Stealing the Wave: The Epic Struggle Between Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo

by Andy Martin

Overview

'A classic tale of sporting rivalry' Observer
'The tales are gripping ... surfing emerges as a dangerous, solitary and potential fatal obsession' Telegraph
'A fascinating glimpse into obsession' Independent

A gripping true story of a tragic and bitter rivalry in the world of surfing

Winter. Mid-eighties. Hawai'i.

Two surfers are battling for supremacy at Waimea Bay, home to the biggest waves in the world. Old-school, and some say too old, Ken Bradshaw commands respect with his fearlessness and fearsome temper. Mark Foo is the new kid on the block. Icon of the younger generation, this photogenic Chinese-American wows the crowds with his lightning repertoire of cool moves.

One perfect day at Sunset Beach, Foo audaciously steals a wave from under Bradshaw's nose, sparking a bitter feud that is to last for over ten years and end in tragedy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596918528
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/01/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	359 KB

About the Author

Andy Martin was born in London, teaches in Cambridge and New York, and learned to surf on the west coast of Australia. He is the author of Walking on Water, and has written about Hawaii for Times (London), the Independent on Sunday, and the Telegraph.

Andy Martin was born in London and teaches in Cambridge and New York. He learned to surf on the west coast of Australia. He is the author of Walking On Water, and has written about God, Napoleon and Brigitte Bardot and reported on surfing for the Independent and The Times.

Table of Contents

Idols     1
The Longest Ride     7
The Perfect Day     22
The Boy of Steel     31
Once Upon a Time at Waimea Bay     42
Foo-Foo     50
The Haole     61
Cover Shot     78
The Brotherhood     95
As Famous as Mickey Mouse     108
The Unridden Realm     115
Foo's Brazilian System and Bradshaw's Revenge     139
The Eddie, Part 1     156
Judgement Day     170
Beyond Waimea     186
Maverick's     203
Code Black     226
Twilight of the Idols     241
Bibliography     244

Editorial Reviews

In a tale set mainly in the Hawaiian Islands, London-born Martin (Walking on Water) narrates the decade-long conflict between two of the world's best known "big wave" surfers: Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo. A large, irascible Texan, Bradshaw considered himself lord of Oahu's Waimea Bay in the 1980s and had a habit of biting chunks out of the boards of any surfers who dared to trespass on his domain. While Bradshaw was an old-school purist, the younger, Chinese-American Foo was alive to surfing's commercial potential and had a feel for the spotlight. The rivalry endured through one board-chomping and numerous monster waves. Yet as media attention and technological advances such as Jet Skis raised the stakes in big-wave surfing, the two men developed a grudging respect for one another. Their budding partnership was cut short in 1994, however, when Foo drowned while surfing with Bradshaw at Maverick's, south of San Francisco. A scene insider and surfing journalist, Martin knew both men well and is at his best writing about the lure of the waves. In the end, Martin tells a gripping story of not only the intrapersonal competition between the two men but the real struggle each faced against the ocean. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

The strange love triangle of two young men and the sea. British journalist Martin presents the longstanding rivalry between big wave surfers Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo as a world-shaking clash of titans, a dialectical struggle of mythic scope and profundity. His protagonists are two legendary pioneering Hawaii-based surfers who, forced together by dint of their prominence in the scene, struck all manner of sparks off of each other, developing a complex relationship that progressed from hatred to grudging respect to eventual partnership and, ultimately, tragedy. The two men could hardly be more different: Bradshaw, a native Texan, hirsute, aggressive and monastically devoted to the ideal of "pure" surfing, took the sport so seriously that he literally bit chunks out of the boards of dilettantes who failed to recognize and respect the protocols of "his" turf, Waimea Bay. By contrast, Mark Foo, a diffident, charming Chinese American with movie star looks and charisma, devoted himself to exploiting his freakish natural talent for riding massive waves to reap media attention, financial rewards and women. As the two men came to dominate Hawaii's unforgiving North Shore, conflict between the two was inevitable, and Foo in due course found himself with a Bradshaw-chewed board. Martin persuasively and vividly conveys the psychology and personalities of these outsized figures, and the gradual rapprochement of the bitter rivals becomes fascinating and oddly touching. The tragic death that claims one of the men at the end of the book has surprising emotional power, its ironies and grimly inevitable quality fulfilling the "epic" claim made in the book's title. There is also much interesting informationabout the history of surfing and the Hawaiian culture that nurtures it, and Martin, an avid surfer himself, deftly evokes the excitement and terror of riding a 30-foot wall of water. A passionately written, engaging sports narrative.

