Riding Giants
prev.
play.
mark.
next.

:15:02
And, I mean, it was a scene
to try to make ends meet.

:15:06
There wasn't a lot of money,
so if we wanted to eat...

:15:09
...we had to go diving.
- We'd dive every day...

:15:12
...and get fish and lobster,
and turtle in those days.

:15:16
They would pick coconuts
and papayas, and go fishing.

:15:18
In those days,
you could live off the land.

:15:21
Guys would come
from the mainland...

:15:23
...they'd patch our surfboards
for a peanut-butter sandwich.

:15:27
Pat Curren and I, we'd get in trouble.
We'd steal chickens or something.

:15:41
I mean, the whole thing
was waiting for waves.

:15:44
We would do anything
to amuse ourselves and each other...

:15:47
...so somewhere I had learned about
how to put lighter fluid in your mouth...

:15:52
...and torch it off. Actually, I did
set the side of that house on fire.

:15:59
They're just spending their days
living in the sun...

:16:02
...and living a life that's not the '50s,
gray-flannel-suit thing.

:16:06
It's like an alternative thing
the way Kerouac was...

:16:10
...and bikers were,
except they're having fun.

:16:13
That was the counterculture
of its day.

:16:15
You know, you were
bucking the system...

:16:18
...and you went to Hawaii,
and you rode waves.

:16:23
They were the pioneers,
not only of riding big waves...

:16:26
...but of the culture of surfing.
:16:28
They set the pace, this kind of
free-and-easy lifestyle.

:16:32
That really was a unique period
in history.

:16:34
They were doing something so unique
in the 20th century...

:16:37
...and there was a handful of them.
:16:39
It wasn't like jazz, where there
was the Chicago scene...

:16:42
...the New York scene. This was it.
That tiny little epicenter...

:16:46
...those two dozen intrepid men,
and the women that went with them...

:16:50
...living that life.
It only lasted a few years.

:16:53
What a remarkable time
that must have been.


prev.
next.