I was just digging through some old photo albums and uncovered a photo of me examining the sea before the competition of '28.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. My thoughts were troubled. "Can you win, Gus?" I thought over and over as I watched the foaming sea beckon me toward her dangerous embrace. Finally, seconds after that photo was taken, I entered the water....
Little did I know I was on the precipice of propelling myself forever into
California surfer lore.
People still sit around campfires on the beach and speak in hushed, reverential tones about the day that Gustav Ratzenhofer, like a bronzed Greek statue with penis exposed, rode the mighty wave into the history books.