Are you a South Carolina surfer? Let this ETV Classic take you back in time! Produced by Bob Morrell, this documentary interviews surfers who got hooked on this healthy habit as children along the beaches in South Carolina.
The surfing scene started in 1963, with youngsters being taught to surf by their big brothers. The documentary takes you through the dramatic shifts along the coastline where the sand dunes and shacks were replaced with hotels and fine homes, but the surfers remained.
We learn about the surf shops and the importance of the selection of the size and composition of the surfboards relative to one's height and build, and about the lifelong communities of friends who still gather together to cheer on one another, as they take on life or the next big wave. Check the Side Notes to learn about people, places, and sites related to the surfing history in South Carolina.
I hope that you enjoy this documentary as much as I did! Oh, and don't forget the board wax! Surf's up!
Side Notes
- Remembering Robert Morrell - Producer/Director of the popular "Impressions" artist profile program that highlighted local artists in the upstate and statewide area, as well as producing a popular surfing documentary Beach Break History - Surfing in South Carolina.
- Nanci Polk-Weckhorst - East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame. A Hobie team rider in 1972, Weckhorst won the women’s title at the East Coast Surfing Championship in Cape Hatteras, NC. Qualifying for the US Championship in Huntington Beach, she garnered a semi-final finish. That same year, she finished second behind ECSHOF inductee Barbie Belyea in the first women’s pro contest on the East Coast.
- Tim McKevlin - Talking History. Surfing on Folly Beach, South Carolina.
- Tim Holt - Pastor and competitive surfer. Conversations about worship and transformation.
- Ted Watts - Surfer and woodworker.
- Robert Henry Bauer of James Island, SC, passed away Friday, August 20, 2021 on Folly Beach after catching a few last waves surrounded by friends. From an early age, Hank loved surfing, which became one of his greatest lifelong passions. He was a member of Folly Beach’s tight knit surfing community for over 50 years. Hank befriended surfers young and old, teaching and learning from them as he surfed alongside them.
- Glenn Tanner - I learned to surf as a young teenager up the coast in Surfside Beach and quickly developed a lifelong addiction to the sport. Pilgrimages to Folly and Sullivan’s islands for big hurricane or northeasterly swells became part of the routine until, like several other hell-bent Carolina surfers, I left for the promised land of California. Yet even while living the dream of being a surf writer on the crowded West Coast, I harbored an enduring fascination with the surfing possibilities along the vast and uninhabited swath of shoals, sandbars, and islands from the Santee River Delta south to McClellanville, Bulls Bay, and beyond.
- Stoney Cantor - Grand Strand Surfers Compete in U.S. Amateur Championships (2012). Surfers from the Grand Strand area flew out to California this week to compete in the United States Amateur surfing Championships. Stoney Cantor, the father of a surfer in the competition, will send us updates throughout the competition.
- Adam Justice - Owner at Surf Signs and Designs. Facebook.
- Bill Perry - Folly Beach. Surf Clubs and Contests. Provides more historical information about the surfers in the area. A very good read.
- Grommet - Why are young surfers called grommets? It starts across the pond.
- The glossary of surfing terms and surf slang.
- Surfline - All things surf in one place.
- Robert Morrell Obituary.
