BACK IN THE DAY...........................

General Discussion
1

An idea planted by Oneula.

Back in the summer of 1958, I had an experience at Windansea, that is not likely to be repeated any time soon.    I had driven out very early in the morning, (7:00am) to go surfing.    I arrived at Windansea at 7:30 am to find it clear and sunny, the parking lot empty, and nobody in the water.     The surf was a beautiful glassy 8 foot south swell.     I was the only surfer there. I got my board out of the car, waxed it up, but did not go out in the water.    I was not comfortable going out alone, into such pumping surf.     I paced up and down, hoping someone would show up.     Finally, at 7:50 am, a surfing buddy, Ron McLeod, showed up.     We paddled out, and had the break to ourselves, until 8:30 am when some of the other locals showed up.   At that time, that experience was not that unusual.     Today, it’s unimaginable.       We were spoiled, eh?

 

2

Bill, is this the beginning of your book?

Tales from the shaping room.

I hope so.

Just can’t get enough old surf stories.

3

Winter surfs at Black’s Beach used to be the same way, Bill.   I remember hoping someone else would paddle out before I drowned alone!

4

Much respect Bill,

Me? 1958? Let’s see I’m 7 years old and it would be another 4 years till stoke time!

Never had to worry about being alone even the rare days of 2 in the lineup as the other guy was someone who came along.

I’m thinking that 4 years after Simmons ’ death, Wind and Sea had its mystic and had to be damn scary…

5

13 years old, summer day, hitchhiking from the top of Skyline Dr. to Pedro Point.  Been sitting there with my Wardy propped on the side of the road and my thumb out for almost an hour, wasn’t many surfers in NorCal back then, and the only surfers who driven by had 4 boards strapped to their racks and could only shrug as they went by, no room.

Getting pretty discouraged when I see an older green woodie coming at me and slowing up, pulling to a stop just past me, longboard hanging out the propped open back window.

“Throw your board in” yelled the guy driving through the open window.

Carefully slid my board in alongside the other board, jumped in the front seat.  The driver was a big guy, with a big walrus mustache, and an even bigger smile.

“My name is Fred windisch, what’s yours?  All right, let’s go surfing!”

From then on, whenever I had my thumb out and saw that green woodie rolling down Hwy 1 towards me,  I’d be picking up my board before he even slowed up.  Just a snot nosed grom, grabbing a ride with one of the coolest guys in the tribe.  And the 15 min ride always went by to fast, enthralled with his stories told with a ramblin good nature.   

The surf movie Fred made in 1969, ‘The Natural Art’,  truly captured the essence of both the times and the bay area surf scene.

Fred passed away far too soon.  To this day, whenever I see a woodie, it puts a smile on my face, rememberin’…

 

 

 

6

Fred,was the best.

slept on his couch at the islander in waikiki and surfed 

#3s on my yater in 1968

he picked me up from the airport

when the walk to the gates was not under a roof

I looked for him and couldnt see the 300lb fred anywhere

then I saw this 175# guy in john lennon shades

and it was fred,we drove straight to makaha

and every push through was an epiphany

of warm water. Spring in pedro point was tortourous

makaha was heavenly.

when I moved to kauai the next fall  to attend the new

community college fred came to visit while still filming 

for the natural art.oh yeah we spent a month in san blas

in july hoping to get footage on film every one got sick with at least 

montezuma’s revenge,some of us got hepititus…

fred stories abound…the 56 olds with the missing electric shotgun window

that discovered the fire hydrant in front of scowlies in bolinas ,

parnelli Tom Ross jones at the wheel , I went to marin general 

for 45 stitches in my lower lip,the olds was done…

…ambrose…

the channel was good I didn’t ride one wave that day

all on the wax quest… fred let me drive his car before

toms famous last words to the olds.

7

it’s all about those special moments we experience in life.

Of being able to create as many as we can,

and being able to find as much joy in them as possible.

Because at the end, before we paddle over,

the accumulation of those moments will have defined the ride we had.

 

 

8

How crowded it is depends on where you live. Here in New Zealand we are fortunate that it is still possible to surf good quality waves alone. There are crowded spots here such as Raglan, but where I live I’m generally surfing by myself or with whoever I can convince to come surfing with me. 

These are the good new days.

