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pods for primates : a catalogue of surfboards in australia since 1900

surfresearch.com.au

references : books w

1968
Wagenvoord, James and Bailey, Lyn:
How To Surf
Collins Books, New York. 1968
Hard cover, 96 pages, 79 b/w photographs or sequences, 3 b/w illustrations, glossary, demonstrations by Mike Doyle, afterword by J.J. Moon.
Review
Very basic instructional book concentrating on basic maneuvers circa 1968 USA.
The boards in this book appear to confirm Australian design dominance at this time (compare Carter, Jeff 1968).
Interesting to note style influence of Mike Doyle on Nat Young - pages 56, 64 and 68.
Who is J.J. Moon?
In August 2009, Paul Ambler noted by email:
"J.J Moon is my dad.
His real name is John Ambler and he use to surf in the 60's & 70's with his brother Kevin Ambler.
There used to be a cartoon in a surfing mag titled "Life Of J.J Moon" or something.
He later went on to skate for Golden Breed in Australia and pretty much does nothing now haha."
Many thanks to Paul.

2003
Walding, Murray :
Blue Heaven : The Story of Australian Surfing
Hardie Grant Books
12 Claremont Street
South Yarra, Victoria 3141, Australia, 2003.
Hard cover, 194 pages, extensive colour, duotone and b/white photographs, Bibliography, Index.
Review

2008
Walding, Murray :
Surf-o-rama - Treasures of Australian Surfing.
The Miegunyah Press
Melbourne University Publishing Limited
187 Grattan Street
Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia, 2008.
Soft cover, 240 pages, extensive colour, duotone and black and white photographs, Picture Credits, Bibliography, Index.
Review
A richly illustrated catalogue of Australian surfing associated collectables with extensive item notes and expostition.
Arranged by chapter: surfboards, skateboards, magazines, recordings and posters.

1991
Lee Wardlaw :
Cowabunga! - The Complete Book of Surfing.
Avon Books
A division of the Hearst Corporation
105 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016. 1991
Soft cover, 165 pages, 8 colour plates, 2 black-and-white illustrations, 23 black-and-white photographs, Surfing Organisations, Glossary, Bibliography.
Review
Well balanced overview of surfing that covers all major areas of interest, circa 1991.
With a strong American focus, the book is sometimes deficient in dealing with other countries, for example, "Bob McTavish ... pioneered the first tri-fin boards in the mid 1960's", page 127. There are several other minor spelling for factual errors.
Hotspots Chapter 15 (surfing locations) includes five US wave pools.
Page 74 boldly, but correctly, nominates Kelly Slater as a future top professional for the 1990's.

1988
Warren, Mark:
Atlas of Australian Surfing
Angus and Robertson Publishers
Unit 4 Eden Park 31 Waterloo Road North Ryde NSW Australia 1988
Hard cover, 232 pages, 68 colour photographs?, 46 black and white maps?, Glossary, Index.
Review
Comprehensive guide to Australian surf breaks, in similar format to Jeff Carter (East Coast, 1968), Nat Young (East Coast, 1980/1983 and Surf/Sail Australia, 1986), Chris Rennie (Australia, 1998) and Richard Loveridge (Victoria, 1987).
Break information (swell, tide, wind) is supplemented with occassional historical, cultural or personal observations.
Blue boards with dust jacket.

1994
Warren, Mark:
Atlas of Australian Surfing (Second Edition)
Angus and Robertson Publishers
Unit 4 Eden Park 31 Waterloo Road North Ryde NSW Australia. 1994
Hard cover, 232 pages, 68 colour photographs?, 46 black and white maps?, Glossary, Index.
Review
Comprehensive guide to Australian surf breaks, in similar format to Jeff Carter (East Coast, 1968), Nat Young (East Coast, 1980/1983 and Surf/Sail Australia, 1986), Chris Rennie (Australia, 1998) and Richard Loveridge (Victoria, 1987)..
Break information (swell, tide, wind) is supplemented with occassional historical, cultural or personal observations.
Basically same text/illustrations with some minor variation in format (pages 2 -3?), different cover in laminated boards.

