super power attack was Ian Cairns. Ian came from the more juicy waves in Western Oz and Hawaii was just what his surfing needed to really kick in. In more recent years there have been a couple of guys who have stood out in this area too. One would have to be the amazing Laird Hamilton. He was really the first person to ride extra giant waves with aggression and “projection.” Instead of just riding for his life, which was what most everybody else was doing in the early days of the “tow in,” and extra big wave riding. Laird was popping “airs” and driving deep fade turns and going for the barrel. Power surfing to the big wave max. Kai Lenny is now sort of taking up where Laird went. Riding any and all equipment and as big of waves as he can find. No fear, velocity beyond what was thought possible and with composure and style. Also coming to my mind in this discussion would be Dane Reynolds from Oxnard and John John Florence in Hawaii. Both of those guys exude speed and power in their surfing far beyond the average top surfers. You could include Kelly Slater in this discussion, but that guy has just been so great at all aspects of surfing that it’s impossible to pigeonhole him into any one facet. I like to see surfers who go fast and have some sort of grace and style doing it. Did I mention Joey Cabel? Him too. Anyway, that is my ranting for today. Cowabunga kids. by Corky Carroll Today I would like to continue with my “surfing’s most interesting people” series that I started a couple of months ago. These are profiles on people whom I have met over the mega-zillion years that I have been involved in surfing that are ones that I have found to be more interesting than most, for one reason or another. People that I would love to sit down and have a conversation with that didn’t center around current surfing events. One of those, and also one of my favorite guys from the surfing world, is the late great Jack O’Neill. Let me give you some background on the dude in case you don’t already know who he is. Jack was one of the very early surfing pioneers in the San Francisco/Santa Cruz area of Northern California. Having been born in Denver and then serving in the Navy during WW2 he wound up settling in that area. He had body surfed there during the 1940’s. He opened a surf shop on what was called “the Great Highway” in San Francisco in 1952. Shortly after that he began experimenting with trying to develop some sort of gear to help keep warm while surfing the frigid waters up there. His first attempt was made with foam and plastic, but he soon started working with neoprene rubber. Local surfers were skeptical at first. Only at first though, as soon as he had a version that actually worked they flocked to it. It is widely accepted that he was one of the first to get the whole surfing wetsuit industry on the map. I know that the Meistrell brothers from Redondo Beach had a lot to do with that too. Jack later moved to Santa Cruz and opened a little shop right next to the pier. This is where I first met him in about 1960, on my first trip up there. He sold me some resin to repair my board, super cool and friendly guy. During the surfing boom of the 1960’s Jack’s company grew to prominence in the surfing industry with clothing being added to the wetsuits. “O’Neill” became a solid brand. During those years Jack’s kids became involved in the business and would steer it through the decades.
O.k., now about who Jack really was. This was one of the real colorful characters in surfing. Huge personality. He had an old convertible Jaguar sportscar that he would cruise around Santa Cruz in and was about as big of a local celebrity as there was there, at that time. Well, probably of all time. Jack was one of those “bigger than life” kinda people that when you saw him go by you would go, “wow, there goes Jack O’Neill.” And everybody would look and go, “yeah!!!” Besides surfing Jack had a love of flying hot air balloons. He had one with a huge “O’Neill” logo on it that he would fly under the Golden Gate bridge and during all sorts of events. He was kinda the local version of the Goodyear blimp. In 1971, when the first versions of the modern “surf leash” were first being experimented with, he lost an eye in a leash related surfing accident. The early versions were attached to the nose of your board with a suction cup and to your wrist. The material was surgical tubing that would stretch to the next time zone. Jack lost his board and the leash stretched really far, sending his board back to him at Mach speed with the pointed nose first. Hit him in the eye, could have killed him. After that he wore an eye patch, which totally added to the “look” of the character that he was. He was now “the king of the land of the one eyed jacks.” Classic Jack. He lived in a moss green house on the cliff overlooking a surf spot called “Wild Hook,” on the southern side of Santa Cruz, near Capitola. The windows were round ports like on a ship. I had the fortune to have been invited to dinner a few times over the years and it was always a great evening with a ton of laughing going on. He would say the best thing about his house was he could look out the window and see when the surf was good and not crowded and jump in within minute or two