I discovered that a favorite book, "Bodysurf: aux origines du surf" by Hugo Verlomme and Laurent Masurel is still in print and pretty cheap, so a fresh copy just arrived. The book is loaded with photos worldwide. It seems Masurel was the bodysurf expert who traveled widely, including to Hawaii, where he got to know the likes of Mark Cunningham. Atlantica Editions Verlomme's more the writer.

Between the photos and the shared surfing vocabulary, the French is surprisingly easy to figure out.

Once the new copy shows up (from Eyrolles) I'd be happy to pass the book on to some eager student, maybe the retiree kind who can afford France or Portugal. Send a pm and I'll provide phone and/or email

Got to be better than dealing with a nasty classic French novelist.

Me, able to decipher museum signs and get around the Paris Métro, that's about all.

Edited: 09/26/2018 at 07:35 AM by ww

As much as I appreciate your zen postage ww- this marketing seems an acknowledged, very Dora 'anti-themed' deal.

Edited: 09/22/2018 at 06:41 PM by Bev

No Miki.

The book was something I added on to an order from Surfbooks.com a long while ago. It's a bit battered, but had been an eye opener. I'd been aware of stuff at The Wedge (this was before the You Tube explosion) but not introduced properly to North Shore and had no idea there was interest in France.

Huge cast of characters (including Slater) and an amazing collection of photos, all put together by a publisher in Biarritz and printed up the road in Anglet. Those French took surf seriously. Currently, Joël Badina is the star.

Youtube--Huge Gloy

They have the total summer beach stuff. This, from the June Anglet Magazine.

Edited: 09/24/2018 at 03:30 AM by ww

Photo spread. The full page is at Log Cabins. Caption explains that bottom of photo is bottom of wave. Left bottom, an experimental fin that didn't seem to go into production.