1999
Warren, Mark:
Atlas of Australian Surfing - Traveller's Edition
Haper Collins Publishers 25 Ryde Road Pymble Sydney NSW 2073 Australia. 1999
Reprint of 1989 edition
Laminated soft cover, 272 pages, 68 colour photographs, 46 black and white maps + continent map on end papers, Glossary, Index.
Review
Comprehensive guide to Australian surf breaks, in similar format to Jeff Carter (East Coast, 1968), Nat Young (East Coast, 1980/1983 and Surf/Sail Australia, 1986), Chris Rennie (Australia, 1998) and Richard Loveridge (Victoria, 1987).
Break information (swell, tide, wind) is supplemented with occassional historical, cultural or personal observations.
Despite being a 1999 edition, some details are incorrect -e.g. The Farm (page 126) is incorrectly shown on the map, appears to be confused with Mystics (page 127) and neither is private property, the area being declared as Killalea State Recreational Area in the early 1990's.
This copy, courtesy of Shoalhaven City Library.

1997
Warshaw, Matt :
Surfriders – In Search of the Perfect Wave
Tehabi Books, Inc.
Collins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. 1997
Soft cover, 132 pages, 70 colour photographs or sequences, 31b/w photographs, World champions photo gallery 1964 – 1996, bibliography, photography credits.
Review
Excellent publication beautifully presented with great (some rare) photographs.
Text has a tendency to become a bit dramatic.
Chapters “Morning at Freshwater” (the Duke) and “Revolution” (McTavish) are of particular interest.
Duke Kahanamoku at Freshwater : 24 December 1914.

1997
Warshaw, Matt:
Above The Roar - Fifty Surfer Interviews
Waterhouse
4350 Bain Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062. 1997
Hardcover, pages, extensive colour and black and white photographs and illustrations, Photo and Art Credits, Sources and Acknowledgements.
Review
Not complete interviews, but rather short selections taken from Matt Warshaw's portfolio of previously published (full) interviews 1987 - 1997.
This tight editing often leaves the reader wishing for further information, or that some other topic had been selected.
The selection of accompanying photographs is excellent and they are beautifully reproduced.

2000
Warshaw, Matt :
Mavericks – The Story of Big Wave Surfing
Chronicle Books, Inc.
85 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94105. 2000
Hard cover, 209 pages, 36colour photographs, 19 b/w photographs, numerous magazine reproductions, film poster reproductions, map, Bibliography, Photograph credits, Index.
Review
As implied by the tittle, an account of big wave surfing largley centralised on stories and photographs of Maverick's, California.
This is most prominant in the focus on the death of Hawaiian Mark Foo in 1994, which dominates the book - Chapters 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Alternate chapters (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) give a overall historical perspective.
The early history chapters, mostly Hawaii, are detailed and highly informative. However, the 20 year span of Chapter 6 (1970-1990) is a bit light. While noting the impact of professional surfing, it fails to mention significant developements such as the legrope and the 3 fin Thruster that undoubtedly took surfing performance both deeper and higher.

Tow-in surfing is coverered in Chapter 8.
The various comments on subjective wave height estimation are reflective of the confusion of this issue. "Surfers of course don't measure wave height by the face" - page 159.
See How to measure waves.
Pedants Corner : "Plank and cigar boards were both finless and lumbering, and virtually uncontrolable in waves over six feet. Even in smaller surf the idea usually was to chart a straight and undeviating course to shore... riding on a plum line to the sand." page 20
Matt Warshaw maintains the myth that pre-1940 surfers rode straight to the beach, when all the available evidence indicates that 'cutting' was an integral part of surfing since ancient times.
This copy ex-Chandler Public Library, Arizona.

