:09:01
... landed like a bomb
on the front porch of California.
:09:05
I remember I was
a 14-year-old paperboy...
:09:10
...delivering the Evening Outlook.
:09:12
I got to work...
I had looked at the front page...
:09:15
...and there it was: Buzzy Trent,
George Downing...
:09:17
...and Wally Froiseth coming down
what looked like a 30-foot wave.
:09:26
This simple image sent shock waves
through California's surf culture...
:09:31
... triggering the first migration
of West Coast surfers...
:09:34
... to the Hawaiian Islands
and Oahu's Makaha Beach.
:09:44
It was Makaha's combination
of smooth...
:09:46
... crystal-blue warm water,
and large, gently tapered waves...
:09:50
... that helped create surfing's first
accessible big-wave riding paradise.
:09:59
At Makaha, if we had 10 guys
on a good day, that was a lot.
:10:03
You knew every one.
They were there every time.
:10:06
To us, that was a crowd at the time.
:10:08
You'd be out there for maybe
about two, three hours...
:10:11
...and you would only catch,
like, five waves.
:10:15
You don't wanna mess up.
You don't have no leash...
:10:18
...and you're way out there. When
you get wiped out, there's nobody.
:10:38
In the early days, we lived
on the beach. We had tents.
:10:41
Then later on, we all got together
and rented a Quonset hut...
:10:44
...for 25 or up to 50 bucks, and
10 guys would be in the Quonset hut.
:10:48
It was cheap. That was an upgrade.
:10:52
It was easygoing.
No problems, no hassles.
:10:56
And we used to leave
our board on the beach there...
:10:59
...go to Waikiki for two days,
come back, it'd be there.