*Top,* searching for secluded peelers in Northern California; *above,* Hawaiian surfer Montgomery “Buttons” Kaluhiokalani goes right.

*Top,* a camper van parked near the trail leading to Hammonds Reef, a beloved Santa Barbara spot; *above,* the California surfer Willy Morris is seen tucking into the barrel, thanks to Metyko’s Scott Preiss water housing (an underwater-camera case).

*Top,* board-maker Al Merrick with one of his twin-fin designs; *above,* veteran Santa Barbara surfers Davey Smith, a goofy-footer known for pioneering the 1970s floater maneuver, and Steve Hanson, during a road trip in Northern California.

Tom Curren, the Santa Barbara surfer whose event wins are second only to Kelly Slater’s, rides a tri-plane-hull twin in the Channel Islands.

*Top,* California surfers Dino Bortoli, Steve Morris, and Willy Morris wait for low tide in Morris’s first car, a 1967 Buick Skylark they called the “Gray Ghost”; *above,* portraits of Curren wearing a T-shirt given to him by Metyko.

Curren, photographed behind the old Channel Islands factory with a board airbrushed by the artist Bernie Tsao.

*Top,* Willy Morris and Steve Morris eat with their parents; *above,* the George brothers—Greg, Matt, Sam, and Mike—pose for a *Surfer-*magazine story.

*Top,* a photo of Willy Morris that first appeared in *Surfer* magazine’s inaugural “Hot 100” list, a ranking of the world’s best young surfers; *above,* board-maker Russ Short contemplates his paddle out.

The California surfer Kim Mearig with a young fan.

*Top,* the Santa Barbara wharf in February 1983, after a winter storm caused a six-week shutdown of the area; *above,* board shaper Matt Moore stands over an 18-foot basking shark.

Wave to the Camera

A new book of photos by the big kahuna of surfing photography, Jimmy Metyko, captures early-80s Southern California in all its Point Break glory

In December 1979, when he was only 19, the young photographer Jimmy Metyko arrived in Santa Barbara from Texas. The other boys in California were sun-bleached and wore flip-flops, but he favored belted pants and tassel loafers. Metyko had been a professional surfer on the golden Texas coast. More importantly, he’d studied photographs by Art Brewer, Jeff Divine, and Larry Moore.

Metyko had traveled to California to capture one subject: Tommy Curren, a 15-year-old surfer whose crisp, lightning-fast maneuvers had made him a rising champion. He found Curren on the beach at Rincon del Mar, dressed in a red-and-blue neoprene and riding a short twin-fin surfboard in his nonchalant fashion. Over the next few months, Metyko would spend time at the beach photographing the phenom.