Howard Owen went to Hawaii in November 1973 with a Nikkormat camera body, a homemade water housing, and nowhere to stay. He came home three months later with a bag of stories and a raw and candid portrait of the great Michael Peterson, who’d spent the whole winter in the islands surfing and shaping. It was a breakthrough winter for MP that included masterful sessions at Sunset and that famous wave at Backdoor which he’d taken when the Hawaiians wouldn’t let him go left. Howie was there for it all, staying with Michael in a shoebox rental at Velzyland, and Howie’s archive – much like Howie himself – is a national surfing treasure.
Full story and image gallery of some never before published images available in the latest issue of Surfing World, available now.
WIN! To celebrate this uncovering of MP gold, we’ve got some MP inspired music to give away. Remember CDs? Your car probably still has a CD player that you’ve forgotten about, and if it doesn’t, they make great frisbees or presents for your parents. To win one of these CDs: CATALYST Songs About Michael Peterson, all you have to do is tell us the name of the surf spot that Michael is checking in the photo above. It’s that easy. It starts with S. Email your answers to danny@surfingworld.com.au win a free CD!