Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Surf?s up

Nat Young presents surfing?s complete history and then some


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

Surfing legend and Sun Valley resident Nat Young shows off what he does best on a big wave. Photo by

Turning his attention to both long boards and snowboards, surfing legend and icon Nat Young has a new book with the most complete surfing history yet. Young has released his sixth book, "The Complete History of Surfing: From Water to Snow," and will be present for a book signing at Iconoclast Books in Ketchum on Friday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m.

"I first did it because I was totally dedicated to this principle of having a complete history of surfing," said Young, who at 61 years old is convalescing from his first broken bone. "It took a long time to find the photographs, and even the photographers want a copy of the images because it is their only record."

Young has published three earlier books on the history of surfing, but this release is the most comprehensive book he has done, and the first to include a crossover to snowboarding. Young said surfers were playing with snowboarding in the 1960s, and adapting surfing to snow was not going to be done by skiers.

"This is what I am leaving for family and kids," said Young. "They will have to update the history of surfing."

"The Complete History of Surfing" includes beautiful images and artwork defining the birth of the sport and its evolution. It is a timeline for surfing inventors, which includes surfing's prominent people and places as well as the birth of snowboarding.

Young splits his time between Sun Valley and his native Australia. He has been an avid heli skier for 20 years and has taken a mono ski or snowboard on many of his trips.

"We ended up here because my wife and I got married in 1982, and she was always a skier and I was a new skier and gung-ho about it," Young said. "We went to every resort in the world, but we were so impressed by the level of skiers and the mountain. I love the fact that it takes time for people to discover Baldy."

Young has been very pleased with his publisher, Gibbs Smith, who has done other books on Sun Valley architecture and Cristina's cook books. In addition to "The Complete History of Surfing," Young has published several surfing guidebooks for Australia; a how-to-surf book, "Surfing Fundamentals"; an autobiography, "Nat's Nat and That's That"; and two other surfing history books.




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