Milestones in Surf History Part Eight (#42 - #48)
Milestones in
Surf History Part Eight (#42 - #48)
by Sam Bleakley
#42 : 1925-27 Charles
Justin ‘Snowy’ McAlister rules the roost in Australian surfing : In 1915 Snowy
witnessed Duke’s surfing display at Sydneys Freshwater Beach. "I was
staggered," McAlister later said. "Everyone just clapped and
clapped." McAlister, then 11, had been using his mother's castoff ironing
board to ride nearshore waves, but inspired by the Hawaiian, he made himself a
wooden board, and nurtured waveriding for the next 70 years, earning the title
of the ‘father of Australian surfing’. Fellow Manly surfer Claude West won the
first of six national surfing championships beginning in 1919, before losing to
Snowy in 1925, '26 and '27. In the 1926 meet (held in Newcastle) Snowy
performed a headstand (pictured here) all the way to shore to take the win in
style. Ambitious to broaden the scope of competitions, Snowy began to draw up
signs on the beaches around Manly advertising ‘surfboard rallies’. They were
mobile, following the swell, and attracted a core crew of 12 to 15 surfers,
laying the foundations for future world champions. In the mid ‘60s Snowy wrote
the brilliant ‘Surfing with Snow’ column for Surfing World magazine, delivered
live narration with filmmaker Bob Evans at surf movie screenings, and cofounded
the Australian Surfrider's Association. Since 1987 the Manly Malibu Boardriders
Club has hosted the annual CJ 'Snowy' McAlister Winter Surfing Festival, and
the 1926 headstand is the stuff of legend.
#43 : 1928 Tom Blake Wins the First Major
American Surfing Contest, the Pacific Coast Surfriding Championship at Corona
del Mar, while Mary Ann Hawkins Dominates the Women’s Event in the late ‘30s :
Through the 1920s the population of surfers in California grew slowly from
Santa Monica to San Diego to San Francisco. One of the most popular breaks was
Corona del Mar. The nearby Rendezvous Dance Hall was a happening spot and top
jaunt for touring jazz big bands. On a Saturday night the town rang out like
Bourbon Street, New Orleans, during Mardi Gras. A cement south jetty at Corona
del Mar stretched from the rocks at Big Corona all the way to the beach,
allowing a jacking takeoff and long lilting ride, before surfers climbed up a
chain ladder, ran out on the jetty and repeated the act. Later, harbour
expansion by the city of Newport negatively changed the jetties and waves. Held
under direction of the Corona del Mar Surfboard Club, the main event was a
paddle race from shore to the bell buoy, followed by a surf ride into the
beach. “500 yards and back; first back to win,” Blake remembered. At the
takeoff zone, Blake recalled “Vultee (Gerard Vultee, aeronautical engineer,
designer of aircraft, surfboards and co-founder of Lockheed) arrived first,
then the rest; we all had to wait a few minutes for a set of waves. Vultee and
me took after the first one. He got it and took off on the left side, for
shore. But, the second wave was a bit bigger. I got it and slid right. Vultee’s
wave petered out in the channel; mine carried me all the way in, opposite the
jetty and to shore for a win.” The event was held annually until 1941 (when
World War II put an end to it), dominated by Preston ‘Pete’ Peterson. Mary Ann
Hawkins (pictured here at Palos Verdes by Doc Ball) dominated the Women's event
in the late ‘30s. An incredible swimmer, surfer and paddler, Mary Ann will
feature in milestones to come…
#44 : 1929 Surfing
Makes Encyclopaedia Britannica, Global Politics gets Volatile, Popeye Arrives
and Sunglasses Hit the Highstreet : The Britannica is the oldest
English-language encyclopaedia still in production. It was first published
between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh. A ‘surfing’ entry was made in the 1929
edition picturing Waikiki and “Hawaiians gliding shoreward standing on boards,
as if Gods, propelled by the waves.” For a handful of isolated wannabe surfers
around the world, this picture of a rising wave and a team of riders taking off
framed by Diamond Head, would inspire homemade boards and daredevil antics.
