THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406020017
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940602 LENGTH: Long
``Endless Summer changed my life,'' Robert G. Morecock declares without a hint of irony.
{REST} Morecock, a Virginia Beach lawyer and one of the founders of the Virginia Association of Surfing Attorneys, says the 1964 movie about two surfers trekking the globe in search of the perfect wave ``made me want to travel.''
Like many local surfers, Morecock learned to ride waves in Virginia Beach. He was 13.
Then, like now, local waves were at best erratic.
``Back then no one traveled to surf,'' he said. ``You didn't even hear about guys going down to Hatteras. If you lived at the ocean, you just kept watching the water. If there were waves, you went surfing. ``Endless Summer opened up a huge international surfing community.''
Tonight, at the appropriately named Surf-N-Sand movie theater on Laskin Road, several hundred veteran surfers will ante up $25 each to be the first in town to see Bruce Brown's ``Endless Summer II.''
Included in the price of the by-invitation-only advance screening and benefit for Operation Smile is a custom board shaped by Bill Frierson, co-owner of Wave Riding Vehicles and one of the area's most respected long-boarders.
The movie is the sequel to the low-budget travelogue/surfer film made in 1964 by Brown and hailed by Surfer magazine as ``the movie that changed surfing forever.''
The original film was shot in 16mm on a shoestring budget of just $50,000.
Even Brown never expected the film to enjoy a large audience, but the movie was an unexpected blockbuster, earning $30 million worldwide.
By contrast, the modern version cost $4 million and was shot in 35mm. In his latest film, Brown used state-of-the art underwater cameras to capture surfing from a unique point of view.
The New York Times describes a scene at the exotic Jeffries Bay in South Africa, where Brown captures the film's two surfers in mile-long rides in perfectly formed tubes of water that the average surfer might never see in a lifetime. And in a breathtaking sequence filmed in Fiji, the camera pans up from beneath the ocean's surface to catch the silhouette of a surfer gliding overhead on a large wave.
The premise of ``Endless Summer II'' is the same as the original.
Two surfers (both born after the original was made) scour the planet looking for surf. Their travels take them through Australia, California, Costa Rica, Fiji, France, Hawaii, Indonesia, Mexico and South America.
The stars are Pat O'Connell and Robert ``Wingnut'' Weaver, California surfers in their early 20s.
While South Africa and Indonesia are out of travel range even for Hampton Roads' most ambitious surfers, locals regularly go to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama and Costa Rica for waves.
Little did Morecock know when he joined the throngs of people at the 1964 ``Endless Summer'' premiere at the Dome that someday he would be able to tick off half a dozen exotic locations as places he has surfed: Hawaii, California, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, various beaches in Mexico.
Donald S. Clarke, another surfing lawyer, knew one thing for certain when he saw ``Endless Summer'' in a Washington, D.C., movie theater with his parents:
``I wanted to move out of Alexandria the very next day. I wanted to live near the ocean.''
His family eventually moved to Virginia Beach, and even today, after surfing a variety of beaches on both coasts, Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rico, Barbados, Tortola, Abaco and the Bahamas, Clarke remains fond of the local beaches.
``I don't want to put down the home break,'' Clarke says, lapsing into surf lingo. ``But my favorite surf spot has got to be Alligator Rock on the north shore of Hawaii. It's uncrowded, hard to get to and the waves are great.''
When the surf is good Clarke stays close to home. But many weekends find him in Duck, N.C., where he scours the Outer Banks in search of waves. At least once a year he and his surfing buddies put their long boards in padded travel bags and fly to far-flung surfing destinations.
Also in line at the Dome 30 years ago was George Desgain, now a 50-year-old sales representative for Chasen's Business Interiors.
Desgain, who has surfed mostly East and West Coast beaches and Hawaii, dreams of traveling farther afield.
``Costa Rica is the happening place right now. I'd love to get down there,'' he says. `` `Endless Summer' definitely planted the idea of traveling to surf in my mind. I'm sure the sequel is going to get everyone all fired up again.''
Desgain says little has changed locally since he began surfing in the early 1960s. He lives inland at the Beach and still finds out if the surf is up through the ``coconut telegraph'' - the informal network of surfers who phone each other when the surf is good.
Wave Riding Vehicle's Frierson says he is so busy creating custom boards (which can sell for about $550) that he rarely surfs anymore. He is donating one of his creations - a 9-foot 2-inch nose rider - for tonight's benefit. Raffle tickets for the board are included in the $25 pricetag.
Frierson, 47, says the impact of the ``Endless Summer'' on the local surf scene cannot be underesti-mated.
``I think the movie marked the awakening of surfing,'' he says. ``The notion of circumnavigating the world, of going to places like Tahiti and Jeffries Bay in South Africa opened up the whole world of surfing.''
by CNB