SurfRiders: In Search of the Perfect Wave [Paperback]

Ed M. Warshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1997

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's something unique and mysterious about the way surfers and the waves they ride become almost mystically indistinguishable. This thrillingly illustrated exploration of surfing's mystique examines its growth as a competitive activity, analyzes board design, spins some history and, most enjoyably, captures the effervescent spirit that runs through the sport like an undertow.

From the Publisher

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harper (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006491790
• ISBN-13: 978-0006491798
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,278,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matt Warshaw was born in Los Angeles, began riding waves in 1969, and had a brief, undistinguished, resume-padding career as a pro surfer during the early 1980s. He worked at SURFER Magazine for six years, and became editor in 1990. Quitting what has been called "the best job in surfing," Warshaw enrolled at UC Berkeley, and in 1993 took a BA in History, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He continued to write, and published articles in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Interview, and Outside.

Warshaw has written eight books since 1997, including the Encyclopedia of Surfing ("A living, breathing masterpiece," according to Salon.com), and the just-published History of Surfing. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote that "Warshaw has written more cogent words about surfing than any other human," and the UK's Independent added that "the author appears to have attained total omniscience in his field."

Warshaw lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you wanted to know about surfing except "how-to", March 25, 1999

By 

T. Whigham (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SurfRiders: In Search of the Perfect Wave (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Greatly Thoughtout - Refreshing and Well-Documented, July 8, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SurfRiders: In Search of the Perfect Wave (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will make any surfer or non-surfer want to get in the water, April 12, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Owings Mills, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SurfRiders: In Search of the Perfect Wave (Paperback)

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.