Author(s): Phil Jarratt

Sporting Biography

Salts and Suits is the amazing true story of how a group of young beach bums turned their passion for riding big waves into the world's fastest growing leisure industry. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with industry figures and the idiosyncratic founders of surfing's biggest brands, Phil Jarratt details the long and bloody battle between the 'salts' and the 'suits' to control the industry as it hit the radar screens of the broader youth market. This is an inspiring and often hilarious account of surfing's long ride from Beach Boulevard to Wall Street. The beach bum entrepreneurs who started it all - characters like 'Claw' Warbrick, Brian Singer, Duke Boyd, Jeff Hakman, Bob McKnight, Jim Jenks, Alan Green, 'Greasy' Merchant and Jack O'Neill - are still involved, some are mega-millionaires, some just struggling by while others milk their creations. This book tells their stories, but more importantly, it tells the story of how, in business, passion can sometimes trump conventional wisdom, and the heart can overrule the head.