1929 was a prescient year: the Wall Street Crash started the period of The
Great Depression in the US, beginning a world-wide economic crisis until the
mid ‘30's. The globe was becoming more interconnected through the continued
growth of airline travel, but international politics (as usual) was volatile -
Riots broke out between Palestinians and Jews over control of the Western Wall,
initiated in part when British police tore down a screen the Jews had
constructed in front of the Wall. Iraq took a big step toward gaining
independence from the British. The Afghan leader King Amanullah lost power
through revolution and civil war to Habibullāh Kalakani, whose rule only lasted
nine months, before Nadir Shah replaced him, starting a line of monarchs which
would last 40 years. In India, the All India Congress in Lahore declared Indian
independence from Britain. China and Russia engaged in a minor conflict, the
Japanese reading the situation as a sign of Chinese weakness, leading to their
taking control of Manchuria. Global tensions would escalate, ultimately
exploding into another World War. But it’s not all doom and gloom - Popeye the
Sailor, a comic strip character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, made a debut.
(Although it had been created ten years earlier, focused on Olive Oyl). The
comics were adapted into an animated series by Max Fleischer in 1933 promoting
vegetable consumption as Popeye relied on eating a can of spinach to increase his
strength in dangerous situations. Elsewhere, the first public phone booths
appeared in London, and Sam Foster began selling sunglasses from his counter in
Woolworths on the boardwalk in Atlanta, a hit with the sunbathing public.
#45 : 1929 Lewis Rosenberg Surf Surfari UK
Filmed : Lewis Rosenberg, Harry Rochlen and brothers Fred and Ben Elvey, who
lived in London and Hove, had been riding their four foot long wooden bellyboards
on annual holidays to the Westcountry and Channel Islands for almost a decade.
When they saw a newsreel showing
Australians surfing standing up on their longer boards http://aso.gov.au/titles/newsreels/popular-sport-of-surfboarding/clip1/ they were deeply inspired. They set
about building their own eight foot solid wood board, wrapped it in a linen
sheet, and travelled by train from London Paddington to Newquay for a surf
surfari. They also filmed their exploits at Holywell Bay, re-living the pursuit of Hawaiian kings and
queens on deserted Cornish beaches, sometimes naked, and dancing the hula
wearing skirts of seaweed. It is the earliest footage of anyone using a
stand-up board in the UK, a significant milestone in European surfing. The
weather is hot, and the crew of Jewish friends (in their 20s) are tanned like
Polynesian watermen with fit bodies and swept hair. They camp, play music, eat
scones, beach wrestle and trek through the dunes, board under arm. They also
devised a waterproof cover for the camera to capture water footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhi5U6xSXtY
Interviewed by Pete Robinson for the Museum of British Surfing, Harry Rochlen later
explains, “When we swam out and then the waves came, we tried to stand on it
like they did in Australia...Mind you, eventually after practice we managed to
do it… Incredible. It brings back memories: it was really thrilling that
surfing, and especially to be able to stand on the board and then be able to
get onto the beach. They were the good old days…” The late Lewis Rosenberg’s
daughter Sue Clamp revealed the footage to the Museum of British Surfing, who archived,
preserved and transferred it to digital tape. “I had no idea my father’s
surfing would turn out to be so special,” she said. “We knew the films were
important but mainly because they showed the build up to WWII and the racial
and political tension. It’s fantastic the lives of Lewis and his friends is
being remembered in this way.” Alas, their love affair with surfing was cut
short by the WWII, and the board was stolen from Lewis’s home in London. But
watching Harry Rochlen light up at the memory is timeless http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/dec/01/surfing-britain-earliest-known-footage
#46 : 1927-29 The World's First
Artificial Wave Pools Built in Budapest, Hungary and Munich, Germany : The
first wave pool was designed and built in 1927 in the Gellert Baths in
Budapest, famous for its Art Nouveau style with amazing mosaic tiling and a
glass roof. The wave pool was added to the main complex that was developed
between 1912 and 1918. References to healing waters in this location are found
from the 13th C and the hot springs contain calcium, magnesium, hydrocarbonate,
alkalis, chloride, sulfate and fluoride, proven to help with joint and spine
illnesses and respiratory problems. In 1929 the first indoor swimming pool in
Munich created waves for 'indoor bathers' using agitators which pushed waves
through the diving area into a shallow area. Bodysurfing is pictured here in a
Pathe film called ‘Indoor Surfers’. “This is the new kind of swimming bath that
is becoming the rage of Germany,” the caption reads. “No more placid waters for
bathers - the mechanism behind the netting keeps everything moving.” A similar
pool was opened in London with electric pistons that drove massive paddles to
make lapping waves, advertised not for riding, but “to approximate the soothing
ebb and flowing motion of the ocean.” Wave pools, in fact, began their genesis
in the 19th C when extravagant castle builder, King Ludwig II of Bavaria,
electrified a whole lake to create breaking waves for his esteemed guests.