and catch it perfectly. I had grown up in Surfside with the same advantage. We would say we were two lucky dudes. Always known for good quotes too. Some of his most memorable ones were, “It’s always summer on the inside.” “I’m not into business, I am into surfing.” “I had a friend who used to try to surf in a sweater that he treated with water sealer. He would sit out there in an oil slick.” “The three most important things in life are surf, surf and surf.” “I just wanted to make something that would let me surf longer.” My favorite was, “Surfing is like therapy, you paddle out and everything is all right again.” I have always felt like that. If I am angry or bummed out about something I can always paddle out and sit outside for a little bit and let all the negative vibes wash away. With Jack you didn’t usually talk about what was going on “in surfing” so to speak. But more about life as a couple of surfers who were riding through it with eyes wide open and the love of all things funny. He was one of those people that I always looked forward to seeing and who was always happy and welcoming when I came around. A true surfing pioneer. 3/11/2023 0 Comments Hold On To Your BoardDon't Be That Guy (Girl)by Corky Carroll In this day and age of mega surf crowds in the water at just about every break known to man or beast on the planet the issues of etiquette, common courtesy and safety procedures are debated over constantly. It is very prevalent here in Orange County as there are probably no unridden and not crowded surfing beaches anywhere to be found anymore. I was thinking about this very thing a couple of weeks ago when I took a stroll out on the Huntington Beach Pier. When I was younger there were already crowds at the pier, this was in the 50’s and 60’s. But the crowd stuck right next to the pier, on both sides. If you stood on the pier and looked north or south there was nobody surfing once you got further away than about 50 yards from the pier. Not now. Looking North and South for as far as you can see there are zillions of surfers. It looks like pepper on French fries. Packed to the max. And this is every day. Good surf, bad surf, rain or shine. Bringing me to the point of todays story. With all these people in the water there is more and more need for the aforementioned “etiquette, common courtesy and safety procedures.” This has happened twice recently to people I know. One is the great surf legend Linda Benson. She got hit by a ditched board and spent a couple days in the hospital and was put out of surfing commission for months. The other was a neighbor of mine who had his arm broken. The problem is that beginners are just unaware, or they just don’t care. Not long ago I saw this happen and I paddled over to the person who had let their board go and nicely told her to try as hard as she could to hold onto her board, not just let it go.
She looked at me with confusion on her face and asked me what I was talking about. I told her that it wasn’t cool to let go of her board, it almost hit the person inside of her. She glared back at me and said, “and so why is that my problem?” I wasn’t sure what to say. That answer was so outright stupid and clueless that it sort of stopped me for a moment. THAT is the kind of attitude we are dealing with these days. Somehow, through instruction, or maybe even posted signs or something like that, these beginning surfers need to be educated about this stuff before they kill themselves or somebody else. It’s nuts out there. This sort of brings back some classic and funny memories of growing up in the pre surf leash days, especially before boards went short. We had these big heavy logs and little or no wetsuits. If you lost your board it required a swim to the beach to get it back. In many spots there were rocks or jetties that could do serious damage to your board. Surfers would do just about anything to hold on to their boards in those days. It was not uncommon to see some dude flying through the air holding on to the fin of his board. The boards were way too big and heavy to “duck dive,” so people would do anything to hold on when they got caught inside on a big set. There was the common “turtle” roll. Sometimes you would see somebody with their arms and legs totally wrapped around their board and glommed on for dear life. It wasn’t so crowded then so mostly people held on to avoid swimming. But these days it is just too dangerous to let go. If you board gets ripped out of your hands by a wave then it’s what it is, you didn’t ditch it on purpose. But if you just let it go and it hits and injures somebody else, that is YOUR FAULT. Don’t do it. Period. by Corky Carroll Here is part 3 of my occasional series on people that I have known in the surfing world who I have found to be more interesting than the average surf dude or dudette than you might meet. People that offer more in a conversation than just the standard surf babble and all that bla blab la. Today I want to talk about the late, extremely great, Mike Doyle. I almost decided to not include Mike in this series due to the fact that I have written about him a lot in the past. But I just could not leave him out of this conversation due to the fact that he was really the epitome of a very interesting