Seaside High School classmates and charter SSA members Mark Hansen, Tibby Utter and Jerry Alto gather for a group picture.

The Jeffrey Hull Gallery in Cannon Beach hosts the kickoff party for “Oregon Surfing North Coast.” Authors Scott and Sandy Blackman will be available from Saturday, March 5, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Jeffrey Hull Gallery to autograph their books, share surf stories and memorabilia with surfing enthusiasts.

The Seaside book party follows Saturday, March 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Cleanline Surf Shop. The book published by Arcadia Publishing will cover the surfing culture that began in Portland, Seaside, Cannon Beach and Pacific City starting in the 1960s. In the beginning surfing was illegal along the beachfronts of Seaside and Cannon Beach. Locals and others began surfing at Ecola State Park’s Indian Beach in the early 1960s. Personal recollections by Oregon’s North Coast pioneer surfers and their vintage photographs are featured in this book. Scott and Sandy Blackman have lived their entire lives along the Oregon cost.

Scott, a pioneer surfer, has been photographing the evolving surf culture for 50 years. Sandy is a successful write and storyteller. Together, the Blackmans have become the historians of Oregon surfing’s pioneer years. Their first book, Oregon Surfing Central Coast, and their Facebook site, “Oregon Surfing: Past and Present,” document the early history of the sport in the state.