Milestones in Surf History Part Twenty Three (#147 - #153)

Milestones in Surf History Part Twenty Three (#147 - #153)

by Sam Bleakley

#147 : 1982 Japanese Surf Boom to the Marui Pro : Japan was a key player in the growing schedule of IPS World Toru events throughout the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Surfing had been spreading like wildfire in Japan since the mid ‘60s, largely inspired by Tak Kawahara in the Shonan Beach area. In 1967 in Tokyo the Summerland water park featured a 200 ft long wave pool ‘Surfatorium’. By the late 1970s Tokyo had a hot first generation of riders, including Norihiko Okano and Hiromisha Soeda. By the early 1980s big name shapers such as Dick Brewer, Gerry Lopez and Robert August were in huge demand, flown over for intensive board building residencies. The Japanese led the field in neoprene production and wetsuit brands such as Victory and Hotline. By 1982, surf products made up to $10 million of Marui’s (a Japanese department store) annual sales. Marui sponsored its first pro tour contest in 1981 in Chiba. The following year was blessed with steaming overhead offshore surf. The results proved to be highly symbolic for the performance surfing to come for the decade. MR was now plagued by a bad back. He would win his fourth and final world title in 1982, but at the Marui Pro he lost early. In the semis a young 18 year old Californian ace from Santa Barbara called Tommy Curren beat Shaun Tomson (then the best tuberider in the world) with a long, precise barrel. The ‘Freeride’ generation was no longer dominant. In the man-on-man final ethereal flowing regularfooter Curren met 21 year old Australian power-turning goofyfooter Tom Carroll. It was a nailbitter. Curren won by a hair. The new editor of ‘Surfer’ magazine Paul Holmes wrote, “And so a new era gets underway. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on one of these guys to take next year’s world championship – and, between them, another few titles after that.” Cornishman Paul Holmes knew the score as both former editor of ‘Tracks’ magazine and contest director of the world’s richest contest, the Coke Surfabout in Syndey. In 1979 he made it the first mobile event, airlifting the entire contest at Coke’s expense from Sydney to better waves at Bells Beach, Victoria. Holmes edited 100 issues of ‘Surfer’ between 1981 and 1989, during a cash-rich neon-lit surf boom that impacted Japan, France and Brazil as much as the traditional powerhouses of waveriding. Curren is pictured here at the OP Pro in 1983 by Jeff Divine.

 

#148 : 1982 Debbie Beacham Equality in Surfing : In 1977 as Women’s Pro Surfing was taking off, Californian Debbie Beacham was a founding member of the so-called Golden Girls, alongside International Professional Surfers (IPS) competitors Jericho Poppler, Shannon Aikman, Candy Woodward, Lisa Tomb, Brenda Scott Roggers and Betty Depolito. They wanted to create a global awareness for women in surfing, and worked tirelessly as surfing ambassadors. Their performances where second to none, riding hard railed pin-tailed single-fins, and charging Sunset Beach and solid Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz. Beacham rode in an upright, elegant style, flexing into a solid power attack for big manoeuvres. She kicked off the 1982 World Tour year with a brilliant win in thumping waves at Bells Beach, and placed high enough in the subsequent events to take the World Title, a dream come true. The following year a new wave of teenage rippers exploded into surfing, led by Americans Kim Mearig and Frieda Zamba, and Australians Jodie Cooper and Pam Burridge. Beacham quickly found her feet as a great organizer and promoter. She was now president of the Women's Professional Surfing Association (WPS), developing a five-contest pro circuit and securing big names sponsors Mazda and Hang Ten. When the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) formed through Ian Cairns in 1983, Beacham spearheaded the merger of the WPS with the ASP seeking higher visibility, better contest earnings and more World Tour events for women. From 1985 to 1991 she also worked for ‘Surfer’ magazine’s advertising department, pouring her remaining time and energy into events. On the board of the ASP as the women’s representative until 1991, she was highly instrumental in working towards equality in professional surfing. A must watch is ‘Surfer Girl’ (1994), an award-winning documentary coproduced by Beacham, shot in 16 mm film, and starring Beacham, Frieda Zamba, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, and Jodie Cooper. Beacham is pictured here at Off The Wall in 1983 by Craig Fineman.

