Making Waves: A History of Modern Surfing and the Clash of Cultures

12:30PM: Bustin’ Down the Door (Directed by Jeremy Gosch; Produced by Shaun Tomson, Monika Gosch, Rob Traill)
2:00PM: Sea of Darkness (Directed by Michael Oblowitz)
3:30PM: Q&A with Shaun Tomson and Michael Oblowitz
4:30PM: PANELS | Featuring luminaries from the surf world
7:00PM: Light dinner reception

Speakers & Organizers

Reno Abellira was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He first surfed at Waikiki while still a toddler and by age nine was surfing with an ardent passion. By 1968, Abellira was a two-time Makaha International Jr. Men’s champion, Hawaii State Noseriding champion, and a member of the prestigious Hawaiian team headed for the World Surfing Championships in Puerto Rico. Even though the event was rightfully won by fellow Hawaiian Fred Hemmings, Abellira’s avant garde approach and speed-based style sent a futuristic shock through the surfing world, riding a relatively shorter and narrower Brewer-shaped design faster and more radically than anyone else. In the mid seventies Reno rapidly became recognized as one of Hawaii’s best big-wave surfer/shapers on the North Shore. He learned to shape from Hawaiian legend Dick Brewer, rode his own designs during his competitive career, and shaped boards for future world champion Mark Richards, also helping him formulate ideas for the modern twin-fin design which eventually took competitive professional surfing by storm.

Keiko Beatie has worked as a producer, curator and programmer for many museums, events and festivals for the past few decades.  For the past nine years she has been the curator of the Laguna Beach Film Society and is associated with the Laguna Art Museum, which brings new and independent films to its members each month. Beatie enjoys traveling worldwide to the many festivals and events she is a part of, but enjoys coming home to Orange County, where she was born and raised.

Ian Cairns is a former champion surfer from Western Australia who was influential in establishing the world professional surfing circuit and particularly the World Championship Tour. He moved to Hawaii in the early 1970s in search of big waves and before a professional circuit had established. He was described as “the premier ‘power’ surfer of his era [who] dominated the North Shore during the mid to late-seventies.” In 1975 Cairns and Peter Townend devised a rating and scoring system for surfing events. Cairns is currently head coach of the PacSun USA Surf Team. He was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2010.

Greg Escalante is co-founder and curator of Juxtapoz Art & Culture magazine, created in 1994 to both help define and celebrate urban alternative and underground contemporary art. He was founding president of Cal State Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center and served in this position for 12 years. He was the executive producer of The Treasures of Long Gone John, a documentary about John Edward Mermis, collector of pop ephemera, toys, books and works of “lowbrow” art. Greg is also the owner of Copro Nason Gallery in Santa Monica, serving the needs of the LowBrow art world for the last 17 years.

David Theo Goldberg is director of the UC Humanities Research Institute. He also holds faculty appointments as professor of comparative literature and criminology, law and society, and anthropology at UC Irvine, and is a fellow of the UCI Critical Theory Institute. Earlier in his career, Goldberg produced independent films and music videos, and co-directed the award-winning short film on South Africa, The Island.

Jeremy Gosch is an actor, director, and editor. He directed Last Ride (2001) and Bustin’ Down the Door (2009), a documentary of Australian and South African surfers who revolutionized their sport in Hawaii during the winter of 1975. View the trailer for Bustin’ Down the Door.

Paul Holmes is an accomplished surf journalist, former editor of Australia’s Tracks Magazine, Longboard Magazine and the longest running editor of Surfer Magazine. He is also the author of Dale Velzy is Hawk, a portrait of surf pioneer Dale Velzy’s extraordinary life and his contributions to the development of the modern surf culture.

Fred Hemmings is Hawaii’s first modern day World Champion surfer who also served as the Republican leader in the Hawaii Senate from 2000 to 2010. In 1968, Hemmings won the World Surfing Championship in Puerto Rico. He created the Pipeline Masters surf competition in 1971 which is now the longest standing surf contest in the world. He is recognized as the “father of professional surfing.” Also honored as an advocate for women in professional surfing, Hemmings founded the World Cup of Surfing championships in 1975 with events for both men and women. Hemmings’ surfing competitions on the legendary North Shore established a strong following and gained national television audiences. In 1991, Hemmings was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame, and in 1999 the Hawaii State Sports Hall of Fame.

