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by Mike Purpus Laurie Wislon’s introduction to surfing began in the mid ‘60s, pre-surf leashes, with shagging her older brother Jeff’s surfboard when he lost it in the surf and it washed ashore. She was 10 and was born into a water family that lived on 8th street, in Hermosa Beach, a block from the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]