SurfRiders : In Search of the Perfect Wave

By Matt Warshaw

Book Overview

How does it feel to be in the mouth of a 50-foot tube? To carve a perfect 200-degree turn? To get plowed under a thundering mountain of whitewater? SurfRiders puts readers in the curl with 100 vivid full-color photographs and more than 20 stories by the greatest names in surfing. Chasing the swells from Waimea Bay to South Africa's Cape St. Francis, it brings to life the near-mystical allure of riding the big wave, the rush of shooting the tube, the draw of the pipeline. Along the way, it shows readers the pivotal points of surfing's development, explores the unique beach boy culture its spawned, provides a fascinating look at the evolution of the surfboard (or "gun" as its called) and recounts some of the most outrageous sets ever ridden. In the tradition of Ski Fever! and The Olympic Spirit, this visually stunning book also features tons of sidebars, historic photos and incredible images of today's greatest champions. Designed for both die-hard surfers and landlocked dreamers alike, it is as close to hanging ten in big wave heaven as you can get without getting wet.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1887656103
• ISBN13: 9781887656108
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Tehabi Books
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Everything you wanted to know about surfing except "how-to"

Matt Warshaw is a writer for "Surfing Magazine", which incidentally published the book. As a result, this book takes full advantage of the magazine's long lineage, filters out the fluff, and leaves even a novice surfer like me feeling like I've been surfing all of my life. Matt's writing style is simple yet elegant, and he covers just about every aspect of surfing you can imagine, from surfboard manufacturing, to Duke Kohanomaku, to surf competition, to surf culture, to Mark Foo's tragic death in the mid-1990's. The only thing he doesn't cover is "how-to", but there are enough books about that already (one good one is Doug Wermer's "Start-Up Surfing"). I highly recommend this book to all ocean-lovers, surfers and non-surfers alike. Gorgeous photo's, excellent text. Almost as good as being there.

Greatly Thoughtout - Refreshing and Well-Documented

Thoroughly loved reading Matt Warshaw's chronical of the surfing life. The chapters on "In Search Of The Perfect Wave" and "Surfari" certainly blew the Endless Summer story wide open. The whole book was well put together, and obviously researched very extensively. The photo's were great too. Recommend it to any surfer or surf lover.

Will make any surfer or non-surfer want to get in the water

I loved this book. i got it as a gift and was told to read it on the way up to our family summer house (that is on the beach where i love to surf). It has the greatest pictures and not that bad captions to go along with it. If you are a surfer it will remind you of the great times that the ocean brings and if you are not a surfer i believe it will interest you into maybe trying surfing one day. whatever or whoever you are i believe it is a winner.

The next best thing to being there yourself.

Surfriders is an excellent blend of history, commentary, and contemporary writing about the sport and pastime of surfing. The photography is unbelievable and the prose engaging. The content covers everything from the beginnings of surfing with The Duke to the pressures of competition. There is an excellent section about Big Wave riding and even a look at surf culture in film. (What was the real deal with The Endless Summer?) This is a great book to experience, especially when the swell is off and there is no other surf in sight