person. He had so many facets to his persona. As a surfer his accomplishments have been well documented. He is legendary and generally recognized as one of the all-time greats. His overall skills sometimes tend to get overlooked, so I am going to point them out. He was as good as, or the best, big wave surfer of his era (the 1960’s). He was a top-rated competitive surfer, usually in the top 10. He was a world class paddleboard racer and also excelled in all the lifeguard water skills. He could do it all in the water at the highest levels. He also was a first-class skier and invented the “Mono-ski.” This evolved into the modern “Snowboard.” Along with that he innovated many modern floatation devices used in lifesaving even to this day. And, of course, he was a top surfboard designer and the innovator of the worlds first soft surfboard, the “Morey-Doyle.” His surfboard designs are of the highest quality and are still marketed today right here in Lake Forest. If that isn’t enough, then there was his art. Mike was a well-known and fantastic artist. His paintings sell in the five figure range. Before he passed away in 2019, he owned and ran his own gallery in San Jose del Cabo. I could go on and on about all the cool stuff Mike Doyle was known for, but I don’t have a zillion words to work with here. I would rather tell you about why I liked him and what influence he had on my life. The short version. Mike picked me up hitch hiking home for surfing at Doheny State Park in about 1961. Shortly after that we began to see each other at surfing events and became friends. For a short time he lived with us at our home in Surfside while he attended Long Beach State College, during which time he took me to many surf events and on surfing trips. He was a great person to have as a mentor, super good values, and an incredible sense of humor. It’s the sense of humor part that has always endeared me to people. I like people who laugh a lot. Mike was a very funny dude. He and Mickey Munoz were my main “older guy” influences when I was a young teen and before I could drive. It was not only with the surfing that Mike had influence on me though. He was also into art and I was interested in that. He painted cool stuff. One time he had a giant totem pole on the bottom of his board. In Hawaii he would paint faces on coconuts and leave them laying around. He was very good and helped me with some of my early art attempts, a lot of which I still use today in my paintings. Probably the biggest reason I found Mike interesting is just the fact that he was almost always smiling when you ran into him and he had such a range of stuff to talk about and share. Plus the dude was a great chick magnet, hanging out with him never hurt in the “lets go find some chicks” part of growing up. There were so many things we did together on top of the ones already mentioned. We played tennis and music, and told a lot of jokes. Mike Doyle, a true life surf hero. To see more of Corky's art, click on the above painting. To get further info and pricing, contact Corky.2/11/2023 0 Comments A DAY AT THE BAYby Corky Carroll As some of you might know, I have wandered into the art phase of my life in this past year. I have done paintings for many years but never really approached them with anything other than a fun way to pass some time. In the mid 1980’s I got into doing some airbrush art that I sold in a small gallery in Dana Point, those did pretty well. I was able to use some office space in the back of the SURFER magazine building to do them while I was working there as Advertising Director. I stopped doing those when I left that job to do a clothing line with Sundek. About 20 years ago a friend gave me a small acrylics set and I dabbled with some simple paintings. I hung a few of them on the wall at our surf house and guests started buying them. This was still all in the just for the fun of it stage. During this past year I haven’t been able to surf as much as I would like due to some health issues, so I got much deeper into painting. Somewhere along the line it really captured me and has kept my stoke totally alive and burning. I post them on Facebook and thankfully they have been selling. This brings me to this weeks story. I recently did a painting of Honolua Bay on Maui, as I remember it from surfing there in 1964. Sometimes when I post I include a story behind the painting, and I did with this one. It was suggested that I elaborate on this one further, so here it is…. The fuller story behind the “Honolua Bay ‘64” painting. In December of 1964 I was on the North Shore doing one of those annual surf trips to catch some big waves and surf in the annual Makaha International Championship. A big swell was on it’s way and everybody was getting ready for it. A guy named Curt Mastalka, who I had stayed with the previous summer across the street from Ala Moana, was starting to make a surf movie. He came buy and asked if I wanted to fly over to Maui with him and Jock Sutherland to get some footage of us surfing Honolua Bay. I had only heard stories about this beautiful and fantastic surf spot. It only broke on big swells as it was in a position on the island where the waves had to wrap around a corner. Took a huge swell to make it happen.
