OCEAN CITY TODAY

TAKE TWO
Documentary recalls the early days
of surfing in the resort

By Leon Mach
Staff Writer

(Aug. 26,2005) When most people think of a school bus they recall the crowded vehicle that transported them to class in their early school days. But for Will Lucas, the very thought of one awakens a pleasant reminder of the run-down school bus where he rented his first Hobie surfboard back, in 1964.

Forty-one years ago the Washington, D.C. native had no clue that his simple decision to pull off to the side of the desolate two lane road between the Carousel Hotel and 94th Street in Ocean City would change the course of his entire life. That one act sparked his life long obsession with the sport of surfing and at age 59 Lucas can still be found getting up early every day and cruising on waves in Melbourne, Fla. And he says that his age is no compromise to his skill level. "I am surfing better now than I ever had before:” he said. And even though trying to thaw out in the shower after a winter surf session in 2000 caused him to move 940 miles away from his post retirement home in Ocean City, Lucas is always mindful of his surfing roots and makes documentary films to commemorate the birth of surfing on the East Coast - a time that he lived through and wants to bring back to life.

His second and latest documentary titled Cruisin' Atlantic Avenue" has hit the surf shops in Ocean City earlier this week and Lucas is confident that there is universality in the message of the film that will hit home with any surfer - young or old. "It's kind of a universal story – the uncontrolled addiction to surfing. In fact the movie opens with a warning at the beginning as most films do:' said Lucas and explained that it was not your typical FBI it is illegal to make copies of this DVD type caution, but one that is completely different. The film begins with the following statements: "Warning - the following video contains comments and pictures depicting older people who refuse to grow up. Riding a surfboard even one time can lead to a lifetime of addiction; viewer discretion is advised:' "This is a message that any true surfer can understand:' he said. However, one would not have to be a surfer to appreciate the historical context of the film that displays donated surf videos and old pictures that show just how much the highway and the beach north of 94th Street has evolved since Lucas' early days. "Back then surfers like me would pull up along the two lane road, park the car, sleep on the beach, and be up for dawn patrol:' said Lucas.

 

The irony in this is that his documentary about the early nomadic surfing days in Ocean City debuts at a time when the last campground in the resort is preparing to be torn down to make way for condominium units. Even though a great deal has changed in Ocean City since Lucas began surfing he has a strong desire to share stories of the fledgling East Coast surfing days with everyone who watches his films. And Lucas said that "Cruisin' Atlantic Avenue picks up right where his first documentary, "Waves of Reflection" left off. Lucas' first film mainly focuses on the life of Bill Wise, one of the surf pioneers from Ocean City, who would eventually be paralyzed in a surfing accident.

 

"Waves of Reflection" shows how Wise's passion for surfing prompted him to start renting boards out of the converted' school bus where Lucas rented his first Hobie in the '60s and how that beat up vehicle blossomed into a number of surf shops in Maryland and Delaware including the Eastern Surfer, the first shop in downtown Ocean City. "Cruisin' Atlantic Avenue" documents the rising popularity of surfing after the Eastern Surfer and the slew of surf shops that opened to feed the growing hunger that was developing for people interested in the sport. "The new movie covers numerous topics including -a sequence outlining some of the earliest shops and rental concessions; many of which no one has ever heard of,' Lucas said about shops like the Sunshine House featured in the DVD. Early shop owners' and surfers Bill Helmuth, Bryant Hungerford, Blair Rhodes and Spyder Wright share interviews and old pictures for the documentary.

 

The film also includes interviews, photos and home movies from surfing legends Claude Codgen, who Lucas dubbed the Kelly Slater of the 1960s from Cocoa Beach, Fla.; and Pete Pan from Narragansett, R.I. While part of the film veers off into a small travelogue going north and south from Maryland; everything in the film ties back to Lucas' own surfing heritage in Ocean City at a time when the town began to lengthen and surfboards started to become shorter. The new DVD also has three mini-movies accessible through the main menu that touch on some important local topics such' as the need for additional surfing space in Ocean City in a segment called "The State of the Beach:' The film can be purchased online at www.surf64.com or can be found in Malibu's, K-Coast, Ocean Atlantic, Chauncey's or South Moon Under.