The History of Surfing by Matt Warshaw. Chronicle Books, 496 pages. $50.
While Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz waged court battles over rights to the title Surf City, the beach cities held themselves above the fray, confident in their knowledge that the title belongs to them, as Mike Purpus argues persuasively in Sweetness and Blood by Mira Costa alumnus Michael Scott Moore (Class of ’87) (see review page 36).
Now, with the near simultaneous publications with Scott’s book of The History of Surfing by fellow Mira Costa alumnus Matt Warshaw (class of ‘78), the beach cities can add to their Surf City claim that they are the birthplace of two of surfing’s most critically acclaimed writers.
Of the two Mustangs, Warshaw is better known in surfing circles because of his indispensible The Encyclopedia of Surfing, published in 2003. (“Hap” Jacobs’ given name? Dudley, and that’s Jacobs with a ‘s’ on the end, according to Warshaw’s encyclopedia.)
The four years Warshaw spent writing his encyclopedia uniquely prepared him to write about a sport, which he is quick to argue, “is not just a sport.”
“To one degree or another, I can also be persuaded by all those who cast their view of waved-riding into the near and far regions of art, religion, philosophy and metaphysics,” he writes in the introduction.
Following the examples of Californian Historian Kevin Starr, whom he cites in his bibliography, and “People’s” historian Howard Zinn, Warshaw plots surfing’s history through its many colorful figures. The writing has a genuinely personal tone because Warshaw, a former competitive surfer, grew up in the epicenter of California surfing during the years spanning four of the eight historical stages he breaks the sport’s history into.
His firsthand research allows him to write with authority and bring to life with well chosen details events such as the Dewey Weber Invitational Long Board Classic at the Manhattan Beach pier in 1981.
“Just before the finals an announcer directed everyone’s attention to the pier, where a ‘very special guest’ was watching – and sure enough, there was burly, big wave-legend Greg Noll leaning against the pier railing, raising his hand modestly to acknowledge the cheers and whistles,” Warshaw writes in a section about the revival on longboarding in the 1980s.
Noll is just one of a dozen South Bay surfers whom Warshaw credits with playing an important role in surfing history. Others include pioneer surf photographers John “Doc” Ball and Leroy Grannis, shapers Phil Becker, Mike Eaton, Wayne Miyata, Dale Velzy and Dewey Weber, wetsuit inventors Bob and Bill Meistrell and pro surfers Mike Purpus and Mary Setterholm.
Familiarity with the people one writes about doesn’t always make it easier. In a lengthy examination of the controversial, pay-to-play surf camps, Warshaw focuses on the Tavarua Island Resort, a popular destination for well healed South Bay surfers. Mira Costa grad Scott Funk co-founded the resort on a tiny island off of Viti Levu in Fiji with fellow adventure surfer Dave Clark of Santa Barbara in 1983
Shortly after opening, Tavarua attracted international criticism when a group of native Fijian surfers were, as Warshaw put it, “herded out of the Cloudbreak line up to make room for resort visitors.”
Warshaw illustrates the reaction with a quote from Australian surf editor Derek Rielly: “The truth here is that a small group of surfers have become utter imperialists. They’ve come, taken over, and now rule their little Island Kingdom, just like any of the pathetic European conquerors of yore.”
Here, as he does frequently, Warshaw volunteers his own analysis of the controversy: “Issues of national sovereignty and public rights aside, it went against the sport’s most basic tenet – free surf….The sport worshipped its broke but resourceful legends: Duke Kahanamoku sailing the Pacific in his two-bit cardboard-lined suit.. Dale Velzy in his ratty navy surplus cutoff shorts…”
The surfer as an impoverished outsider is a theme Warshaw establishes early in his history with The Duke and fellow pioneer surfers George Freeth, who introduced surfing to California, and Tom Blake, who built the first hollow boards and the first board fins. The theme continues with “Malibu’s Black Knight” Miki Dora and through to the present day with Kelly Slater. The 10-time World Champion, Warshaw points out came from a broken home with an alcoholic father and a struggling, working class single mom. He became an accidental dad at an early age and entered head spinning relationships with Cameron Diaz and Baywatch co-star Pamela Anderson.
Surfing as more than a sport allows for its widely celebrated, liberating lifestyle, which Warshaw wonderfully documents with stories about both competitive and adventure surfers. But like all outlier lifestyles, the sport is a physical and emotional minefield. Feral behavior, euphemistically referred to as localism is “nothing more than a cover for beach front vigilantism,” Warshaw writes. To the reader unfamiliar with surfing, he explains the obvious, but rarely acknowledged fact that “localism benefits extended to all local surfers… There was a lot of complicity….and everyone enjoyed a less crowded lineup.”
“I discovered too late that beating the locals at their own game, in front of their families, could sour relations. It was the end of the real good days,” Tom Blake is quoted as saying in the early days of modern surfing.
Fortunately, Warshaw writes in a chapter devoted to travel surfing, “After Endless Summer, anyone with a few extra minutes and an atlas could figure out that a huge majority of the world’s breaks still waited to be discovered.
The History of Surfing is available at Pages, 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach. B
