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Surf, Sweat and Tears
This is the true story of Ted, Viscount Deerhurst, an aristocrat’s son who dedicated his life to becoming a professional surfer. Surfing was a means of escape, from England, from the fraught charges of nobility, from family, and, often, from his own demons. Ted was good on the board, but never made it to the very highest ranks of a sport that, like most, treats second-best as nowhere at all. He kept on surfing, ending up where all surfers go to live or die, the paradise of Hawaii. There, doomed to the inevitable, he fell in love with a dancer called Lola, who worked in a Honolulu nightclub. The problem with paradise, as he was soon to discover, is that gangsters always get there first. Lola already had a serious boyfriend, a man who went by the name of Pit Bull. Ted was given fair warning to stay away. But he had a besetting sin, for which he paid the heaviest price: He never knew when to give up.
Surf, Sweat and Tears takes us into the world of global surfing, revealing a dark side beneath the dazzling sun and cream-crested waves. Here is surf noir at its most compelling, a dystopian tale of one man’s obsessions, wiped out in a grizzly true crime.
Surf, Sweat and Tears takes us into the world of global surfing, revealing a dark side beneath the dazzling sun and cream-crested waves. Here is surf noir at its most compelling, a dystopian tale of one man’s obsessions, wiped out in a grizzly true crime.
270 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 31, 2021
Interesting book about Ted Deerhurst Viscount of Coventry. His father was a Lord, his mother American. When they split she absconded with Ted to Santa Monica California and he briefly went to my middle school at the same time I was there. A couple of old friends are mentioned in the book. There was a little kerfuffle when Ted's dad came looking for him and had him taken back to the UK. Ted briefly fled and hid out at friend's houses I think. Anyway, he was a die-hard surfer and dreamer who never really got anywhere in life and died at 40. A somewhat sad life, but he did what he wanted.Just a little blast from the past for me and I love reading about surfing!
June 20, 2022
Viscount Edward George William Omar Deerhurst, or "Ted" as he was known, was one of the most iconic figures in British Surfing. Son of the Earl of Coventry, known to the press as "Lord Ted", and tragically dying in mysterious circumstances in 1997, Ted never quite made it to World Champion Rank levels in his beloved sport of surfing.
Giving a sense of being part biographical, part memoir, Martin writes in an informal tone that creates the image of sitting in a bar sharing old stories of a friend truly missed.
The descriptions of surfing are lively and fascinating. A sport I had never really paid much attention to in the past, Martin took me through the ins and outs of surfing history and culture that have left me with a new found appreciation for the at-times brutal, yet rewarding sport.
This book is a character study of Ted. We meet the people who met him, love him, and miss him dearly. It has a raw, honest feel to it as you read how Ted managed to affect the lives of these people in his own short life.
I would like to thank @randomthingstours for inviting me to take part in this tour. I have truly appreciated learning about a fascinating figure in British Surfing history.
Giving a sense of being part biographical, part memoir, Martin writes in an informal tone that creates the image of sitting in a bar sharing old stories of a friend truly missed.
The descriptions of surfing are lively and fascinating. A sport I had never really paid much attention to in the past, Martin took me through the ins and outs of surfing history and culture that have left me with a new found appreciation for the at-times brutal, yet rewarding sport.
This book is a character study of Ted. We meet the people who met him, love him, and miss him dearly. It has a raw, honest feel to it as you read how Ted managed to affect the lives of these people in his own short life.
I would like to thank @randomthingstours for inviting me to take part in this tour. I have truly appreciated learning about a fascinating figure in British Surfing history.
May 7, 2020
enjoyable profile of ted's quixotic life. i had not heard of him before but growing up in hawaii around the same time frame of his dealings with da hui brought back memories (fond now, at the time? not so much).
September 4, 2023
A truely unbelievable true story.
If you are a surf fan then this is definitely worth a read. If you are not a surf fan then this is probably still worth a read.
If you are a surf fan then this is definitely worth a read. If you are not a surf fan then this is probably still worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews