SURF FOOTWEAR

By Corky Carroll

As crazy as this might sound the truth of the matter is that surfers are not always barefoot.  Yes, the old Beach Party movies would have you believe that.  And yes, I did once or twice appear on the old Merv Griffin Show shoeless.  But we do wear shoes.   Not often.  But sometimes.

And there is actually a sort of history of what has been known as “cool” or “in” surf footwear.  Starting back in the 1950’s the first “look” for the feet that I know of was the Huaraches that you could buy in Mexico for like a dollar or something ridiculous.  And they lasted forever and ever.  Most of them had tire treads for soles.  My favorite was the ones from Mazatlan. 

It was sort of a badge of honor that you had made a surf trip to Mexico if you had a pair of Huarache sandals.  Just like coming back from Hawaii with a Hawaiian shirt.  If you were really cool you would show up at school in Huaraches and a Hawaiian shirt.   For awhile Pendleton shirts were the cool thing too, but they were wool and most of the time you sweated to death wearing them.  

Then came Rainbow Sandals.  A surfer/skier named Sparky Longley came out with these extremely cool looking rubber sandals that had layers of colors sandwiched together for the soles.   They caught on like a flash.  And he made ones for girls that had more layers and were higher.  Why do chicks always want to seem taller?  I never can understand women’s shoes.   They look like the most uncomfortable things in the world.  Like torture chambers for the feet.  But for some reason they think they look cool and wear these horrifying spiked healed things that it must take years to learn how to balance in.  I don’t get it.   But I don’t have too, I am not a chick.   But from my point of view it would seem like guys feel better when they are taller, why I don’t know…..must be some sort of macho thing or something.  So why do girls want to make themselves taller than they are when it is really the guys that want to be taller?  Ah life, it is so confusing.   But I can say that only other women admire other women’s shoes.  

And then came the all time surf shoe.  Sparky came out with leather Rainbow Sandals.   The bad thing for Sparky is that those things last longer than people live.  So if you buy one pair you never need to replace them unless you loose them or something.  Or somebody swipes ‘em.  I had one pair for like fifteen years and they were soooo comfortable and felt soooo good on my feet.   Then one time I was staying at Mark Martinson’s house on the North Shore and somebody made off with both my leather Rainbows and my solid gold Miller Lite All-star ring.  I am not sure which I was more bummed out about.   The ring was worth thousands of dollars.   But those sandals were like a part of my everyday existence.   

A company from Brazil named Reef Sandals came into popularity some years ago by running advertisements in the Surf Magazines featuring beautiful girl’s butts.   I am not making this up folks, or trying to be funny or crude.  That is exactly what they did.   They ran these ads that had up close and personal photos of really hot babe’s butts.  If you didn’t look at the ad closely or read the copy you would never have known they were advertising sandals.  You would have thought it was for thong bikinis or something. The fact is that I didn’t know for years that it was sandals.  But then I don’t read the ads in the surf mags much anymore.   They all look exactly the same and you can’t read them anyway.  But hey, a beautiful butt is a beautiful butt and it worked for them.   Don’t be sending me emails about this either.  I am only reporting on an advertising concept that seemed to work.

Another popular surfer’s sandal is made by Scott Hawaii.  A dude named Steve Scott started making sandals that had Hawaiian print toe pieces and grass matting where your feet go.   Those were great looking and also extremely comfortable too.  But if you matched up the Hawaiian print on the shoes with a Hawaiian print shirt you were extremely lame.  Like those old couples that buy matching Hawaiian print outfits and wear shorts with black leather shoes and socks.   Surf fashion naa naa.  

Today I was looking through a surf magazine and I saw tons of ads for sandals as well as all sorts of other shoes.  The lifestyle is casual, so the look will always be that way too.  At least I think so.   I just wish who ever the dude was that made off with my leather Rainbows would send them back.   I am sure that they are still in good condition. 

TIME TO GET OUT OF DODGE ~ THE WAVE

by Corky Carroll

We are just about at that time of year when the chill is going to start setting in, especially on those early. early morning dawn patrol surf go outs.   I never do those anymore though.  But I know zillions of the rest of you do though and that is the exact reason why I don’t.  One, it’s too cold and two, everyone else is out there and it is the most crowded time of the day.  And everyone is extremely aggressive because they all have to be somewhere; school or work or something.   I prefer a mellow morning coffee, maybe check the email and nibble on a nice donut or something.  Hit the waves at the crack of nine.   Or ten. 

Actually, truth be know, I am becoming extremely fond of afternoon go outs when it is windy and nobody is around to run me over.    The frothy white caps are nice to look at and give the wave faces more surface interest too.  

Anyway, the point being that it is soon going to start to get colder and colder and many of you will be thinking of taking surf trips to warmer waters.  I know I will be.  I am not a fan of full wetsuits.  So these are a few helpful suggestions on places that are easy to get to, and don’t take billion hour flights, yet are fun surfing destinations that offer good waves, warm water and comfortable accommodations.   This week I am going to concentrate on Mexico, being the closest and easiest to get to area.  In following weeks I will offer clues on more distant locations.

Heading south the first suggestion is the Cabo Surf Hotel in San Jose del Cabo.   This is in the Cabo San Lucas area and has a very easy to ride surf spot right in front of the Hotel.  There is also a surf school there run by my pal and great surfer Mike Doyle.  They have a nice pool overlooking the surf break and restaurant/bar that offers great food.  This area is known to be super expensive but the Cabo Surf is actually not too bad on that end.  The owner is a cool dude named Mauricio and he will take good care of you.    

Moving further down into Tropical Mainland Mexico is the Costa Azul Adventure Resort.  I love this place.  It is located just north of Puerto Vallarta in a little town called San Francisco.  There are a number of good surf breaks in this area and the resort offers a surfing school as well as surf day trips both by car and by boat.  There are some fantastic breaks that are only accessible by boat from there.  Costa Azul is a nice comfortable little hotel with a world-class restaurant plus a big pool with a swim up bar.  I have spent many a happy surf adventure hanging out there and can testify to some great surf in that area.  

Heading yet further south into the heart of Mainland Mexico’s most tropical and beautiful surf zone you come to my very own favorite surf adventure area.  The exact location of which I am not going to say here in the attempt to keep the crowds away and be able to still enjoy the tranquility of the area.  If you email me I will tell you all about all-inclusive surf packages to come and surf with me in an area we call “The land of lefts.”  There are a lot of point breaks in this area and they all go left.  You will have a pool, satellite television, Internet and house staff to take care of your every need.  

And moving yet even further south we come to Puerto Escondido.   Puerto is not for beginners or even intermediates.  It is a world-class serious board and body breaking surf beach.   I used to love it when I was twenty years younger.  But it could hurt me badly now so I don’t go there much anymore.   There are a number of decent hotels right on the beach in front of the surf break and some great places to eat in town, which is walking distance up the beach.   It is very crowded there now and, as I said, is a wave only for those who can handle real power.  That said, Puerto is one of the best surf spots in the world.