9

On a dense foggy morning, in mid-November 1966, a surfing bud (Roger Williams) and I were scouring the San Diego coastline for something to surf.    We settled on Horseshoe, as we thought we could see waves about 8 feet through the thick fog.      Once we got  out there, surprise surprise surprise, it was pumping solid 12 to 15 feet !      We were the only people out.      I was riding a 10’ 7’‘,  38 pound, full on big wave gun.      We got wave after wave to ourselves.     The capper to the day was a monster set that came in.      Roger took the second wave, and I caught either the third or fourth wave.    The wave was 12 foot plus on the takeoff, and like Waimea, jacked up when it hit the reef.      Oh my, I was dropping straight down the wave, but the wave was jacking so fast I was being pulled back UP the face of the wave.   I made the drop and bottom turn, and the wave was walled up out of my sight, exactly as I had experienced at Waimea.      The damn thing had jacked up to 20 feet, when it hit the reef.     I made the wave, and it made my day.    To this day, that is the largest wave I’ve ever ridden, in California.      Later that day, after the fog lifted, I rented a plane, and flew the coast from Del Mar to Mission Beach.      I was low enough to recognize the faces of guys at Windansea, as I flew by.   Those WERE the ‘‘Good Ol’ Days’’, but I just didn’t know it at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

I can relate to many of these stories, but my experiences are from the East Coast.

As late as the mid 80s we would surf large hurricane swells and the crowd at a prime spot might total eight guys, tops. On many a good day you’d see less than five guys out and we all knew each other.

These days, whenever the media (TWC, local news) hypes a “high surf advisory” you will find 40 to 50 cars jamming a parking area near the beach by dawn.

We took to surfing spots that were only accessible by boat by the mid 90s. But, some glory hound with a big mouth let the cat out of the bag and now, when there’s a hurricane swell, there will be ten or twelve boats anchored at previously ‘secret’ spots and six to ten guys per boat.  To make it even worse, some of those boats are filled with SUP asswipes.

11

My dad and his friends talk of how rincon was that way Back when they were young. Had to go around and find a buddy to surf rincon with so they wouldn’t be alone!

12

I had a perfect empty surf hesitation experience last winter at this spot on this day last year.  I got there right after sunrise.  Nobody had shown up yet and I didn’t want to be the only shark bait out in the water.  I drove a few miles back to 7-11, got some coffee, and drove back.  By then there were four other surfers out in the water, so I suited up and paddled out.  It was a really good day.

13

Great to hear the old surfing tales & get a feel for some of the history! Mine is a different tale, for almost the entire first decade of me surfing it was all solo surfs with the exception of around 5-6 occassions. Surfing the north, NE, NW coasts & Islands of Scotland. Get in at least 3 times a week when it’s on & still usually manage at least one surf a week solo, just me & my thoughts! Love getting out with friends and hooting them on, but not looking forward to the day when i cant get a lone spot for myself ( It’s coming! ) Have a pic taken on the beach at Thurso in January 93. -8’c snowing, 12-15ft barrels with lumps of gru ( ice) in them. The place was deserted apart fae a younger fitter me. Happy days…

14

Glory days. The fish gets bigger everytime you tell the story.   What are you doin’ now???

15

Where I used to live in the North East, you could 4 WD the beach 24/7 between mid September and mid June, between when the touristas showed…

Doing a coffee break/lumber yard run one late September day, I decided to do a surf check/ off road run and pulled up over the cut and saw  just 2 guys out - Bosco and Larry - both quality guitarists (Great Caesar’s Ghost) and good surfers, who could afford mornings off. They were sitting there in flat conditions like they were paddling out just to shoot the shit… Sat for a few and then a set from the southeast rolled in with perfect shoulder high lefts, like Rincon in reverse. Northeast East Coast in all its glory - 2 guys out - I was on it in a heart beat…3 of us for don’t know how long - was like a merry go round with us just cylcling through sets, your turn, your turn, your turn - bit of joking on set waves, “You’ll never make this one - better give it to me…”  " No no Bosco, got this…" 3 of us doing a lot of smiling that morning… Cycling through perfect waves

Cool part was that whenever we saw people sticking their heads over the dunes for a check was during a lull - no one paddled out to disturb us for about 2 hours…

Eventually, folks paddled out and we looked at each other and knew the magic was over…

I started surfing - got my first board in 1964 - 50 years ago this summer, and this session with Larry and Bosco was one of my best sessions ever - and it was within the last 10 years.

