Thanks, Bruce!

The recent death of pioneer surf film-maker Bruce Brown is another wake-up call that all things must pass. The last wave you rode no longer exists. Brown, who lived to 80, burst on the scene with his feature-length film, The Endless Summer, in 1966. It was the first surf documentary to be shown in mass-market theaters and catapulted the sport of wave riding to a wide-spread audience.

It wasn’t really a documentary, it was a feature film that anyone who loved adventure and the outdoors could appreciate. It had a two major characters, a theme — searching for the perfect wave — and locations, as it visited the most intriguing places around the world where waves could be found. Wow! It was irresistible. In addition, the movie was narrated by Bruce himself in a laidback, self-deprecating style —at least from the surfers’ point of view. This was adventure not only for expert surfers but for anyone who could laugh at himself. Brown set a tone for surf adventure that would be carried on for generations.

I remember seeing the film at the drive-in with friends. We probably had some beer with us that we requisitioned through the “shoulder-tap” method since we were about two years shy of being “legal.” It never seemed to be a problem, although when I think about it today I shudder at the risk to all. And this was in the day before seat belts. What were we thinking? We weren’t. We were simply enjoying a period of growing up and, in this case, watching a movie unlike any we had seen. It’s possible that we drove to Doheny, some 70 miles away, that night, slept in the car and paddled out at our favorite break the next morning.

The death of Bruce Brown raises these kinds of wonderful memories with the knowledge that we,
too, shall pass. I say this now at the age of 70. A few of my best buddies have already departed. Fortunate are we who are still around to swap old stories. No one else wants to listen. Yet I think those of us who remain can still hear Brown’s voice telling us in his wry, perceptive way how much fun and what an adventure we were having.