2004
Warshaw, Matt :
The Encyclopedia of Surfing
Viking
Penguin Books Australia Pty Ltd
250 Camberwell Road
Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Hard cover, 774 pages, black and white photographs.
Appendicies include Bibliography, Contest Results, Movies, Magazines, Music.
Review
Encyclopedic.
Personal note : Internet and surfing, page 293, notes...
sites for surf history (ledgenarysurfers.com, surfresearch.com.au)

1978
Warwick, Wayne
A Guide to Surfriding in New Zealand
Second Edition
Viking Sevenseas Ltd
Wellington, New Zealand. 1978
Hardcover, 74 pages, 25 colour photographs, 64 black and white photographs, 22 black and white maps, Glossary
Review
Comprehensive overview of New Zealand surfing circa 1978.
Unfortunately there are no page or chapter numbers.
Historical data in 'N.Z.S.R.A.' (a history of the New Zealand Surfriders Association, 1963-1978) and 'the early days' (1915-1963)..
Design in 'design and manufacture'.
Although the photography is not to the standard of US or Australian work of the period, it is by New Zealanders, of New Zealanders, in New Zealand.
The photographs that illustrate particular manouvres are well selected.
The maps are extensive and clearly reproduced with accompanying notes detailing break, wind, tide and access.
Design and layout by Terry Fong.

1982
Wells, Lana:
Sunny Memories - Australians at the Seaside.
Greenhouse Publications Pty Ltd
385 - 387 Bridge Road, Richmond, Victoria 3126. 1982
Hardcover, 184 pages, black and white photographs, Chronology of Events.
Review
Expansive overview of Australian beach culture and history, starting with James Cook's description of 'indians' (aborigines) bathing in 1776.
Surfcraft in Chapter 12.
'Riding the Waves' is interesting; particularly the sections on Isabel Letham (sic) page 156, Grace Smith Wootton (1915 Victorian surfer) page 157 and C.J.('Snow') McAllister page 159; but does not progress much past 1970.
The Chronology is useful, but note the 1964 World Contest at Manly is listed as 1960.
Photographic Highlights:
"Andrew 'Boy' Charlton and Snow McAllister, both wearing V shorts over their bathing suits, with their boards at Manly, 1926" pages 88 - 89,
"St Kilda Life Saving Club Member with a surfboard ... Manly" circa 1929, page 151,
"Grace Wootton Smith" page 157.

1993
Werner, Doug :
Surfer's Start-Up : A Beginner's Guide to Surfing - Second Edition
Pathfinder Publishing
458 Dorothy Avenue, Ventura, California, CA 93003, 1993.
Soft cover, 111 pages, 46 black and white photographs, 12 black and white photograph sequences, 14 black and white illustrations, Glossary, Resources, Bibliography, Index.
Review
An intensive instructional book concentrating on basic maneuvers with an abbreviated history of surfing in Chapter 12.
Highlights : photographs of LeRoy Grannis (pages 90 and 97) and Doc Ball (page 98).

1996
Werner, Doug :
Longboarder's Start-Up : A Guide to Longboard Surfing
Start Up Sports/Tracks Publishing
140 Brightwood Avenue, Chula Vista, California, CA 91910. 1996
Soft cover, 160 pages, black and white photographs, black and white photograph sequences, black and white illustrations, Glossary, Resources, Bibliography, Index.
Review
Longboard edition of Werner's Surfer's Start-Up : A Beginner's Guide to Surfing, 1993. See second edition, 1999, below.
Intensive instructional book concentrating on basic and advanced manouvers.
Design features are discussed in an interview with Bill Stewart and Henry Ford of Stewart Surfboards, pages 119 to 136.
Classic longboarders may find Bob McTavish's Malibu Repetoire circa 1966 of interest...
Bob McTavish is in this wave. He probably had a plan to get out of it.
This copy, courtesy of Shoalhaven City Library.

1999
Werner, Doug :
Surfer's Start-Up : A Beginner's Guide to Surfing - Second Edition
Start Up Sports/Tracks Publishing
140 Brightwood Avenue, Chula Vista, California, CA 91910. 1999
http://www.startupsports.com
First Edition 1993
Soft cover, 128 pages, 46 black and white photographs, 12 black and white photograph sequences, 14 black and white illustrations, Glossary, Resources, Bibliography, Index.
Review
Intensive instructional book concentrating on basic maneuvers.
Highlights : photographs of LeRoy Grannis (pages 95 and 100) and Doc Ball (page 96).

