Herbie Fletcher has been riding waves at an incredibly high level, without a break, for longer than anybody, ever, except maybe Nat Young. Fifty years, give or take. The clip here, shot by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman at the end of 1966 (They called him "The Kid"), goes back almost to the beginning of Herbie's run, when he was just 17. He was a semifinalist in the world titles earlier that year, and America's #2 ranked junior, behind David Nuuhiwa. Already a heavyweight talent.

 which was shot 20 years after the video featured above. It's amazing how fully formed Herbie's game was at age 17. A boy who surfed like a man, on his way to becoming a man who in many respects stayed a boy.

Herbie turns 65 today, and with any luck he's on the nose, back-arching and setting up a smooth 20-yard fin drift.

SALUTE TO HERBIE FLETCHER

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