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| MEDIAWATCH: LONGBOARD MAGAZINE MARCH 2002 ISSUE DORA COVER |
| The March 2002 issue of LONGBOARD magazine is the first surf magazine in the U.S. to hit the stands with something about the passing of true surf legend Miki Dora. Visible from across the store, the cover is a vintage 1962 Malibu shot taken by Leroy Grannis. It features Dora on the tip, back to the camera, on what looks like a foggy afternoon; the rider is perfectly centered on the cover. It's just about as timeless as you can get with a person in the picture. The actual article about Dora is very small, which may or may not have to do with making a quick deadline, if you'll pardon the expression. What the magazine has as a feature story is a long essay by former SURFER editor and current LONGBOARD Contributing Editor Paul Holmes called "Future Surf". In it Holmes ponders issues, economics, media, and equipment possibilities facing surfing. As should be expected, the essay doesn't offer answers to everything, but despite the semi-retro of the publication title this is pretty cutting edge to be published within general surfing and both LONGBOARD and Holmes have done something worthwhile just to collect this overview and present it. Of special interest to board builders and retailers would be a two-page sidebar called "What Kind Of Boards Will We Ride?". The actual nostalgia piece is an examination of San Onofre Beach culture, one of the very few important breeding grounds for the California surf culture. There is a small but nice gallery of vintage boards - the Phil Edwards Honolulu board especially looks nice- from the collection of Greg Lui-Kwan. There is also an interview with Randy French which delved into the motivations and differentations behind what he calls "production" boards instead of "molded". There is contest coverage as well, but I must confess that is of little interest to this viewer. I find, however, that the world doesn't revolve around me, so let me say it covers the Hawaiian pro Invitational and a couple of contests in the Ventura area. Something for everybody into longboards, or selling surfboards, or making surfboards, or over 30. |
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| Copyright (C) 2002. All rights reserved. ***** |