--- title: International Surfing Day—Vintage '60s Surf Photos From LIFE description: Celebrate the sport with a peek into LIFE Magazine's archives and these vintage color photos of big waves in Hawaii. canonical: https://time.com/4800287/hawaii-surfing-1960s-photos/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-16T12:30:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:20.557Z og:title: See Vintage Color Photos of Surfers in Hawaii in 1963 og:description: Celebrate the sport with a peek into LIFE Magazine's archives og:url: https://time.com/4800287/hawaii-surfing-1960s-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36f5d530dee829e7/6988cfa2e76ad2261362db18/surfiing-hawaii-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2046 og:image:height: 1151 og:image:alt: Hawaii Surf 1963 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Vintage Color Photos of Surfers in Hawaii in 1963 twitter:description: Celebrate the sport with a peek into LIFE Magazine's archives twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36f5d530dee829e7/6988cfa2e76ad2261362db18/surfiing-hawaii-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vintage Color Photos Capture the 'Peril and Ecstasy' of Surfing in 1963 > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Jun 16, 2017 12:30 PM UTC  Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Jun 16, 2017 12:30 PM UTC If there was one message LIFE magazine had for readers in May of 1963, as [the surf craze](http://time.com/3879962/international-surfing-day-classic-photos-of-surfers-from-hawaii-to-peru/) swept the U.S. and [popular images of surfers](http://time.com/4361986/international-surfing-day-2016-gidget/) tempted newcomers into the water in the [days before wetsuits were common](http://time.com/4804171/jack-oneill-dead-surfing-wetsuit-pioneer/), it was that surfing was fun — but it wasn’t all fun and games. It was also dangerous, especially when it came to the waves found off the North Shore of Oahu. The magazine kindly [explained](https://books.google.com/books?id=mEkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA56#v=twopage&q&f=false) to unfamiliar readers how the sport worked there: “The men who ride the big ones in Hawaii actually ski down the shoulder of a wave away from the curl… They call the first breathtaking schuss ‘taking the drop.’ Their boards accelerate up to 35 mph so rapidly that they kick up waves like speedboats. And a merciless mauling awaits the unfortunate who doesn’t complete his ride. He is driven downward by the appalling maelstrom, tossed around, sucked back down and frequently, after fighting up for a desperate gulp of air, hammered down again by the next wave.” And yet a brave group of surfers — fewer than 100 people at that point, three of whom had been killed in 1962 — sought out the big waves anyway, for what LIFE called the “peril and ecstasy” of the sport’s toughest waves. Enabled by new innovations in balsa wood surfboards that had opened new vistas to surfers in the 1940s, they returned again and again, despite the risks. Looking at these color photos by George Silk, it’s not hard to see what drew the surfers back to the water. In honor of [International Surfing Day](http://www.surfrider.org/isd) on June 17, here’s a look back at what surfer Fred Van Dyke described to Silk as “the greatest feeling the world.”  Caption from LIFE. Nick Beck of Honolulu gets up enough speed on his light board to become synchronized with a wave and assumes a balanced crouch. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A pair of riders, cutting frothy furrows in the wall of a wild 18-footer, seem headed on a collision course at Sunset Beach. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Surfer Rick Grigg riding large waves at Banzai Beach. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Low angle view of a teenage girl riding a surfboard in Hawaii. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Burst of speed to catch a ride. The surfer above, Preston Leavey, has finished talking and is now paddling frantically to get on a wave and begin his ride. The fierce exultation of the moment is magnified by the camera, which is bolted to the front of the board and has recorded the glitter of refracted light from flying spray and drops of water on the camera housing. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Boring from below. Before riding in on great waves men must sometimes first fight their way out through foaming barriers like the one above. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. At Sunset Beach, with offshore breeze featuring foam and rainbow hanging above him, surfer does a right-hand slide on a thundering 15-footer. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Joe Kaohi maneuvers desperately to cling to board. At Banzai Beach waves curl so evenly that they leave an air space called a "Banzai pipe" just under the crest. Getting a ride in this tunnel is considered the ultimate in surfing thrills. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Outtake from the "Riding the Wild Waves," May 24, 1963. 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