The 1986 OP Pro at Huntington Beach will forever be remembered as one of the darkest days in surf history.
As crowds of over 50,000 descended upon the HB shore to watch the OP Final, the atmosphere turned toxic. Hoards of drunken party goers turned volatile. After police from Orange Country were sent in, the event descended into chaos, looters attacked riot police with bottles and makeshift weapons whilst police cars were turned over and set ablaze. Continuing acts of violence and criminal damage ensued with rioters even attempting to set fire to the lifeguard headquarters by throwing flares inside.
All this was witnessed by a 15 year old Zach Sebastian. Fresh from dropping acid with a bunch of hippies in Santa Cruz, Zach was making his way to Zed Records in Long Beach when they ended up missing their turn. After their cherry red ‘67 Volvo 122 blew up on the highway, Zach was offered a lift from some surfers on their way to the OP Pro, and thus Zach bear witness to the most infamous beach riot, all while under the influence of LSD.
Having wrote a short story about his experience for a self published zine, of which all 500 copies sold out, Zach has now teamed up with legendary producer Aaron Rose in a bid to turn his story into an animated film using archival footage and Zach recounting his memories and experience from the infamous event.
In a bid to achieve this feat, Zach and Aaron are reaching out for support via Kickstarter, offering a host of incentives in the form of zines, signed photos, rare books, tattoos and much more. Find out more here.
You can also cop Zach’s latest limited edition zine with Richard Prince via Innenzines right here.
photo: John Lyman
