FUEL TV: Thirty Surf Shows To Premiere On Fuel TV This Summer

Each episode features profiles of then-contemporary surfers, Corky’s Corner, Surf Science, Video Reviews and Surf Reports. The Surfer TV crew traveled to the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, California, Mexico, and Indonesia. Surfers profiled included: Cheyne Horan, Brad Gerlach, Kelly Slater, Shawn “Barney” Barron, Marty Thomas, Laird Hamilton, Mark Foo, Shaun Tomson, Glen Winton, Tom Carroll, Christian Fletcher and John Shimooka.

SURFER and the Opper Sports crew found themselves tangled up in many geopolitical issues while filming such as race and surfing, the emerging women’s surf movement and the exploitation of a secluded surf destination. Also there were many landmark segments including the late Mark Foo’s underground tour of the famed North Shore, the profile of young amateur Floridian competitor Kelly Slater, and the ship wreck adventure during the search for the rumored perfect tubes off the coast of East Java.

According to SURFER publisher Rick Irons Jr., "Surfer Classics TV is a true time capsule into one of the most important, innovative, creative times in our surf history. The surfers from that time are still many of the faces we look up to today, just with bad haircuts. It is fun to see where a lot of our roots today are from."

This pioneering surfing series received a sports EMMY award in 1987. The series producer and director Ira Opper said, “Our focus back then was to create a credible surfing television series that would stand the test of time for innovation and authenticity. The confirmation of our efforts is that fifteen years later Surfer TV is going to air in primetime on FUEL.”

Opper Films is the curator of the largest surfing film archive in the world, recently providing footage for “Riding Giants” and Columbia’s feature release, “Lords of Dogtown.” Opper Sports Productions has produced surf films and television programs for the past twenty years. Series include: Surfer TV, Hot Water Tour, Frontline Sports Series, The Surfers Journal and currently, Long Board TV.

To see if you get FUEL, visit www.fuel.tv. Press Contact: Dustin Hood, phone: 858.481.7283 xt 12 • email: hood@oppersports.com