I jumped at the chance, in those days hardly anybody was surfing there yet. The three of us flew over to score a day at the bay. Unfortunately, the airline didn’t bring our boards. With only a tiny window to catch the swell, we didn’t have time to wait for another day or two for our boards to arrive. So, we drove out to Lahaina and went to see Ryan Dotson, who had a small surf shop there. We could rent a couple of boards from him. While visiting the shop I met Joanne, who would later marry my pal Billy Hamilton. She had a small baby, maybe six or seven months old, in a crib. I did the standard “oh what a cute baby,” and went to do the “goochie goochie goo” thing. As I reached in the crib to tickle his tummy he hauled off and bit me. Well, I should say “gummed” me. This was how I originally met my longtime pal Laird John Hamilton. In later years when Laird was maybe eight or nine and Joanne had married Billy they lived on the North Shore, right in front of Pipeline. I used to babysit Laird when they would go out. We would play checkers. If I won he would throw the checkers at me and beat me over the head with the checker board. Classic Laird. I guess this fearless attitude is what gave him the courage to ride the biggest waves known to man or beast when he grew up. We are great pals to this day, love the guy. Jock and I got to surf a beautiful day at Honolua Bay, only us in the water. It wasn’t big but it was perfect and the whole thing was pretty magical. What a beautiful spot and a beautiful wave. A friend of mine had sent me a photo of another pal, Mark Martinson, surfing there back then and asked if I could paint that. I did, and when I got done I did another one of just the wave itself with nobody around. Exactly the way I remember it from that day in December of 1964. Pristine and perfect. And that’s the story. 1/27/2023 3 Comments PAT CURREN, a Surfers Surferby Corky Carroll Last Sunday I wasn’t feeling great so I decided to stay in bed all day and watch the stream of the “EDDIE AIKAU BIG WAVE INVITATIONAL” surfing event. This is an extremely prestigious surfing competition that is held at Oahu’s famous Waimea Bay on the North Shore. They only hold it when the surf is very big, so many years go by without the running of the “Eddie,” simply because it doesn’t get big or good enough. The event honors the great Hawaiian big wave surfer, the late Eddie Aikau. I was a judge for the very first running back in 1976 and have always felt close to this competition as I was also very good friends with Eddie and his family. I always try to watch it if I can. Somewhere in the commentary they mentioned that the also legendary big wave charger, Pat Curren, had passed away. Wow, I was thinking how….well, I am not sure of the correct term… it was that Pat would die on the day of the first running of the Eddie in many years. Erie maybe, or perhaps fitting? Pat Curren was one of the very first true “big wave riders.” He was raised in La Jolla and learned to surf at the powerful surf spot called Windansea. His first trip to Hawaii in 1955 changed his life. After that he dedicated himself to surfing and that was that. One of the reasons I relate to him so much, it was the same for me. In 1957 he was among the first crew to surf Waimea Bay. After that he began to design and build the first surfboards specially made to ride giant surf. There were called “Big Guns,” or “Elephant Guns.” The whole purpose of the design was to be able to catch the giant waves and make it from point A, the take-off spot, to point B, the channel, as safe and secure as possible. Not an easy feat in those days, or even now.
