It was a worldly journey during a time when such a feat seemed impossible to many.
Dick Metz, who grew up on the sand in Laguna Beach and was an early-era surfer long before the masses showed up to ride waves, was intent on chasing waves and exploring faraway lands.
The surfer jumped onto trains, hitchhiked and negotiated his way onto big ships heading to exotic islands and continents far from the shores of Orange County. He happened upon natives and locals who would give him guidance throughout his three-year journey, which spanned from 1958 to 1961.
When he returned, Metz told friend Bruce Brown about what he found – including a perfect wave called Cape St. Francis in South Africa in 1959 – and encouraged Brown to take the same route, but to document it with his camera rolling.
What started as Metz’s little-known adventure became a worldwide phenomenon with the now-iconic surf film “Endless Summer,” which featured Huntington Beach surfer Robert August and San Diego’s Mike Hynson, as they sought out surf around the world, taking audiences to unexplored places.
Now, nearly 60 years after “Endless Summer” inspired a generation of surfers and explorers, Metz’s own story is earning accolades – and a film documenting his pivotal journey has been nominated for an Emmy Award.
“The Birth of The Endless Summer: Discovery of Cape St. Francis,” created by Laguna Beach filmmaker Richard Yelland, is one of three films nominated for the Independent Programming category, submitted by PBS SoCal for the 77th Emmy Awards being held at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles on July 26.
“It was hard to get a nomination. Now I’m getting greedy, because I want that nice big trophy,” Yelland said, jokingly. “The nomination is a huge honor.”
This will be Yelland’s second Emmy nomination, following one in 2008 in the Public Service category for a short film he did on the surfing nonprofit Life Rolls On, which helps surfers who use wheelchairs to ride waves.
The film about Metz, founder of the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center, was released in 2022 and had been doing its rounds at festivals before getting picked up by PBS SoCal and then the national PBS syndicate.
“That’s been cool to see, the demand for the story — not just at the coastlines, but in the middle of the country,” Yelland said.
And much like the original “Endless Summer,” people may think it’s a surf story, but it’s really a travel and adventure tale, a “follow-your-dream” story, he said.
Metz’s story is one of the great travel tales of modern time, Yelland said, with the Laguna Beach surfer setting out to sea around the same time Jack Kerouac wrote the classic novel “On the Road.” That was based on an American road trip, during a time when few people were traveling internationally the way Metz set out to do.
Metz and Brown, the two remaining good friends through the years, would joke about Metz being the one who actually discovered Cape St. Francis — a pivotal part in the “Endless Summer” movie — despite the world led to believe it was the surfers in the 1966 film that discovered the perfect, peeling wave. The surf spot was even dubbed “Bruce’s Beauties” after the filmmaker.
“I was there twice before Bruce was there with the movie,” recalled Metz, now 95. “I was by myself and I couldn’t take a photo of myself surfing. … It was before Surfer Magazine.”
The 2022 documentary tells of how Metz connected with South African surfer John Whitmore, first drawn to his poorly made board. Whitmore would become Metz’s guide and a lifelong friend, a relationship that helped Brown, August and Hynson to feel welcome in the foreign country when they arrived years later.
Having his own story told by Yelland has been a big honor, Metz said, one he wishes he could share with his old friend.
“I just wish Bruce was here, he would get a big kick about it,” Metz said. Brown died in 2017.
Metz said he is “delighted” the film has been nominated for an Emmy, though he isn’t planning to attend the ceremony because people get dressed up for those kinds of events, and he prefers to wear flip flops and aloha shirts, he joked.
“I’m just delighted it’s nominated — just being nominated is an award in itself,” he said. “The whole thing is wonderful.”
Through the storytelling, Yelland shares Metz’s story with the world — not just the adventurer, but a businessman who was among the first to create surf retail stores, a historian and board collector whose life mission is to keep surf stories of the past alive.
“He really had his hands on the birth of modern-day surfing,” Yelland said. “Dick, in a way, is that unseen, unknown hero.”
The film isn’t meant to take away from the “Endless Summer” story, Yelland added, but rather be another chapter to the story of how it all came together.
“It talks about travel, pursuing your dream, community and sharing things with our friends and passing these things on to the next generation,” Yelland said. “You see the young people there are really into it, really super engaged by these stories and this analog footage.
“It was that simple idea of chasing your dreams, the summer around the world.”
The film is currently available on Apple TV and Amazon. It will also be shown at the US Open of Surfing at 7 p.m. on Aug. 1, where there will be a Q&A with Metz and Yelland at the Pacific City Surf Deck, at 21010 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach.
