Surf Trip: A Coming of Age Story in the Golden Era of Surfing

By Mike Clancy

It's the summer of 1967. The Beach Boys are on the radio and Southern California surf culture is sweeping the nation. Florida, the state that will someday produce the greatest surfer of all time, Kelly Slater, is playing catchup. Although there is a growing surf scene in Florida, Southern California is still clearly the Mecca for '60s surf culture. In 1967, Florida surfers look west to California for their inspiration.

On the spur of the moment, four young men from New Smyrna Beach, Florida, decide to strap their surfboards on top a 1953 Chevy surf wagon and make the pilgrimage to the Golden State. Over the course of the next three weeks they find adventure, great surf and hilarious coming-of-age experiences that will stay with them for a lifetime. From an alcohol-soaked night on the town in New Orleans, to a wild night in the infamous Zona Norte District of Tijuana; from illegal entry into the Camp Pendleton Marine Base to surf the forbidden waves of Trestles, to tricky encounters with Park Rangers, Border Patrol Agents and various local law enforcement officers; from a harrowing encounter with a train on the hike back from Trestles, to a near disastrous car crash in Louisiana; the challenges they face, and the manner in which they overcome them, turn into a significant rite-of-passage that will forever affect the lives of these four young men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098333713

Book preview

Copyright © September 2020 by Mike Clancy

All Rights Reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN:  978-1-09833-371-3

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1:  Take It Easy

Chapter 2:  Hotel California

Chapter 3:  Tequila Sunrise

Chapter 4:  Take It To The Limit

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to all

who appreciate the joy of surfing, the thrill

of adventure, and the indomitable spirit of youth.

Chapter 1

Take It Easy

We may lose and we may win

But we we will never be here again

Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey

It was the summer of 1967 and I was 16 years old.  I was enjoying the summer in my hometown of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a charming little beach town tucked in between Daytona to the north and Cape Canaveral to the south.  I lived near the beach with my Mother, Dena, a hard-working secretary for the Florida East Coast Railway.

Now there were three things that were very important to me in the summer of 1967:  surfing, school and girls.  I was pretty good at surfing, having won a few local surf contests and gained a place on the Daytona Beach Surf Shop Surf Team.  I was really good at school, making excellent grades in math and science and on-track to win a full four-year scholarship to college.  Girls?  Well, not so good with girls.  Like many 16-year-old boys, I was awkward around girls and still trying to figure that whole situation out…

One morning I was riding my bike along Third Street, headed to the beach, when I ran into Skipper Eppelin, a childhood friend five years my senior who lived about a block from my house.  Along with Buddy Wright and Gordon Smith, Skipper was one of the founding fathers of surfing in New Smyrna Beach and one of the best local surfers of that era.  The very first surfboard I ever stood up on was one I borrowed from Skipper when I was 12 years old.

Anyway, Skipper yelled out the window of his