As I was watching the event, I couldn’t help to think to myself I wonder what Pat would have thought about all the jet skis pulling the surfers out to the line up, plus the use of leashes and television coverage going on. In my day we didn’t have any of that, but there were other people out there with you and they did rescues with helicopters. In his day there was just him and a few other early risk takers and that was it. Death was a much realer reality. (did I just say “realer reality”? Haha, I like that). Pat was considered the top big wave rider of the first crop of big wave riders. He was named one of the top 20 surfers in the world by the first SURFER magazine Poll in the early 1960’s. His was what you would call a “big name.” But he was not comfortable in the limelight and kept to himself. He married and moved to Santa Barbara. In 1964 his first son Tom was born. Everybody that knows anything about surfing will know that Tom went on to win three World Championships and become one of the greatest and most respected surfers of all time. He also shares his fathers’ resistance to the limelight and even with his enormous fame has remained a very private person in his own right. Super good musician too. In the early 1980’s Pat left the family and moved to Costa Rica to live a quiet life dedicated to strictly surfing. More of why I relate to him, the dude wanted to surf and that was it. So that’s what he did. He later moved to an area called the “East Cape,” near Cabo San Lucas on the southern tip of Baja. He lived out his last years surfing there in warm water and uncrowded waves. As I was watching all these new chargers taking off on these giant waves that Pat Curren had pioneered, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the people watching would even have a clue as to who Pat was when they announced his passing, let alone his contribution to what was taking place at that moment. He was 90 years old, a true “surfers SURFER.” by Corky Carroll Today I would like to carry on with my “surfings most interesting people” series. These are profiles on people whom I have met over the zillion years that I have been involved in surfing that I have found to be more interesting than most for one reason or another. These are people that were great to sit down and have a conversation with that didn’t center around current surfing events. The late Dr Timmothy Leary once told me, “We are all surfers riding different waves. Ocean waves, cosmic waves, radio waves….(and he went on to name a whole bunch more, ending with ‘permanent waves.’). People that I have found the most interesting always had a lot more to talk about than “I got a big one yesterday,” kinda stuff. John Severson was one of those dudes. For those of you who don’t know or are too young to remember, this is the guy who first published SURFER magazine back in 1960. He was a leading surf movie producer and incredible artist. He was a guy who had all the creds to talk surf all day long if that was what you were looking for. But the dude was a lot deeper than that. I first met John at one of his movie showings at Laguna Beach High School in the early 1960’s. I had sent in a photo for the “Photos from the Readers” section in SURFER that he had run. That night I won the door prize, a poster I think, and when I went up to get it he remembered my name and we talked for a while after the movie. He was urging me on to continue my photography as there was a great need for surf photos. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t really a photographer, that I had just happened to snap the photo with my mom’s old “box” camera one day from the Huntington Beach Pier. But he was being so supportive and encouraging that I just went with it. John was a decent surfer in his own right and had won the Peru International in 1961. And he was an excellent photographer and journalist. But his real love, and probably his strongest talent, was as an artist. His paintings go for pretty big bucks, in the five-figure range. He also was an excellent golfer, but we won’t hold that part against him.
