Sunday, May 2, 2010

Best Surf Video Ever: New Copy of Beyond Blazing Boards

If you're in your mid-30s to mid-40s and you surfed through the 80s and 90s then chances are you know about the surf film Beyond Blazing Boards by the late Chris Bystrom. For us "Bubble Boomers" (my term for those of us on the trailing edge of the tidal wave of humanity that gave us things like polyester leisure suits, Chia-pets and gold veined, mirror wall tiles), this one is the pick for the discriminating surf-voyeur (dude, did I just write that?).

I personally, wiled away many hours, can of Naty Light in hand, reclined on a nasty sofa watching our bootlegged (somebody came back from Bali with a copy) tape of this classic. I should have been studying O.Chem but instead I studied Padang Padang, Uluwatu and Isla Natividad. By the way, Chuy Reyna was ripping in that vid.


If you wanted a copy, that video was tough to get. It never was widely distributed. Then came Amazon- check out the little box to the upper right and you'll see that I've created a "John's Picks" tile. The idea came to me after I was wasting time on Amazon looking up obscure things that I'm into (crank handle pepper grinders- a personal favorite). On a whim, I typed in Beyond Blazing Boards and wham! There it was! Amazing. Even better, three days later it was in my hands, a fresh copy of the most influential surf video of all time (well, I liked it).  Internet, Amazon, search engine, obscure surf video in my hands... now that's progress!

I will be updating that little "John's picks" tile frequently- check it out, I've only added things that I can really vouch for as "bad ass". There's music, surf gear, travel gear and books on there now... I'll be adding additional items as they come to my attention. Each item has a one or two sentence description that I penned myself- so you can find a little more content in there. Let me know what you think about my picks... and if you get a chance, give Beyond Blazing Boards a look, that one will stoke you out.

Check Back for my critical review of this surf classic.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

that was the first surf vid. I saw.

changed my life!!!!

John Ashley said...

Yes... super cool to see Tom Curren, Dave Parmenter, Chuy Reyna, Gerlach, Potter, Ronnie Burns, Derek Ho and the others.... a time machine for sure. Good music too.

Anonymous said...

You should check out the original version of Bud Brown's "Goin' Surfin". Dempsey Holder can bee seen on a board at the end of a rope being pulled through the surf by a jeep...

srfnff said...

Don't forget the ever popular Pet Rock!

John Ashley said...

Yes! The pet rock... classic.

John Ashley said...

I'm gonna check that video out- only time I saw Dempsey around was when he was hitting golf balls... I came along a little late in the game- but I've heard some cool stories about him.