"HONOLULU, Turtle Bay Resort, North Shore, Oahu. - (Thursday, January 3, 2013) Greg Noll (USA) was the guest  speaker of Talk Story at Surfer The Bar tonight, Noll, nicknamed ""Da Bull"" by Phil Edwards in reference to his physique and way of ""charging"" down the face of a wave is an American pioneer of big wave surfing and is also acknowledged as a prominent longboard shaper. Noll was a member of a US lifeguard team that introduced Malibu boards to Australia around the time of the Melbourne Olympic Games. Noll became known for his exploits in large Hawaiian surf on the North Shore of Oahu. He first gained a reputation in November 1957 after surfing Waimea Bay in 25-30 ft surf when it had previously been thought impossible even to the local Hawaiians. He is perhaps best known for being the first surfer to ride a wave breaking on the outside reef at the so-called Banzai Pipeline in November 1964...It was later at Makaha, in December 1969, that he rode what many at the time believed to be the largest wave ever surfed. After that wave and the ensuing wipeout during the course of that spectacular ride down the face of a massive dark wall of water, his surfing tapered off and he closed his Hermosa Beach shop in the early 1970s. He and other surfers such as Pat Curren, Mike Stang, Buzzy Trent, George Downing, Mickey Munoz, Wally Froyseth, Fred Van Dyke and Peter Cole are viewed as the most daring surfers of their generation...Noll is readily identified in film footage while surfing by his now iconic black and white horizontally striped ""jailhouse"" boardshorts and was interviewed by host Jodi Wilmott (AUS). . Photo: joliphotos.com"
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