Surf icon Jack O’Neill died yesterday. I’m not a surfer, but living near Santa Cruz, I’ve come across him for years. Bought more than one wet suit at his Surf Shop, and drive by his house at Pleasure Point all the time. I was watching a surf contest down at one of the beaches earlier today, and that was the topic de jour.
My daughter did the O’Neill Sea Odyssey program. We have a picture of her on the Bay having the time of her life. With that program alone, he impacted the lives of thousands of children and their families.
I honor his passion for the ocean and dedication to passing that love along to others.
Never heard of him but I wanted to jump in and mention, only because I saw surfing in the title, that if you’re ever looking for an absolutely mesmerizing movie, go find Endless Summer. It’s two hours of surfing with really mellow background music, stunning scenery and that old timey documentary voice over (that I love, old cartoons did it too).
It was from 1966 and in checking to see if there was any mention of him in it (or at least on IMDB or google), I see both him and the movie are associated so closely with surfing* that a lot of articles about him use ‘endless summer’ as part of the title.
I’d link to a clip of the movie, but it seems it’s not to be found on youtube. It’s pretty popular so I’m guessing the owner/studio is yanking it as they find it.
*FTR, you don’t have to like surfing to like the movie, I had it on in the background and it still sucked me it.
It’s a good movie, but definitely has a “60s” feel to it. A few more updated films that I thought were fantastic:
Step into Liquid
Riding Giants
I watched both of those several times. They also did a remake of sorts of Endless Summer a few years ago.
That’s very true and while the quality of the video doesn’t do it any favors I do like old movies and, as I said, I’ve always loved that old time documentary voice over style.
I winced a little when they talked about surfing with “the natives” in Africa. The “60s feel” can definitely work both ways, especially for us older folks who came of age during that time. A little dated, but also nostalgic. In fact, I remember in Jr High, my best friend’s older brother had an Endless Summer poster in his bedroom and I thought that was very cool.
If you can get your hands on Riding Giants, watch it. Absolutely fascinating history of Big Wave surfing.
I absolutely love the cover, I use it as a facebook/phone background from time to time.
