But, "some people believe more in Blake than they do in God," says Matt Warshaw
How precious is Tom Blake? Let’s count the ways. First guy to put a fin on a board. Invented water housings for cameras. Wrote beautifully about the sport. First guy to really live as a surfer.
In the words of the writer Drew Kampion, “Blake altered everything. He almost single-handedly transformed surfing from a primitive Polynesian curiosity into a 20th century lifestyle.”
Maybe it’s time we learned a little more. Given my own paucity on the subject, I began an email-stream with the Encylopedia of Surfing, himself, Mr Matt Warshaw.
BeachGrit: Tom Blake is a precious ruby from the jewellery box of surfing culture, and I want to talk more about that in a moment. But first . . . the man had such a great ass! Am I allowed to say that? I believe Michelangelo would’ve been hard-pressed to’ve sculpted such perfection!
Matt Warshaw: Okay.
So?
So . . .
I heard Tom Blake was our first and greatest gay surfer. True?
Gary Lynch, Blake’s biographer, says No.
Maybe Lynch swore to keep the secret.
Maybe you’re getting off in a huge way on putting “gay” in the same sentence as “Tom Blake.”
Is there any modern interest in Tom? Movie, books, that kinda thing?
Not that I’m aware of. He’s a hard guy to get a feel for. Such a horrible childhood. Born in Wisconsin, mom died when he was a baby, he got kicked around like a football from relative to relative. Something happened back there that Blake mentioned but never talked about it detail, some “fall from grace,” whatever that means. The big flu epidemic shut down his high school so he never graduated. After that he rode the rails for a couple years, landed in Los Angeles when he was I think 19, became a swimming champion, and finally ended up on the beach where he learned to surf. It’s an amazing story, just up to that point, before Blake even gets to all the stuff he’s famous for, the hollow surfboard and inventing the fin and all that—going from freezing winters on Lake Superior to sunny afternoons on the beach Santa Monica. But Blake himself is such a strange, isolated person. In a way, I don’t know if could actually carry his own story. You admire him, respect him, cheer for him, but never feel warm toward him. He’s just too shut off, too unknowable. That’s how I feel, anyway.
“Even deep water supports a rebel, if he has the will and the ability to swim.” I love Blake for that quote alone. And the other one, “Surfing puts you in the greatest church of all, the open sea and the open sky.”
What happened to him?
He ended up back in Wisconsin. Died at 92.
Why should we care about him? What’s his legacy?
He pushed the sport along on just about every level. Board design, photography — he was great with a camera — writing. Great fashion sense, great style. He was among the first, maybe the first, to go all-in on what I guess we have to call the surfing lifestyle. Surfing took him in, it was his great comfort, and he built a life around it. I wouldn’t say surfing healed Blake. He was too damaged. But surfing, the ocean, I think made him the best possible version of himself. “Even deep water supports a rebel, if he has the will and the ability to swim.” I love Blake for that quote alone. And the other one, “Surfing puts you in the greatest church of all, the open sea and the open sky.” There are people out there who believe in Blake more than they believe in God.
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I like the idea that i am of nature therefore I too am God. It makes sitting in a pub by myself crying into my glass so much more Biblical.
what’s he going to do with that cup?
Which one? God = Nature?
pre-white dude surfing was nothing but a “primitive curiosity”? how did kampion avoid getting buried underneath a pineapple field?
where does the gayness come from?
The first white man Matty.
that nude image is gorgeous so thanks for that!
You wait til you see mine Jen! I’m a real man. I lie on my back and read in the nude.
Ha! Yeahhhh, left the door wide open for that one. 👀
What is nature. And what is human. Are we human. Or are we nature. Are we dancer.
two first names
When you read this article on your phone you get a pretty big shock when you scroll down and see the lovely sized cannons on the Sydney millionaire who is exposing how she earns $102/hr from home. I know how you earn them dorra baby. I’ve seen you before. Her name is Jasmine.
Only? Over here she’s making 472$/hr, but in my “local neighborhood”. She must be hanging out with all the hot single women that want to fuck in my area.
New photo and her tits don’t look as good as before. Maybe that’s why mine is earning less. Also because her clientele is in Torquay and she is in Sydney.
why’d he go back inland Matt?
Just a homing instinct?
that’s always intrigued me.
Cos of the kooks.
no kooks in wisconsin?
Not of the surfing variety. Those not experienced with the ocean or beginners don’t bother me. They surf little crap waves and have fun. It’s the kooks who try to tell me about their snap or the boards their riding or the air they almost made or the 15 barrels they got before I got out. They are the cunts I want dead.
i surfed good semicross shore waves yesterday double over chest easy on the sets refracting off the point it was riding a board dont usually ride good to change things up keeps it interesting for me couldnt turn like usually can had to really stand back on the board to hook in actually got a few from out the back rode them all the way through to the inside super sucky in there double sucked and all i know its small but its pretty heavy on the inside not many people were going in there this wetsuit yeah its got a heat pack inside it i charge it up battery lasts ages really good suit not like it used to be the boys said they used to wear footy jumpers when they played footy absolutely freezing got a proper cover up earlier busted out through the doggy door yeah i know on a 3 footer crazy hey its good to see everyone out crowd is pretty spread out i know a few of the locals here i dinged one of their boards we get along pretty well it only cost me a few hundred to fix theres a secret spot round the corner we know about nah cant talk about it ok well lets just say it only breaks when everywhere else isnt breaking ha you know what i mean you been watching the ct those heat analysers are great love watching tiiiaaaah hooo poooo thats how you actually say it thats how the tarheashans say it oooh look a set wave my turn ha nah jst jokin you can have it
That’s fucking brilliant!
Double overchest – haha!
yesssss so win
And most of them are lying because almost everyone in the lineup is watching.
Lots of non-surfing kooks there, especially in government.
Homing instinct, yes. Spent eight years there; the longest period of his adult life where he stayed in once place. Walked five miles a day, stayed fit. Buried in Washburn, Wisconsin.
Little known Blake fact: actually invented the FitBit
Pfft five miles a day is nothing. Sounds like there was a bird or bloke back in Wisconsin.