Author: Willard C. Somers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781796463972
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Surfing Through Time is a two-volume set about "surfing for life." In the last several years, things have transpired that inspired me to write a life history of "Surfing Through Time." covering fifty-five years. It has been a process, like the genesis of most books.I wanted to answer some questions of and for myself. My answers may, in some way I hope, help you answer questions of and for yourselves. Your questions may look very different, but my description of both the underlying principles and the decision processes may help, since I think those aspects are appropriate to the experiences of all of us.Anyway, Book One is the story of creating one of the first beach side surfboard shops in New England in 1964, and then extending that (as the surfing wave swelled) to five shops over the period 1964-1968. The book celebrates all the people involved, and most of all, all the young people who started to surf during that period and have carried fond memories and a love for the ocean in both their bodies and their hearts to this day. What we learned about life, opportunity, challenges, and our own characters and skills has served us well, I believe. it also talks a good deal about a gentleman named Hobie Alter, who served as a kind mentor to me and is renowned for fostering surfing, making beautiful surfboards, and creating the "Hobie Cat" catamaran sailboat. I wrote my Harvard Business School Thesis on the Hobie Surfboard Company, and the thesis is included as an appendix to Book One.Surfing Through Time Book Two will be out shortly. It extends the "surfing for life" adventures, fleshing out a story of both family and business life by adding a recreational third leg, "soul surfing" for fifty additional years. In my case, I believe I couldn't have achieved what I did without the contribution of practicing my favorite sport in the oceans worldwide.In each of the two books, I have tried to bring out the value of living life fully, treating the challenges and life lessons, and forming "precepts" which might be helpful you as well.One more thing about Surfing Through Time Book One, A Real 'Startup' - Surfing In New England 1964-1968 is that this narrative has also been well treated by famed filmmaker Will Lucas in his documentary film "Origins - The Narragansett Surf Shops1964-1967." Much of the source material for Book One of "Surfing Through Time" and for the movie is common, and I am indebted to Will for his sensitivity and fidelity. Sadly, Will Lucas died in July of 2018, and my urgency in completing this narrative was magnified. As reiterated throughout, surfing is and was important to me, and both the sport and the concept have, undeniably, I suggest, become important in and to the culture. I wanted to write about those "waves," and to tie life and surfing's threads into one person's eighty year ocean tapestry. So why two books, and what are the underlying threads between the two (which, in many ways, is also a core thread in the movie "Origins...")? I guess the key thread is "Surfing For Life," which was actually an alternative title we considered for this book. Anyway, it is the story of our establishment of a surfboard business and the extension of the surfing culture in New England from its earliest roots to a robust wave which is still cresting, 50 years later. I hope you like it.