First off, Buzzy is just a fucken cool nickname, isn’t it? Bravo for that. Charles Trent Jr was one of the pioneering big wave riders on the Makaha and then Waimea scene in the 50’s, attributed with the phrase, “Big waves aren’t measured in feet, they’re measured in increments of fear” (presumably unimpressed with SI units) and the first person to call a big wave board a ‘gun’. A student and prodigy of Bob Simmons, Trent was one of the three riders along with George Downing and Woody Brown of the iconic Makaha point AP shot that sparked a big wave craze luring the likes of Noll and Curren to the Islands. Trent would walk away from the sport, disillusioned with contests, sponsorship and ‘hotdogging’, claiming he only ever wanted to surf for fun.
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