Hot Surf!

The Oxbow World Masters Surfing Championship was held in mid-August 1998 at Puerto Escondido, Mexico and had 6-8i' tubes pounding through the entire event. While this contest was an honor and a tribute to the 24 invited surfers, it was a challenge to them as well. The grinding warm-water barrels at Puerto had no interest in anyone's reputation. Tube-riding in the here and now was all that mattered; the object was to keep your board in one piece, take off deep, pull in and come out at the end. Everyone of the Master's surfers got thrashed trying to do this. And all of them answered back with fantastic late drops and some long behind-the-curtain disappearances. Some of the sport's greatest names were found on the invitee list, including Nat Young, Reno Abellira, Cheyne Horan, Glen Winton, Buzzy Kerbox, Joey Buran, Hans Hedemann, Wayne Bartholomew, Mark Warren, Larry Blair, David Barr, Ian Cairns, Paul Neilsen, Bobby Owens, Marc Price, Mike Savage, Glen Rawlings, Bud Llamas, Mike Cruickshank, Micheal Ho, Terry Richardson, Jim Banks, Micheal Tomson, and Javier Castanon.