Hermosa Surfer Walk of Fame Surf Champion David Nuuhiwa
by Mike Purpus David Nuuhiwa started surfing in the Waikiki shorebreak on a paipo board at five years old. The paipo was a thin, plywood, wide bellied board with no fin. When Nuuihiwa was 12, Dale Velzy brought over the first foam surfboards for Waikiki surfboard rentals. David was hooked. In the early ‘60s, Hawaiian […]
2023 SWOF Inductee – Mangiagli was low profile, top producing board builder
Becker Surf partners Steve Mangiagli, Phil Becker, and Dave Hollander made more hand-shaped surfboards boards than any other board builder in the sport’s history by Mike Purpus “In 1969, I asked Phil Becker, who was shaping for Rick Stoner, to shape me a blank,” Hermosa Surfer Walk of Fame 2023 inductee Steve Mangiagli said in […]
‘Desperado’ Dale Velzy rode surfing’s wave of popularity
By Mike Purpus Dale Velzy is responsible for the South Bay becoming a center of the surfing world. In the late ‘40s, he reshaped plywood he found on the beach into surfboards that were much lighter than the traditional redwood boards. His future partner Hap Jacobs told me, “Everyone at Redondo High envied Dale. He […]
Longboard duel at the Hermosa Beach Pier
by Mike Purpus The International Surf Festival Contest got underway last Saturday in a fun, three-foot windswell on the South side of the Hermosa Beach Pier. The sun was out but a fog bank lingered on the outside. Contest director John Joseph filled surfing areas overflowing with talent. Beth Cambell and Loretta, helped tally up […]
Doc’s House: Where a team of the South Bay’s best surfers did their chores and were on time to school
When Doc Ackroyd hung the big beach towel out the second story window of his ocean front Hermosa Beach home. the South Bay’s best surfers hustled out of the water. and into his van for the ride to Mira Costa High. The world best surfers showed Doc similar respect when he hosted them on their world tours.
Hermosa Beach Walk of Fame 2020: John Teague Pioneer and Contest machine
John Teague won or placed in almost every contest he entered by Mike Purpus Shortly after John Teague, and his family moved to Hermosa Beach from Tennessee in 1958, he began surfing on canvas surf mats rented from Juicy James, on the Strand, at 14th Street. Two years later, at age 15, he got his […]
Hermosa Beach Surfer Walk of Fame 2020: Nick Christensen Cultural Legend and Bucket thrower
Nick Christensen was known as a power surfer when he competed on the pro tour. He still is 40 years later by Mike Purpus Nick Christensen started surfing at 11 when he lived in Westchester and his friend Mike Muni took him out at Playa Del Rey. His parents were not thrilled. They told him […]
Cormac ‘Cove’ O’Brien gets a push from dad
by Mike Purpus Last month, Cormac Cove O’Brien won the Open Men’s Longboard division at the South Bay Boardriders Surf contest at Torrance Beach. What made the win notable is that O’Brien is a 5-foot-2, 95 pound Parras Middle School seventh grader. Following his men’s longboard victory, he won the groms (12 and under) shortboard […]
Memories of Hermosa Beach pioneer surfer and surfboard builder Hap Jacobs
by Mike Purpus [Editor’s note: Pioneer surfboard builder Dudley “Hap” Jacobs passed away Saturday, Dec. 19, at his home in Palos Verdes. He was 92.] Hap Jacobs learned to shape in 1953 from his good friend Dale Velzy, after returning from a tour in the Coast Guard. Velzy would take old, 12- to 14-foot, plywood […]
Jiro is hero at International Surf Festival surf contest
by Mike Purpus The parking lot behind Bank of America in downtown Hermosa Beach was buzzing with stoked surfers from all over Southern California on Saturday morning. International Surf Festival contest director John Joseph said, “I have surfers from Santa Barbara to San Diego, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Brazill, Costa Rica and Japan.” Their enthusiasm waned […]
Hermosa Beach’s Greg ‘Da Bull’ Noll was a no bull guy
by Mike Purpus When I was a 12 year old surf grom my friends and I hung out at The Greg Noll shop after school and passed around “The Thumb.” It was a human thumb in a block of resin sitting next to the cash register. We didn’t know who’s thumb it was or where […]
Mike Eaton was the go-to big gun surfboard shaper shaper
by Mike Purpus Mike Eaton went with fellow shaper and Palos Verdes childhood friend Phil Becker to Hawaii’s North Shore in the mid ‘70s to make big wave boards for pro surfers like Palos Verdes native like Jeff Hackman and Peter “PT” Towend and his fellow Bronzed Aussies. I borrowed a few of their big […]
Winning at Malibu, and nearly killed at Sunset on Phil’s boards
by Mike Purpus In the early ‘70s, I surfed for W.A.V.E. Hollow Surfboards, run by Carl Pope. The surfboards were made from aluminium honeycomb and were impossible to ding. The surfboards were like today’s Firewire Surfboards only stronger. But the aesthetics were not as nice as other boards, so sales slumped. To boost sales, Carl […]
A mentor in and out of the water
Mike Doyle was as smooth on land as he was surfing Editor’s note: Hermosa Surfing Walk of Fame inductee Mike Doyle was a champion longboarder and tandem surfer, an author and painter and co-inventor of the soft top surfboard and surf wax. Doyle passed away from ALS on April 28, at his home […]
Beach sports – Revenge of the Bay Cities Surf Club
Is bad blood from the ‘60s keeping Bay Cities out of the Malibu invitational?
Hermosa tests hotdoggers
The Fourth Annual Subaru Pacific Hotdogger Surfing Championships drew 50 of the top-rated longboard surfers from around the world to the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier on Saturday. The sun was out and so were plenty of fast, glassy, 3-foot tubes to ride.