John Whitmore (30 March 1929 – 24 December 2001) pioneered the sport of

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. His early career as an

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

and

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

diver put him close to the ocean. After having read about surfing in Hawaii in the late fifties, John became so enthused by the prospect of surfing that he set off to build his own surfboards. This led to the sport of surfing being introduced in South Africa, at

Muizenberg Muizenberg ( , Dutch for 'mice mountain') is a beach-side town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. It is considered to be the main surfing spo ...

and

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is an affluent and densely populated suburb of Cape Town, situated in the Western Cape, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). M ...

. Affectionately known to Capetonians as "die oom" (the uncle), Whitmore gave daily surf reports from his sea-front home bathroom window. Refer to

The Endless Summer II ''The Endless Summer II'' is a 1994 film directed by Bruce Brown and is a sequel to his 1966 film ''The Endless Summer''. In ''The Endless Summer II'', surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the steps of Mike Hynson and ...

surf film.

References

Further reading