Product Description

From the big-wave surfers of Tahiti and the salty hurricane chasers of New England, to the cliffs of Molokai's infamous leper colony and the Wild Coast of South Africa's Transkei Homeland, Return by Water brings light to surfers' lives around the world with amazing sense of place and deft character portraits of the famous, ordinary and irascible surfer alike. Follow surf journalist Kimball Taylor on his travels through South Africa, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Hawaii, French Polynesia, Indonesia and more. The journey is as transforming and definitive as any surfer's first trip away from home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #409345 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
"A series of surf stories that tell us more about why we live as surfers than how we do it." -- Brad Melekian, Surfer Magazine, August 2005

"A series of surf stories that tell us more about why we live as surfers than how we do it." --Brad Melekian, Surfer Magazine, 2005

"It's [Taylor's] adventurous spirit that drives the stories in Return by Water." -- Nina Garin, Union-Tribune, 2005

"It's [Taylor's] adventurous spirit that drives the stories in Return by Water." --Nina Garin, Union-Tribune, 2005

It's disaster that fuels Taylor's take on surfing, resulting in a clever, introspective and humorous collection. -- Surfing Magazine

This is a seriously cool book of surf stories by one of the world's best surf writers. -- Zigzag

About the Author
Kimball Taylor has been scolded by a leper; robbed in Peru; nearly duped by a Balinese transvestite; riddled by malarial mosquitoes in Ecuador; attacked by baboons in Africa; and mocked, browbeaten and harangued by great and not-so-great surfers around the world. A senior writer for Surfer magazine, Taylor also contributes to various other surf publications. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and is currently a candidate for a master's in creative writing at San Diego State University. This is his first collection of stories.

Customer Reviews

Takes you away
This book, and the words written within are unlike any stories you would find in the average surf magazine. Its nice to see an alternative for those who would rather read a great book and not a magazine full of ads.

The author uses a unique and descriptive style to take you into his adventures, as if he was telling you the story over a few beers at a bar, with colorful sarcasm and humour. You feel drawn in and itching to read the next chapter to see what hilarity, mishaps and strange charcacters the author will meet in the next journey.

Highly recomended.

Kimball would go
For every Jon Krakauer there should be two Kimball Taylor's.Each story in this book is exceptionally written, but the beauty lies in the tales themselves and the inclusive vibe Taylor extends to bring the reader with him. Krakauer's life-threatening intensity is replaced by honest adventure that anyone can get themselves into. Getting out is another story completely, and Taylor tells it beautifully.

Amazing Book!!!!
This book of short stories was great. Though I have just started surfing, I was a little skeptical when someone gave me "Return By Water" as a gift. In fact, while the stories all involved surfing in some form, they were more about life and were completely relatable to surfers as well non-surfers, such as myself. If anything, the second story in the book, "El Brazo" was one of the best stories I've ever read...it demonstrated extreme humanity and selflessness within unfortunate circumstances. I'm giving this book to some of my friends as Christmas gifts. I highly recommend it!