Big Wave: Stories of Riding the World's Wildest Water

by Clint Willis (Editor), Jack London (Contribution by), Matt Warshaw (Contribution by)

The impact of such films as Blue Crush and Step into Liquid (from the directors of the classic Endless Summer) have helped fuel a surfing renaissance that extends from aging baby-boomers down to upstart pre-teens. This boom is driving sales of surfer gear and duds—and set the stage for an Adrenaline Book that will do justice to the sport's surprisingly long history, which dates to well before Captain Cook's eighteenth century voyages of discovery. Big Wave taps into a lush literature that will appeal to virtual and visceral thrill-seekers of all ages. The book features great writing on every aspect of the sport: the exhilaration of riding tsunami-like breakers; the competition that drives surfers to defy death in the world's most dangerous waters; the turf wars that can end in violence; the terror of shark attacks; and the sheer Zen-like beauty of riding a wave the way it's meant to be ridden.

364 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot that I both like and dislike about contemporary adventure series writing and collections. On the positive side, the popularity of the genre, especially in the late 90s and early'00s inspired more publishing. So more content about surfing, vagabonding, hiking, snowboarding, etc is available.  As a surfer myself, I tend to stick to books about surf-related topics when I read adventure non-fiction, and the fact that there is more of it in book form, where I don't have to dig through a mountain of magazines, is theoretically a plus.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the development of the x-games marketing model has instituted an avalanche of mediocre published work that seems to fall into a couple of cliched, archetypal schemes:

--Essay about a "killer" surf spot that describes the legendary surfers surrounding said surf break. Names are dropped and interviews contain the stereotypical banter about how so-and-so surfer was or still is the most legendary, legend that ever came to legend land. Everyone is a god, no one is human...and most of these "gods" as you may guess, are men. True bro-mance nonfiction where the surf spot becomes the center of the orgy.

--Essay about the forgotten surfer, who fell off the pro circuit and disappeared but is still considered the most legendary, legend that ever came to legend land by the true surfers who are "in" enough to still know of "lost" surfer. Usually told from the perspective of a successful whitebread surfer who--while romanticizing the legend's legend-like capabilities from days gone by-- now softly wags the finger and shakes the head..."what a loss to the art form that is surfing" is the superficial, melodramatic theme.

--Essay about the GREAT surf god in which we learn his most important big wave advice, which without a doubt is: "if you are going to commit you have to commit 100%"... the stalest, most "no-duh," oversimplified, bumper sticker mantra in all of surfing. Big wave surfers say this out of hubris, out of a need to chest-pound, not really for any other reason. I challenge anyone to try and learn how to surf without being slapped in the face with the obviousness of the "commitment rule." It's an absurd lesson...it's like saying that if you want to be a good surfer you are going to have to get over the whole "getting wet" thing. 

I think the bottom line is that many adventure sport essays are written from the point-of-view or perspective where the reader must be a disciple in the church. We are supposed to bow down and pay homage to the immaculate, pompous, ego-driven beast that is the pro surfer or we are supposed to nod in ethical consent and see the true soul surfer as some sort've rockstar Gandhi with a longboard. At least, in my view, that seems to be the angle that most of the writing takes.

Of course, we all have to admit that this is true of most sports nonfiction in general if you take a look...

So that brings us to this particular collection, which I think has some sprinkles of what is listed above, but on the whole is a nice, varied collection of valued surf essays. 

Surf spots covered cling mostly to Hawaii (Pipe, Sunset, Makaha, and Wiamea) and NoCal (Mavericks) and the surfer profiles are largely drawn from men's pro circuit history though we get a pretty good peppering of early history and pre-tour generations as well. There is an essay by Grissim that touches quite interestingly on Duke and Freeth's influence on California surfing in the early 1900s...and there is an excerpt from Captain John Smith memoirs from the eighteenth century where he discusses his encounters with tribal Polynesian surfers, the earliest reference to surfing recorded in English. There is a chapter from Greg Noll's autobiographical work and there is an excerpt from Jack London's travels where he attempts to surf describing the exhilaration of surfing in a way anyone who has tried can easily relate.

Wipeout pieces include an essay on Jay Moriarty's well-publicized wipeout at Mavericks and an essay on the tragic death of Mark Foo told from the perspective of longtime rival and critic, Ken Bradshaw, who flew over to Mavs from Hawaii with Foo.

From pro surfing history we get pieces on Jeff Hakman Jock Sutherland and for more recent days Conan Hayes and Jeff Clark. Names like Ocky, Beschen, Sunny Garcia, Evan Slater, all make appearances in various essays. There is a piece on Mark Cunningham's bodysurfing exploits that is a nice addition.

The strongest essays in the collection, I feel, in terms of their ability to stand on their own and perhaps push a little bit harder on the bounds of standard surf writing aka saying something in a new way or from an interesting perspective are two essays written by Dave Parmenter about surf in Alaska and Africa and the Rob Story piece covering the 2000 Ocean Pacific Boat Trip Surfing Challenge.

Dave Parmenter is not just an expert board shaper and former pro surfer, he is also one hell of an author. The voice in his writing has personality. That includes irony, humor, serious provocative thoughts and even some poetic almost philosophic musings that use surf as a vehicle. Someone really should publish all of his essays into one collection. I would say that his stuff is true travel nonfiction and I really think this is some of his best stuff.

Rob Story's piece is good because it questions and sortve pokes fun at the "new"pro surf scene and pushes pro surfers out a bit by posing some honest and truthful questions about what being an endorsed surfer has become. He reports on the not-so-iconic or role model-oriented behavior of some of the "elite" pros and depicts them in many ways as they are: spoiled kids. This essay is also fun because it's the only one that covers any female pros.

In conclusion, I think this is a pretty well thought, well balanced collection of essays that gives you a little bit of everything in terms of history, profiles, viewpoints, and attitudes in surfing. Unless you are looking for Australian coverage or content on big surf breaks outside of Hawaii and NoCal, you'll be happy to give this collection a read. You will learn a lot and will not get too annoyed by the aggravating stereotypes of adventure non-fiction writing that while present in the collection, doesn't dominate. 

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring