Bill Wise,Hobie Alter,Phil Edwards,Miki Dora,Eddie Aikau,Duke Kahanamoku
Bill Wise Surfs

                                                                                        

        Remembering bygone days & bygone waves 

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Dreams

Surfing is a dream state. Riding waves came to Bill in deep sleep, and, over many years, became indelibly imprinted in his subconscious. This has never stopped. The sensation of being one with the ocean was part of Bill in the 1950s when he began body surfing lonely beaches, free diving and spear fishing in the ocean. Seeds for Bill's surfing dreams were planted in an article on Hawaiian surf written by Bev Morgan for Skin Diver Magazine about 1960. Above photo by Bill of a hollow wave on a Delaware beach empty of surfers or sunbathers - early '60s.   

 

1960s - George & Bill     

Bill's boyhood pal, George Pittman, shared his adventures. Bill convinced George they should buy three surfboards from California. They knew nothing about surfboards or the Bohemian Surf Company. In December of 1961 three pop-outs with Velzy decals arrived at a southern Delaware train station. When Bill stripped away the cardboard revealing brightly colored fiberglass boards, redneck bystanders asked, "Boy, what's them thar things, a'rplane wings?" And so it began...............

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Hobie made Ole boards and shipped them East, not wanting to infringe on his Virginia Beach Hobie dealers, Holland & Smith. Later Hobie realized the two dealers were not in direct competition. George and Bill then sold Hobie boards in their Eastern Surfer shops in Ocean City, Maryland, Rehoboth Beach and Harrington, Delaware.   

Alone - Delaware - Maryland Line - 1963   

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A hurricane 800 miles at sea pushed up sizable swells this autumn day . Bill was the only surfer in the water from Indian River Inlet south to the state line. At red ball road, so-called for a large buoy marking the road up to the dune line, Bill pulled in, grabbed his surfboard and camera. Only two sunbathers were on the beach.  One of the girls shot an entire roll of film. This frame is the only one that turned out.  All others were out of focus.

Indian River Inlet Southside - 1964 

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         George Feehley, Smedley, Dutch & Jim Phillips, checking jetty surf possibilities.    

Ocean City 93rd Street - Rental Boards - 1965 

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Bill & George bought an old school bus, tore out the seats, installed racks, and filled it up with used surfboards for rentals. They leased the area from 93rd st to the Carousel Motel from Avery Hall for an annual rental of $500. This became the official Ocean City, MD surfing area where The Eastern Surfer rented boards by the hour or day.

Tower Wave From the Water - 1964

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             Another underwater housing shot by Bill that appeared in Surfer Magazine.         

          Jim Phillips in the hook - George Pittman straightening off - South Bethany 
        
       Jim was inducted in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1998


                        http://www.naturalart.com/surfinghalloffame/index.html

           

Unless otherwise attributed, all text and photos on this site were                  created, copyrighted, and the property of Bill Wise.

                                                 

 

 

 
 
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