Vintage & History
Before leashes, before foam, before anybody had a forecast app, there were heavy wooden boards, a few friends and a lot of empty coastline. This is where we dig into the roots: the legends, the boards, the posters and the beach life that started it all.
Stories from the archive
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Planks, Oil and Lawyers: How Huntington Beach Became Surf City USA
It started with George Freeth riding a heavy board at the 1914 pier dedication. It ended up in federal court over a…
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Eddie Would Go: The Lifeguard of Waimea Bay and the Legend of Eddie Aikau
Eddie Aikau was Waimea Bay’s first lifeguard, credited with more than 500 rescues and no lives lost on his watch. He won…
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A Cotton Reel, Two Hairpins and a Noon Swim: The Story of Australia’s Surf Lifesavers
Daylight sea bathing was banned at Sydney beaches until a Manly protest around 1902 helped end it. Then came the surf clubs…
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Trunks That Stood Up by Themselves: The Kanvas by Katin Story
A boat-cover shop in Surfside, a kid in shredded cutoffs, a seamstress who sewed 300,000 pairs, and Huntington’s favorite team contest: the…
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Jailhouse Stripes, No Leash: How a Manhattan Beach Gremmie Became Da Bull
He cut bait on the Manhattan Beach Pier, led the charge into Waimea, then dropped into a Makaha monster that nobody caught…
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Five Feet, 95 Pounds, Zero Permission: The Real Gidget
In 1956 a 15-year-old named Kathy Kohner paddled into Malibu’s all-guy surf crew with a radish sandwich and no permission slip. Here’s…
Gidgey’s… Believe It Or Surf.
Latest · No. 3Gidgey’s… Believe It Or Surf. No. 3: The Wave Under the BridgeMunich has no ocean, but surfers have ridden a standing wave in the middle of the city since the 1970s. It even vanished in 2025 and came back on its own. Gidgey checks the facts.Oct 24, 2026From the archive
Gidgey’s… Believe It or Surf! No. 2: The Man Who Could Walk on WaterIn 1907 a railroad tycoon hired a young Hawaiian waterman to "walk on water" at Redondo Beach. It's how surfing…Oct 19, 2026No. 1
Believe It or Surf! No. 1: The Record-Setting Dog, the Four-Hour Wave and Other Strange-but-True Surf FactsA sheepdog with a world record, one wave ridden for almost four hours, rivers that surf upstream and an 86-foot…Oct 19, 2026