The Great Radio Free Mike Surf Wiki

Welcome to the Radio Free Mike Surf Wiki, where any surfer from any part of the world can leave behind comments, reminiscences, and stories. Mike’s at work on a nonfiction book about the rise and spread of surfing from Hawaii and California to surprising corners of the planet. There will be chapters on Hawaii in the 19th century, California in the ’50s and ’60s, England, Germany, West Africa, Indonesia, Morocco, Cuba, Japan, and Israel.

A random sample of stories from readers on these places will help out the book. We’re looking for a few specific facts, like the name of the first US serviceman to paddle out at Mehdiya Plage in Morocco in the 1950s, details about the Qantas flight crew that reportedly surfed Bali in the 1960s, the earliest days of surfing the Severn Bore in Britain, legends from the hippie trail throughout Morocco and Indonesia, and a reliable source on the first surfers in Cuba — but as you can see from the posts below, anything helps. Leave your name if you want proper credit in the book, and leave an e-mail address if you don’t mind hearing from Mike with follow-up questions. You can e-mail him privately by clicking the little man at the bottom of the left-hand column, or just use editor [at] radiofreemike [dot] com.

Quick introduction: The author, Michael Scott Moore, is a novelist and journalist from California, living for complicated reasons in Berlin. He’s also a surfer, an American, and a German (with two passports). Radio Free Mike is his web site, not his name.

Anyway, thanks. If you leave a story behind, remember to click two buttons — first “preview,” then “publish” — to make your comment live.

PS Yes, this is just a blog post, not a real wiki, but we have room to expand.

PPS Write in any language you want.

PPPS The “surfing tiki” graphic above is available as a sticker from the Calavera Surf Company, which bears no relation whatsoever to Calaveras Beach, although we like the name here at Radio Free Mike for obvious reasons.

     posted 8 January 2008 by Michael Scott Moore