My Pappy took me body surfing in 1953 on his back - almost choked him to death - That was back in the day… 

Once I got addicted to surfing, its history and its inovators, from the Polynesians to Duke to today have pretty much been the trail my sorry ass has followed…

Every “Good” wave is “A back in the day” wave… I cherish each one …

 

 

  

16

The older I get, the better I was…

17

   Really?      Not me.     I’m barely a shadow of myself, in the water, compared to how I was 40/50 yrs ago.    The only positive trade off has been that I’ve gotten smarter.     A result of  life experience, if you’re paying attention along the way.  

18

there’s a reef that is out of sight, down a cliff, and a hike up the beach.  Steep ledge breaking over a reef, barely submerged in some spots, known to wipe off fins, and crack some ribs, including my own.  My go to wave for decades.  Up before dawn, suited up, going down the cliff at first light, ideal at 10’ @14 from the NW. Often surfed it alone.  Slingshot wave, turn and go over the boil, set the edge, and either pop out in the channel down the line or get swept for the long paddle back.  That wave defined everything I love about surfing, and was my refuge from everything I don’t like about surfing. My son and I shared many, many sessions there, and we’d sit in our backyard hot tub afterwards, talking about the waves we saw each other get.

Like all good things that come to an end, crowds finally discovered it, the small take-off zone became more and more crowded.  One of the reasons I finally moved from my old town after living there for decades.  

Was down visiting my son and his family last year, just a few weeks before hip replacement, we hit it early, 10’ @ 16, light offshore, grinders coming off the outside, occasional sets closing out the channel, the kind that rip your board from your hands and push you a hundred yards backwards.  Was glad I had a 7’10 racer in the van.

We had a great session, just my son and I for the first hour, couple of old friends showed up for the second hour.  The best waves were perfect, the take-offs a full commitment.  later that afternoon, my son and I sat in his hot tub and talked about the waves we saw each other get.

Those magic ‘gold old’ days are still out there.  Just have to get out the front door and make them happen.

19

Not so very long ago (somewhere b/t 2001 & 2003)…16’ run about. Two and half hours drive west of then home. 9’6" Rob Autrey on the roof.  Me and the missus made our way round the lee of the cape, then around the tip to find waist high peelers from the optimum southerly direction going on for…well a nice long ways by most anyone’s standards.  The small swell would peel 'til they hit a break in the bar, then feel the beginning of the next section of bar and start ripping again.  No one else out, surfed myself silly whilst oggling the lovely on the bow of the little boat.  Will probably never make it to those places in the ads placed in the backs of the magazines, but don’t really feel the need to either.  Boat is gone, but have an ‘80 Com Pac 23’ and plan more such “nearest far-away” adventures. 

20

There were magic times of uncrowded waves. I grow up in NJ and in 1964 seeing another surfer wasa big deal. 
Tom and me ditched school one beautiful fall day. We had no idea what the surf would be like We Just loaded up the Boards and made the dive to Long Beach Island. When we gt our first glimpse of the Ocean we were dumbfound. in front of us were beautiful powerful waves well over head and closing out all up and down the beach. The only place that had any chance of a surf-able wave was Holgate at the south end of the Island. It was a good call. We surfed a peeling left that had to be the best surf of my young surfing career. These were the waves we dreamed about the same kind of waves we saw in magazines and surf movies. They were not NJ waves. For the first time I had a taste the real magic. That day just the two of us out surfing set me on a course to find more to seek out better waves in other locations. When i look back on Surfing in nJ i honestly never recall much of a crowd. There days when there were hurricane swells that just a couple of us were surfing. around 1974 or 5 i was spending some time back in NJ visiting my family that then lived near Atlantic City. This was before all the Casinos . A good size Hurricane had produced a classic swell with off shore winds. there was a spot by the famous Steel peir that was known as gwereas Chambers. it was breaking pretty far outside by east coast standards. Just a couple of guys out. getting outside was a challenge to say the least. Even when i lived in Calif You could catch days with few people in the water. Then there was alwasy the escape from the crowds Mexico. Now to get that escape to find those ideal days of surfing with just a few friends you have to travel further. The good old days might be gone but there are still plenty of good times to be had. It might take more of an effort to find the right place and situation but it is out there. i can be as nostalgic for the wonderful days spent in the water as anyone. But I also live at the present and look forward to what lie ahead. as more and more of my old surfing friends pass on or due to health reasons can’t surf anymore I can’t. It’s up to me to make the best of what I have and change what I can. I Have good friends that moved to Costa Rica 25 years ago. Some found happiness in moving to other remote locations making good lives for themselves in Mexico, Australia, Porto Rica and other locations.