Milestones in Surf History Part Twenty (#126 - #132)

Milestones in Surf History Part Twenty (#126 - #132)

by Sam Bleakley

#126 : 1975 Buttons, Liddell and Ben Aipa Stingers : Radical, low-carving Hawaiian Larry ‘Rubberman’ Bertlemann had inspired a new progressive Californian skateboarding style in the mid ‘70s. Bertlemann’s surf buddies were fellow Hawaiians Buttons Kaluhiokalani and Mark Liddell. They were translating the spontaneous skateboard moves of Tony Alva and Jay Adams back in to surfing. Ben Aipa, who shaped their boards, moved the fin radically forward, added spilt-rail wings and cut the length down so short that they moved like skateboards on the wave face. He called them Sting or Stingers (because they were so fast it looked like the rider was stinging the wave). Aipa, from Honolulu, was an outstandingly agile surfer and innovative shaper. In 1968 he made the board that Fred Hemmings used to win the World Championships (and later Aipa would shape the earliest designs in the longboard renaissance). Aipa Surfboards was founded in 1970, and Aipa soon came into his greatest influence as a designer and surf coach, inventing the double-ended swallowtail in 1972, followed two years later by the split-rail Stinger. Both designs were ridden to electrifying effect by Bertlemann, Dane Kealoha, Michael Ho, Buttons and Liddell. The swallowtail provided the width and volume for speed, while the split at the end loosed up the wide planing surface, making the board easier to turn. Aipa was driven to speed up the surfing of his test-pilots and make it even more radical. “I figured I could do that by taking a section out of the middle of the board,” Aipa explained, “about a third up from the tail, right about where the surfer sits on the board. That would make the board shorter and create a wing – we’d already been putting wings on the tail – and make a step in the rocker.” It was 1975 when the stinging Stinger shot to prominence as Buttons and Liddell set a new high-performance standard in small waves. “Getting loose in the juice,” was Buttons’ motto. He was as spontaneous as wild water breaking, stringing together turns, cutbacks, tuberides, tailslides, and 360s with outlandish ease. His best buddy Mark Liddell was nimble and spidery: a perfect match for the fast-cornering Stinger. Both Buttons and Liddell defined Hawaiian hotdog surfing in the mid-1970s and mastered the 360-degree turn 15 years before Kelly Slater and the Momentum generation. Kaisers was their favourite Waikiki surf spot and Alan Rich (who had made ‘Saltwater Wine’ in 1973) showcases the duo in sizzling form in ‘Playgrounds in Paradise’ (1976). For more also watch Steve Soderberg’s ‘Ocean Fever’ (1983). Image : Jeff Divine.

#127 : 1970s Lynn Boyer On Fire : By the early 1970s Haleiwa’s Lynn Boyer was described as the female Larry Bertlemann – an electrifying Hawaiian who reinvented hotdog surfing. Boyer’s rise to greatness came from her reputation in the heavier juice. Her low carving rail surfing was sensational. But she could weave her magic in both solid and small waves with aggressive tight turns and trademark brightly sprayed boards with a ribbon pattern across the deck. In 1975, fresh from high school, Boyer painted her tight cornering moves across the walls at Malibu and won the Hang Ten Pro Championships, earning a cool $1,500 (for the time). Four-time world champion Margo Oberg said, "You could say she was a more radical surfer than I was. She was pretty, she had wild red hair, she painted her boards up…she sure looked radical." Oberg had a classic upright style, while Boyer was low and attacking. In the earliest days of the women's world tour (starting in 1977), Oberg and Boyer dominated. Boyer claimed back-to-back World Titles in 1978 and ’79. She has some great sequences in ‘Playgrounds in Paradise’ (1976) and ‘Five Summer Stories Plus Four’ (1977). Boyer unexpectedly disappeared from surfing, then in 1997 admitted to the 'Honolulu Star-Bulletin', "It was lonely at the top. You have all these secrets, and you can't let everyone know who you are because they might get an edge on you." She re-emerged from a long period of drug and alcohol addiction, got sober, and became a prominent artist, specializing in oil paintings of tropical seascapes and scenery. Here she is pictured in fine form snapping under the hook at Sunset by Jeff Divine.

