Review
WL Rating
The author of Legends of Surfing, Duke Boyd, is a legend himself. In 1962, Boyd was the founder of surf clothing giant Hang Ten and is a recent Surfing Walk of Fame inductee. His cohort in the book, photographer demi-god Jeff Divine, offers an equally impressive, unquestionable pedigree. Unfortunately for me, this book just missed being really good. Frankly, the sheer scope of the book forces the authors to make a conscious decision between going wide (lots of legends) or going deep (fewer legends, but more information). They opted for the former (maybe it’s harder to piss off the folks who wouldn’t be included) and the result is a long list of surfing legends supported by a thin veneer of bio content. The book covers the obvious legends like Rabbit, Curren, Noll, Slater, the Duke and Lopez. It also includes some phenomenal surfers that maybe haven’t yet achieved legendary status, e.g. Bruce Irons and Dave Kalama. I’m not trying to take anything away from these two in particular since they are amazing surfers, but are they really as influential/legendary as some of the others? Regardless of whether or not you agree on who should be in the book, the disappointment for me came from the lack of rich writing to support the great pictures. As a coffee table book, Legends is pretty cool. But if you enjoy deeper insight into legendary surfers, then you will likely be disappointed. (November 2009)
Legends of Surfing - Duke Boyd
