It was wonderful speaking with one of surfing's early female big wave pioneers -- Marge Calhoun. Elegant, enchanting, intelligent, fearless, and soulful. She and friend Eve Fletcher may have taken the trip of their lives in the winter of 1958 when the two Californians paddled out at Makaha and Sunset and other North Shore spots sharing waves with the era's biggest names. Marge won the Makaha women's event that trip and Peter Cole won the men's. A 21 year old Dewey Weber was dialing in 18 footers at Makaha and Marge remembers vividly his "saucer-size" eyes as he watched her ride a huge wave. Dewey, Marge, Peter and Fred Hemmings were treated to a Chinese dinner attended by a fast-rising American novelist named James Michener and his wife. Hawaii was published the following year but Tales of the South Pacific had already won critical (a Pulitzer) and popular success. Marge and Eve recalled Dewey's handling of chop sticks that night. Bottom line: he was way better on a sufboard. It'll all be in the book . . .
2 comments:
Jerry, hope all is well! Good luck on the book, can't wait for it's release!
Don't forget there was a tv series derived from the book called James A Michener's ADVENTURES IN PARADISE and one of the best episodes was called THE BIG SURF (1960) which took place at the Makaha Surfing Championships. you can see a clip from it on my Youtube channel..search for (surfstyley3)
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