The now sadly long-defunct Snurfing News first hit the shelves in March 1979. The first edition covered some of the seminal events of early snowboard/Snurfing history including an actual in-competition straight air and a full 360° turn. Let's take a look at all four pages of it...
"Possibly the most memorable run of the afternoon was that of Eric Brescholl of Medina, Ohio, in the Open Division. His spectacular leap at the rise in the course brought cheers from the crowd and racers alike."
This was the event that Jake Burton brought his own boards and was excluded from the main prize because he didn't have a standard Snurfer. He got the fastest time on the day, but he lost out on the $500 prize money, although I suspect that the multi-millionaire has very few sleepless nights about that today.
"Entrant No. 156 is none other than Paul Graves, premier Snurfing expert from Cheshire, Connecticut. Paul who delighted the crowd by doing a full 360° turn while Snurfing downhill, will soon be seen on national television in Canada on a beverage commercial which features a Snurfing theme."
And here is said beverage commercial...
Nice little piece on the history of Snurfing on the right hand side of the final page.
This is the video of the 1979 National Snurfing Championships and in comparison to some of the ridging you'll see here, that straight air and 360 turn start to seem a little more impressive...
This was a strange newsletter, published first in March and then followed up in August, targeted to really miss the whole winter season. The second magazine had a themed crossword puzzle, a feature I think you'll all agree is sadly missing from today's snowboard mags...
Interesting fact: Only 10% of Snurfers in 1979 were women, proof that snowboarding has always been on the cock heavy side.
There's a couple more of these early magazines and more importantly the answers to the crossword puzzle on the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame website.
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The Story of the World’s First Snowboarder (who bucking all future sausagefest trends was a girl)
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