One Photo Took Surfing Worldwide

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Mission-Surf slide for One Photo Took Surfing Worldwide, the 1953 Makaha photograph by Thomas Scoop Tsuzuki showing Woody Brown, George Downing, and Buzzy Trent

Dispatch from Kahuna the Turtle.


Three riders trimmed down one Makaha wave in November 1953, and one black-and-white photo carried the moment around the world. Thomas "Scoop" Tsuzuki, a Honolulu freelance photographer, set his Graflex on the reef edge and shot Woody Brown, George Downing, and Buzzy Trent on a wave near 20 feet. The photo ran on the front page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on Nov 27, 1953. Mainland papers reprinted it, and California surfers started the first migration to Hawaii to see Makaha for themselves. Stacy Peralta credits the image with sending shock waves through California surf culture. One frame drew a line between the old Waikiki days and the big-wave hunt that followed.

Source: Deadspin.

https://deadspin.Com/the-photo-that-took-surfing-worldwide-1672314109/


The Dispatch is your letter from home.

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