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midget : hawaiian surfers, 1970
midget : hawaiian surfers, 1970
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surfresearch.com.au
midget : hawaiian surfers, 1970 |
| There are hundreds of thousands and
maybe millions of surfers allover the world now.
Every country seems to have its own special brand of surfer. In Australia it is the fast moving, curl tearing kids, in California smooth aggressiveness marks the best and in South Africa it may be the long waves of Jeffrey's that propels some sleek brown body through a tube. In all these countries the surfers seem to have evolved from a common mould. Only in Hawaii, in the biggest waves are the world's most individual surfers found. It is the waves that have made these surfers so different and their styles are really unique. Big waves bring out the best, or the true style in a surfer because he contends with an unpredictable force that requires faultless timing, functional approach and better than ordinary nerve to get him into the vertical take off and through the barrelling hollows. The men who ride Hawaii's waves can be compared to the best mountain climbers, jet pilots or any group of individuals who seek to spend part of their lives in out-of-the-ordinary circumstances. Small wave riders like to pass off big waves as Iimiting to their performance, but the reverse is truer. Big waves give more speed and slope for performance, it's just that big waves make greater demands on the surfer. Big wave surfing is on a greater plateau and slowly surfers are climbing into big waves with the same approach to performance as in small waves. Desire to ride big waves is the real motivating force for a successful performance in big surf. |
 Buzzy Trent
|
The surfers who ride the north shore of Oahu genuinely love big waves.
| Page 33 thrills that can be had from surfing and are gearing their lives to allow them to ride as many big waves as possible. They are individuals with strong character qualities and a knowledge of the sea. The good surfers don't take the risks that the new-comers do. They are painfully aware of the power of the waves and sharpness of the coral bottom. The big wave riders can ride a twenty foot day with more safety than those hot-doggers who crack each others heads at some popular break. Eddie and Clyde Aikau seem to symbolize the real Hawaiians in big waves. They are from a family of pure blooded Hawaiians of which there are few left. Eddie has been a Iifeguard at Waimea in the last few years and he seems most at ease in the biggest surf. His behind the curl take offs at Waimea and Sunset are unmatched for sheer daring and natural ability to survive the worst situation. Eddie enjoys the kind of wave most people are terrified of. I have often seen Eddie take off and become enveloped by the cascading lip with only his board and legs visible for most the ride. In
Hawaii the surfer rides high to pass a section
instead of driving around the bottom, so quite often
he is obscured from view. |
 Jock Sutherland, Sunset Beach.
 Richard Kimble, inside Backdoor Pipeline. |
| it shouldn't go. Both Eddie and Clyde are tail riders so they can make snap turns before the curl axes down. Ben Aipa is another Hawaiian who has taken power turning into big waves. Ben is a very sensitive guy for his great size and really conscious of what small boards can do back in the curl. Ben shapes his own designs for Greg Noll in the islands and most of the Hawaiians go to Ben for improved designs every winter. Ben relies heavily on his cutback which he initiates by dropping his weight low over his trail leg. He is extremely graceful for his size and he lifts out of a bottom turn like a cannonball. His favourite break is Haleiwa where he can dominate any size crowd with his racing curves and white water turns. Gerry Lopez is an unknown quantity for Australians. I had never even heard of him 'till last winter. Everyone was raving over this guy at Ala Moana and Pipeline. He has the cat-like agility of Nuuhiwa and the daring of Jock Sutherland. If you can mix that up with a little Wayne Lynch you may be able to imagine Lopez re-entering at ten foot Pipeline. Lopez is casual to say the |
 Jerry (sic) Lopez, Pipeline. Also: Barry Kanaiapuni, portrait. |
Page 35
| least when he rides the tube at the
Pipe with his fin out for the whole ride.
Lopez is a slight, wispy goofey-foot with a casual exterior that surfaces an uncanny wave deciphering and board designing mind. He builds his boards from go to whoa at Surfline in Honolulu and it's safe to say his finished product is really weird, but functional weird, to look at. He carefully engineers each board to perform all the basics and then some with provisions in design for side-slips and 360's on most any wave. Flat bottoms and low rails are his speciality. Gerry is hungry for lefts and one day he would be at Pipeline the next he's on a jet to Maui, Paupakalo, or the great lefts at Kahului breakwater. Philipe Pomar lives only for waves. He has improved incredibly from his Peru World contest days. He is an able hot dogger in small waves at Pupukea and a great pocket man at Sunset. Philipe lives on the North Shore all year and returns to Peru every February for the International Championships. He is super conscious of new designs and always has a new board amongst the dozen he regularly carries. On a big day Philipe's the first guy in the water and the last to leave. He sells real estate with his surfing friend Bobby Cloutier, and has an ambition to come to Australia and surf Queensland's warm water waves. Dick Brewer is one of the strangest individuals in the Islands. Dick has lived on all the surfing Islands and builds boards |
 Randy Rarick (sic),
Haleiwa.
 Ben
Aipa, Haleiwa. |
| in shops he has had at Haleiwa,
Hanapepi and in Lahaina. He is a wandering surfer and shaper indifferent to worldly goods and aware of his need to live a simple life in the most beautiful place on this earth. Dick has an unlimited supply of designs he applies to surfboards and his influence on boards for all waves is strongly felt in both California and believe it or not here in Australia. Dick lists the mini-gun as his greatest working design and he was truly instrumental in taking up where Pat Curren left off in creating the necessary equipment for big waves. Dick is an accomplished surfer himself and has built boards for the best, like Cabell, Hemmings, Nuuhiwa and more recently Reno Abellira. |
Photograph: Sunset Beach. |
| big day at the point when a wave threw
over and caught him proned-out. Jose Angel has been surfing the North Shore for many years. Jose is of American-Philipino origin and is most at home in the water. He is Vice Principal at Haleiwa school and checks Sunset every lunch hour when the swell is up. Jose is a keen diver and sailor. His home at the Banzai Pipeline is full of momentos of his most remembered ride at Waimea, a huge sea-turtle shell hung on the wall or shots of him sailing his cat off Ala Moana. During the December storm surf reached heights of forty feet and greater, Jose's was one of the few homes that escaped damage along the beach front. |
Buddy Boy up-tight Sunset. Clyde Aikau, portrait. |
| Jackie is a wanderer riding Mike
Diffenderfers boards wherever he goes.
Barry is a permanent 'North Shore' man with a family to keep him company in the country. Barry's brilliance is matched equally by his elusiveness on the surfing scene and his private attitude boards surfing for himself. Joey Cabell and Jock Sutherland have to be two of the most exciting to watch. Cabell for his relentless driving through unforgiving tubes and Jock for his radical off- the-cuff stunts in the worst situations. Joey is a stylist and Jock is brash. |
Photographs: Jock Sutherland, Haleiwa. Jackie Baxter, Backdoor Pipeline. |
Pages
41-42 |
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| Page
43 (Advertisement, continued, reformatted)  |
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Volume 13 Number 5, circa June 1970? Cover: Honolula Bay, Maui. Photo by Dick Graham. Back Cover: Keyo Surfboards |
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