#128 : 1970s Sea Gypsies Kevin Naugton and Craig Peterson : Documenting their threadbare adventures through the likes of El Salvador, Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Morocco, France, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Barbados and Fiji in ‘Surfer’ magazine (sent in as handwritten text and colour slides), Californians Kevin Naugton and Craig Peterson fuelled the travel imagination throughout the 1970s. The duo both pioneered numerous breaks and captured the rainbow spectrum of surf tripping, from the dead end, to the haunting, to the hilarious, to the exotic secret spot. “This wasn’t a game of show and tell," reflected Naughton, who earned degrees in English Literature at UCLA and Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College, Dublin. A trip to Central America in 1973 in Peterson's VW van sparked the travel partnership. Peterson took the photos, they shared the writing (in the third person), and both surfed. “Life on the road is rife with hazards,” said Naughton. “Fortunately, we were too young and naïve to know any better. My guardian angle was working overtime, but the sense of freedom, of being on the road on a great adventure was a powerful sensation, a wild time.” ‘Surfer’ ran 13 Naughton-Peterson stories between 1973 to 1989 (nine of them prior to 1979). Peterson produced six cover shots for ‘Surfer’, including perfect surf at Tavarua in 1984 entitled, ‘Fiji: A South Pacific Wave Garden’. ‘The Far Shore,’ a documentary on the Naughton-Peterson travels, was produced in 2002. One of Peterson’s best memories is, “walking up a series of points in West Africa in the hot, dry sun, board under arm, just wondering if that perfect wave was around the corner. But there were several times when I thought I was going to lose it in Africa. Each more extreme than the previous. Downward spirals into a total loss of self, far from what I knew to be normal social behaviour. The heart of darkness stuff does happen…The act of getting to these remote places was so arduous and time-consuming that we didn’t get to surf nearly as much as we wanted. So at the time I don’t think that we really found what we were searching for, and it wasn’t until much later when we could put the trips into perspective the we actually realised how fruitful our travels had been and how lucky we.”

#129 : 1970s Randy Rarick Mr Clean : Hawaiian master shaper Randy Rarick is adept at translating his cool, calm confidence surfing big Sunset into everything from sticky situations in hardcore African travel, to dealing with egos when directing the ASP Triple Crown (which he did from its 1983 inception until 2012). He loves to travel, and since dodging the Vietnam draft in the late 1960’s, has surfed in over 60 countries, including Angola, Greece, Colombia, Lebanon, Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Gabon, Kenya, Sao Tome, Namibia, Mozambique, Egypt, Comoros, India and Myanmar. It was no surprise Bruce Brown hired Randy as travel consultant for ‘The Endless Summer II’ (1994), when he got the chance to fly the whole West African coast in a seaplane, map in hand. “I continue to travel because what’s around the next corner always excites me,” says Randy. “You’ve got to remind yourself you’re always a visitor. Just go with openness to engage, give something back and you’ll reap the rewards.” Randy is a connoisseur, not rough-edged, and approaches quality surf breaks with the same mix of the senses that he brings to a gourmet meal and fine wines. “I’ve always had an affinity with Africa because it’s so different to where I live in Hawaii,” says Randy. “In 1971 I was invited to represent Hawaii at the Gunsten 500 surf contest in Durban. I hooked up with Rod Sumpter and Peter Drouyn to film ‘Oceans’ (1972). I’ve never seen J-Bay and Cape St Francis as good as it was on that trip. I came back in 1973 and travelled through southwest Africa in a Land Rover Defender we bought from Pretoria, surfboards loaded on the roof. We even put Hawaiian number plates on it. Once in Angola it was the best adventure in my life. We drove the whole coast. ‘Leave no stone unturned’ was my motto. We broke a half shaft, nearly got trampled by a herd of elephants, Luanda was like the Wild West, and I came back with malaria. But we surfed so many perfect empty points that it was all worth it.” Randy always returned to the North Shore for the winter season, and in 1976, at age 26, he and Fred Hemmings formed the International Professional Surfers (IPS) world circuit. Bruce Jenkins wrote in ‘Mr. Clean’ in ‘Surfer's Journal’, "Of all the surfers who made a difference…(Rarick is) among the handful who never changed. Never took drugs, never bailed out, never lost his stoke, never stopped ripping." Rarick is pictured here by Don James with his 1975 North Shore quiver.

#130 : 1970s Strike ‘Em Down Lightning Bolt Surfboards : Lightning Bolt was founded in Honolulu in 1970 by Gerry Lopez and Jack Shipley, and catapulted to economic highs and lows (in equal measure) by Duke Boyd. Lopez had been using a lightning bolt emblem on his boards since 1969, joined forces with Shipley, and kept the striking image. They had no factory (just a retail store), but the best Hawaiian shapers cooperated with the brand working from their home board stalls, including Bill Barnfield, Tom Parrish, Reno Abellira, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Tom Nellis and Tom Eberly. With Jock Sutherland’s unexpected conscription to Vietnam, the super-smooth Lopez soon crystallized as the Pipeline diamond. Abellira’s contribution was also huge. He had already pioneered a distinctive low crouched, arms-out speed surfing style, and like Lopez, was an exceptional shaper. Boardmaking guru Dick Brewer had taught Abellira the craft. In fact Abellira and Brewer experimented with an early version of the tri-fin in 1970 and 1971. Mark ‘MR’ Richards loved his Abellira-shaped boards, and it was Abellira's stubby double-keeled fish that inspired MR to produce his 1977 twin-fin design. Jeff Hakman was a Bolt-riding specialist, and Rory ‘The Dog’ Russell was one the main Hawaiian Bolt teamriders, winning the Pipeline Masters in 1976 and 1977. Jock Sutherland had mentored Rory into the fine art of tuberiding. Rory's record in the Pipeline Masters from 1973 to 1978 was untouchable. Shipley also gave boards to many of the top visiting surfers including MR, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Shaun Tomson and Margo Oberg. Between '73 and '78 Bolt was ubiquitous with surf press that featured Hawaiian action. But copies of the Bolt brand were equally widespread, and the authenticity of the brand was diluted. Duke Boyd who had owned Hang Ten soon developed the Lightning Bolt Corporation, with all manner of apparel, accessories and swerveballs. "We came out with some really shitty stuff," Lopez later said. Friction ensued and Lopez sold his share in 1980, Bolt now gone from core to commercialized. Many surf brands would follow a similar rollercoaster ride, striking the fine line between appealing to the purists and paying the bills. Photo : Jeff Divine.

