A Golden Age Surfing's Revolutionary 1960s and '70s

Surfing’s formative period from 1965 to 1978, as shown through the most complete book of the iconic images of photographer John Witzig. Chronicling the great creative years in the evolution of surfing, the late 1960s and early ’70s, this engaging volume documents the revolutionary changes of the era—in board length, in surf style and technique—through the images of Australian photographer John Witzig. Witzig was not only photographing the scene, he was part of it, a group that included surfers Bob McTavish and George Greenough, and his images reflect both that access and that intimacy. In 1967, he created a firestorm of controversy with a Surfer cover story declaring that a core of young Australian surfers had redefined the sport, as evidenced by his friend Nat Young’s blazing win in the 1966 World Surfing championships. Witzig went on to capture the defining moments—the surfers, the draft-dodging back-to-landers, the radical developments of board design, and, of course, the waves, from Australia to Honolua Bay—of surfing’s most thrilling period. Soulful, poetic, iconoclastic, filled with rare images, this book is a unique look at surfing’s cultural revolution.

John Witzig contributed his first article to Surfing World Magazine in 1963. He edited Surf International and in 1970 co-founded Tracks, a journalistic Australian surfing magazine called the "hippest youth culture magazine being published in the world at the time." Mark Cherry (1950–2010) was an Australian writer on surfing and popular culture. Nick Carroll is a surf journalist. Dave Parmenter is a shaper and former professional surfer. Drew Kampion is the author of several books on surfing, including Stoked! A History of Surf Culture. Steve Pezman is the publisher of The Surfer’s Journal.