SUNDAY JOINT, 10-28-2018: SEAN COLLINS, RICH CHEW

Hey All,

“I Predict Waves in Your Future” was last week’s History of Surfing chapter. For me, the best part of Sean Collins’ story takes place in the 1970s and early ’80s, years before Surfline appeared, where he’s got the data sources at his fingertips, the DIY knowledge, the time, the money (barely), everything all lined up perfectly, to where it was like he had a superpower for scoring empty waves. The rest of us were squinting up at the moon and or talking about “south swell clouds,” or some such nonsense. Just making it up. None of us really knew when the swell was coming, or where it was going to hit. Sean did. The peace of mind that must have brought! He could calmly bartend his way through a flat spell, then vanish, and next afternoon he's 300 miles south of the border, parked on the point, waxing up, and counting down the hours till the swell hits. Wave knowledge made Sean Collins rich twice over—first in long empty rights, then with Surfline income.

Rich Chew got his EOS page last week, along with a new video. He’s kind of a forgotten man. "Chew Chews Island Tinies" was the blurb laid atop Rich’s SURFER cover shot in 1965, and for the senior set that is likely the only thing you remember about him. It was a silly blurb, and it semi-immortalized Chew for noseriding a three-foot Pupukea sandbar wave. The magazine was better than that, as was Chew himself, who had (still has?) a fine sense of trim, and a pair of light, fast feet. Watch the video, see what you think. In fact, forget I mentioned the cover blurb.

Over on BeachGrit, Derek Rielly and I talked about how the tuberide, from this side of the computer screen anyway, has been cheapened by GoPro, Skeleton Bay, and Surf Ranch; you can read that here. The Grit comments thread, as ever, is a great ride.

Thanks for reading, everybody. See you next week!

Matt