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Backseat Instagrammer stuck behind the two Bobs

5,138 miles, seven days, the two Bobs, Robert August and Robert “Wingnut” Weaver and myself, the backseat Instagrammer. Not nearly close to the amount of miles that Bruce Brown, Robert August and Mike Hynson racked up on their around-the-world adventure for the filming of The Endless Summer, but enough to make three stops in New Hampshire, Maine and Montauk, New York to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary surf film.

Besides an eventful early morning which caused us to miss our first flight out of Costa Rica, the week-on-the-road was filled with friends, talking story, good food, beautiful scenery, and some fun surf. (Hover over the pictures below for more info on the snapshots.)

AND Just in case you were not able to make it to one of the events, here are some interesting trivia facts from “The Endless Summer”:

  • Bruce, Robert and Mike left for their around-the-world-adventure in 1963. Initially, Robert told Bruce that he did not want to go because he was headed to college to study to become a dentist. But, his parents and high school teachers influenced him to go. The theatrical release of the movie was in 1966.
  • In Search of the Perfect Wave: Bruce had heard that there were surfers in Cape Town, South Africa, but in order to get there Bruce, Robert and Mike had to go around the world because back then flights only flew in one direction. It certainly made it an adventure for the three of them, as the trip consisted of a lot of short flights with 10-day stops in between. In places they thought they were gonna get waves, such as Australia, the swell was small, and in places that no one had ever surfed they found great waves. The movie certainly helped set the mindset for adventure and traveling to surf.
  • The Perfect Wave
“The odds of finding a perfect wave like this are 10 million to one. The waves looked like they had been made by some kind of machine. The rides were so long I couldn’t get most of them on one piece of film; On some of the rides I timed them in the curl for 45 seconds.The fisherman in the area said that the waves were funny looking things, like pipes. Every day the waves broke that way, same stupid looking wave!” -Bruce Brown
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Robert talking about Cape St. Francis

Mike Hynson convinced Bruce and Robert to check out this spot and they could not believe their eyes when they arrived at this perfect, right hand point break at Cape St. Francis. Contrary to the movie, they did not make the trek over the sand dunes to “discover” the break until after they had surfed the spot.

“After surfing this beautiful wave for five hours, Bruce had an idea. He wanted us to to go running down the dunes with our boards in hand as if we had arrived that way, for more cinematic effect. We dutifully obeyed the director and climbed up those virgin dunes from the far side and ran down to the water while Bruce shot the sequence.” -Robert August

(P.S. Why didn’t they surf Jeffrey’s Bay after Cape St. Francis since the two breaks are so close?: Because there was not a road to J Bay!)

What a week!

Endless Summer crew selfie: What a week!

AND now back to Pura-Vida-dise!! Home sweet home!

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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Benefit of having an overnight layover in Miami: getting to visit your brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law!

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Sunset Chaser