1977
White, Graham :
Surfing
Summit Books, Published by Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd
176 South Creek Road, Dee Why West 2099. 1977
Hardcover, 96 pages, 5 colour plates, 7 b/w plates, 43 b/w photographs, 7 b/w illustrations.
Review
Attempt to fully cover Australian surf scene (surfboards, bodysurfing and Surf Life Saving) by a Surf Life Saving Champion and Olympic representative.
In the surfboard section (Part 1) the text is competent but the photography is poor.
Most interest is Part 1 Chapter 2' Choosing A Surfboard' (page 21) that includes construction directions and accompanying photographs (McGrigor Surfboards, Brookvale).

2000
White, Jill (ed):
Dupain's Beaches.
Chapter and verse, an imprint of
Wellington Lane Press Pty Ltd.,
120 Wycombe Road, Neutral bay Nsw 2089, and
John Witzig & Company Pty Ltd.,
Mullumbimby NSW 2482. 2000
Hard cover, 112 pages, black and white photographs.
Photographs by Max Dupain, Introduction by Sebastian Smee, Text by Matthew Cawood, Design by John Witzig.
Review
Splendid

2000
Williamson, Luke:
Gone Surfing
- The Golden Years of Surfing in New Zealand, 1950 -1970
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads,
Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand. 2000
Soft cover, pages, colour photographs, black and white photographs, various magazine, poster and advertising reproductions, Glossary, Thank You (Credits).
Review
Excellent early history of New Zealand boardriding with a healthy concentration on board design and manufacture.
Unfortunately makes no account of prone craft and some interesting New Zealand designs such as the Levine (a hollow timber board available in kit form, circa 1959) and the Tinkler tail (1976, outside the historical parameters) are absent.

2003
Willis, Clint (editor):
Big Wave- Stories of Riding the World's Widest Water
Adrenaline
Thunder Mouth Press
An imprint of Avalon Publishing Group Incorporated
161 William Street, 16th floor
New York, NY 10038
Soft cover, 316 pages, Acknowledgements, Permissions, Bibliography.
Review
A collection of surf stories or surfer profiles from a selection of professional American writers.
Half are selections from widely available books that are included in the surfresearch.com.au bibliography, for example Daniel Duane, Greg Noll, Jack London, John Grissim and Matt Warshaw.
The remainder are reprints of magazine articles such as Outside and The Surfer's Journal.

Originally published in Natural History magazine in 1969, Finney and Houston's Polynesian Surfing (pages 173-184) essentially summarises their 1966 book, Surfing- The Sport of Hawaiian Kings.
Of most interest is Matt Warshaw's Goodbye Sunshine Superman (pages 81-109), a profile of Jock Sutherland, a surfer of exceptional talent.
First published in 1994 in The Surfer's Journal, this reprint sorely misses the photographs that undoubtedly accompanied its initial publication.
This copy, courtesy of Shoalhaven City Library.

1979
Wilson, Jack
Australian Surfing and Life Saving
Rigby Limited, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia .,1979
Hard cover, pages, 29 colour photographs (plates), 75 black and white photographs, 7 black and white illustrations.
Surfing photographs by Bruce Channon/Surfing World
Review

