The great Phil Edwards once said something along the lines of, ‘My first wave was the best ride of my life. Everything after was downhill.’ Whether that was true or not, the point made was the first taste of surfing often leads to obsession that sticks for life. And like any addiction, the stories of how we get hooked are as varied as the addicts themselves. From Hollywood Films to cool older brothers, inspiration takes on many forms. Each of our odysseys have their own origin stories which colour our image of what surfing is and in turn, help shape the culture itself. And like Edwards’ downhill allusion, each career has their own trajectory. This may be me just trying to be clever, but I’m going to end this intro with question, is the way our wave ends in any way decided by the way it began?

In this episode, we ask how and why we started to surf? We explore various on ramps and off ramps to a surfing life. Was it luck? Peer Pressure? Or some mysterious force that has driven us to our destiny of a salty life? Plus, another round of Stump my bro! All on this episode of Hardcore Surf History. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices