All language subtitles for The.Endless.Summer.1966.SS.1080p.BluRay.x265.HEVC.EAC3-SARTRE

♪♪ [Surf Rock]

♪♪ [ vocalizing]

♪♪ [Fades ]

[ Man Narrating ]
Summer means many different
things to different people.

To some, it might mean
the thrill of a high-speed
catamaran.

Others like to float around
and soak up a few stray rays.

Still others like some kind
of inland activity.

But for us,
it's the sport of surfing!

The thrill and the fun
of the sport of surfing.

Some people like to body surf.

Others like to ride
a short belly board
and get a short ride.

Still others like
a short bellyboard
and a long ride,

like George Greenough
at Santa Barbara, California.

Most surfers like
to ride a regular board...

and perform
on medium-sized waves.

Most would like to perform
as well as Australian
Nat Young here.

Or as well as American surfer
Butch van Artsdalen.

Some surfers prefer
the hairy thrill of a big wave.

You can go right or left,
but you can't very well
do both at once.

If you do, at least
it's something commonly known
in the surfing world...

as a wipeout.

The only way to avoid
a wipeout is to take this wide
"stink bug" stance.

Spread your legs
and hang on till your trunks
rip right up the back.

No place represents
summertime to more people
than the Hawaiian Islands.

To surfers, summer in Hawaii
means the reefs near Waikiki
that break so well--

places like this spot,
about a third of a mile
out over the reef.

It's called Number Three.

Right next to Number Two.

One of the outstanding surfers
from Hawaii-- Mr. Paul Strou.

There are many places
on the reef that break
during the summer.

About 300 yards
from Number Three
is another spot called Kaisers.

Friendly surfers in Hawaii.
"Hi there, Charlie."

Conditions are ideal.

Water temperature
averaging 75 degrees.

The air temperature--
75 degrees.

One of the most popular
summer breaks is
just off to one side...

of the Ala Wai
Yacht Harbor entrance,
a spot called Ala Moana.

On a weekend,
you see surfboards, boats,

every imaginable thing
using the harbor entrance.

In fact,
the new sport over there
is "trolling for surfers."

If you can sort yourself out
from the boats,
you can get a great ride,

like Gene Harris
is doing here at Ala Moana.

Another outstanding surfer
from Hawaii-- Fred Hemmings.

Fred only stands up
on alternate Wednesdays,

but when he does,
he really wails.

Just across the entrance channel
from Ala Moana is another
surfing spot,

called Garbage Hole.

They built a breakwater
that cut the surf off,
but in its day...

this spot produced
some fantastic rides
for surfers like Wayne Miyata.

The ultimate thing to do
in surfing is to be actually
covered up by the wave.

And here goes Wayne
doing the ultimate thing.

This is summertime in Hawaii.

California has a lot of places
that represent summer
to a lot of people,

no place more than
this "secret spot"--

Malibu Beach, California,
famous for its Malibu
Outriggers, surfing and girls.

This a girl, and for those
of you who are maladjusted,

this is a Malibu Outrigger.

A lot of good surfers
ride in Malibu.
One of the best is Lance Carson.

Say hello to the folks, Lance.
At-a-baby.

When Lance goes out at Malibu,
he really gives the place
a going-over.

He stays in just the perfect
spot on the wave, which is right
in front of the white water...

in the breaking part
of the wave called the curl.

The main object in surfing
is to always remain
in the curl.

Stay as close as possible
to the white water without
actually getting caught by it.

All the maneuvers in surfing--
turning, stalling, trimming,
riding the nose--

are directed toward
the ultimate aim
of staying in the curl.

Lance's real speciality
is nose riding.

A lot of surfers
run up to the nose.

A lot run up
and right off the end.

Lance usually stays around
for a while.

He's so relaxed up there,
you get the feeling...

he could have a ham sandwich
while he's waiting around.

A surfer who can ride Malibu
better than anyone
in the world is Miki Dora.

As Phil Edwards says of Miki,
"His style is so advanced,

most surfers
don't even understand
what he's trying to do."

He's very good
at winding his way
through the crowds at Malibu...

without losing
any of his composure.

On a small wave inside,
Miki with one of his
unique maneuvers,

side-slipping his board
back and forth in the wave.

He's the only surfer
I've ever seen do this.

A young fella
named Corky Carroll
gets great rides...

wherever he happens
to be surfing.

Corky also comes up with some
pretty strange things.

Here's a pretty strange
pullout.

An "El Rollo."
When Corky does
something strange,

everyone for 50 yards
knows all about it.

"Hey, did you guys see
that El Rollo?
Boy, it was a beauty!"

Yeah, big deal, Corky.

During the wintertime
in California,
the conditions really change.

The water temperature drops
down to 48 degrees sometimes...

at places like Steamer Lane
in Santa Cruz.

Steamer Lane, home of
the world's latest takeoff.

The only person
comfortable surfing in this
cold water is Henry.

Henry is a seal,
nature's greatest body surfer.

Other places in California
get big during the wintertime,

like the Redondo Beach
Breakwater.

Although California isn't known
for its big surf, you can see...

occasionally it gets big,
and biggest during
the wintertime.

Many surfers ride
summer and winter,

but the ultimate thing
for most of us would be
to have an endless summer.

The warm water and waves,
without the summer crowds
of California.

The only way to do this
is by traveling
around the world,

following the summer season
as it moves around the world.

Two surfers,
Robert August and Mike Hynson,

have been planning a trip
like this for some time.

The winter evening
before their departure,
in front of a warm fire,

reading up on a few
last-minute books on Africa,
which would be their first stop.

Robert August. Mike Hynson.

Packing for the journey
was important.

Six pairs of trunks,
two boxes of wax,

some modern sounds and,
in case of injury,
one band-aid.

It was a cold,
foggy winter morning
in November...

when Mike and Robert
were ready to depart...

on the first leg of their
endless summer journey
around the world.

On the plane heading for Africa,
Robert wondered what was
in store for them.

Would the find surf?
Would they catch malaria?

Would they be speared
by a native?
He didn't have any idea.

Across the U.S.,
then across the Atlantic Ocean,

landing in Africa
for the first time...

at Dakar, Senegal.

They didn't know
what to expect in Dakar,

and at dawn at the airport,
they were anxious
to get under way...

and find an inexpensive place
to stay.

They were a bit perturbed
when a government official
informed them...

they didn't have any choice--
they had to stay...

at a certain government-owned
hotel or leave the country.

So they had their introduction
to primitive Africa...

at one of the primitive
little hotels
along the seashore.

The rates here were
unbelievable-- $30 a day each.

As you walk through
the front door, they stamp
"sucker" on your forehead.

The joke turned out to be
on the government, however,

because right out in front
of this hotel was
a little island...

about a quarter of a mile
offshore.

And off each end of this island
was surf breaking,

surf that no one
had ever ridden before...

and, as far as we know,
no surfer had ever
even seen before.

It's pretty scary paddling out
for the first time...

at a strange spot like this.

They had no idea
what they might find
in the water.

So they stuck
pretty close together.

For moral support,
they took off together
on the first wave,

figuring if anything
happened to them,
it would happen equally...

and probably wouldn't hurt
so badly that way.

Takes a while to get used
to any new surfing spot,

but here in Africa,
surfing for the first time,
it takes a little longer.

Mike, on the left of the screen,
pointing out a rock
just underwater to Robert.

You find out where the rocks
are, how the waves are breaking
over the rocks or reef.

Find out if there's any
funny little fish who might be
mad-- things like that.

What we call
"getting a place wired."

After you get it wired,
it's just like...

riding waves back
in the U.S.A.,
except you aren't.

You're in Africa.

They couldn't get over
being in Africa.

Mike would pull out of a wave,
paddle over to Robert and say,
"Robert, guess what?

We're in Africa!"

I don't know what it was,
but it was really
hard to accept.

They practiced the buddy system.
If one lost his board,

the other would paddle over
and pick up the board-- or body.

Whichever was closest.

You don't want to do a lot of
swimming in the water down here.

Here they were,
only four hours off an airplane
from the United States,

and already into better surf
than they'd left behind them
the day they left California.

They're still
in the Northern Hemisphere,

and although it's
officially wintertime,

the water temperature
was 70 degrees.

They rode these waves
knowing they were the first
to ever do it,

and also knowing the closest
surfer to them was over
4,000 miles away.

This place broke a long way out,
so most people didn't notice
what was going on.

A few of the native kids spotted
the activity and came to watch.

Being good Africans,
they threw a few rocks.

Some of the sharp-eyed fishermen
on the beach paddled out...

to get a closer look
in their full race canoes.

One of the fishermen
was really stoked.

He was trying to shoot
the shore break in his canoe.

Your surfing style in strange
waters like this would normally
be very conservative.

You could hardly call Mike's
or Robert's style conservative.

Mike with a great ride--
Dakar, Senegal, West Africa--

completely covered up.

They figured at the rates
they were being charged
at the hotel,

each wave was costing them
about 9.95.

Mike hit the bottom
and picked up
a little ding on his head.

It was so expensive in Senegal,
they decided to leave.

A cup of coffee costs
the equivalent of one American
dollar in Senegalese francs.

Their next stop would be Accra,
Ghana, about 2,000 miles
down Africa's Gold Coast.

Landing in a strange country
like this was pretty weird.

The people of course knew
nothing about surfing
and had never seen a surfboard.

They thought the boards were
some kind of airplane wing.

Commonplace things for us
like getting a ride with your
surfboard were major projects.

They finally commandeered
this taxicab and are trying
to explain to the driver...

that they want to tie the boards
on the roof.

They even brought rope
to do it with.

The driver didn't speak English
and didn't understand.

Mike kept saying, "Look,
they'll fall out of the trunk.
Let's put them on the roof."

The driver kept muttering
something that must have meant,

"Airplane wings go
in the trunk."

None of this was staged.
The discussion went on
for half an hour,

and the driver finally did it
the way he thought was best.

Can you imagine
driving down the highway
in the U.S. like that?

They'd put you in prison.

They made it to a little hotel
without the boards falling out,

congratulating the driver
for being such a good packer.

He really liked Mike and Robert.
Didn't even charge them
for the ride,

and offered to spend
a couple of days with them...

showing them around
his country of Ghana.

No charge. All they had to do
was buy gasoline for his cab.

When they stopped to buy
gasoline for his cab,

it turned out to be
not a very good deal.

Gasoline in Ghana
is very expensive--

five-point-four-and-a-half
shillings per gallon,

almost one American dollar
for a gallon of gas.

It was,
as the name of it implied,
really "Agip."

In a few minutes in West Africa,
you can be out of a city
into a very primitive area.

That's where they are now,
at a primitive fishing village
in Ghana.

Most of these people had never
seen a white man before.

As they walked down the beach,
they really wondered if they
were doing the right thing.

They didn't know whether
the U.N. had been there yet
or not.

They were a little nervous
on the beach, so they paddled
right out in the water.

Paddling out,
they had the horrible thought
that maybe surfing...

would violate some
religious taboo of the natives,
and they'd attack.

During the first ride,
the hundreds of natives
were dead silent,

but went Robert pulled out,
they really went wild.

[ Shouting, Cheering ]

That was the beginning
of surfing in Ghana.
The people couldn't believe it.

They came down to the beach
with their kids
and their lunch...

and they still had
both hands free.

The natives had never seen
or even dreamed
of anything like this before.

They stood there for hours,
completely fascinated.

If you lost your board,
it would come inside,

and the native kids would hop
on it and play with it till
you come and ask for it back.

Usually they'd give it back,
but they were kids, and you were
bigger than they were.

But you weren't bigger
than the chief,
who was bigger than anybody.

That's why he was chief.

If you lost your board
and the chief wanted
to play with it,

there really wasn't much
you could say about it.

Watch Robert trying
to be tactful here.

"Hi there, chief.
Nice day, huh, sir? May I
have my board back, please?"

One reason the natives
were so excited about surfing...

was because they themselves
paddle out through
the surf every day...

in their big dug-out canoes
to go fishing.

So they have a real feeling
for the sea and waves,

and could fully appreciate
Mike and Robert's ability
on their surfboards.

This is really an interesting
tribe of native fishermen.

Their method of fishing
has remained unchanged
for thousands of years.

Everything they have,
they make themselves.

The ropes and nets
are woven from some fiber
they get in the jungle.

The canoe is hollowed
out of a single,
gigantic hardwood log.

When they go stroking out to sea
in their big dug-out canoe,

and you're sitting outside,
looking at them paddling
toward you,

you think they're
coming out with their
forks to have you for dinner.

♪♪ [ Singing
In Native Language ]

They couldn't speak English,
and Mike couldn't speak
their language.

They paddled by
and said something like--
[Imitates Native Language ]

Mike smiled and said,
"Yeah, man, hang 10."

They thought that was great.

They went stroking out,
chanting, "Hang 10, hang 10!"

The only English word
they know is "hang 10."
That has to be unique.

They lay the net
in a big semicircle.

Normally they avoid
riding waves in the canoes,

but they thought they'd give
Mike and Robert a little thrill.

They did when they took off
on a wave in their two-ton
hardwood canoe.

♪♪ [ Continues ]

Surfing one of these things
is like trying to surf
the Santa Fe Super Chief.

They fish the same stretch
of beach every day, and have
been for hundreds of years.

If they move a mile up
or down the beach,

they run into another tribe
of fishermen who have
that area all staked out.

And if they infringe on each
other's area, a big war starts
and everybody gets massacred.

It's really a mess.
So they stay pretty much
in their own area.

With the last of the canoes
coming in,
everyone in the village...

turns out
to help pull in the big net.

♪♪ [ Singing
In Native Language ]

They all have duties.

Here's the head rope coiler.

♪♪ [ Continues ]

It takes them about an hour
to get the net in, and they
usually catch quite a few fish.

They have to divide the catch
up among themselves.

They don't have any money,
but they bargain
for the fish anyway.

The session goes on
for half an hour,

with everyone hollering
at each other at full volume.

Their approach is like,
"Look, Casafugo, I pulled
harder, so I get more fish."

And the other guy says,
"Yeah, but I stayed up late
last night worrying about it."

The other guy says,
"Well, I'm bigger than you.
I'm taking the fish."

Part of it has to do with
how big and strong you are
and what you know.

This woman
must have known karate.

The surfboards really
attracted a lot of attention,
as did Mike and Robert.

Robert with a big group
surrounding him.

They were asking him questions
in their native tongue,

and he was answering
what he thought might be
the questions in English.

No one understood one word of
what the other guy was saying.

But when you get surrounded
by a group like that,

you just don’t just walk away.

The kids in the village
really got excited
about surfing.

They got so excited,
they started ripping down
their houses.

♪♪ [ Continues ]

The start of bellyboard surfing
in Ghana.

♪♪ [Fades ]
The kids wanted to learn
how to ride a real surfboard,

so Mike and Robert organized
a little surfing school.

First thing the kids had to
learn was to rough up the wax
on the deck of the board...

with some sand
so they wouldn't slip off.

Plenty of help.

The biggest problem
in the school was
selecting one student.

They all wanted to be
the student, and you can only
teach one at a time,

so you just looked around
and tried to find a kid
with a pair of trunks.

Teach him first.

Robert starting his
student off near shore,

pushing him
into a wave.

First time this little
African boy had ever been
on a surfboard in his life.

Mike didn't fool around
near shore.

He started his students
outside in the heavies.

If they let go of the board,
they'd lose their turn
as students,

so they'd hang on to the thing
sideways in the soup.

They weren't afraid of anything.

The best one of the day
was a beautiful tandem
late takeoff, sideways.

As is usual in West Africa,
when the little guys
try something and survive,

the big guys take
the boards away and go out
and try it themselves.

A couple of the heavies
got the boards and started
stroking out.

Keep in mind these men had
never seen a surfboard, let
alone ever tried to ride one.

It takes most beginners
a long time
to just catch a wave.

In my years of surfing,
I've never seen anything
like this.

The very first wave he tried.

- His buddies
were really stoked.
- [ Cheering ]

They started getting
kinda cocky after a while--
one-armed paddles.

These fellas were amazing.
They didn't have much trouble
catching waves.

They didn't even have too much
trouble standing up
for a short time.

They had absolutely
no trouble at all...

getting the board back
from the people inside.

Mike and Robert would have
to argue, but watch when the
heavy comes in to get the board.

No argument.

They started getting it
really wired.

Some pretty hot angles going,
and a beautiful El Rollo.

They even came up with
a few original maneuvers.

A West African pullout
here called
a "reverse Patrice Lumumba."

These men were so excited
about surfing that we felt
sure after we left...

they'd shape their own surfboard
from some jungle tree...

and are probably out there
surfing right now.

The only problem came
when the local constable
walked up, said,

"Sorry.
No surfing after 11:00."

He didn't look too friendly,
so we didn't argue.

The kids didn't like that rule.
They gave him a little lip,

like, "How'd you like
a black eye, cop?"

Their time just about up
in Ghana,

they strolled down the beach
and said good-bye
to the new found friends.

Our next stop--
Lagos, Nigeria,

just a short hop
down the coast.

On these short flights,
we took some pretty weird
airlines.

This one was South Mombasa,
with a U.N.-trained
African pilot...

flying a war surplus DC-1.

Figured he'd give 'em
a little thrill.

[Engines Roaring]

Once into Nigeria,
Mike and Robert
hitched a ride...

and struck off to look for surf
in a place no one had ever
surfed before.

The odds against finding surf
in a strange country
are pretty high.

Even getting to a beach
is difficult.

With their fantastic luck
still with them,

they hiked into a beach
and paddled right out
into some hot little waves.

When I say "hot" in this case,
I don't refer
to the shape of the waves,

but to the actual temperature
of the waves.

The water temperature
here in Nigeria,
almost on the equator,

was an unbelievable 91 degrees.

It melted the wax
right off the board.

The air temperature
was about 100.

The humidity felt like 5,000%.

It felt drier underwater
than it did up there
in the air.

United Nations ship outside,

ready to enter the harbor
at Lagos, Nigeria.

We have no way of knowing
whether this is a good day of
surf for Nigeria, or a bad one.

All we know-- it was like this
when we were there,

and it's still better
than a lot of days we get
in California.

Unlike Ghana,
only one native watched.

He wasn't exactly overactive.

Neither would you be
when it's 100 degrees.

It was so hot on the beach,
I decided to wade out
in the water...

and show you what it looks like
if you're standing chest-deep
in Nigerian water...

watching Mike Hynson ride by,
perched on the nose.

You keep one eye on Mike,
and the other eye
on the bottom...

for creatures like stonefish
that exist there.

If you step on a stonefish,
you die in about 15 minutes.

Surfing a place like this
is no problem.

The problem is finding it
to begin with,

and in this case, the problem
was getting back to the road
to hitch a ride.

They had to hike through
a jungle between the beach
and a road.

If you get off the path,
you never find your way out.

This was a full-on jungle,
full of all kinds
of creepy things--

snakes, spiders.

They expected Tarzan to come
swinging by on a vine.

[Airplane Engines Whirring]

From Nigeria, they're headed
to South Africa.

They'll be crossing
the equator for the first time.

For the first time,
it's now officially summer.

It was November.

Landing in Cape Town,

they'll also be going to Durban,
1,200 miles up the coast.

The landmark at Cape Town
that's as famous
as Diamond Head...

is Table Mountain.

Let's go up on top
and take a look.

From the top, you can see
a long way down
the Cape Peninsula.

It's a finger of land
about 20 miles long
and five miles wide.

It separates two great oceans.

On one side of the peninsula
is the Atlantic Ocean.

On the other,
the Indian Ocean,

ending in the famous
Cape of Good Hope.

It's a 2,000-foot vertical drop
from Table Mountain...

to the suburbs
of Cape Town below.

Mike getting his jollies in
for the day.

There are surfers
in South Africa.

John Whitmore is the leader
of the group in Cape Town.

John makes surfboards
and sells Volkswagens.

There are about a hundred
surfers around Cape Town,

and when Mike and Robert
arrived,

all 100 of them
took the day off
to go surfing.

California surfers usually
split up into small groups...

and go to different beaches,
trying to avoid crowds.

Here in Cape Town,
they like to go all together.

Down the Cape Highway,
past many beaches with no one
on them and good surf.

But they don't split up.
They all go
to the same beach.

It doesn't matter what beach,
as long as they're together.

They were also anxious to see
Mike and Robert surf.

They get to the beach together,
but when they actually surf,

they split up
into small groups.

One or two, 10 or 20--
They don't care.
The more, the merrier.

These are brave men.

As you can tell,
they haven't been surfing long
in Cape Town,

but they really have a ball.

They get out there
and really go at it--

bite, scratch, kick
and really shove
each other around.

John Whitmore, who made
most of their surfboards.

He's also been surfing longer
than most of the other
people down there.

The South Africans were
so enthusiastic about Mike
and Robert's surfing ability,

there were instances
when surfers drove 400 miles
just to meet them.

They'd drive 400 miles,
get out of the car,

shake hands
and drive 400 miles
back home again.

There are very few teenagers
that surf around Cape Town.

Here's one of the few,
Peter Basford,
getting a nice ride.

The average age around
Cape Town for surfers would be
in their late 20s and 30s.

Mike and Robert
were quick to make friends
with the natives...

wherever they visited.

Robert with a good pair of
dark glasses on so they couldn't
see where he was looking.

They spent a few happy days
around Cape Town
meeting natives,

but they'd come here
to get away from the crowds...

and find a beach they could
surf by themselves.

So they borrowed a car
and struck off alone
down the Cape Peninsula...

to look for some surf.

If you want to be alone,
you're welcome to be alone
in South Africa.

It's one of the few places
in the world you can even
be alone on the main highway.

You pass many beaches
with not a soul on them,

not a footprint in the sand,
and there hasn't been one
in 10 years.

You can be so alone
on the beach down there,
it's almost scary.

They called this place
Long Beach...

and paddled out
for a few waves.

Conditions here
resemble Northern California,

with heavy kelp beds
outside.

The kelp cuts the chop
and makes the waves
inside smoother,

although it makes them smaller.

This is on the Atlantic side
of the Cape Peninsula,

and although it's summertime,
the water temperature
is only 54 degrees.

It never gets very warm
on the Atlantic side
of the peninsula,

but only five miles away
across land is the Indian Ocean.

The water there is sometimes
20 degrees warmer
on the same day.

The best surf seems to be
on the Atlantic side,

so most of the surfing around
Cape Town is done in cold water,
even in the summer.

With the tremendous difference
in water temperature
between the two oceans...

separated by such a narrow
land mass,

it causes some pretty good
winds to blow.

Here's a little
afternoon offshore breeze
around Cape Town.

[ Wind Whistling ]

Nobody gets very excited
about it.

They just tie their car
to a tree and watch their kids
as they go sailing by.

Mike and Robert decided
to head for Durban,

which is 1,200 miles
up the Indian Ocean coast.

So off they went to Durban.

If you try to hitch a ride
at Durban, you can sit there...

for three days
and never see a car.

As the hours rolled by
and the warm summer sun
beat down,

Mike couldn't help
but think back to the summer
that had passed in California,

and the places that break
during California's summertime,

like The Wedge
in Newport Beach.

The dirty old Wedge.

The dirty old Wedge,
where $6,000 worth of swim fins
were lost last year--

and their owners.

The Wedge in California,
where you catch waves
you didn't even want.

You come out of the water
after a wave like this,

your back looks like
a Twist-O-Flex watchband.

Few people ride bellyboards
at The Wedge.

Body surfing is bad enough,
because when you get wiped out,

it feels like your arms,
legs and head are all going
different directions.

Add a bellyboard to that mess,
it's like an extra piece
of shrapnel in a hand grenade.

The waves break
in very shallow water,

so if you don't land
just right, you can
really get bent.

They come out with shovels
at low tide and dig you
out of the sand.

Usually on a big day,
it's a very short ride.
It's kind of a big drop.

Occasionally someone
gets a long ride.

Here's some kind of record
for a big day.

I can't figure out whether
this guy has a bellyboard...

or is body surfing...

or has rigor mortis
of the stomach.

You may wonder why people
don't occasionally
land on each other.

As a matter of fact,
occasionally they do.

In fact,
they do it all the time.
Here's once.

This is the slam-bang,
crowded action
of California's summertime.

Mike Hynson and Robert August
were glad they were here,

especially when they looked
down the highway...

and saw the first car
coming their way...

in the shimmering heat waves
of summer in South Africa.

There was a truck
with a surfboard on top.

A surfboard's a rare thing
to see in South Africa.

It turned out to be
a young surfer named James...

and an older fellow
named Terence...

who was taking James a few miles
up the coast to go surfing.

They met, and Mike and Robert
explained they were headed
for Durban, 1,200 miles away.

Terence was only going
a few miles, but he thought it
over for a minute and said,

"What the heck?
Load your boards.
I'll take you to Durban."

On the spur of the moment,
Terence decided,

and ended up driving Mike
and Robert over 2,000 miles
through South Africa,

a trip that took him
out of his way for two weeks.

Terence Bullen.
He doesn't surf.

He captures animals
for zoos around the world...

and milks cobra snakes
for their venom.

He handles a thousand
deadly cobras a week,

and when he's not
extracting their venom,

he keeps them in baskets
in his bedroom.

He's one of the few people
in the world to capture
an African elephant alive.

Terence wasn't afraid
of anything in the world,
except the ocean,

and he wouldn't go in that
for anything.

This is the truck he uses
for hunting safaris.

This is the truck that took us
1,200 miles along the virgin
coastline of the Indian Ocean.

If you thoroughly explored
the surfing possibilities
along the beaches,

it would take you 10 years.

We just concentrated
on places right alongside
the paved highway.

You pull off in the morning,
look out. There'll be
a place like this.

It doesn't even have a name.

So you go out for a wave
before breakfast.

About 300 miles north of
Cape Town on the Indian Ocean,

the water was 70 degrees.

Offshore breezes.
Perfect conditions.

There are hundreds
of places like this up and down
that 1,200-mile coastline...

between Cape Town and Durban.

Mike out, along with James,
who is just learning
how to surf.

Robert stayed on the beach
to keep his eye on Terence...

because Terence had a habit
of pulling tricks on them.

Like one time he caught
a couple of cobras...

and wrapped them up
in their sleeping bags.

When they unrolled the bags,
he really laughed.
He thought that was hysterical.

This particular day, Terence
got a couple of horses...

and launched Mike and Robert
down the beach.

They'd never ridden one
in their lives. He laughed
so hard, he almost got a hernia.

Robert with a death grip
on an English saddle.

Threatened to drown Terence
if he could catch him.

With this man, we drove
thousands of miles
through South Africa.

Mike's radio always
at full volume.

Scared the daylights
out of any animal around.

These animals are really
an impressive thing to see.

You drive through countryside
that looks like parts
of the United States.

You almost forget
you're in Africa.

But suddenly you remember
when a big eland goes trudging
off from beside the road.

It weighs almost a ton.

As the countryside changes,
you see different animals.

A little further along,
we saw a herd of impala
having lunch...

right beside the road.

Mike and Robert like to surf
more than anything else,

but they each felt they'd like
to spend at least six months
in South Africa...

doing nothing but looking
at animals.

It's really an impressive
thing to see.

There are hundreds
of different kinds,
and Terence knew them all.

With his sharp eyes,
he could spot them
about 10 miles away.

This is a bontebok,
now rare.

Mike started his career
as a game stalker
in his camouflage shirt.

Terence would always send them
out after things.

He'd say, "See how close
you guys can get
to those giraffes."

Then he'd lock the doors,
roll up the windows, sit in
there giggling like a maniac,

tell you about the lion
in the bushes later.

There are millions of monkeys
in South Africa.

If you park your car
out in the country
and forget to lock it,

the monkeys climb out of
the trees, get in the car
and take anything...

that's not bolted down--
windshield wipers,
radio knobs,

everything
in the glove compartment--

and pass it up to their
buddies in the tree.

They've got a regular
auto supply store going
up there.

You come back and start
yelling for your parts,

they just giggle and throw you
down a '38 Hudson hubcap.

There are many native villages.
This is a Zulu village.

We were a little afraid
to go in it, so Mike picked out
the littlest guy to meet first.

He was more afraid
than we were.

Arrow shirt going there.
Shot by an arrow.

He couldn't speak English,
and we couldn't speak Zulu,

so we just shook hands
and tried to be friendly.

Robert called him "Mr. Clean."

Continuing the journey
up the coast.

The further north you go
in South Africa,
the hotter it gets.

They drove all night,
arriving in Durban
first thing in the morning,

and were greeted by
some of the local surfers
who live in the area--

Jack Wilson, Max Wetteland
and Harry Bold.

Morning comes pretty early
in Durban.

The sun is already up,
and it's only 4:30 a.m.

Robert out for a few waves
in the shimmering heat...

of tropical South Africa--
Durban.

4:30 in the morning--
it's already 80 degrees out.

Water temperature
about the same.

With the warm water,
there's a tremendous
problem with sharks.

Later in the afternoon,
around 5:30 a.m.,

some more of
the local surfers showed up.

They haven't been surfing long
around Durban either,

but they get some great rides.

They call their bathing suits
down there "costumes."

In America,
we call this thing a G-string.

As I mentioned, sharks are
a tremendous problem here.

If you go in the water
away from the main beach,

the odds are 50-50
you'll be killed by a shark.

This beach is meshed,
or netted against sharks.

But even here
you keep your eyes open.

You look over the top of a wave
and see a fin coming toward you,

your heart stops.

If you're swimming,
you really wish you weren't.

Turned out to be only
a group of friendly porpoises...

who were coming in
to see what was going on
in their ocean.

Shows you how well
the nets work.

Everyone's happy
to see the porpoises,

because when they're around,
they seem to keep
the sharks away.

Sharks and porpoises
have yet to integrate
in South Africa.

After surfing,
you can ride the Zulu rickshaw
down the promenade.

It's a lot of fun.
All the tourists do it.

This driver wasn't very heavy,
and he wasn't used to
all the weight in the rickshaw.

He was bouncing
along Zulu-style,
bounced once too high...

and got stuck up there.

Leaving Durban, heading
to Johannesburg where we catch
a plane for Australia.

Driving through the interior
past these rugged
thorn bushes...

that reminded us
so much of tough old Terence...

and the dirty tricks he pulled,
like telling Mike
to go pet the zebra.

What we remember most
about South Africa...

is a place we discovered
with our friend Terence.

On the map, we could see
a big cape sticking out
seven miles to sea,

a point of land called
on the map Cape St. Francis.

It was about three miles
across these sand dunes
to the water.

We had no idea
what was on the other side,

but we'd come
halfway around the world,

so we thought
we'd go take a look.

We struck off
across the sand dunes
led by our friend...

"Terence of Africa."

Halfway around the world
and halfway across the dunes,
it seemed like a bad idea.

It started to get pretty hot.

The odds were against us
finding surf.

We didn't even know
if we'd find the water.

When you go looking for surf,
you don't look for
a really big wave.

If you found one,
you'd never ride it
in strange waters.

It would be much too dangerous.

What every surfer dreams
of finding is a small wave
with perfect shape.

What we call a perfect wave.

The odds against
finding that are
10 million-to-one.

They finally got
their first look at
Cape St. Francis, South Africa.

You can't tell
how good a wave is
till you actually ride it.

On Mike's first ride,
the first five seconds,

he knew he'd finally found
that perfect wave.

The waves looked like
they'd been made
by some kind of a machine.

The rides were so long,
I couldn't get most of them
on one piece of film.

Here's Mike further along,
still riding the same wave
at Cape St. Francis.

On some of the rides,
I timed them in the curl
for 45 seconds.

Outside, really driving
about halfway through
the wave already, Robert August.

Look at the wave in front.
Same perfect shape
as the wave he's on.

After we rode Cape St. Francis,
we talked to fishermen...

who come in this area
quite frequently.

They told us the waves there
were funny looking things.

They said
they looked like pipes.

And they said the waves
always looked like that.

Day after day,
same stupid looking waves.

They told us of days
when the surf broke big
out by the end of the cape,

seven miles further out,
and rolled all the way in
to where we were surfing.

Can you imagine riding
a 15-foot wave shaped like this
for seven miles?

You'd have a nervous breakdown
the first 50 yards.

I had one on a three-foot wave.

From all the information
we could gather,

we figure it's like this
about 300 days of the year.

The water was 70 degrees,
the prevailing wind there,
straight offshore.

A perfect wave,
and perfect conditions.

The only disadvantage was
you kept getting cramps
in your legs...

from squatting down
for so long in the curl.

The thing you can't show
is the fantastic speed...

and that feeling you get
in the pit of your stomach.

It's the kind of a wave
that makes you talk to yourself.

I couldn't help but think
of the hundreds of years...

these waves must have
been breaking here.

But until this day,
no one had ever ridden one.

Think of the thousands
of waves that went to waste,

and the waves that are
going to waste right now
at Cape St. Francis.

Out of the whole day of surfing,
we didn't see one wave section,
or break in front of itself.

Each wave was perfect.

The surf came in diagonally,
which gave you this long ride--

was shallow,
only a foot or two deep
beneath Robert's board.

Sandy bottom
with rocks along the shoreline.

Strictly a one-man wave.
Just wasn't room
for two surfers.

Here, Robert's really
in the right spot.

But Mike, with the wake
of his board...

causing the wave to break sooner
than it normally would have.

Before long,
Mike was in the right spot.

Every surfer dreams
of finding a place
as good as Malibu or Rincon.

We found a place that's better,
and it's better every day.

The best ride of the day
was one that Robert got--

really locked in,
screaming at the top
of his lungs.

Robert came over
the top of the wave...

and let out a bellow
you could hear
halfway back to Cape Town.

He was so excited, he was
almost frothing at the mouth.

Mike was kind of excited too.

Oh, big deal.

We've seen a lot of surfing
so far in the endless summer.

Let's see what it looks like now
when you're actually
in the water riding...

as we watch the amazing footwork
of Mr. Phil Edwards in Hawaii.

I'd like to show you
what a wipeout looks like
from the board.

I'm pretty good
at getting wiped out,
so I'll be the stooge.

If you watch carefully,
you can see the board pearl,

the coral bottom
and my head come by with
bubbles coming out the ears.

You come up looking
for your board and find...

you have one extra
hole in the head from
the back of the camera.

While Mike and Robert
are making their way
to Australia,

let's see
what's going on in Hawaii.

Lots of girls surf in Hawaii,
and many of them
are very good.

Taking off outside
in the green...

"chest protector,"
Bernie Ross.

This is Haleiwa Beach
on the North Shore of
the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

Butch van Artsdalen
with a spinner.

There's a shallow spot
in the reef at Haleiwa...

right about there.

Butch van Artsdalen,
really a fantastic surfer.

Switches his stance
back and forth, riding with
either foot forward.

A few surfers do this,
but none as well as Butch.

He does it in
impossible situations,

like right in the middle
of a pullout in midair.

Right here.

Butch van Artsdalen.

A surfer who's not
as skilled as Butch...

but who has as much fun
as anyone's ever had surfing...

is Lord James Blears,
the famous wrestler.

Here goes the Lord
with one of his famous
"Tallyho" pullouts.

Tallyho!

If he gets mad at the wave,
he just crushes the poor thing.

The wave gets mad at you,
it just crushes you
right back again.

On a crowded day at Haleiwa,

you see boards and bodies
going in every
imaginable direction.

Although by the calendar
it's wintertime in Hawaii,

the water is 75 degrees,
and so is the air.

The temperature only changes
about two degrees
during the year.

So unless you have sensitive
skin, you can't tell whether
it's winter or summer in Hawaii.

Hawaii is truly a land
of an endless summer.

Fella you saw at Malibu
now riding Haleiwa,
Miki Dora.

Miki rides well frontwards...
or backwards.

A Hawaiian surfer
who's really fantastic
is Conrad Cunha.

When he plants his 200 pounds
right over his feet,

you get the feeling
nothing could knock him
off that board.

Just like he's glued down.

In fact his friends call him
"Willie Will Hold."

Out in front of Conrad,
Australian Mick McManus,
really getting covered up.

There was a young fellow
out surfing that day...

who had a little trouble
with a growth on his back.

Actually, his father
fixed him up
with a life preserver...

so if he fell off
he'd float...

face down.

Dear old Dad.

With a warm wind
in Hawaii blowing,

you'll often see the speedy
Pacific catamarans...

out in the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor
having a ball.

Surfers when they're not surfing
having almost as much fun.

The gusts of wind blowing out
of Manoa valley.

And when the crews
hiking out to windward
trying to hold the hull down.

Hiking out,
hanging onto a thin line.

Thin, slippery line.

Once you lose your crew,
you're liable to lose
the whole boat.

These cats are a lot of fun
in the harbor,

but they're a real thrill
on the open ocean
riding ground swells.

Let's hop on board one now
with Bob Casey...

and Phil Edwards
in the blue water
off Diamond Head...

and see what it looks like from
on board charging at a ground
swell at 20 miles an hour.

Water comes off the bow
like it was shot
from a fire hose.

Phil decided to cool off,

troll for sharks.

Wiggle your toes three times
and strike!

Whether you like to surf
or sail,

or surf a sailboat,

Hawaii, even in the winter,

is truly the land
of an endless summer.

Let's rejoin Mike and Robert.

They've left Africa,
traveled up through India,

across the equator
for the third time down to
Perth, Western Australia.

Let's hop on down there
and see what's going on.

They met some of
the local residents,
and a few surfers too.

A group of Australian blokes
took Mike and Robert with them
on a surfing trip.

They drove over a thousand miles
in four days looking for surf.

Everywhere they went
they were greeted with
a familiar cry...

surfers have heard
a thousand times each,

"You guys really missed it.
You should have
been here yesterday."

The roads aren't the greatest
in Western Australia.

When there are no roads,
they just commandeer a tractor
and manure cart...

and get to the beach that way.

Down to a place called Ocean
Beach near the little town
of Denmark, Western Australia.

Beautiful, deserted beach,
but not much surf this day.

They were thinking of
hiking down to the beach
to go surfing anyway...

when they saw
an all-too-familiar
Australian site.

We call them sharks.

The Australians call them
"the men in the gray suits."

Whatever you call them,
they like your body.

The place didn't look
that red-hot anyway.

The only wave they found
in four days of searching
around Perth...

was the three-inch wake
of this little boat.

Mike riding the wake unattached.

The people on the boat said,
"Gee, Mike, you should've
been here yesterday.

We had a bigger boat."

He braved the shore break
and came in.

They picked up some surplus
Australian army hats that they
hoped would change their luck.

Maybe they'd have better luck
and strike some good surf
at their next stop...

2,000 miles across
the Australian continent
to Melbourne.

They were greeted by
some local surfers...

and lost no time
in heading from the city
of Melbourne to Bells Beach...

about 60 miles away
with high hopes
of hitting some summer surf.

Down the dry, dusty dirt road
to Bells Beach.

They pulled up on the bluff
to get their first look at
the famous Bells Beach surf...

and were greeted with the cry,
"You guys really missed it.

You should've
been here yesterday."

There wasn't much surf, so they
just went down to the beach to
meet some of the local blokes...

and found out
an interesting thing.

Bells Beach is
the fly center of Australia.

You go onto the beach
and there are 30 flies
assigned to your body.

When you leave, they go
back to command headquarters...

and wait for another assignment.

They met a young fella
named Rodney Sumpter
who told them,

"You didn't miss it yesterday.
You missed it by about
six months.

Because it's during the
wintertime we get the best surf
at Bells, round about July."

He said,
"Remember that dry dirt road
you came in on today?

Well, during the winter, it's
not a dry dirt road anymore."

Rodney said the surf
isn't the same either.

And obviously it isn't.

He told them
of all the great days of surf...

he and Nat Young had had
riding Bells Beach.

Nat Young here,
only 16 years old,

and one of
the very finest surfers
in Australia.

The winter conditions
in Melbourne in July
are very similar...

to the winter conditions
in Southern California
in December.

Water temperature
between 55 and 60 degrees,

and general conditions
about the same.

But it's Bells Beach,
Melbourne, Australia.

Here goes Rodney Sumpter,
our storyteller, and also
a great young Australian surfer.

He, too, 16 years old.

"Yeah, " said Rodney.
"Should've come in July."

Rodney knew what he was talking
about, so they asked him if
he'd ever been back to Perth...

where they’d just come from.

Rodney laughed and said,
"Sure, I've been back there.
Heck, I'm 16 years old.

I've been almost everywhere."

And Rodney told Mike and Robert
all about a trip...

he and Nat made
back to Western Australia.

Only they made their trip
during the wintertime.

They went to the exact beach
Mike and Robert had been to--
Ocean Beach, Denmark.

Only the day they arrived,
they had good luck and struck
some beautiful little curls.

It's very difficult
to get good waves
when you're traveling around.

If you live in an area,
you're bound to get a number
of good days a year.

But if you're just
passing through
for a day or a week,

the chances are you won't
strike a really good day.

Nat and Rodney were lucky
at the same beach
Mike and Robert hadn't been.

The Australians are
very competitive surfers.

They always like to do one
better than "the yanks"
as they call us.

So if you go out and hang five,
they'll go out and hang 10.

You hang 10,
they'll do one better, which
is something like hang body.

"Yeah, " said Rodney.
"It was a good trip.

"But don't worry.
You're headed for Sydney.

"There's good surf there
quite often in the summer.

With a little luck,
you'll strike it good."

With a little luck,
they struck it bad.

Three-foot wind chop,
one-foot waves
and three inches of rain.

So they went down
to the beach and met
some of the local rogues.

Out of any group of surfers,
there's always one
who will say the same thing.

"You guys really missed it.
You should've
been here yesterday."

By now,
Robert was ready to snap.

He said,
"Wait a minute, buddy.

"If you were in Hawaii right now
at Waimea Bay,
it might really be big.

And when I say 'big,' fella,
I really mean big."

That's what Robert means--
really big.

In fact, when Waimea Bay
in Hawaii gets big,

it's a whole specialized
part of surfing.

They'll sometimes sit
and watch it for a couple
of hours before going out.

If it gets too big and
closes out, the closest place
you can get ashore...

is 20 miles away.

Special boards are used
called "big guns."

You have to wait
for a lull in the shore break...

before you can even
try to get out.

Sometimes you'll stand there
for half an hour...

waiting for a chance to
get through this shore break.

People started to gather
and watch as the surfers
who made it out...

to sit in groups
and talk nervously
in low tones...

waiting for
the first big set of waves.

It's not uncommon
to see fire engines
and ambulances on the beach.

When the first big sets
come marching through,

out you paddle
with your heart
in your mouth.

Someone's gotta turn around
and take off on the first wave.

Miki Dora did...
and wished he hadn't.

Greg Knoll rode Waimea Bay
with such aggressiveness,

he earned himself
the nickname of "The Bull, "

hanging on through
unbelievable masses
of white water.

Only a handful of surfers
actually ride these big waves.

Some of them are sportsmen.
Some of them are nuts.

Waimea Bay on the North Shore
of Oahu in Hawaii.

This will give you an idea
of the fantastic power
of these waves.

A surfboard is
as buoyant as a cork.

It takes a tremendous
amount of power
to hold one underwater.

When Dick Brewer gets wiped out,
watch how long his surfboard
gets held down.

You'll finally see it pop up
in the upper right hand corner
of the picture.

Imagine what his body's
been doing under there
all that time.

The most dangerous thing
in a big wave...

is to get hit
with your surfboard
or someone else's board.

A surfboard hurled with
the force of one of these waves
can cut you in half.

So the most common sight
you see at Waimea is
surfers diving off,

trying to get away
from their board
underwater to safety.

They're diving
in awkward positions--
literally diving--

to save their own lives.

When you see one
of these big waves
letting down in front of you,

your heart's beating so fast,
you can do a standing
broad jump of 15 feet...

and not even know it.

Just paddling out
can be a national disaster.

You take off,
make the steep drop,

hear the white water
rumbling behind you
and feel the spray on your back.

You see you're going to make it
into the safety of the shoulder.

It feels like
the happiest day of your life.

Waimea Bay has only
been ridden since 1958...

when the first group
of surfers challenged it.

Yet surfers watched it break
for 10 years before going out.

Can you imagine the courage
it took to be the first?

If you could harness the power
of one of these waves,
you could light a city...

for a week.

This one really putting on
a display of power,

shooting plumes of white water
40 feet in the air,

almost defying humans
to challenge it.

"Yeah, fella,
you really missed it."

The guy said,
"Well, we're going out surfing
here. You wanna go out?"

Robert said,
"No. I don't think so."

The Aussie said,
"Well, some of the kids
are going out anyhow."

"Some of the kids in Australia
are too much."

Mike and Robert figured,
"Well, it's not
that bad out there."

They might as well go out.

This is one of the girl surfers
in Australia.
Her name is Pearl.

"Hi, Mike."

Her bathing suit
is nothing unique down there.

Most of the girls
wear the same kind of a suit.

There's another girl
paddling out.
Same type.

Doesn't bother anybody.

But it bothered Robert,
and it bothered Mike.

Robert had never
done a spinner in his life.

When the girls get wiped out,
they have some trouble
losing parts of these suits.

The darn things are so little
they roll up in a ball and go
down a clam hole or something...

and they never find them again.

The lifeguards down there
carry spare bathing suits.

Carry 15 in a Band-Aid box.

Mike Hynson and Robert August
were quick to make friends...

with the natives
in any country they visited.

Pearl had to go home.
Mike was one of
the last of the good guys,

so he said
he'd run her on home.

All Robert could say was,
"Ah, fudge."

Leaving Australia,
we're headed 1,200 miles
across the Tasman Sea...

to New Zealand.

This is really
a beautiful country,

with high mountains
and waterfalls.

It's about the size
of California, but with only
two million people.

There are 10 million sheep
in New Zealand.

More sheep than people.

This is one of the beautiful
East Coast beaches.

Perfect conditions,
but surf that rarely
gets over three feet.

On the West Coast,
it's a little more rugged.

The surf on the West Coast
rarely drops below six feet.

The wind usually blows
about 20 knots, making
poor surfing conditions.

John Paine and Tim Murdoch,
two New Zealand surfers
we met--

they took us on a trip
leaving from Tim's house
near Auckland,

heading to the extreme
northeast tip of the island,

a place called Ahipara.

Driving there Tim and John
explained Ahipara
was a well-known surfing spot.

A lot of people surf there.
Last year, they figured
probably... three or four.

Here's the cove at Ahipara
on the extreme northeast cape...

of New Zealand's North Island.

Robert and John Paine
paddling out for a wave...

with horses clomping along
the path in the background--

people coming in
from the sheep ranch.

This is considered
a fair sized day
for New Zealand's East Coast.

That's part of a paddle wheel
of an old steamship
that went aground.

It's Christmastime
in New Zealand right
in the middle of their summer.

They think of Santa Claus
as a guy who wears Bermudas
and hangs out on the beach.

Tim and John went home
to spend Christmas
with their parents...

and left Mike and Robert
to explore New Zealand
by themselves.

Heading from
the East to West Coast,
you pass through the mountains.

Mike and Robert stop
to sample a little
of the world-famous...

New Zealand trout fishing.

A pleasant way
to spend a day,

and also a good way
to pick up something to eat.

They fished for a few hours
and caught quite a few trout.

This is just a baby trout
by New Zealand standards.

It only weighed about
two pounds.

It has to be over two pounds
to even be legal size.

Here's some of
the regular fellers they caught.

Four and five pound
rainbow and brown trout.

That evening, they had
roast trout on a stick.

Page 44 of their
Woody Woodchuck manual.

But it tasted pretty good.

They had enough fish for weeks.
They had trout for dinner,

trout sandwiches for lunch,

flaked trout
in their mush in the morning,

rotten trout.

They camped out that night in
the mountains of New Zealand...

and struck off the next morning
for the West Coast...

and a place called Raglan.

It's an amazing country
to drive through.

One minute there's
a cool mountain stream.

Around the corner,
a thermal area with a pit
of bubbling mud.

On down to Raglan
on New Zealand's West Coast.

This is the huge cove at Raglan,
many miles across
and a couple of miles deep.

The lines of surf
rapping in from the Tasman Sea.

It was blowing about 15 knots,
which is considered fairly
glassy for the West Coast.

Watch Mike catch his fin
on a rock here
just underwater.

Oop.

It was Christmas Day,

and they had the huge cove
at Raglan all to themselves.

The most unique thing
about this place is
the length of the ride.

The ride's so long
it's ridiculous.

I can't even show you
a complete ride.

It would take the whole
second part of the film.

So I'll show you
kind of highlights
of one of Robert's rides.

This is about
the middle part of the ride.

Later in the day,
here's some more
of the middle part of the ride.

Once the novelty
of the long ride wears off,
it gets kind of boring.

You start talking to yourself,
reciting poetry, yodeling--

anything to keep
your mind occupied.

This is the shore break.
It only lasts
for about 15 minutes.

You go out surfing
for the day at Raglan,
you get two rides--

one after breakfast,
and one after lunch.

If you try for three,
you starve to death.

Surfers here don't carry wax.
They carry life-raft rations.

Mike and Robert riding it
together in the afternoon...

so they'd have someone
to talk to.

