"If he'd hit his wave-riding peak in 2022 instead of 1965, he'd be the hottest thing in America surfing."
Johnny Fain of Malibu died yesterday at age 78.
A pointbreak genius with lightning-fast feet and a wicked grin, Fain famously dueled in and out of the water with Miki Dora in the early- and mid-’60s—it was a show they put on, and it was a great one, except that it left Fain in Dora’s shadow, which was unfair to Johnny.
He was thought of by some as a blowhard, but from here it all looks like grand beach theater, and if Fain hit his wave-riding peak in 2022 instead of 1965, he’d be the hottest thing in America surfing.
“Even though I was the youngest surfer at Malibu [around 1958], I kept up with the older guys. That was the challenge. That’s what helped my drive. I knew if I didn’t keep up, I was gone. Later on, I got a Panama hat, and that was a big deal. If you had a certain ranking in the Pit, you were allowed to wear a Panama hat and stripes on your trunks. It was like being a commander with bars on your shoulders. The hat and the stripes were people’s way of knowing you were somebody without knowing your name. Then they got to know your name real quick. Rank and file.⠀
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“I was lucky because I had plenty of time to surf. My mother [Jeanne Bartlett] was a professional writer—she wrote the screenplay for Son of Lassie, the film that made Peter Lawford a star. My dad owned and operated Malibu TV. The chores I had at home were minimal. That helped me tremendously. While most kids were out doing their paper route or some other odd job, I was in the water advancing to new heights. I remember thinking of the Indy 500 while I surfed, I’m passing people in my Formula One race car, pitting myself against the wave, pushing myself to the limit. I wanted to see how far I could go to defy the force of gravity. Only the equipment was holding me back.”⠀
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RIP to a true original. ⠀
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