Surfing's Greatest Misadventures

Edited by Paul Diamond and packed with stories from some of surf journalism's brightest stars as well as some our sport's most daring and unfortunate souls, Surfing's Greatest Misadventures is a fun, exhilarating read that will make you cringe, make you smile, and surely make you glad that you are a surfer.

The first of these thirty well-written and entertaining essays and short stories is Matt George's "Red Water" which artfully chronicles the pain, fear, and ethereal light of hope that surrounded Bethany Hamilton's tragic shark attack. Everyone is familiar with the story, but George really digs in and plays with perspective and description to create something new that transcends traditional surf writing to create something classic and powerful.

That exhilaration and gravity never let up as Surfing's Greatest Misadventures moves along with tales of surf trips gone painfully wrong and life lessons humorously learned.

Writers, photogs, and big wave hellmen contibute to this collection. Well known names like Buzzy Kerbox, Steve Pezmen, Steve Barilotti, Ben Marcus, and Carlos Burle add their writing flare and water-borne exploits. But all the stories are brimming with all the the white-knuckled tension that can come equally from a brush with a shark, a tussle with local federales, or just the long wait for a big swell.

Stories range from natural disasters and stupid decisions to distoriented meanderings in search of surf, but it's the stories of the old days that really gripped me as I read.

It is wonderous to hear of the days when Trestles peeled flawlessly by with only three guys out or to be a fly on the wall as Greg Noll and Miki Dora trade "Rat Fucks" (You have to read the book to understand that) or even the mishaps that cursed the filming of the cult classic filmBig Wednesday.

Reading Surfing's Greatest Misadventures was a blast. Most of the stories are quick reads set in exotic locales with real-life lessons learned by really flawed surf-stoked maniacs, so there is something for all of us.