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chapter 48 “We’re Tops Now” (1967) John Witzig 1944– John Witzig, an Australian surf journalist, heralded with this article a new era of surfing dominated by Australians and characterized by power and aggression rather than style and poise. His initial diatribe against California surfers, and David Nuuhiwa in particular, transformed into a pointed critique of the then-current judging system that he felt had restricted surfers and narrowly defined the best surfing as nose riding. The Australian “school of involvement” offered a much-needed antidote, Witzig believed, to the nose-riding obsession prevalent among top California surfers. Within a year of Witzig’s article, Australian shaper Bob McTavish , inspired by California kneeboarder George Greenough, would be the primary architect of the shortboard revolution. Surfboards not only dropped drastically in size and weight, but, melding with the influence of the counterculture, surfers began to reassess why they rode waves in the first place. The new shorter designs of surfboards privileged tube riding over nose riding, an experience that surfers felt gave them a fuller, more intimate experience with the ocean. Witzig’s claim that Australians would stay on top panned out in the decades following the establishment of a world professional circuit: from 1976 (the inaugural year) to 1991, eleven of sixteen titles in the men’s division were won by Australians. It is also worth mentioning that McTavish’s description of this new surfing— “to place yourself in a critical position, under, in, over, around the curl, quite often in contact with it”—essentially serves as the core of pro surfing judging criteria today. “th e h i g h p e r f o r m e r s ?” r u b b i s h ! That’s all that can be said about that story in the last issue—rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish!4 After our Nat Young completely dominated competition at the World Surfing Championships at San Diego, we might have expected a more accurate assessment of California surfing than “The High Perform191 ers.” Yet not, since this history is indicative to an absolute degree of the California scene as a whole. Has everyone forgotten that David was beaten ? Thrashed? Up pours the smoke. To laud, to deify, to obscure. To obscure the fact that everything the pedestal of California surfing is being built upon means—nothing! “The whole sport is following Nuuhiwa now” . . . “and another thing was my rollercoaster” . . . My rollercoaster, David? MY? Ha! McTavish has been doing rollercoasters for years. Off with the rose-colored spectacles and look beyond the David. If everyone is not too conditioned by the propaganda: STOP. Reassess. Establish the real value in California surfing. “Tell us, David . . . how does it feel to be told that the whole sport of surfing is following you?” Are you kidding? Tom Morey said that his nose riding contest at Ventura was just a game, but it seems a pity that he didn’t tell all the surfers in California. For when this “game” has come to be accepted as “surfing” then the time has come for re-evaluation. It appears to me that a largely false set of values has been created in California surfing. The East Coast, following blindly along the path that has been set, has not only emulated the mistakes that have been made, but have taken it upon their own shoulders to take this “Californian” type of surfing to a further ridiculous extreme. “Nat will thrash Nuuhiwa and make Bigler look like a pansy.” These were the words of Bob Cooper when he saw Nat at Rincon in the week prior to the World Championships at San Diego. It was far more than a superficial comment when Cooper noted “I haven’t seen power surfing since I was in Australia.” Cooper knew that Nat and [Peter] Drouyn were not two isolated instances, but were indicative of the new school of thought in Australia. Those of us who were conversant with the present trend of surfing in Australia were astonished at the corresponding lack of development in this direction in the United States. Probably nothing has had such a profound influence in leading California surfing out on a limb than has the nose riding fixation. I need no justification to claim that this obsession with nose riding has been initiated and vigorously promoted by the commercial interests in the sport. The number of “nose riders” that have been sold gives more than credence to this argument. The real aim of surfing...

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