All of this, including rampant drug use and wild surfboard revolution, combined to have a profound effect on the Narragansett surfing community. The summer of 1969 saw the last big surge of surf culture popularity. There was drug use with reckless abandon. Especially popular that summer was acid, marijuana, and hashish. In the public eye, the surfing culture was closely related to the drug scene, making it more mystical and appealing to the teenage surfers who compromised the majority of the wave riding population.

That summer the Narragansett Police department had their hands full keeping up with the thousands of out-of-town hippies, wanna-be surfers, drug users and drug dealers that descended on Beach Street. Imagine if you will a solid 1/8 mile of the seawall filled with sometimes up to 100 or more teenagers, bikers, and transients. They would do their deals, play their guitars, and tell their stories until the police would send them on their way around midnight. This was where the wave riding in-crowd would make their daily appearance and wear their surf team jackets.

Unless you had witnessed it, it is hard to visualize that the present site of the quiet Surfside condominiums was a teeming mish mosh of surf shops, bars, fast food outlets, a miniature golf course, one bingo hall, and the police station. The big hangouts for the surfing crowd were either Twiggy's Roast Beef or Big Ed's Grinder Shop, both located on the strip. The early evenings belonged to the "stoners" who shuffled in with their hurache sandals, long dyed blond hair, cut-off jeans, and armed with serious cases of the "munchies." The late nights and early morning hours brought in the bar patrons, majority being drunk and belligerent. Funny thing was you never saw any of the serious town surfers anywhere near these places.

In terms of the local surfing scene and competition, the biggest contest was the New England Open Surfing Championships held at First Beach in Newport. Over 100 surfers turned out to compete in the 2-4 foot waves on a hot July day. Chris Tasca of Westerly beat top Maine competitor Stevie Byrne for the Boys title. Demi Rayta of Narragansett took the 3rd spot in the finals.

Chris Tasca's brother edged out another Westerly star Mike Ryan for the Junior Men's crown. Narragansett's Gary Gama took 3rd. In the Men's event, Narragansett's Peter Pan beat local favorite Whitey Ford for the title while Matunuck ace Bobby Bouchard finished 3rd. Another up and coming star Donna Johnson of Narragansett won the Women's crown over Newport's Darra Kelly.

At the Newport Open Championships, held two weeks later in mid-August, it was a big battle in the women's division where Newport's Barbara Flynn edged out Narragansett's top female, Sue Lloyd for the win. Up and coming Narragansett hot shot, Joel Pearson topped favorite Scott Tasca to win the Junior crown, and Whitey Ford got revenge for his previous loss, beating Peter Pan for the Men's title. Demi Rayta was red hot, taking the Boys crown over Steve Byrne. Narragansett's Mario Frade finished a respectable 3rd in his first ESA rated event.

Intercollegiate competition was very big that year. The main event was the New England Intercollegiate Championship which drew 12 teams and was held at Point Judith in perfect 3-6 foot surf. Sonny Sousa of Roger Williams College edged out Peter Pan of the University of Rhode Island for the win. Another URI surf team member, Sid Abruzzi took 3rd. The University of Rhode Island won the team title with 16 points.

Surfboard design was evolving on a daily basis in 1969. The locally made Jim Phillips brand was especially popular. Phillips sold many of his "Soul Creation" and Strawberry Shortcut" models, mostly in the 7 to 8 foot range. The California brands sold in the area and ridden by most of the top competitive riders included Hobie, Dewey Weber, Gordon and Smith, and Greg Noll. Bizarre names of some of these creations included the following:

Da Bug, The Magic, The Foil, The Deadly Flying Glove, The Silver Bullet, and the Camel. Some of the designs were so far out, you would have to believe the shaper was on some type of mind enhancing drug. And of course, many of the crazy shapes were completely un-functional and very difficult to ride.

It was the second week of August and the buzz around town was Woodstock. It seemed as if the majority of the local surfing population planned to either hitch or ride to the music festival. The word on the town beach was that this event....whatever it was....should not be missed. While some of us passed on the opportunity, we were paid back by getting some nice empty shoulder high waves that weekend. Those who did go finally filtered back into town later that week while others did not return for up to two weeks, having run out of money or transportation. They returned with some really crazy stories of mud, rains, drugs, and great music.

The summer of 69' was certainly remembered by many of us as the last big blast of surf, sex and rock and roll not necessarily in that order. The generation that created the surf culture was approaching the end of their teenage years. It was those who had compromised the true heart and soul of "Surfing U.S.A." and they were either taking off to colleges or shipping out to Viet Nam. Then there were those who got nailed with a low number in the draft lottery and hit the back roads for Canada. Either way, the surfing life would never be the same again in our beach town.

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