I was searching youtube and found this video of SC back in the 60’s. I still cant believe guys were surfing 50 degree water in a pair of boardshorts, i cant surf SC in the middle of summer without a 4/3 on. Anyway, heres the link, enjoy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ImDhUs9o_vI
totally cool- thanks. Nice to see some good days at the secret spot
Check out the rocker on those boards. I tell my son about those days and that I use to surf all day long with no wetsuit, no leash. The truth of it is that we surfed all day in 15 min. to 1 hour spurts. You could only stay out so long because your feet would start to feel like they had rocks on the bottoms, we use to call it club foot. One long swim after loosing your board and you were looking for a fire some where to stop your teeth from chattering. It sure kept the crowds down though.
Yea, a time when we surfed in Birdwell trunks and a thin vest at best, and we all had huge surf knots because the only time we weren’t on our knees was when we were standing up.
And then, Jack O’Neil started doing his thing, and the cold suddenly became a secondary issue.
For us up North, the wetsuit evolution was just as important as the shortboard revolution…
Col footage
Good to see the good 'ol Santa Cruz drop-in was alive and well back then… (at 36secs and 41secs)
I laughed when I saw that 
I surfed SC a lot back then and you would stay on your knees when waiting for a wave in order to keep your whole body out of the water. That opening wall is so long, I am having trouble figuring out where it could be. Maybe Cowell’s on a really good day? Anybody recognize it?
Most likely Cowell’s. The place broke a bit differently prior to the buildiing/dredging of the Harbour. The design used for the entrance to the Harbor changed the whole Sand Flow Dynamic’s from Cowell’s to Capitola. That and the fact that the San Lorenzo River had dam’s and such put in changed the buildup of sand at Riversmouth. Cannot confirm the surfer’s though. The Goofy may be a young Danny Anderson, and one of the regular foot’s might be Mark Angell.
With all due respect…“the River” is still pumping plenty o’ sand…Maybe not as much as the 50s - given the forestry practices back then…but dam building isn’t the reason for changed sediment transport dynamics in the River. There’s only one big dam and it is on one of the less messed up tributary streams. Now…the flood control channel may have something to do with changes in sediment transpo (post 55)…and certainly the harbor jetty, etc. have effects on longshore transpo…That said, Cowell’ gets some pretty sick bars even nowadays. They are fleeting, as is their nature, obviously.
Hats off to the old timers who went out sans wetsuit/leash back in day!
Agreed, the River is still pumping sand, just not as much. The Sandbar at Riversmouth used to set up magnificently. Rides from at the mouth of the River down to where the Castle was were not uncommon. Ask “Bones”! There used to be some classic photo’s in the Lighthouse showing how long the ride’s were in the day. The Sandbar’s at both Cowell’s and the Riversmouth lasted at lot longer then. The contruction of the Harbour entrance had three proposed plans, and the cheapest was chosen. Most likely not the cheapest in the long run, as constant dredging was (is?) required. Legend has it that the most expensive choice would have created a left and a right on either side of the Harbour, but we will never know.
One Lane shot but most look like inside Pleasure Point…way inside near O’Neil’s house. Middle of summer you could trunk it for a pretty long time. Water was in the low 60’s.
I remember my first wetsuit, a vest. I paddled out at Rivermouth in January thinking to myself, “This is gonna be so cool man. Surfing without the shakes.”
Fooled my body into staying out for an extra 30 seconds or so. Long sleave wool sweaters kept us warmer.
The beach was covered in a 10-foot high pile of driftwood that stretched all the way to the estuary (where the harbor is today). Someone would bring a can of gas to the beach, sprinkle it on the wood and…voila! The worlds biggest campfire. The older guys were drinking 16 oz Regal Select or Red Mountain. We thought they were so bitchin.
I’d say just about all Cowells… you can see the Indicator at about 1:21 and all the rest of the waves in it set up the same. It still gets like that, although as Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody goes there anymore, its too crowded.”
And as overexposed as that song is, dang if I don’t still like it anyway.
Thanks for sharing the link.
Great to see that footage, good style.
Here is some more good classic stuff from Santa Cruz
http://youtube.com/watch?v=S58kY5jsLTI
Sorry I don’tknow how to make a link…
Howzit Puamana, Being a good friend of Mark’s and I glassed a lot of his shapes I’ll recheck the vid to see if he’s in it. I know he’d be stoked to know it. I just looked at the vid again and it’s does look like Mark, especially when he squats on the nose with his arms straight out, seen him do that a lot. Also the way thhe guy turns looks like Mark’s style. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Puamana, Just saw Mark’s girl friend at the post office and told her to have Mark check the video. if it’s him I’ll get back to you.Aloha,Kokua
Thanks for posting the video. Looks like Cowell’s to me, but I guess it could be Inside Pleasure. Reading the thread, it seemed weird that nobody remembers how warm used to get at Pleasure Point, especially the Hook and Sharks Cove, in late summer. I remember the water at the Hook getting up to 70 degrees. It didn’t last long, but it was nice while it lasted. We all used to bareback for about a month, mainly during August and early September. On those warm days they used to fill a gunny sack with cans of Coors and anchor the sack in the kelp bed just outside first peak at the Hook. I’ll never forget paddling out and watching Tom Keinholz do a spinner to the nose, pick up a can of beer, and take a take a drink while perched on the tip. If you put a pretty thick layer of wax on the nose, you could sorta screw the bottom of the can into the wax so it wouldn’t fall off when you dropped in. The most fun part was watching the ABC guys in Hawaiian shirts and wingtips going crazy up on the cliff.