SurfPedia™
History of Surfing
by Skip Snead
1970
*American Rolf Arness wins the ISF World Championships
in Australia, accepts his trophy and is never heard from again.
*January 14. Sunny Garcia is born.
*Nat Young wins $2,000 in the Makaha Smirnoff.
*Jimi Hendrix dies a week after playing a "Rainbow Bridge"
show at the Haleakala Crater on Maui. Mike Hynson and David Nuuhiwa
are some of the surfers fortunate enough to catch the show. Rainbow
Bridge is filmed and later released to the public.
*Bing "Maui Foil" is the hot new surfboard design.
1971
*Surfboard leash is introduced and becomes an instant
hit. With the invention of the so- called "kook cord", surfers
were no longer faced with long swims to shore after wiping out. Tuberiding
simultaneously becomes the new move of choice.
*July 7. Tom Morey, an engineer with saltwater taste buds, carves
a float thing out of some polyethylene foam lying around in his garage
on the Big Island of Hawaii and the Boogie Board is born.
*First Pipe Masters is held at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore
of Oahu.
*Lightning Bolt Surfboards releases the "Diamond Tail" by
Gerry Lopez.
1972
*January 17. Huge Monday at Pipeline with Owl Chapman
and Sammy Hawk taking top tube honors on one of the most perfect big
days at Pipe in history.
*February 1. Kelly Robert Slater is born in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
*Surf manufacturer giant Billabong is born.
*MacGillivray and Freeman release a movie called Five Summer Stories,
which quickly becomes the best surf movie in the world.
*Hawaii's David Nuuhiwa wins the World Contest in San Diego riding
a Steve Lis-inspired twin-fin fish.
*May 24. Layne Beachley is born in Australia.
*The "swallowtail" gains public notoriety.
*October 11. Shane Powell is born in Australia.
*Australian cinematographer John Witzig releases The Islands.
1973
*As surfing becomes more crowded, Bernie Baker goes
on surfari through Central America and finds scores of empty perfection.
*October 16. Rob Machado is born.
*Surfboard designer George Greenough releases a film called Echos
that features unique views from inside the tube.
1974
*October 3. A huge earthquake rocks La Isla, Peru and
creates a tidal surge that sucks former World Champion Felipe Pomar
and a freind (no one caught his name) out to sea. Pomar later claims
to have rode a tidal wave back to shore.
*Thanksgiving. The Smirnoff Pro is held in huge surf at Waimea Bay
and local Hawaiian Reno Abelleira beats Jeff Hakman to win it.
*Michael Peterson wins $3,000 at the Coke Surfabout.
*Scott Dittrich and Skip Smith release A Fluid Drive.
1975
*September. Triple New Zealander swell sends some of
the largest Southern Hemisphere swells ever seen in California. The
swell lasts for a week and snaps thousands of single-fins surfboards
up and down the coast.
*Hal Jepson releases Super Sessions.
*Gerry Lopez and Lightning Bolt brand clothing, surfboards and accessories
are the hottest thing going.
Gerry Lopez releases his famous 8'0" Bolt "Pipe Board."
*Randy Rarick, Fred Hemmings and Jack Shipley create the world's first
organized pro surfing circuit, the International Professional Surfers
(IPS) tour.
1976
*Lightning Bolt Surfboards release the Bolt MR Model
twin-fin.
*MacGillivray and Freeman re-release Five Summer Stories plus Four.
*South Africa joins the world tour with two events: one in Durban
and the other at Cabana Beach.
*Rory Russell wins Primo Pipe Masters.
*Australia's Peter Townend wins the inaugural IPS world championship
title.
1977
*February 4. After a failed attempt that sent his feet
through the deck of his surfboard, James "Booby" Jones successfully
tube rides Waimea Bay for the first time in history, setting off a
fad in big wave surfing that had never been seen: Performance over
survival.
February 2. Kalani Robb is born in Hawaii.
*March 21. Cory Lopez is born in Florida.
*South Africa's Shaun Tomson wins the ISP World Title over Australia's
Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew.
*Rory Russell wins Pipe Masters.
*Hawaii's Margo Oberg wins the women's World Title.
*Surfing prodigy Bunker Spreckels dies after taking too many drugs
and not enough waves.
*Dick Hoole and Jack McCoy release their first big surfing movie,
In Search of Tubular Swells.
*August 14. Tim Curran is born in California.
1978
*Australia's Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew wins
World Title.
*Hawaii's Lynn Boyer wins the women's World Title.
*Free Ride is released.
*July 24. Andy Irons is born on Kauai.
*Hollywood director John Milius releases Big Wednesday featuring Jan
Michael Vincent and William Kat.
*Larry Blair wins the Offshore Pipeline Masters. The event is filmed
also filmed for ABC's Wide World of Sports.
*Gotcha Sportswear is born when South African Michael Tomson starts
selling surf trunks out his Laguna Beach bungalow.
*Hawaiian Waterman Eddie Aikau is lost at sea and never seen again.
1979
*Pro Surfing comes to Japan for the inaugural Chiba
Cup.
*Larry Blair wins second consecutive Offshore Pipeline Masters.
*Shaper Tom Parrish experiments with tail design and ends up with
the "Round Pin."
*Surfing featured in Francis Ford Coppola's epic Apocalypse Now.
*Lynn Boyer wins her second consecutive world title.
*November 16. Bruce Irons is born on Kauai.
*Australia's Mark Richards wins his fourth consecutive world title.
