This Week on The Temple of Surf Podcast: Surf Legends Dick Metz & Richard Yelland Share the Untold Story That Changed Surf Culture Forever

This week’s episode is truly something special. We’re joined by two remarkable guests whose lives and work have shaped how the world sees surfing: surf legend Dick Metz and award-winning filmmaker Richard Yelland.

Dick Metz isn’t just a name in the history of surfing, he is surf history. From riding Waikiki waves in the 1940s to traveling the globe with nothing but a surfboard and a dream, Metz’s life reads like an adventure novel. His firsthand stories span continents, cultures, and decades. He helped spark the early surf travel movement and inspired generations of wave-chasers long before the world knew what “surf culture” even meant.

Alongside him is Richard Yelland, a filmmaker whose deep love for surfing and storytelling has led him to create some of the most powerful documentaries in the genre. Known for his work on films like Floating: The Nathan Geller Story and Between the Lines, Yelland has a rare gift: he captures the soul of surfing. His latest film—centered around Dick Metz’s extraordinary life—traces the origins of a movement that changed everything.

In this episode, we dive deep into how a single journey around the world, taken by Metz in the 1950s, helped ignite what would become a global surf phenomenon. That journey, filled with untold stories, unexpected discoveries, and cross-cultural connections, would later inspire the narrative of one of surfing’s most iconic films.

We talk about what it was like to surf in a time before crowds, before sponsors, before the industry. Metz shares personal anecdotes about hitchhiking across continents, living with local communities. Richard Yelland explains how he brought those forgotten moments back to life on screen and why this story needed to be told now more than ever.

But this episode is more than a conversation, it’s a tribute. A tribute to the pioneers who paved the way. To the wanderers who looked at a map and saw a wave, to the storytellers who kept those legends alive.

Whether you're a lifelong surfer, a film lover, or someone drawn to the magic of human adventure, this episode offers a rare glimpse into the soul of surfing, raw, real, and profoundly inspiring.

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🎧 Available now on all major platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more.