Search This Blog

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The Art of Wave Riding


Several years ago I procured the rarest of all surf related tomes, The Art of Wave Riding by Ron Drummond. I am proud to say that this most valued and beloved book has been framed and placed above our mantle. It is people like Mr. Drummond that sustain the faith.

4 comments:

Dental Ding Doc said...

I'd also suggest that it is you, leaving a message on the world's answering machine via maintaining this site, all the way here in the future, in 2016, that's keeping the faith. NSB. Never. Stop. Blogging. You never know who might be playing the messages, either down here, or up above. Keep em coming Chuck Vespucci.

Chuck Z. Vespucci said...

Huzzah, Doc, Huzzah.

Unknown said...


According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, the following poem is said to have been penned by Ron Drummond in the 1940's. Interestingly, there is a discrepancy in verse as to Warshaw's version of the poem's opening vs a written version Ron Drummond handed me. It could be that Ron rewrote the opening. I could not say.  The version presented here is the version Uncle Ron handed me.                          Sincerely,                                                                                                                                       Thomas R Drummond
 
Death At San Anofre                                                                                                                                                                                                             -By Ron Drummond
 
Oh place me high on a green hillside
 
With a sweeping view of the ocean wide,
 
Or bury me deep in the clear blue sea
 
Where the crashing waves will spray o’er me;
 
Where my soul will rise with the rising sun,
 
And be surfing still when the day is done.
 
And those who live and see my grave
 
Will envy me, as wave on wave,
 
I crash and fall and ride them all
 
From Dana Point to Magandal.
 
Over the sea my soul will glide
 
To catch each surf on the rising tide.
 
It matters not where my grave may be,
 
As long as it lies by a surging sea;
 
As long as the wild gulls screech and cry
 
I’ll find my way to a surf that’s high.
 
I’ll spiral and flip and cut and glide,
 
In the sparkling foam I’ll ride and ride.
 
So pity me not as you stand and gaze
 
At my simple grave for beyond the haze
 
My soul has found a pounding tide,
 
And there with joy I’ll ride and ride
 
‘Til the sunrise fades and the earth grows chill—
But my soul won’t die ‘til the seas are still.

NOTE: Ron's Poem was cast into his grave stone

http://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/c9d90ac5-e1a9-4e85-a574-0932f138a50f.jpg?client=Trees&imageQuality=hq

Mike P said...

I found this site while doing a search on Ron Drummond. I came across this book when I bought an old balsa longboard at a garage sale in San Clemente some twenty years ago. The seller handed me an envelope and said: "here. This goes with the board."

I've kept it in that same envelope for over twenty years. As I now live in Costa Rica, I cam considering selling the book. It was signed by Ron to a Paul Betts. I thought I recognized that name, but couldn't be sure.

I am considering selling this book now as I don't want to keep it in a box for another twenty years. Why?

Anyone interested? I am currently visiting my sister in Long Beach. May 2019.

Mike
mike.perras@gmail.com