Mike was discussing
highlights of the trip.

Robert kept saying,
"Watch where
you're going, Mike.

If you fall off,
you won't get in
till tomorrow morning."

Drying off after the day
of surfing in the afternoon
summer sun of New Zealand,

they remarked to each other
how ironic their trip
had been so far.

In Africa, where they really
didn't expect to find surf,

they found such good waves.

In Australia that has good surf,
they'd been unlucky
and hadn't gotten anything.

Here in New Zealand,
they'd had a few
pretty good days,

but they knew
it could've been even better.

That's what it's like
when you're following
the summer around the world...

looking for places to surf.

Their next stop
would be the island of Tahiti.

Ask anyone who's been there
and they'll tell you
the same thing--

there's no surf in Tahiti.

The reason they say
is because this barrier reef...

cuts up all the surf
coming into the beach.

But it makes for
crystal-clear waters
in the lagoons.

This is about six feet
of water we're flying over with
coral and sand on the bottom.

Didn't take Mike and Robert long
to get into the swing of things
in Tahiti.

A flower behind that ear
means they're not married.

And they kept hollering,
"Hey! I'm not married!"

Although there's no surf,
they thought they'd go
paddle in the lagoon.

And although there's no surf,
they found something
that looked kind of like a wave.

They called this place
"El Stumpo."

They named it El Stumpo
after the famous
Polynesian explorer...

Leonardo El Stumpo.

The waves weren't gigantic,
but they were well formed
little devils.

You could see the waves
breaking on the reef
in the background.

There was a pass
through the barrier reef,

and the swells
were coming through
and breaking near the beach.

For such a tiny little wave,
you could really get
worked over.

Everyone said
there was no surf in Tahiti,

but they had already found some,
so they thought they'd better
drive around the island...

and take a good look.

Off they went
through the famous town
of Papeete.

You get to one side
of the island,
and you find everyone's wrong.

There is surf in Tahiti.
There's no barrier reef at all
on one side of the island.

There's all kinds of surf
rolling into
the black sand beaches.

Just a matter
of finding the right beach...

with the right
bottom contours,
the right swell direction,

and you'll find
a place to surf.

We found an interesting spot.
We called it "Ins and Outs"...

because you could ride
the wave in,
or you could ride the wave out.

The wave going out
had better shape than the wave
did coming in,

so they spent
most of the time
riding out.

The waves would roll in,
up the steep beach,

back down the steep beach
and right back out to sea again.

Had enough shape and power--
you could turn, run the nose,

just like you were riding in.

Except you weren't.
You were riding out.

The Tahitian kids had ridden
out most of their lives,

and they were busy
riding in on their surf mats
and belly boards.

But when they met the out part,
shazam!

Three ways to go--
in, out and up.

Everyone inside was drowning.

Here's the Royal
Tahitian kid, Irving.

He's got the shiniest skin
on the block.

Mike with a record
long ride out at Ins and Outs,

heading straight out to sea,

straight toward Hawaii.

I couldn't help but feel sorry
for the Tahitian kids
having so much fun surfing.

They didn't know
there was no surf in Tahiti.

This place got
kind of confusing,

so Mike and Robert
paddled down the beach
a few hundred yards...

and found another surfing spot.

They called this other spot
"The Other Spot."

It was a pretty good spot too.

The best waves came through
right in the middle
of a rain squall.

It was kind of weird
when it rained.
The rain was 75 degrees.

The water was 75 degrees.

The air temperature
was 75 degrees.

It was so pleasant,
it almost made you
sick to your stomach.

The people in Tahiti
were really insistent
about there being no surf.

Mike came out of the water once
and a man said, "Hey, there's
no waves in Tahiti."

He'd been standing right there
watching Mike surf.

Mike didn't want
to be a smart aleck,
so he just said,

"Well, sir,
they're pretty good things,
whatever you call 'em."

Here's Mike
with a nice ride
on a Tahitian thing.

On their last evening,
they set out beyond
the breaker line...

and remarked to each other
how ironic it had been again.

Here in Tahiti
where there's not supposed
to be any surf...

they found three places,
El Stumpo, Ins and Outs,

and the Other Spot.

Their next stop
would be Hawaii.

On the plane,
they were anxious
to get to Hawaii.

They didn't have to look
for surf anymore. They knew
right where to find it.

Mike was itching to get
his feet in a board
in Hawaii and get a few waves.

It wasn't long
before he did.

Good old Hawaii.
It sure was great to be back
in the Islands.

No more searching for surf.
Just go out and ride
in the warm blue water.

Good old Hawaii
and the friendly natives.

And the junior bird men.

Ooh! Oh!

Good old Hawaii
and the dirty old
nasty Pipeline.

This is the surfing spot
that's hardly even
a surfing spot.

It's more like
a Roman gladiator's pit.

So dangerous,
it almost defies description.

The way the waves break
is bad enough.

But it's also very shallow,
and on the bottom is coral.

Not the usual formation,
but coral that sticks up like
big overgrown railroad spikes.

You hang onto your board,

you go over the falls with it
every time, guaranteed.

Any wipeout at the Pipeline
in Hawaii is a bad one.

And most places,
when someone gets wiped out,

everyone watching
on the beach laughs.

No one laughs at the Pipeline.
They wait and see
if you come up again.

No one laughed very hard
when Bob Pike came out
of the water...

with a broken collarbone
and three broken ribs...

from bouncing off
the shallow bottom.

You ride this place
with a different attitude.

You don't want to fool around.
You want to make that wave
more than anything in the world.

A surfer who rode the place
better than anyone thought
ever imaginable...

was Butch van Artsdalen.

The waves came marching through
and Butch kept doing
impossible things,

getting impossible rides
on impossible waves to ride.

It seemed like
Butch was invincible,

like he could do nothing wrong,
coming through one
unbelievable tube after another,

almost making this wave--
Not quite.

The wave hit
his board dead-center,
and Butch had two halves.

You can drive a car
over a surfboard
and it won't break.

But a wave at the Pipeline
can easily snap one in half.

When the collapsing wave
squirts air and water
out the end,

it sounds like
a jet plane taking off.

If you're standing there,
you get blown
right off your board.

There's so much adrenaline
pumped through your system
on a wave like this...

that when you get
to the shoulder,
the easy part,

you're so relieved,
you just sometimes fall off
in a semi faint.

The worst wipeout I've ever seen
was Danny Derone
at the Pipeline.

An upside-down, head-dip,
human pile driver.

Watch this terrible wipeout.

Danny came up smiling,
and we thought he'd snapped
something loose in his head.

Mike and Robert,
their first day back in Hawaii,

and already they'd been
into some good waves.

They'd be into
some more good waves
the next morning.

But they couldn't help but
think back to the many things
they'd already seen and done.

The animals,
and especially the perfect wave
they discovered and rode...

at Cape St. Francis
in South Africa.

They missed these things,
but there wasn't a much
better place to be than Hawaii.

In a couple of months
when the season changed,

they'd return
with the summer season
to their homes in California.

With enough time
and enough money,

you could spend
the rest of your life...

following the summer
around the world.

But for now,
the endless summer must end.

This is Bruce Brown.
Thank you for watching.

I hope you enjoyed my film.