1970's Surfing Photos from Hawaii - Page 4
Large Pipeline. 1972, maybe late October or early November. I'd only been out there for a few weeks, and never had any intentions of riding this kind of wave. I stayed on the beach this day, and was very happy to remain dry and safe.
I'd hitchhiked from Punaluu up to the North Shore with my camera and got out at Sunset Beach. Glassy, very light breeze, straight offshore conditions, which I did not recognize for being as unusual as they were. The sky was near cloudless and it was hot out in the sun.
Sunset was rolling through from waaaaaay outside every once in a while, and not a soul was in the water riding. This was my very first look at respectable surf and it was mesmerizing, to say the least. I watched empty waves at Sunset for a long time. Nobody around, anywhere.
After gawping at Sunset, I walked down to Pipe, which had about four or five guys out. It was breaking nice, except for the north slap at the end of most waves. People would pull in, get barreled, and then the north slap would get them and they'd take a swim.
Great big world-class surf, and nobody around. Just a couple of folks on the beach. No traffic, no crowds, no nuthin. If you had told me on this day that within a month I'd be riding waves this size and even larger, I'd have laughed in your face.
It's funny how we're always so damn sure we know exactly who we are, and then situations can develop where we suddenly discover entire aspects of ourselves that we'd never suspected the prior existence of.
I'd hitchhiked from Punaluu up to the North Shore with my camera and got out at Sunset Beach. Glassy, very light breeze, straight offshore conditions, which I did not recognize for being as unusual as they were. The sky was near cloudless and it was hot out in the sun.
Sunset was rolling through from waaaaaay outside every once in a while, and not a soul was in the water riding. This was my very first look at respectable surf and it was mesmerizing, to say the least. I watched empty waves at Sunset for a long time. Nobody around, anywhere.
After gawping at Sunset, I walked down to Pipe, which had about four or five guys out. It was breaking nice, except for the north slap at the end of most waves. People would pull in, get barreled, and then the north slap would get them and they'd take a swim.
Great big world-class surf, and nobody around. Just a couple of folks on the beach. No traffic, no crowds, no nuthin. If you had told me on this day that within a month I'd be riding waves this size and even larger, I'd have laughed in your face.
It's funny how we're always so damn sure we know exactly who we are, and then situations can develop where we suddenly discover entire aspects of ourselves that we'd never suspected the prior existence of.
RightBehindHouse1973.jpg)
The break at Monster Mush, which was directly behind the house I was staying at in early 1973. Back then, I don't even think the place had an actual name. We called it "Garbageland" 'cause it was garbage compared to the slew of world-class breaks that surrounded it. Garbage or not, it had its moments, and compared to what I'd recently left behind in Florida, it was routinely better than anything I'd ever ridden.
If you walked down to the beach behind the house and looked to your left, you could see Rocky Point breaking in the middle distance, which is what this is a picture of. We had it pretty good. Rocky Point, Stone Zone, Monster Mush, Kammieland, and Sunset Beach. All in a row. All within an easy walk.
Couple of shots of me at Kammieland, taken from the water, and yes, I'm riding backwards in the one on the right. Been doing that crap an awful long time now.
An awful lot has happened to me since these pictures were taken, and still being out in the water riding waves to this very day is something I would not have believed possible, had you told me that's what was going to happen, back then. So stay healthy and stick with it, every chance you get, ok?