Ludwig’s remarkable architectural projects included the Schloss Neuschwanstein
Castle (‘New Swan-on-the-Rock castle’), a dramatic fortress with soaring
fairy-tale towers. A devotee to music (namely the operas of Richard Wagner), art
and architecture, Ludwig was accused in his day of being mad and wasting money.
Now his legacy is celebrated in Bavaria's most important tourist attractions,
and his grand projects provided employment for many hundreds of locals and
brought a considerable flow of money to relatively poor regions. The first
artificial waves to be ridden by surfers would come in the 1960s… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_A6VDUbSI
#47 : 1929-30 The ‘Swastika’ is the First
Mass-Produced Surfboard : While the swastika is an ancient religious symbol
(sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism) of health and good fortune,
translated as ‘the welfare-bringing thing’ or ‘lucky or auspicious object’ in
Sanskrit, the 1930s would not prove to be the best period to adopt it as your
business logo. Pacific Ready Cut System Homes did just that, making the first
mass produced boards: ten feet long, using redwood strips held together with
lag bolts, finished in LA with new water-hardy glues and weighing 70 pounds.
The brainchild of Meyers Butte, the brochures declared, “Enjoy the thrill of a
Swastika.” A family business, Pacific Systems Homes was founded in 1908, and
made prefab houses that were delivered and assembled on-site by company
workers. The first batch of boards were produced either in late 1929 or early
1930. Pine and redwood replaced the all-redwood boards by 1932. In the mid ‘30s
full-length redwood-edged balsa boards, weighing 45 pounds and costing $40,
were introduced. They were made in production runs of 15 on sawhorses in a
designated dust-free area, and were sold in beach clubs, sports shops, and
high-end department stores. Custom-made models were also available, built by
Pete Peterson and Whitey Harrison. The swastika symbol, also used by American
Indians, Vikings and Greeks as a sign of good luck and harmony, was wood-burned
onto the back. Each board came with a one-year guarantee. “The Swastika boards
were droolers,” said legendary California boardmaker Dale Velzy. “Most of us
had homemade jobs or hand-me-downs, while the rich guys down there at the Bel
Air Bay Club, or the Balboa Bay Club, had the Waikiki models (later name for
the Swastikas). So we'd sneak down to Balboa and steal 'em." Soon
appropriated by the National Socialists in Germany, the company abandoned the
use of the Swastika, changing the line name to ‘Waikiki Surf-Boards’.
Production ended due to lack of demand not long after America's entry into
World War II.
#48 : 1931 Hawaiian Surf Dancing Hits the
Pathé Newsreels : In 1908 Pathé invented the newsreel that was shown in cinemas
prior to a feature film. A 1931 short called ‘Surf Dancing’ notes that “Dancing
in a ballroom is no easy matter. But what of it on a crazy surfing board?” In
the opening scene, a Waikiki beach boy dances the hula through the inside
section before the wave fades out and he dives off. In the next scene tandem
surfing is revealed. Finally, “On your head or your feet – it’s all the same to
these surf riders.” Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French
businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers from
1896. In the early 1900s Pathé became the world's largest film equipment and
production company, as well as a major producer of phonograph records. Pathé
News (first run by Charles Pathé, a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent
era) produced newsreels and documentaries until 1970, offering a powerful
glimpse of cultural movements around the globe. For aspiring surfers who could
not get access to the developments of wave riding in California, Hawaii, South
Africa, Peru and Australia, seeing these newsreels featuring surfing was the
source of hardcore inspiration. Prince Edward was featured surfing in Hawaii in
1920 http://www.britishpathe.com/video/prince-in-hawaii/query/prince+surfing while in 1922 ‘The Surf Girls’ http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-surf-girls/query/surf+girls showcases “Just off San Francisco…where the Surf Girls go…These
are the real surf girls…not the beach ‘touch-and-go’ variety…” ‘Water
Sportites’ in 1931 features some majestic wave riding in Hawaii http://www.britishpathe.com/video/water-sportites/query/water+sportites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na9CoHjattg
