Huntington Beach during the Golden Bear Years…
a friend recommended Breath by Tim Winton
I was just gifted Blue Water Goldrush which is supposed to be a good read as well
Blue Water Gold Rush is a great read if you are familiar with the Channel Islands and surrounding area. Makes me wish for the good old days.
Thanks for starting this thread.
In Search of Captain Zero by Allen Weisbecker, is a good read.
The Surfboard: Art Style Stoke, by Ben Marcus
Encyclopedia of Surfing, by Matt Warshaw
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Blue Water Gold Rush is a great read if you are familiar with the Channel Islands and surrounding area. Makes me wish for the good old days.
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Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana is a great read, awesome descriptions of the southern California coast before it was part of the United States.
Second on “Two Years Before the Mast” - Dana goes into Great detail about the early California coast circa 1834-1836, Hawaiians (Kanakas), and heavy water sailing.
I strongly disagree. Cosmic Banditos was pretty funny. Captain Zero just makes Weisbecker sound like a tool.
One of my all time favorites is You Should Have Been Here An Hour Ago - Phil Edwards
Another good one is the Dora bio by David Rensin. “All For A Few Perfect Waves”
good read. i liked tapping the source and captain zero too, although i agree the author is dbagish. all for a few perfect waves was great - welled up a few times. greg noll’s life on the edge - cracked up quite a bit; really like his approach to life. there’s another one by the tapping the source guy - i think winter or something - was so-so; actually wouldn’t recommend.
the death and life of bobby z by don winslow
dawn patrol "
the gentlemen's hour "
point dume by katie arnoldi
nothing by matt warshaw....especially that farce surf history..dissing the campbell bros/bonzer, greg liddle/hulls, etc
messing up facts time lines...re-writing history..how convient
yeah..i'm a little fiesty..insurance company is trying to nickle and dime us on
my wife's car accident(see that thread)..so we gotta get a lawyer..
Huck and Lockedin, You both are absolutely right. “Two years Before the Mast” is a must read for all Californians and anyone interested in history. My Pop’s family were Whalers and ship builders in Marion, Cape Cod, Mass. and our history is quite similar. One of them came around the horn to deliver a trading ship to S.F. It was one of the ships to work the circuit in the Pacific: Mexico, Ca., Pac No. West, Alaska and Hawaii. It should be required reading in Cal. schools. Great Book!
Nainoa Thompson’s book on sailing the Hokuleia canoe and using ancient navigating methods is truly fascinating.
Don’t forget these:
Chris Ahrens - Joyrides, and Good Things Love Water (I still grab these off the shelf & re-read some stories from time to time)
Gerry Lopez - Surf is Where You Find It (classic, classic stories of all kinds of adventures)
Stuart Holmes Coleman - Fierce Heart, and Eddie Would Go (great stories of classic Hawaiian times)
Surfing’s Greatest Misadventures - more classic stories, many are more recent ones
The Surfer’s Journal Masters of Surf Photography Books - Big, oversized, and pricier than all the rest, but many of these images are so stunning, they tell stories without words.
afoaf, Breath is a great read.
It’s a bit off topic (read: not about surfing or southern california waters), but it’s one of the greatest real survival stories ever written (Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5)
"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage"
Available new and used in Kindle, paperback, and hardback.
“In the Heart of the Sea” is the true story of Moby dick. Unbelievable epic of survival.
" On a Wave'', by Thad Ziolkowski. An autobiographical coming-of-age memoir set in late 60s - early 70s Brevard County. Mr. Ziolkowski is an accomplished literary acedemic, and it shows in his prose. Lyrical descriptions of surfing and adolescent exuberance abound.
Several of my friends are in the book, most under pseudonyms. But there's one swaylocker in there by his real name...
Can’t believe no one’s mentioned ‘Caught Inside’ by Daniel Duane or 'Salt Water Buddha by Jamail Yogis.
Sweet thread! A lot of books that I’ll have to check out.
This website’s pretty good too: www.thewatermanslibrary.com
One of my favorite books of all time is the The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
I got that but never finished it. Reads like the viewpoint of a beginner. Boring.
“Two Years before the Mast,” is still significant for many reasons, in fact it it served like a traveler’s guide to people’s moving to California, and most pioneers took in along as they moved west. I especially enjoyed the story of the Kanaka’s wrestling a shark with their bare hands from San Diego Bay. Dana’s insights are still prescient today. Sadly, he returned to San Francisco twenty years later during the Gold Rush, and his heart and mind filled with depression over the changes that had taken place; seemed he longed for the days long past, and California’s loss of innocence was too much for his soul to bear; just think if he returned to San Francisco today. A must read for anyone trying to gain historical perspective.
Dora, was a flea, and Weisbacher has become a tropical parasite.
Mick fanning surf for your life is a good book same with the occumentry... I just finished a book about florida called
"A Land Remembered' its a novel about the history of florida it is really interesting. great read.