I got to be good pals with John in the early sixties when he built his home at Cotton’s Point. That was the spot I surfed at most of the time. We would see each other in the water all the time and always were able to strike up a conversation while waiting for waves. Naturally, through surfing, we started having a lot of interaction to do with the magazine. He was the one who recommended me for the “Jantzen International Sports Club.” Many times I would be invited to John and his wife Louise’s home for dinner, and that led to our infamous afternoon Scrabble matches on the beach. The guy was almost impossible to beat at Scrabble, plus he had the worlds most expensive and comprehensive dictionary known to man or beast. I only got to see it if I was foolish enough to challenge a word. We would set up a board on the beach at Cottons Point, in front of his house, on many afternoons when we thought the wind was going to go down and the surf was gonna get good. Normally he would beat my brains out, gleefully at that, and then we would go surfing. When I was first getting interested in painting I asked John for his thoughts on what I was doing. His words always stuck with me and to this day I have followed his advice. He said, “Keep doing exactly what you are doing because you have your very own style and it’s not a copy of anybody else. If you stick with that it will work out fine.” My wife, the pretty Raquel, says the same thing when she see’s me looking at the work of my fav artists online. I will say, “I wanna do THAT.” She will say that’s not me and to stick with what I do because that’s how I can put the right “feeling” into the art. It was John Severson who opened my eyes to that. He did what he did and it was amazing and his words had a huge influence on me. These days where I have become serious about doing art I have thought about him a lot. In his later years John lived on Maui and had a small art gallery in Lahaina. He surfed and painted until his passing in2017 at the age of 84. Definitely one of the most interesting people I know in surfing. 12/31/2022 0 Comments TRANSITION TIMEby Corky Carroll We are at the end of another year and the sport of surfing is in a very “transitional” period as far as I see it. In the competitive arena, I guess you would call this the “sport” part, it looks like we are seeing the final days of the Kelly Slater competitive marathon. He enters the coming year approaching 51 years old, yes…. I did say 51 years old, ranked at number 17 in the world. This will be his 32nd year on the World Professional Tour and he currently holds 11 World Titles. Now, I am not saying this will be his last year either, but that is my guess. I mean, why retire if you are still top 20 in the world and making a ton of money doing it? But just think about it, how can a dude 51 years old be top 20 in the world? It is beyond amazing. I don’t have an adjective for it, there is none. It’s just a thing that is beyond a word. We had thought that John John Florence, the North Shore phenom, was going to take over as Kelly slid out of the number one position. Due to injuries and what not, that hasn’t happened. The tour is up for grabs, the Brazilians having a bit of an edge at the moment. The competitive part of surfing is definitely in transition. Then there is the emergence of one Kai Lenny, from the island of Maui. I, for one, never thought anybody would go beyond what Laird Hamilton was doing in giant surf and with use of multiple wave riding vehicles. Laird was riding the biggest waves with the least amount of fear and was coming up with ideas and designs for new equipment that was definitely broadening the scope of riding waves. His ideas are still valid, only might have been refined as time always makes happen. But then, along comes this wild and fearless kid Kai Lenny. And this is not exactly news, he has been taking the “giant surf” thing to a whole new level for a number of years now, although recently has been doing things on another level altogether. Arials on 80 foot waves. I saw one video of him free falling at least 40 or 50 ft on one wave and pulling it off with no problemos. The guy is just radical to the max. And, he rides everything that will float. Transitioning from Laird level to Kai level. Mind blowing stuff And that brings us to the waves that are being ridden. On one hand you have people like Kai Lenny and others going for waves bigger and bigger all the time. Waves we never thought possible back in the 60’s and 70’s when I was still of the opinion that the waves I was taking off on where actually 200 to 300 ft, when they were only being called 20 to 30 ft. Today they are riding waves three times as big as we were. How do they survive? Don’t ask me, I just shake my head and go “wow!”
Besides big waves we are also seeing the construction of more and more wave pools being built around the world. Many people are of the opinion that as more of these are opened throughout inland and landlocked areas it will change the face of surfing in a number of ways. Just the sheer numbers of people surfing is bound to increase. Competitions held in pools where every wave is the same will be different. I am also guessing that the styles and techniques of those who exclusively ride man made waves will also be different. Just how, not sure, but when you know exactly what’s going to happen with the wave it has to make you look at what you are going to do in a different way. This is more transition. Things are changing, some faster than others. It’s not a “revolutionary” kind of thing, like we saw in the late 1950’s and late 1960’s when boards changed from wood to foam and then from long to short. It’s more subtle, but it is happening. It will be interesting to write this piece again at this time next year and just see how things went down. Stay tuned. |