Kirkus Reviews

A soulful, insightful, and altogether thrilling glimpse into the operatic world of big-wave surfing. I couldn't put it down.” —Dan Coyle, author of the New York Times bestseller Lance Armstrong

“For all you surfers out there: the best of [this summer's surfing books] is Stealing the Wave...[an] insightful tale.” —Orlando Sentinel

“The movie-ready tale of big wave surfing's most famously complicated friendship...the friendship and intense rivalry between Bradshaw and the late Foo is a great tale for any surfing fan.” —Orange County Register

“What better for summer reading than the story of two surfers who dominated the sport in the 1980s and early 1990s? Bradshaw and Foo really were rivals — so much so that their competition turned very dark indeed. Martin [is] a fine storyteller, quite talented enough to raise this book beyond entertainment and into the realm of the truly haunting.” —Kansas City Star

“Surf rivalries are generally rather tame affairs, but consider...the war between Ken Bradshaw and Mark Foo, as told in Andy Martin's new book, ''Stealing the Wave'' (Bloomsbury, $24.95)...It makes charging the mound seem tame by comparison...And as [Martin] pushes toward the story's tragic finale...[he] manages to make the two men seem like they're battling not only for the hearts and minds of Brazilian groupies but for the fate of big-wave surfing itself. When hate seeps through the sunbaked haze of Hawaii, it is something truly majestic to behold.” —New York Times "Play"

“Jon Krakauer's 1995 article on Mark Foo in Outside was the Into Thin Air of surf stories: Foo, a famed big-wave surfer, was killed in late 1994 while taking his first runs on the Maverick's break off Northern California's coast. Here, Martin elevates that tragedy to near mythological proportions...In lush, dramatic terms, he recounts...the duo's two decades of competition on Hawaii's intense North Shore...surf enthusiasts and wannabes alike will probably get sucked in.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Surfing's answer to Ali vs. Foreman...Andy Martin provides a history of contemporary big-wave surfing embedded within a thrilling account of its two most intense competitors…this is the summer sports narrative to beat.” —Very Short List.com

“A scene insider and surfing journalist, Martin...is at his best writing about the lure of the waves...Martin tells a gripping story of not only the intrapersonal competition between the two men but the real struggle each faced against the ocean.” —Publisher's Weekly

“Andy Martin's Stealing the Wave is an absorbing story of great personalities and nasty politics in the real Hawaii—a place utterly unlike, and much more interesting than, the tourist myth. He writes with verve, pace, and wit. Not to be missed.” —Professor Nicholas Thomas, Cambridge University, author of Cook: the Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook

“Martin persuasively and vividly conveys the psychology and personalities of these outsized figures, and the gradual rapprochement of the bitter rivals becomes fascinating and oddly touching. The tragic death that claims one of the men at the end of the book has surprising emotional power...There is also much interesting information about the history of surfing and the Hawaiian culture that nurtures it, and Martin, an avid surfer himself, deftly evokes the excitement and terror of riding a 30-foot wall of water.” —Kirkus

“Martin celebrates the lives of both men...Martin traces their surfing careers, shows how these two very different men were joined together by their passion for their sport, how their mutual respect and admiration made them friends, despite their outward rivalry. A story not just about surfing, but also about friendship, perseverance, and passion.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

A soulful, insightful, and altogether thrilling glimpse into the operatic world of big-wave surfing. I couldn't put it down.

author of the New York Times bestseller Lance Arms Dan Coyle