A Sea for Yourself

Good old days... better in some ways, worse in other ways.

SF's population, 1970: 715,000
SF's population, 2010: 805,000

California population, 1970: 20 million
California population, 2010: 38 million

Surfing in early 70s = Waning in popularity
Gear = Rash-generating beaver-tail 2-piece wetsuits (usually long johns and jacket, usually with holes and rips)
Water = cold as ever
Wax = Paraffin from the hardware store, candles etc.
Boards = In hindsight, mostly very flawed (check out how often people screw up on good waves in these old films)
Leashes just coming into use, just lengths of elastic bungie-rope from hardware store
Surfers = hardcore under-employed = chronically broke!
High school = surfers are weirdo outsiders
Cops = always super-suspicious and eager to bust you for a roach
Hitch-hiking = completely normal way to travel anywhere
Vietnam War
Raw sewage not uncommon in some areas!
However, often empty beaches, empty surf sessions (in clean water)

No BVB on beached sailboat.

awww, really nice. made my morning. high, wild and free... (probably)

At exactly 3:27 there is a shot of Ben Davis the maker of the best union made clothing with his green and yellow board made by Wise.

that was awesome.

As I was watching this I was thinking, wow, it's the exact same wave 40 years ago. Well, duh, but an odd sensation just the same.

btw, best turns were by the kneeboarder!

So cool!! Funny thing is that the people hanging on the beach look the same as they did thenll! hahha!

Food for my soul

Pretty clean day.

love the woman wandering along with her butt hanging out. she's probably in her 60's now... just sayin'

I know some gals that are gettin on and boy howdy they're still hot as hell....just sayin.

I love this vid. Im one of the younger crowd, but I still think the old days are way better than now. OB, and the City for that matter, looked pretty groovy back then; Cant say the same for nowadays...

Nice waves. I do not miss that music.

Something cool I noticed from this segment was that the coast hwy 1 landscape in the intro from PigPt through HMB and m0ntara looks nearly the same in most of those spots as it does today-Score points for coastal conservation! Though I will disagree with @greenandcold- I could be happy with a mid-80's shortboard but not a 70's board, and no way I would trade modern wettie technology-the older suits used to give gnarly rashes on neck and armpits.
Also-props to @surfermax for pointing out BenDavis I was wondering who that might be.

That was great! I saw my Roommate at 2:20.

that's funny, because i saw my father at 2:20... awesome video. stoked back then like we are now!

Anything by Hal Jepson is pretty great. Checkout Super Sessions for more classic footage. Anyone remeber P.T. hosting Wave Watch back in the 80's?? Ha!

Are the mollusk hipster trustafarians receiving permission to create these videos, or are they just stealing the content and posting it under their vimeo name?

Latarian, you're so so so utterly naughty, and I LIKE it.

Eddy Conroy makes a cameo at 2:00. Carol's butt is world famous. Glen "Savage Coconut" Ismael shows up on the wall at ###### at 3:26.

Your hard core if you can name the surfers in the water...

Pee-Wee.,Jeff, the kneeboarder, still only goes left!

Thumbs up from me

Piss I didn't know your new board was so old school, 1:19