Carving Nostalgia

The photograph above dove tails nicely with the previous post, for it features a pretty impressive line up of surfers. Taken during the '85'86 winter season on the North Shore, just a couple of years after The Performers, the boards and the clothes are very much of that era. It was all about bright and loud graphics and bold colours.   I am able to identify pretty much all of the guys in the shot, many of which by the sponsors logos!  Sadly though, there are faces there that are no longer with us; including Mark Foo and Buttons there right in the fore ground, who died late last year.

      Sourced from The Board Collector.  The first time I recall feeling genuine stoke about surfing was when I saw the Quiksilver/Jack McCoy Film; The Performers, including the legendary 'Kongs Island'.  I had been skating for a while, and had recently got in to surfing, but this film was the catalyst that made everything come together and make sense, and has remained so ever since!  I cannot quite put my finger on why this was such a source of inspiration, but I think it is a number of factors are responsible for it being so utterly influential in my surfing life. Of course, the surfing is outstanding, filmed on the North Shore during the '83/84 Winter season, the year that saw a boycott by the ASP, so no professional contests were held.  This is apparent in the film, for it is all free surfing and pretty amazing it is too.  From start to finish it is full on power surfing featuring the afore mentioned...