Attempt to fully cover Australian surf scene (surfboards, bodysurfing and Surf Life Saving) from a Surf Life Saving perspective, similar to White:Surfing above, but with a superior selection of photographs.
Chapter 1- Development of the Sport, concentrates primarily on the Life Saving movement. Chapter 5 - Boardriding, is very basic : four pages of text, compared to seven pages for... Chapter 4 - Bodysurfing.
Chapters 6 and 7- Hazards and Dangerous Sea Creatures, are probably the most extensive Australian analysis of these subjects available.
Highlights :
1. The much reproduced ...
   A. Duke with solid wood board Wakiki circa1918 page 14.
   B.Duke at Freshwater Beach 1914. page 15.
   C. Snowy McAlister and board 1928 page 21.
   D. Lou Morath, Hawaii 1939, page 36.
2. Bodysurfing, Bondi 1912. page 24
3. Manly's Swordfish and North Steyene's Bluebottle, page 31.
4. N. Smith, Cooks hill circa 1923, riding hollow board, page 35.
5. Duke Kahanamoku and Australian Surf Team, Hawaii 1939, page 36.
6.Colour plates featuring Mark Richards, Rabbit Bartholomew, Terry Fitzgerald, others. Between pages 48 and 49.
7.Claude West and Surfoplane Manly Beach 1924 page 73.
8. Bondi, Autumn1930's, featuring bellyboard, hollow surfboard and surfskis, page 74.
9. Hollow board at Fairy Bower, page 77.

2008
Winnimam, Jim :
Vintage Surfboards 1 - A photo history of surfboards and surfing collectables.
US Vintage Surf Auction, November 2008.
#134 of a limited edition of 485 copies.
Review
A beautifully printed book featuring selected items from the online US Vintage Surf Auction, 2008.
Unfortunately some of the historical notes are incorrect, for example: "Until Captain James Cook first sailed into Hawaiian waters in 1776, the world had not known surf riding." (page 4).
Cook first observed surfriding in Tahiti in 1769 and did not arrive in the Hawaiian Islands until 1778.
Some boards do not indicate basic dimensions and some of the decal images are so small to be almost illegible.

1980
Winter, Peter :
70 Years On Greenmount
The
Review

2007
Witzig, John:
Surfing Photographs From the 1960s and '70s.
Queen Street Fine Art
34 Queen Street, Woolahra, NSW, 2025.
Hard cover, 88 pages.
Foreward by Robert Drew.
Introduction by Mark Cherry.
Review.
A beautiful collection of surfing themed photographs by an Australian master of the genre.
They provide an rich historical portrait of the radical changes in surfriding and surfboards during the period, if from a strictly personal perspective.
This is probably most evident in the chapter Honolua Bay, pages 26 to 33, where Matt Warshaw writes this "marked the ... arrival of the shortboard" (quoted from his Encyclopedia of Surfing, 2004).
This evaluation is historically contentious.
Also note that "Nat Young at Winkipop, 1969" (pages 3 and 4) was originally published in 1969 on the cover of Witizig's Surf International magazine (Volume 2, Number 4).
A bellyboardrider (riding on the outside of Nat) has apparently been brushed out of the later version.

1999
Woodcock, Sandra ::
Surfing and Snowboarding
Hodder and Stoughton Educational, Euston Road, London, NW1 1999
Soft cover, pages, 3 black and white surfing photographs.
Review
Low key juvenile book.
This copy, courtesy of Shoalhaven City Library.

1971
Wright, Bank (Wright Jr, Alan B.)
Surfing Hawaii
Soft cover, 96 pages, 65 black and white photograghs, 31 black and white maps, 8 black and white illustrations, index.
Mountain and Sea
P.O. Box 64 Redondo Beach, California 90277. 1971
Photography by Steve Wilkins and Peter French, Maps by Bill Penaroza, Graphics by Kathy McKeen
Review
Brief descriptions of 171 surf breaks in the Hawaiian islands, some with intensive anaysis (e.g. Sunset Beach), and general notes on Winds, Swell Direction, Currents, Living Hazzards, Tides, Camping and Save Our Surf (S.O.S. - an enviromental organisation).
The photographs circa 1970 are excellent, however none of the surfers are credited, even if many are recognisable (e.g. Nat Young, pp 21 and 61, Joey Cabell p70) .
Several of the maps have been reproduced in subsequent magazines.

surfresearch.com.au

Note
This is not a complete list of surfing books, only books read and reviewed for this site are listed.
For more comprehensive lists go to...
The Surfing Bibliography - Surfing Books
- Steven Whelan's comprehensive list of books, film, video and magazines, listed alphbetically.
From England,
and/or
The Water Log Surfing Bibliography
- excellent listing of books and journals by Daved Marsh, listed by category. From USA.