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WAVES OF REFLECTION

2002

Run Time: 47 Minutes

Additional Scenes: 17 Minutes

BILL WISE AT STEEL TOWER, DELAWARE, 1963.

SURF SHOP EAST, 1967.

SHOT BY SKIP SAVAGE.

A documentary of surfing in Delaware and Maryland beginning in 1962. Although local in content, it is universal in spirit. Family, friends, and attitude are at the soul of the sport. Features Hall of Fame Legends Bill Wise and Skip Savage. Bill Wise and his partner George Pittman opened the first Hobie shops in Maryland and Delaware in the early 60s. Although seriously injured in a surfing accident in 1965, Bill remained an active member of the surfing community and an inspiration to everyone who knew him. Bill’s contribution to this project is immense. His interviews and photos speak for themselves. Waves of Reflection also includes interviews with veteran surfers, Dave (Doc) Dalkiewicz, Dana Smith, and George Smith. Rare old home surf movies were provided by Kip Martin, Jack Powell, Neil Stevenson and Mrs. Carolyn Suit. Anyone with roots in Ocean City surfing will find this movie entertaining and informative.

A note from Will at the time of this video’s release:

Will Lucas - Surf 64 Productions Ltd., will donate a portion of the revenues of the sale of this video to the Surfrider Foundation in a fund, which has been established in Bill Wise’s name. This project is dedicated to Bill’s wide Rosalie for her courage and dedication over the past 40 years.

I started this project out of curiosity. Although I started surfing in Ocean City in 1964, I really had no idea about heritage. I had already done some interviews with East Coast Surfing Legend Skip Savage and he suggested that I talk with Bill Wise: Bill and his partner George Pittman opened the first Hobie shops in Maryland and Delaware in the early 60s after selling the Ole and Velzy brand boards for a short period. As Dana Smith says in the video: “I only know Bill Wise and George Pittman by reputation.” Such was the case with me. My first interview with Bill was in March 1999 and I returned again in November. Bill Wise’s contribution to this project is immense. His interviews and photos speak for themselves.

George Pittman lives out of the area, so I settled with a phone conversation, after which he was kind enough to furnish me with a copy of Bill’s classic photo of the old rental bus parked in north Ocean City. George’s actions and contributions to surfing are barely covered in this video, but he plays one of the most important roles in our past. As you will see, George was there when he was needed.

After my last interview with Bill, he suggested that I talk with Skill Johnson. This gave me an excuse to return to the North Shore in January 2000. Although Skill opted out of the project, it is evident from Bill’s pictures and the comments of the other surfers in the video, that Skill and his brothers influenced surfing more than anyone else in Ocean City in the mid 60s.

A while later, I did another interview with Skip Savage while he was still living in Delaware. Among his many perspectives on the sport, Skip offered some great insight into the world of surfing as a dealer trying to survive as the products supplied were going through a huge transition in design. During this same period, I was digitally organizing my own photos and surf films. I started asking other surfers for permission to copy and use their old material as well. Kip was so excited that he kept pointing and sticking his finger in front of the lens - it took me forever. That was the first time that I had seen the Skip Valliant footage - he surfs like Phil Edwards. There’s also some footage of Kip on a Super Mini, as well as he and Skip Valliant skateboarding. The skim boarding scene is priceless.

I was also fortunate enough to sit with Dana and George Smith at their home and listen to some of their great stories. Unfortunately, they lost all of their photos in a fire, but their stories live on in memory now told on video as only a married surfing couple could tell. They did have some old video from the mid 60s owned by the Suit family of Ocean City, of which Mrs. Carolyn Suit was kind enough to give me permission to use.

Although Dave (Doc) Dalkiewicz was not part of the original O.C. surf crew, his knowledge of surfing from the mid 60s is a great addition to this work. I’ve never known Doc to talk a lot; but he is extremely forthcoming in his thoughts, and sums up the spirit of surfing in one profound statement.

Delaware surfer, Jack Powell brought over some of his classic films as well. The power surfing shown by Jack, the Clark brothers, and Gary Revel at Shits and Southside blew me away.

Another influential Delaware surfer, Neil Stevenson, also came by and contributed some of his home movies showing some of the early transitional boards. He and Gary Revel were surfing Greg Noll Jack’s Pin Tail boards which they purchased at Skip’s shop. The video also includes some of my own pictures and video scattered throughout the project: the best being some tape shot in late September 2001. Martin Furst, who is featured on some awesome waves, helped provide names for many of these surfers. Ironically, the Smith’s sons, Will and Ted, were part of this sequence. I did not know this until the project was almost completed.

Thanks to everybody who helped me with this project, especially to Bill for trusting me to present some of his most personal stories. I drove poor Bill crazy trying to put names to as many of his photos as possible. My video work could be better; a friend described it as raw. I liked that. George Pittman told me that it wasn’t the story as he would have written it, but admitted that if you asked twelve people, there would be twelve stories. I like to describe the project as soup: the individual ingredients take on a new flavor when mixed together. I apologize to all those who will remain nameless in this feature. I also realize that there were many other prominent surfers of the time that were not featured. This was not done with intent. I worked with the material that I had available. As a result, there are many other stories to be told. I am hopeful that this documentary will inspire others to come forward with their own pictures and film and share their stories with all.

“Surfing to me is a pretty universal kind
of thing. It’s from the five year old kid to as
old as you wanna keep yourself doing it..”

– DAVE (DOC) DALKIEWICZ

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