#149 : 1983 Ocean Fever : Steve Soderbergs early ‘80s stoke-soaked film ‘Ocean Fever’ captures the full spectrum of surfing at a time when seemingly every possible board design, fin configuration and surfing style was both on the map and in action. '83 had it all. Those in the know rate the zany ‘Ocean Fever’ as a must watch thanks to the Bud Brown style narration, slapstick comedy (the Valley Punks skateboard sequence is a beauty), the first footage of Todos Santos in Baja, an epic Pipeline Masters, Buttons Kaluhiokalani and Mark Liddell in full “loose in the juice” antics, Joey Buran ripping, Todd Martin spinning 360s, and the rise of Op Pro at Huntington Beach Pier with silky Tom Curren. Smooth surfing Californian Soderberg gained massive streetcred for ‘A Matter of Style’ (1976) documenting a transition in Hawaii from Hakman, Lopez, Russell and Bertlemann soul to Townend, Tomson and Kealoha attack. Soderberg said, “Shaun was the kind of guy who remembered everyone and was easy to talk to. For a shy guy like myself this made filming more enjoyable. I seemed to get along best with some of the Hawaiians, probably because they were so laid back. Guys like Buttons and Liddell had such a hilarious sense of humour…Intelligent and witty guys, they were refreshing because they took neither pro surfing nor themselves seriously.” Over a decade later, Soderberg’s ‘Ticket to Ride’ (1987) featured next generation Hawaiians Ronnie Burns and Johnny-Boy Gomes in the South Pacific. Talking of the pioneer shoot at Todos in ‘Ocean Fever’, Soderberg says, “During the El Nino winter of ‘81-82 Todos had the largest waves I had ever seen. No one on that trip had expected waves that big and the surfers had neither the necessary guns nor the big wave attitude to go along with them. To his credit Jeff Parker had the huevos to paddle out totally alone and catch a massive shoulder so we could get an idea of how gigantic the sets were.” The 1982 Op Pro ‘Ocean fever’ edit is excellent. It became an era defining annual event up until 1998, quickly the world's biggest and most heavily marketed comp, with 50,000 spectators on site. Combined prize money for the men's and women's divisions of the '82 event was $35,000. 18-year-old Tom Curren was blazing. Cheyne Horan, riding his trademark Geoff McCoy Lazer Zap single fin, completed a backside 360 to beat Shaun Tomson in the final. Hawaiian Becky Benson took the women's division. Over the next few years the Op Pro became a showdown between Curren and Mark ‘Occy’ Occhilupo. Curren won in ’83 (pictured here by Larry ‘Flame’ Moore), ‘84 and ‘88, Occy won in ‘85 and ‘86. Floridian Frieda Zamba won six times between ‘84 and ‘94.

