Bustin' down the Door

By the 1970s the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu was already widely known as a Mecca for any surfer worth his weight, acting as a testing ground for anybody wanting to break into the big league. Every winter, the best surfers in the world gathered to prove themselves, testing their skills on some of the toughest waves known to man. However... More »

By the 1970s the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu was already widely known as a Mecca for any surfer worth his weight, acting as a testing ground for anybody wanting to break into the big league. Every winter, the best surfers in the world gathered to prove themselves, testing their skills on some of the toughest waves known to man. However the North Shore was also a melting pot of different cultures and attitudes in which drugs, gangs and hippies clashed, with the lawless atmosphere easily representational of its nickname, "the Wild West".

Into the mix strode six brash young surfers from Australia and South Africa, determined to change the face of surfing and to become the best in the newly-established sport. These wild colonial boys challenged the sport's norms by presenting their unique, aggressive styles: styles they had honed from an early age. Collectively, they provided a breath of fresh air to a sport which would go on to become a billion-dollar industry with enough power to capture the imagination of the world. Less «