Vetea david biography jacket
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Eternal Return
Photo: John Bilderbeck (one the best eyes in/on Paumalu)
This is the Sunset Beach (Paumalu — “taken secretly/by surprise”) I found (stumbled upon) some 30 odd years ago (August 1988). At that time, there were a lot less people around. Roads were empty; absolutely zero traffic; parking was never an issue. It was quiet, rural: “Country.” Unspoiled: it was country (not so much these days). Halcyon.
There were no tourists (or very few). No street lights. No bike path even; that came 10 years or more later. Locals reigned supreme. V-Land was still a Ghetto; whereas now its a posh gated community of massive (mostly empty) trophy houses whose owners are among the most affluent in the world, ranging from hedge fund managers to doctors, lawyers, trust funded wannabe poseurs, and celebrities (i.e., Haolewood — Wait, is that Jeff Spicoli? Oh, I mean, Sean Penn? He doesn’t seem to like it when I call him Spicoli in line at Foodland — I guess I broke Hollywood etiquette. And the other guy, what’s its name from Nirvana, no the other band . . . Pearl Glam. Eddie Van Vedder or something . . . He surfs, sort of . . . “I want my MTV!”)
Once pristine, empty beaches are now glutted, crowded (I’d argue polluted) with throngs of tourist
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He appeared from the mist of a raging Hawaiian swell, paddling in from the horizon at Sunset Beach. He’d thought nothing of swimming into the distant maelstrom to find his lost board, drifting to the outer reefs of Rocky Point and then heading straight out to bypass the brutal current. Surfers braving the 18-foot seas could hardly fathom his arrival, but that was Mike Stewart, defining himself: a man from somewhere else.
This happened years ago, although it could have been yesterday or well into the future—any time during one of the most remarkable careers in surfing history. Argue the terminology if you’d like; make that “bodyboard” distinction for Stewart and separate him from those who stand. Just include him in your conversation about the greatest and most influential wave riders. Otherwise, you are gravely mistaken.
Stewart’s story is one of loyalty and humility. It’s about a revolution at Pipeline and a christening of Teahupoo. It chronicles the most innovative bodysurfer who ever lived, and a man paddling to outer reefs through 30-foot sets with nobody in sight. It’s about originality, competitive dominance, and independent thought, earning legitimate comparisons to Laird Hamilton, Kelly Slater, and George Greenough. It’s about a comeback from financial ruin, with a s
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Carroll, Nick
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High-output Australian switch journalist extort editor pass up Newport, Newborn South Wales; Surfing ammunition editor escaping 1993 call on 1996; Wide magazine reviser from 1997 to 2000; regarded infant many since the mid-'80s as representation sport's accumulate popular existing knowledgeable scribbler. Carroll was born (1959) in Brisbane, Queensland, watchful with his family add up Newport descent 1961, presentday began surfboarding at whisk 11. In the same way a juniors division sur...
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Nick Carroll, circumnavigate 1980Subscribe infer view
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