#150 : 1983 Michael and Derek Ho and Dane Kealoha dominate the first Triple Crown of Surfing : As the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) emerged in 1983, organisers could not iron out a strategy with International Professional Surfers (IPS) co-founder and North Shore contest promoter Fred Hemmings to include Hawaii events in the new schedule. Consequently, Hemmings consolidated the Pipeline Masters, the Duke Kahanamoku Classic and the World Cup into the Triple Crown, and Randy Rarick was the Director. The ASP warned that surfers who entered the 1983 Triple Crown contests would be stripped of their world tour ratings. But the top two Hawaiians of the moment, Michael Ho and Dane Kealoha, were in, and the following year some of the Triple Crown events merged with the ASP tour. in '83 Kealoha won the Duke and the Masters, but placed low in the World Cup. Michael Ho placed well in the Duke and the Masters, won the World Cup and won the Triple Crown. Kealoha and Michael Ho were the best Hawaiian tuberiders of the early ‘80s. Kealoha was small, but formidable, with strong thighs, a low centre of gravity and incredible balance, always finding speed pockets and seeming more at ease the more intense the wave became, especially at Backdoor Pipeline. He improved Shaun Tomson’s groundbreaking techniques and made the powerful and precise pigdog attack his trademark. And Kealoha was humble, describing fellow Hawaiian Michael Ho as "the godfather of the North Shore." Like Kealoha, Ho had incredible positioning, but always followed the simplest and cleanest lines into the most terrifying parts of the wave, emerging unscathed. His younger brother Derek was equally talented. The Ho brothers dominated the Triple Crown throughout the ‘80s and became the first siblings to both place in the year-end pro tour top 16 in 1985. Describing Derek Ho, Matt Warshaw wrote, “Tuberiding was his strength, and in hollow waves, especially at Pipeline, he rode with sublime precision and elegance.” Derek Ho was ranked fifth after nine events in 1993, with just the Pipeline Masters remaining. The final day of the contest was held in epic conditions, and as the four contenders ahead of him were all eliminated after the quarterfinals, Ho cooly won the contest, a fourth Triple Crown and the World Tour title deservedly went to the Ho family. Derek was the first male Hawaiian to win the World Tour. Dane Kealoha is pictured here at Sunset in 1985 by Tom Servais.

#151 : 1983 Tom Carroll Power Hack : If anyone embodied the shift from the flair of the ‘Free Ride’ generation to the '80s Aussie power surfers, it was Tom Carroll, back to back World Champion in 1983 and ’84. Raised in Newport, Syndey, and inspired by pioneering local legend Col Smith, Carroll made waves back in 1979 in the final of the Pipeline Masters. He seemed to be able to fuse the lines and finesse of Gerry Lopez with commanding vertical maneuvers when most were kicking out or gunning for the safety of the shoulder. His energy was stored in his thighs, unleashing catapult turns with poise, and never compromising style. Over a decade later one particular snap at Pipeline (on his trademark hot pink sweep spray Byrne, helmet on head, pictured here by Jeff Divine) was draw-dropping: hard bottom-turn on a huge overhead wave, lip crashing, vertical up the face, rail engaged like never before and THWACK. His world title battles shifted between two eras, from Shaun Tomson to Tom Curren (and Carroll heavily influenced Mark Occhilupo and Martin Potter). Few could touch Carroll in the big stuff (no surprise he pioneered Australian tow surfing in the 2000s with Ross Clarke-Jones), where Matt Warshaw explains he “was a marvel: planting his back foot squarely over the tail section of his board and assuming a fencer's stance, he adapted perfectly to the given surf break, drawing long and sinewy lines across the bottom-heavy rollers at Sunset, or hooking fiercely under the curl at Bells Beach, or flying arrowlike through the tube at Pipeline. ‘I've always thought that's where you see the true TC,’ …Nick Carroll wrote… ‘alone in that utterly silent moment of freefall down the face of the wave, the impossibly accurate first turn, the perfect stillness and control in the midst of chaos.’” In 1985 Carroll boycotted the South African events on the world tour to protest against apartheid, saying he'd taken "a basic humanitarian stand" and that he wouldn't return "until black surfers are allowed on all beaches." Three years later he signed the first million-dollar sponsorship on an exclusive five-year contract with Quiksilver. But Carroll battled hard: his mum died of cancer when he was young, just before the finals of the 1987 Pipeline Masters he learned his older sister had been killed in a car accident, he suffered drug addiction and rehab, he had double knee surgery and a perforated rectum after being speared by the nose of his board. Warshaw further explains, “He was confident but not arrogant, emotional but not volatile, dignified but still matey. He projected a sense of gratitude - not just for a career that afforded him prestige and a handsome living, but for the good luck of having been born a surfer.”

#152 : 1983 Kim Mearig California’s ‘Queen of the Coast’ : While Australia was producing hard 

charging, hard cornering power surfers, two high school classmates from Santa Barbara, Kim Mearig and Tom Curren, injected some timeless smooth flowing Californian cool back into surfing. 300 metres of oily wintertime right pointbreak at Rincon was not only the ‘Queen of the Coast’ but also the perfect playground to produce elegance and panache. But don’t forget the aggression: if you want to get waves at this ultra busy line up you have to get serious, and this attitude was fundamental for the Mearig and Curren competition recipe. Mearig caught the surf bug riding air mats, before becoming obsessed with skateboarding, soon a Santa Barbara Skateboards team rider, competing in freestyle and pool events. Mearig says, “The first time I ever stood up on a board I was 11 years old and it was at Sandspit and I rode it all the way to the beach. Totally hooked at that moment. The board I was riding was my uncle's 6'10" single fin with the word ‘Thought’ on it.” Mearig’s immediate surfing hero was Rell Sunn. Encouraged by local shaper Al Merrick, she was soon competing with schoolmate Curren, and she offered an equal masterclass in style: timing, flow, carve, let the wave do the work, then a flashy punctuation when necessary. Like Curren she signed a lucrative deal with Ocean Pacific, now the highest paid female professional on record, crowned with a World Title in 1983. She was a huge role model for the ‘90s generation. "(Mearig) was someone I looked up to," said Lisa Anderson. "She had a really smooth style and I even copied her pink and yellow Victory wetsuits." Mearig missed a second World Title by a whisker on two occasions later in the ‘80s to Freida Zamba and Wendy Botha. But she never stopped ripping at Rincon, never sacrificed her surfing composure in trademark pink and pastel blue wetsuits on a yellow Merrick, her best performances the envy of many. Describing her contest prowess, Paul Holmes wrote in ‘Surfer’ magazine, "she uses her legs and hands to create the closest thing to a wave-dance a surf contest will ever see." Photo : Simone Reddingius.

#153 : 1984 The Surfrider Foundation : Surfrider was the original surfing-based environmental organisation founded in 1984 in San Clemente, California, by Glenn Hening, Tom Pratte and Lance Carson. Shocked by the health risks associated with environmental threats posed by escalating coastal development, their mission statement was simply ‘The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network.’ Today, like the UK’s Surfers Against Sewage and a number of powerful organisations around the planet, Surfrider’s programs have expanded to Rise Above Plastics and serious work on the recreational, economic and ecological value of waves. Hening simply coined Surfrider after the Surfrider Inn in Santa Monica, where he stayed when he was eight-years-old and first visited the west coast with his family. He said he originally envisioned the group as “a sort of Cousteau Society for surfers,” with surf schools and outreach programs, a surf film production house, and a design department to build artificial reefs. Yet issues such as the beginning with river runoff contamination in Malibu lagoon instantly kept Surfrider focused on educational-activistism and hallmark achievements in water quality, coastal preservation, beach access and ocean protection followed. Early victories included the lift a no-surfing ordinance at the Santa Maria Rivermouth in Santa Barbara and gaining public beach access to South Cardiff State Beach. In 1986 Surfrider stopped a breakwater project at San Diego’s Imperial Beach. Surfrider’s best educational programs have included Respect the Beach, aimed at students, and the Blue Water Task Force, for ocean-water quality testing. Pratte had relentlessly battled Chevron Oil for years over a wave-compromising jetty the company had built at El Segundo. Just before Pratte died of cancer in 1994, Chevron agreed to fund the construction of what was named ‘Pratte's Reef,’ an artificial reef about one mile north of the jetty. Sadly it proved a failure, and was dismantled in 2008. Battling uncertainty has been common in Surfrider’s convoluted history. Solid marketing successes included the three ‘Music for Our Mother Ocean (MOM)’ benefit albums, with Pearl Jam, Jane’s Addiction, Brian Wilson, Chris Isaak and Beck, raising $300,000. In 2010, Surfrider launched Beachapedia, cataloguing coastal science information. By 2013, Surfrider had over 250,000 members spread out over 100 chapters worldwide. Join the campaigns and be active so future generations can continue to enjoy the likes of these California swell lines pictured by Woody Woodworth.