Surf Writing: A Primer

Surfing journalism and literature are pretty thin. But there are notable exceptions:

A Patagonia-financed film, “The Fisherman’s Son,” is a powerful story of how surfing empowered a Chilean environmental crusader.

Montauk’s Allan Weisbecker’s surf pilgrimage, “In Search of Captain Zero,” tells the story of his own harrowing, crazy, hilarious journey.

In his memoir “Crazy for the Storm,” Norman Ollestad writes about his relationship with his father, which revolved around surfing and skiing, and how that gave him the strength and confidence to save himself from sure death after, as a child, he was the lone survivor of a plane crash on a frozen mountaintop.

Matt Warshaw’s “The History of Surfing” is a book about the sport that every surfer should own. Stunning photography, meticulous reporting, and crisp writing.