Jim Kempton has been the editor and publisher of Surfer Magazine, marketing director for TransWorld Publishing, vice president of content for Hard Cloud Boardsports internet portal, and director of the Quiksilver Crossing. He was the president of the San Clemente Historical Society and wrote and edited a book on the history of surfing at San Onofre. He currently serves as the manager of the Surfrider Foundation Advisory Board, and is employed by Billabong USA as director of media. He recently wrote Surfing: The Manual, a book on the history of surfing told through the performance techniques of the world’s best surfers. He also serves on the board of directors for Surfing America, the National Governing Body of the sport. Jim is currently the president of the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, California.

Michael Oblowitz is a surfer and South African filmmaker who has directed and produced a number of critically acclaimed movies and videos. Born in Cape Town, he is a graduate of the University of Capetown, where he studied fine arts and philosophy, and holds a master’s degree in Film from Columbia University. He directed the award-winning documentary Sea of Darkness in 2009. He has also directed many feature films and music videos, and is currently completing a documentary on former world champion surfer Sunny Garcia.

Jericho Poppler won the 1970 United States Championship at age 19 in Huntington Beach, California, and dominated the surfing scene with a decade of championship titles from all over the world. She was co-founder of the Women’s International Surfing Association in 1974, and co-directed the first Women’s International Professional Surfing Championships and developed the Women’s Professional Surfing Coalition. As a founding member of Surfrider Foundation, Poppler took an active role in protecting the ocean through a string of successful programs still in effect today. She is currently a trustee of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum.

Rory Russell has won several world class surf championships including Waimea Pro in Brazil in 1975, All Japan Pro in Chiba, Japan in 1976, and Oahu North Shore Lightning Bolt Surf Championships in 1977. In addition to his first place wins, Rory has also achieved numerous other titles in surfing events all around the world including in Japan, Indonesia, Australia, California, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, South Africa, Morocco, and Portugal. He currently runs Rory Russell Surfboards & Surf School in Hawaii.

Tom “Pōhaku” Stone, a legendary native Hawaiian surfer and waterman, has been on a lifelong journey in search of his cultural heritage. Pōhaku earned his masters degree in Pacific Island studies with a specialization in ancient Hawaiian sports at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. He is credited with single-handedly revitalizing the sport of he’e holua (Hawaiian sledding), a centuries old extreme sport, and for the past several years he has been sharing his knowledge and his aloha as a teacher and craftsman, instructing students in the arts of sled building and ancient surf board carving.

Michael Tomson is a former professional surfer from South Africa, and was 5th in the world in 1978. Tomson and longtime friend Joel Cooper started Gotcha out of a garage in Laguna Beach in 1978, which quickly became the #1 surfwear brand in the 1980s and ’90s. With their ground-breaking styles and marketing, the company served as a major catalyst in the evolution of surfwear. In 1989 Tomson and Quiksilver’s Bob McKnight co-founded the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA), the governing body of what is now an $8 billion industry. Tomson served as president for two years during which time he also founded the Waterman’s Ball, one of the largest environmental funds in the United States supporting clean oceans worldwide.

Shaun Tomson is a former World Surfing Champion who founded and sold two $50+ million clothing brands – Instinct in the ’80s and Solitude in the ’90s. He is the author of the best-selling book Surfer’s Code, and the writer and producer of the award-winning documentary film Bustin’ Down the Door. He is a graduate of the University of Natal, where he studied business administration and finance. Tomson has been described as the sport’s most influential tuberider (Encyclopedia of Surfing, 2011), one of the greatest surfers of all time (Surfing Magazine, 2004) and one of the most influential surfers of the century (Surfer Magazine, 1999). He is a board member and ambassador for Surfrider Foundation, the world’s largest environmental group dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. He lives with his wife Carla and son Luke in Santa Barbara, California and still finds time to chase the perfect wave.

Peter Townend was born in Coolangatta, Queensland. He began surfing in 1967 at 14 years old, first competed in 1969, and was the first ever World Champion of International Professional Surfing (today’s Association of Surfing Professionals). He went on to transcend competitive surfing to become an ardent supporter and organizer of modern surfing in the United States when he relocated here at the beginning of the 1980s. His resume exudes commitment to the sport and art of surfing as a competitor, movie stuntman, board shaper, contest organizer, writer, publisher, marketer, surf industry leader as president of Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, and coach to future superstars, serving as an embodiment of the professional career surfer he hoped to create. He has been inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, as well as the Walk of Fame and Surfer’s Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach.

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