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JD's Journal : Surf Style : Surf Pics
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I finally dropped by the Surf Style
exhibition in San Francisco this week, and very nice it is, too. It's, ah, "eclectic",
I'd say - there are boards and photos and paintings all mixed together with
no particular organization that I could figure out. The era feels mostly kind
of 70's-ish: the boards you see when you go in are a set of Herb Fletcher 70's
shapes, including some square-nosed weirdos I hadnt seen before and a wonderful
8-foot+ gun - very sharp, tapering wickedly to the tail.
There are a bunch of Art Brewer pics of dudes looking groovy, hanging on the
beach, but also more contempory Brewer pics. Norcal is represented by a nice
shot of Fort Point at dusk - it gets the spooky, freezing cold vibe of surfing
under the bridge in winter. There's all kinds of art - the usual psychedelic
beaches, but also some heads printed on canvas by Joel Tudor that are have some
character to them.
And there are a set of large prints by Craig Peterson of classic 70's travel
trips.
One of the Peterson prints is the Surfer cover picture of Petacalco, which to
me captures the essence of surf travel more than any other image I've seen.
Two surfers are hanging on a beach - one of them is walking away towards the
sea holding a board, and beyond them, a perfect glassy peak is breaking. It's
hot - looks like late afternoon - and neither of them seem to be in a hurry.
It feels as though they've had a slow day, they are about to have a fine session
in glassy, perfect conditions, and there are no hassles on the horizon. They're
not going anywhere soon, and they are not expecting anybody to show up.
The period details are great - the surfer heading out has no leash, both of
them are wearing tight short-shorts, and there's a wide-brimmed hat sitting
on the drift-wood. Hair is long, the guy closest to the camera looks like he's
sporting a 'tash.
Finally - and it's only really possible to see this in the large print at the
exhibition - the literal focus of the picture is the wave - it is sharp as a
tack, while the forground is slightly blurred. Which is as it should be - the
picture gets its energy and depth from the anticipation we feel as we look at
that wave breaking - from the immediate sense of the session that's about to
happen. Even thirty years later we can feel ourselves instinctively dropping
our burdens, focussing on the lineup and getting ready for a few hours of unhassled,
perfect surf.
And, of course, the wave at Petacalco more or less disappeared after development
further up the coast, so this image is Petacalco. The place didnt live
to have a set of surf-camps on the beach, and a webcam and arguments about localism
on Surfline. Petacalco was a mysto, secret, big-wave spot for a few years, and
then it died. The time and the place became inseparable.
It's an iconic image of surf travel - the perfect place, the perfect time, with
the right people. One session, or one day, or one week of everything right.
And then gone. And we're left to find the next one.
* The entire story of Mysto Petacalco is told in Surfers Journal Volume 8 No.4,
which you can buy here
if you need to. And retold in less detail, but with some old super-8 footage
in The Far Shore.
my email is: jdj@pacificwaverider.com
an archive of these columns is here