Under the Wave

On the cover: Mid-morning light. A locked inside edge. Body English born of pure reaction. Some frames just embody the whole big thing. Sam Hawk, Off The Wall, 1975. Photo by Steve Wilkings. Page one is backed by a full tracking of the cover subject’s transformation from Huntington surf rat to Pipeline groundbreaker in the 1970s. Spot studies also abound, including the history of big-wave surfing at South Africa's Sunset Reef and the risk versus reward of surf tripping to a Mexican prison island. Find high-art lessons in an excerpt from celebrated author Paul Theroux’s new surf-centric novel and a page-by-page look at photographer Slim Aarons’ ocean-peripheral work. As to contemporary happenings, a visual roundup from a dozen of the game’s best photographers hits on global action points.