Gerry Lopez was Hawaii's hottest young gun in 1969, coming up so fast at Pipeline that Jock Sutherland bailed to the Army rather than defend his turf. I made that last part up, but who knows? Lopez was 20 years old, looked 16, and not only was both smooth and progressive in the water, he was also a Brewer-mentored shaper, a tough competitor, and a yogi-in-training. He was going places. Everybody knew it. And if you lived within the Honolulu Advertiser's circulation radius between 1969 and 1971, you knew as well that Lopez could bang out a clean 700-word column on deadline.

Lopez didn't invent the newspaper surf beat. I'm not sure, but I think that honor goes to Aussie filmmaker-publisher-organizer Bob Evans, who in turn was followed by Midget Farrelly (Sydney Morning Herald), Nat Young (Sunday Telegraph), and Fred Hemmings (Honolulu Star-Bulletin). But Lopez wasn't far behind. A quick sweep through the newspapers.com archives tells me that Lopez' career as a columnist—bylined "Gerry Ken Lopez, Advertiser Surfing Writer"; the three-word name maybe used to add heft, like Henry David Thoreau or William Butler Yeats—began in the summer of 1969, ended in the spring of 1971, and consisted of about 50 columns altogether. A solid run. Furthermore, while Lopez didn't light up the newsprint the way he lit up the inside of a 10-foot Pipe drainer, he was nimble and enthusiastic, and not at all doing it by the numbers.

Here's a column I picked more or less at random. Lopez uses a stock gripe about crowds to quick flick into coastal stewardship, before getting into his real topic which has something to do with "ego state" and "pure consciousness," and roll your eyes if you must, but Gerry is been living that truth now for over 50 years. He then brings the column to a close with a plug for Paul Witzig's new flick, Evolution, and a quick report on the latest Ewa Beach contest.

"Little Waves Set Stage for Fine Hot-Dogging," by Gerry Ken Lopez, Honolulu Advertiser, July 24, 1969

Although the surf has not improved much in size there have been many little waves around. The under four-foot ankle snappers set the stage for some radical high-performance hot-dogging this week.

Most surfing was done in and around the Ala Moana area, the waves there usually being more consistent and better formed than at other spots.

A factor that comes into every surfer’s mind while surfing is the crowd conditions. On an average summer day at least 500 surfers use the waves in the area between Magic Island and the Hilton Hawaiian Village channel. There are perhaps three to four times this many a day from the other side of Magic Island to Kewalo Basin.

It should be interesting to see what will happen if that surfing area is destroyed. [NOTE: there was a plan in the works at this time to build a harbor breakwater that would ruin many of Waikiki's best breaks; it was defeated.] On crowded days the real purpose for surfing is often obscured in the frenzied scramble for that one wave and sadly the result is usually a lot of bruised surfboards and egos.

A surfer likes to have a clear wave in front of him where he can become involved with his board and the wave, and maneuver himself into any position his ability will allow. But when he has to continually alter his wave consciousness because people are dropping in on the shoulder or paddling out in his way, the pureness is lost and there is a regression to the ego state which in itself is the greatest distraction of all.

In the pure consciousness state, the surfer’s movements are natural and therefore graceful and these elements are obvious in the various styles of the involved surfers.

Surfing styles parallel snow skiers in their distinctness, and on small surf days, like this past week, there are the means for which these definite and diversified styles can be displayed. Each surfer is different in terms of body flexibility, balance, and mental functioning and through a person’s style in his handling of a wave a perception of that person’s personality and character can be deduced.

There is a new surf movie out called “Evolution"—a good chance to get a look at some excellent Australian shortboard surfing—starring Nat Young and Wayne Lynch. Tickets at Weber Surfboards Hawaii.

The Ewa Beach contest was held Sunday in fair to poor 3-to-5 foot surf. Although the surf was not up to par, the surfing was fantastic. Boobie Jones put on quite a show and took first place ahead of Tomi Winkler in the Juniors division. In the Women’s, Sharon Weber had an easy first followed by Joey Hamasaki. Bret Goodfriend and Rick Patterson were tops in the Boys and Mens respectively.

GERRY LOPEZ, BOY REPORTER—BEFORE HE WAS MR. PIPELINE, LOPEZ COVERED THE SURF BEAT FOR THE HONOLULU ADVERTISER

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