Original subtitles

♪♪ [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 bodysurf.

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 noseriding.

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.

Mr. Miki Dora.

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 bodysurfer.

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 newfound 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.

Bodysurfing 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 bodysurfing...

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.

They 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 birdmen.

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.