Surfing History / Trivia

[quote="$1"]   The first person to ride a wave on a surfboard, in the Black Sea, was Dr. Joseph M. Thompson of La Jolla. (in the late 60's) He was told by the russian police that it had never been done before, and that is why he was being arrested! If it had NOT been done before, you can't do it now. His board of choice for that little adventure? A board shaped for him by Bill Thrailkill. Joe was a regular at Windansea, in the late 50's through the 80's. 

Joe was a renowned orthopedic surgeon, and had taken his board with him to Russia to attend a medical conference. His plan was to continue on to France for some surfing. He was surprised to see some knee high perfect little waves in the Black Sea. So, what's a surfer gonna do? He paddled out, caught a few waves, and was promptly arrested! Not unlike some California beach cities in the 1960's.  [/quote]

How much time did he do for the heinous crime of surfing?

LOL..... he probably got arrested for being......(slips into russian accent) how you say........a capitalist swine....yes!! the rest.. bah.. simply pretense.

 

I spent a lot of time on the black sea when I was a kid (1990s). Back then I didnt have even the slightest notion of surfing a wave. Windsurfing was there, but surfing....no way. Different life.

Seabed is rocky mostly and 1-2m from waters edge and you are up to your neck. So any swell crashed onto the "size 11 shoe" boulders right onto the beach. Seen a few beer filled tourists split their heads getting caught offguard.

There is probably surfing there now, somewhere. Maybe somewhere near Odessa (Ukraine).

 

The real crime was he was riding a Capitalist Pig board.  OK bad pun. 

If he had pulled out the karl Marx socialist nose rider everything would have been cool.