For The Record

With Encyclopedia of Surfing, History of Surfing and Above the Roar together on one website, Matt Warshaw has created the world’s most colorful and comprehensive look at surfing’s past

- Todd Prodanovich

According to esteemed historian, author and former SURFER editor Matt Warshaw, it’s an uphill battle getting surfers to click on links with terms like “history” and “encyclopedia” in the headline. “People hear those two words and in their mind it’s like, ‘Eat your vegetables,’” says Warshaw. “But I know how to make surf history dance and move. Our past is just as funny and tragic and ridiculous as the present, and you get a 3D quality when what you’re experiencing today connects to what surfers experienced in the past. There’s a resonance to that.”