true story ....prob uncensored pic out there somewhere
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Next up, this shot of Teri Melanson, surfing topless at Rocky Point in the early 70s.
According to Surfer staff photographer Bernie Baker who captured the image, Teri was “the best local haole girl surfer living out [on the north shore] at the time… she knew everyone, so she got any wave she wanted out there.” However, there’s no doubt 40 years on, it’s this wave for which she’s best known.
Although the combination of her bare breasts and laid surf back style have seen the image become an emblem of the era’s freewheeling approach, it turns out it was more wardrobe malfunction than bold cultural statement. Terri’s flimsy bikini top had been ripped off on the wave prior and since the lineup was uncrowded and the waves still pumping, she’d opted to continue surfing.
Baker figured the mags wouldn’t run it, so he and Teri decided to release it as a poster instead, emblazoned with the words ‘Hawai’i…. Naturally.’ “Within a few months, we were out of copies,” he remembers, “it had gone around the world to every surf shop and more. Today, I have only one poster to my name and that was a gift from one of my best mates!”
Last edited by Lotfw; Yesterday at 02:00 AM.
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