#131 : 1970s The Indonesian Dream (part one) : Indonesia quickly became the Shangri-La of adventurous wave riders when Alby Falzon unveiled aquamarine Uluwatu, a sweeping, coral-covered lava reef groomed by southeast tradewinds and located on the southwest corner of the Bukit Peninsula, in the ‘Morning of the Earth’ (1972). The first surfer in Indonesia was in fact American Bob Koke who rode at Kuta Beach in the late 1930s. And Uluwatu may have been ridden in the late '60s by visitors. However, the ‘discovery’ took place in August 1971 when Falzon arrived with Steve Cooney and Rusty Miller. By mid decade Bali was the hottest new spot for the global surf traveller - an enchanting lone Hindu enclave in an overwhelmingly Islamic country. The ocean in Balinese lore was supposedly populated with evil creatures and spirits of the dead. Folklore was shattered by the first wave Balinese surfers - Ketut Menda, Made Kasim and Gede Narmada - who shared waves with regulars Gerry Lopez, Peter McCabe and Jim Banks. American brothers Mike and Bill Boyum and Bob Laverty rode Uluwatu for months at a time with nobody else in the water, but by 1972 the crowding began and Laverty convinced Bill to join him on a search for spots in southeast Java, where they found flawless barrels at Grajagan. Back in Bali, Laverty drowned while surfing Uluwatu, but Mike joined Bill for the next few Grajagan trips, and was inspired to develop the G-land Surf Camp, building a row of wooden-stilt huts along the edge of the jungle in 1974. Gerry Lopez said “it was our surfing monastery,” adding that he preferred G-land to Pipeline. By 1978 the camp (pictured here by Jeff Divine) allowed 10 surfers in at a time over the course of a four-month surf season, charging $100 a day per surfer. Mike Boyum was grossing $250,000 per year by the early 1980s. But Mike Boyum was also drug trafficking, so government permits were pulled and he was on the run from the law (another story altogether). Encasing 54,716 km of coastline spread around 17,000 islands (11,000 of which are uninhabited), the Indo surf story was just beginning…

#132 : 1970s The Indonesian Dream (part two) : Following Uluwatu and Grajagan, the next notable wave ‘discovery’ in Indonesia was the spectacular right tube at Lagundri Bay on the southern end of Nias, off the coast of Sumatra, by Australians Kevin Lovett, John Giesel, Peter Troy, Wendy Adcock, Patrick Waite and New Zealander Michael Day on the 18th of June in 1975. Lovett described being greeted by, "Relentless sets of smokin' 6-to-8 foot almond-eyed waves". Inspired by a map they saw in a chieftain's house in North Sumatra, Lovett and Giesel were on a mission to find Nias. Troy and his partner Wendy Adcock joined them on their final leg in an arduous journey. Michael Day and Patrick Waite arrived by chance at the same time. Michael Day only swam in the break, but crucially could speak Bahasa Indonesian, some local Li Niha, and helped Lovett and Giesel ask the community to build a shack (pictured here) : the humble beginnings of the surf village. Lovett and Giesel lived there for 3 months surfing alone, but Giesel contracted malaria and later died of pneumonia. The community were at first baffled by surfing, but Lovett formed a strong and lasting bond with the place and people, learning from the local siulu (chief and shaman) that he and Giesel had initially been at threat from headhunting, still a common practice in 1975. In 1979 'New Yorker' writer William Finnegan surfed Nias, documented in ‘Barbarian Days’ (2015). Elsewhere, in 1983 Martin Daly started surfing the Mentawais with a small crew (including Mike Boyum) aboard the Indies Trader. I took until 1992 for the surf press to reveal all through footage and images of Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll in epic waves. Drug-running Boyum meanwhile (still on the run from the law) had settled on Siargao in the Philippines in 1989 (in front of the wave that John Callahan would soon name Cloud Nine), but died during a period of fasting. By the 1990s it was clear that Indonesia is filled with a seemingly endless mix of mind-boggling surf from Sumatra to Sumbawa. A pioneer in documenting surf in the region, photographer John Callahan explains, “People have always been compelled to seek out new frontiers and travel is an important part of our surf culture. The easy picking, low hanging fruit has been taken, but with research, time and money there are a lot of un-ridden waves to explore.” Tennessee Williams’ motto in life was ‘make voyages’ and American historian Daniel Boorstin said, “the most important words ever written on the maps of human knowledge are terra incognita – unknown territory.”