From “The Endless Summer” to the Summer of Love, Hynson’s influence and impact reached across cultural divides.
One of the greatest surf lives ever lived, the legendary Mike Hynson has gracefully kicked out at the age of 82. Born in Crecent City, California, on June 28, 1942, Hynson will forever be tied to the breakout success of “The Endless Summer,” but the hit surf film hardly defined the man. A local hero, a hot-dog performer, a shaping genius, a cosmic adventurer, Hynson altered the sport and culture of surfing in an untold number of ways over his colorful time on this spinning blue orb.
The son of a Navy man, Hynson grew up ping-ponging between Hawaii and California before his family finally settled in Pacific Beach in the mid 1950s. And that’s when and where his life as a surfer began. Indoctrinated into the rebellious surf scene of San Diego in the late ’50s and early ‘60s, his early work with Gordon & Smith and the Red Fin design carved out a name for him as a top-flight board builder, while his antics with the Windansea Surf Club became the stuff of legend. Landing back in Hawaii in 1961, he was among the first class of surfers to begin to crack the code at Pipeline.
Mike Hynson at Select Surf Shop in Pacific Beach, California, 1987 – Photographer : Phil Castagnola.
In 1963, filmmaker Bruce Brown approached Hynson about his interest in starring in his next project. Faced with the reality of being drafted into the Vietnam War or going on an expense-paid surf trip into the unknown, the decision was relatively easy. Alongside Seal Beach surfer Robert August, Hynson was among the first American surfers to explore the coasts of Africa, New Zealand and Tahiti. The film’s narrative was simple but captivating: a couple of friends chasing the summer around the world.
The perfect, reeling waves at Cape Saint Francis would come to be the film’s pinnacle moment, an embodiment of the spirit of the barefoot adventure. But for Hynson, the discovery was more an opportunity to get away from his director and co-star. By this point in the trip the relationships between the trio had become a bit contentious as Hynson was sneaking off, “smoking pot and taking bennies,” while Brown and August were considerably more strait-laced.
“Bruce and Robert slept until about 9:00 that morning. I was up at 5:00 when the sun came up,” Hynson remembers of the day they scored Caped Saint Francis. “We were right down at the basin of the point, and I looked up and could only see the backside of this break.”
“There were swells going by us and going into this cove. Every time I tried to get Bruce or Robert to look at it, they’d miss it. They did that about three times. I was really persistent, and Bruce got pissed at me. Then I saw three or four more waves and just went, ‘God damn!’ And so, I finally just told Bruce, ‘Take you and Robert and this fucking movie and shove it, I’m going down there!’ So, I picked up my board and walked down the beach.”
Never one to take well to being told what to do, Hynson’s trajectory took a complex turn after his rise to fame. In the late ’60s, he became associated with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a group based in Laguna Beach known for its counterculture ethos and involvement in the psychedelic movement. The Brotherhood aimed to spread peace and enlightenment through the use of LSD, which they distributed widely. Hynson, with his free-spirited nature, found a sense of belonging within the group.
Hynson’s association with the Brotherhood, who was in close cahoots with “Pope of Dope” Timothy Leary, led to a period of turbulence in his life. While he embraced the Brotherhood’s ideals and adventurous lifestyle, it also brought him under the scrutiny of law enforcement. Despite the legal troubles and the chaotic environment of the time, Hynson continued to drive surfing ever forward through board design and innovation, most notably the down-rail concept, which helped usher in a new era in tube riding.
“Mike Hynson used to come over and he made boards for Reno and I to try too, but his early ones also had turned up rails in the nose. Then, I think it was in 1969 when I had a surfboard model with Hansen’s that we called the Lightening Bolt, that seemed to work okay,” recalled Gerry Lopez.
“Then all of a sudden Hynson showed up with a board that had down rails from nose to tail. We all looked at it and thought, ‘There’s no way, you’re just going to catch edges on that thing.’ But he had a little belly, round bottom, and he had tail rocker. He made a couple for Reno and I and we were both really impressed how well they worked. They worked way better than our own boards,” Lopez continued.
A vital and vibrant thread in the rich tapestry that is the surf world all the way up until the end, Hynson’s legacy is a blend of pop-star hero and countercultural rebellion. From his early days with the Windansea Surf Club, to his starring role in “The Endless Summer,” his involvement with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love and commitment to surfboard design, nobody ever did it like Hynson.
“Radical people do radical shit,” Herbie Fletcher once said.
Hynson was as radical as they come, and it was a beautiful ride from take-off to kick-out.
