Despite the balmy mediterranean climate of their native California, cold ocean currents[2] make local beaches inhospitable during the winter, without later, modern wetsuits.

They travel to the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Senegal (Dakar),[3] Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa in a quest for new surf spots while introducing locals to the sport along the way.

[citation needed] The Endless Summer was filmed in: Mike Hynson and Robert August had to pay $1,400 for their own around-the-world tickets, and Brown required a commitment of three months.

[32] The opening shot of Mike Hynson and Robert August as silhouettes walking to the beach with burnt orange sky evokes the movie poster.

[1] In January 1964, Bruce Brown and R. Paul Allen[52][53][54] took The Endless Summer to Wichita, Kansas and four-walled the Sunset Theater[55] for two weeks, amidst a projectionist strike, with a bomb threat[45] on the first showing, where moviegoers lined up in snowy weather in the middle of winter, selling out multiple screenings, and locally outgrossing My Fair Lady.

[61] Time magazine wrote, "Brown leaves analysis of the surf-cult mystique to seagoing sociologists, but demonstrates quite spiritedly that some of the brave souls mistaken for beachniks are, in fact, converts to a difficult, dangerous and dazzling sport".

[63] When The Endless Summer premiered on June 15, 1966, it encouraged many surfers to travel abroad, giving birth to the "surf-and-travel" culture, with prizes for finding "uncrowded surf", meeting new people and riding the "perfect wave".

[citation needed] The then-unknown break off Cape St. Francis in South Africa, characterized as having the “perfect wave”, became one of the world's most famous surfing sites thanks to The Endless Summer.

[64] In 2002, The Endless Summer was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[65][66] In 1994, Brown released a sequel, The Endless Summer II, in which surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the steps of Hynson and August.

[citation needed] The South Africa material includes a return visit to Cape St. Francis, where the “perfect wave” had deteriorated somewhat, due to onshore construction projects.

[67] In 2000, Dana Brown, Bruce's son, released The Endless Summer Revisited, which consisted of unused footage from the first two films, as well as original cast interviews.