At the end of 1967, the United States Surfing Association split into four separate entities, one for the West Coast (Western Surfing Association, or WSA), the East Coast (ESA), the Gulf Coast  (GSA), and Hawaii (HSA). Contests for each association were further split into four divisions, starting with A for entry-level competitors, then AA for… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

RACIAL EXHIBIT TO BE SENT TO EUGENICS MEET X I Life-Size Statue of David Kahanamoku to* Be Displayed in New York   Gordon Usbome, noted Honolulu sculptor, hail just completed a life- size figure of David Kahanamoku which will occupy a prominent place at the second annual international eugenic congress to be held In New… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

Reformed (more or less) North Carolina moonshiner Junior Johnson is the perfect launching-pad figure for the thing he represents, which is stock-car racing. Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Clara Bow, Chuck Berry—same thing, each of them, very hand-in-glove to their respective fields. But no activity of any kind has an origin-story legend so immaculately tailored to… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

This article by Mike Jay ran in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on April 21, 1923. The subhead reads: “Dad Center Should Know, and He Says Sam Is Better Than His Brother Duke Kahanamoku.” This version has been slightly edited.  *  *  *  The question of the greatest surf rider in Hawaii will always be a debatable… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

“The Nation of Ken,” by Bruce Jenkins, a 22,000-word XXL profile on big-wave surfer Ken Bradshaw, ran in the Spring 2001 issue of Surfer’s Journal. This version has been slightly edited from the original.  *  *  *  A lesser man would be dead drunk by now. A weaker man would be railing against a system… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

“The Bay,” by Allston James, ran in the September 1990 issue of SURFER Magazine. This version has been slightly edited and reformatted.   *  *  *  DEEP ROOTS Waimea Bay has always been a place that defined limits, both oceanic and human. Name a surfer anywhere who hasn’t wondered if he would ever have the desire and… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

Tom Wolfe wrote his surfing-themed “Pump House Gang” essay in 1966. The same title was used for Wolfe’s 1968 book, made up of 15 stories that had been published over the previous two years, either in the London Weekend Telegraph or the Sunday magazine section of the New York World Journal Tribune. An excerpt from… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

The San Diego Evening Tribune ran this article on June 21, 1965. Later that year, writer Tom Wolfe arrived in La Jolla to research his “Pump House Gang” essay (read here), based in part on local surfers associated with the Mac Meda Destruction Company, described by Wolfe as an “underground society.” It wasn’t underground so… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

Virginia-born Tom Wolfe invented the stylized exclamation-point-filled New Journalism with a 1963 Esquire feature titled “There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.” For decades, Wolfe was one of America’s most popular and acclaimed authors in both fiction and nonfiction, and his bestselling books include The Right Stuff (1979), The Bonfire of the Vanities… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more

“Mark Foo: The Ultimate Thrill,” by Matt Warshaw, ran in the February 1987 issue of SURFER Magazine. This version has been slightly edited.  *  *  *  It’s a natural inclination for people to categorize, assign labels, simplify. So Mark Foo is now known primarily as a Waimea man. He has a slight problem with this… This content is for Monthly members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read ..read more