Surfing is one of the most exciting and stunningly beautiful sports in the world. The modern surfer on his small plastic board is the product of a fascinating history of development.
Nat Young, one of the world's great surfers, has produced an illustrated history of the sport that is the most definitive and authoritative ever published.
This book is the result of a lifetime of involvement with surfing and a deep interest in its history.
Nat has had discussions with the greats of the sport, from Duke Kahanamoku to contemporary stars like Kelly Slater and Lisa Andersen.
He tells for the first time the real story behind the remarkable development of what we see as modern surfing in California in the 1940s.
Illustrating the book are rare reproductions of early Hawaiian and Australian surfing photos that have never before been published, and the work of the world's best surf photographers, gathered together in a volume for the first time, a feat remarkable even for a surfer of the authority of Nat Young.
He traces the paths of the development of the sport from the Hawaiian kings through to the current crop of professionals.
Along the way are portraits of some of the remarkable figures that the sport has seen - and it is a field not short of its eccentric stars.
To all this, Nat brings his personal knowledge and stories and the inside expertise gathered in his years of deep involvement with the sport of surfing.
Nat Young is recognized as one of the great surfers in the history of the sport.
He was born in 1947, grew up in Collaroy on Sydney, Australia's northern beaches, won the World Championship in 1966 in California and the Smirnoff contest in Hawaii in 1972.
He was several times Australian junior and open champion, his first open championship at Bondi at the age of 15.
In the late 1960s, he and a handful of others ushered in the "new era" in surfboard riding, a power-oriented style that forms the basis of contemporary surfing.
In 1986, older surfers began to compete professionally on longboards.
Nat's unique style and good luck enabled him to become World Longboard Champion in 1988, 1989, and 1990.
Book Details
Author: Nat Young
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Palm Beach Press
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0959181644
ISBN-13: 978-0959181647
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 9 x 12.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds