Legendary surfers on legendary waves were all part of Phil Sheppard’s A Winter’s Tale. Photos: YouTube//Screenshot
Hawaii in the 1970s was a very different place than it is today. These days, the surfing world has waves like Pipeline and Waimea burned into its brains. They’re waves that everyone knows. But in the ’70s, it was a far quieter place. It’s still serene and can be less crowded than you’d expect, but back then? Those were the halcyon days. It was a time when legends were being made. Legends like Mike Armstrong, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Jeff Hakman, Reno Abellira, Midget Farrelly, and the legend of all legends, Eddie Aikau.
Four years before Aikau’s death in 1978, a surf film called A Winter’s Tale was released. Phil Sheppard was the man who made it, and it’s still known as one of the greatest surf films ever. Nick Carroll called it “the hardcore surfer’s Morning of The Earth,” and it featured some of the best surfers in the world. Gerry Lopez, Midget Farrelly, Nat Young, Wayne Lynch, Ben Aipa, Buffalo, Larry Bertlemann, Terry Fitzgerald, Eddie Aikau, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Jeff Hakman, Owl Chapman, Jeff Crawford, Rory Russell, Simon Anderson, Col Smith, Michael Peterson, Sam Hawk, Ian Cairns, and Randy Rarrick were among its stars.
The Australian and New Zealand Surf Film Archive is in the process of doing something important for surfing. They’re the ones responsible for the YouTube clip you see here. Over the last few years, they’ve found, scanned, and restored many of Australia and New Zealand’s lost surf films, adding commentary from the filmmakers and the surfers when they can.
“All the footage you will see was originally shot on film, and has been scanned from the highest possible copy we could find, sometimes even the camera reels,” the creators write. “Everything is scanned and shared with permission by the original filmmakers or their families. Most of this footage has rarely been seen in 50 years, some has never been screened to the public before.”
The purpose is to keep future generations of surfers aware of the history of the places they love, and this snippet of A Winter’s Tale is among the best they’ve re-released. Subscribe to the Surf Film Archive on YouTube here for more incredible vintage surf films.
