This collection includes a total of 32 issues of Surfer's Journal, from Volume One, Number One through and including Volume Eight, Number Four.

The Journal concept is a specialized hybrid, a cross between a book and a magazine, using a higher quality paper and printing that is content driven with restricted availability, and is reader supported (as opposed to advertising), a concept that is unique in the periodical publishing world. According to the Journal's editors, this strategy frees them to tell the truth while emphasizing purist non-commercial aspects that are at the core of wave riding.