We're Stoked!

Kowabunga, dude! Shoot the curl, and let's talk story. Translation: kowabunga = banzai; shoot the curl = get barreled; talk story = obviously, the telling of surf adventures.1 Talking story-once something primarily done while relaxing on the beach after a particularly "rad" surf session-is now a mainstream subject of the written world. And we love that here at San Diego State University.

The library's Special Collections department began collecting surfing books, magazines and ephemera several years ago and has developed a healthy and growing collection. Although not large in number, the collection does include such old and new classics as Nat Young's Surfing Fundamentals; Men Who Ride Mountains by Peter Dixon; Caught Inside: A Surfer's Year on the California Coast by Daniel Duane; Maverick's: The Story of Big-Wave Surfing by Matt Warshaw; and Girl in the Curl: A Century of Women in Surfing by Andrea Gabbard. The Friends of the Library generously pay for a subscription to the elegant and locally produced surf publication The Surfer's Journal, and the SDSU Library is one of only a few libraries in California with a complete run of The Journal, which began publication in 1992. Back issues of other surf publications, such as Longboard, Surfer Magazine, Fluir and Flow, have been donated by library supporters over the past two years, and a small group of enthusiastic surf collectors has been quietly assisting in the development of Special Collection's surfing collection by donating some important titles and by bringing alternative materials to light.

Special Collections isn't the only place where surfing-related materials are kept within the library. A number of titles are located in the stacks, and growth of the Media Center's collection of surf music and movies is, well, "peeling."

While it may seem odd that an academic institution would collect material on what some would consider a purely recreational sport, it isn't odd at all. Surfing culture permeates our lives through advertising and graphic and fashion design. Surfboard-laden cars are common sights on San Diego freeways, and surfing lingo finds its way into the vernacular. The films of Bruce Brown (of Endless Summer fame) are being shown with regular frequency on primetime television, and Blue Crush, a mainstream, romantic adventure surf film, was shown at theaters nationwide this past August. (more)

Left: Pushing through the wave.

Below: Foot diagram for riding and turning.

Illustrations fom On Surfing by Grant Kuhns. Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1963.