Emil here, surfer and TWOTHIRDS Art Director. This Saturday (June 21st) is International Surf Day. It’s a day that has always meant a great deal to me and everyone at TWOTHIRDS, allowing us to reflect on our love of surfing while reconnecting with Blue Community members around the world. Here are four larger-than-life characters whose stories still inspire me to get out there and rip a turn or two.
Agatha Christie - Yes, Really!
This famous novelist might have been one of the first Britons to surf. After the First World War, she and her husband were invited to do a world tour promoting Britain. During her travels she would write letters to her mother, describing in detail all her surf adventures,
“Oh, it was heaven! Nothing like it. Nothing like that rushing through the water at what seemed to you a speed of about two hundred miles an hour,"
The woman who wrote books I love like Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None even surfed in Honolulu while on her travels,
“We arrived in the early morning, got into our rooms at the hotel, and straight away, seeing out of the window the people surfing on the beach, we rushed down, hired our surf-boards, and plunged into the sea.”
Duke Kahanamoku
The Duke was quite something. A 5-time Olympic medalist, sheriff, lifeguard, actor, businessman and more importantly a man who introduced surfing to California and Australia.
He grew up in Honolulu (maybe he and Agatha hung out!), and spent most of his youth on the beaches of Waikiki, becoming an expert swimmer and surfer. He would later represent the USA in 4 Olympic Games in freestyle swimming.
In between the Olympics and other competitions, he would do swimming exhibitions all over the world. It was during these events that he would showcase the art of surfing for the first time ever outside of Hawaii. First in California and then later in Australia and New Zealand. The rest is history.
Linda Benson
Linda was the first female surfer to surf Waimea Bay in 1959 at only 15 years old. Waimea Bay is the only surfable spot on the north shore of Oahu when the surf is huge... I have seen The North Shore with big waves, and Waimea wasn’t breaking, so imagine how frightening it must be when it does!
Here is a snippet of an interview with Linda that gives an idea of how fearless she was,
“As I paddled out, I saw Fred Van Dyke wipeout. He popped up, and then two parts of his board popped up beside him. He looked at me as I was paddling out and said, “You’re crazy.” When I came back in, I remember just stumbling over myself. I was just so happy I had done it and that I was back on land. It was amazing!”
Miki Dora
Miki Dora was one of the most controversial figures in surfing, and in my opinion, one of the most interesting. He was the king of Malibu in the 50’s and 60’s. A loner, a legend, an individualist, an outlaw, a rebel with causes and, above all, a very talented surfer.
His critics accused him of being a surf bum, a vagabond, a sociopath and a criminal. Dora featured on the FBI's Most Wanted list and spent long months in American prisons. He never really had a job and hustled his way through life. He was the ultimate hedonist–the Jim Morrison of surfing.
A curious fact is that he spent his last years living and surfing in one of my favourite surfspots in Europe, Guethary. We have done several photoshoots there. One of my favourite quotes from him goes like this,
“Waves are the ultimate illusion. They come out of nowhere, instantaneously materialise, and just as quickly, they break and vanish. Chasing after such fleeting mirages is a complete waste of time. That is what I chose to do with my life.”
