Posts by Mike Purpus
‘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…
Read MoreLongboard 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…
Read MoreDoc’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.
Read MoreHermosa 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…
Read MoreHermosa 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…
Read MoreCormac ‘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…
Read MoreMemories 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…
Read MoreJiro 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…
Read MoreHermosa 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…
Read MoreMike 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…
Read MoreWinning 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…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreBeach sports – Revenge of the Bay Cities Surf Club
Is bad blood from the ‘60s keeping Bay Cities out of the Malibu invitational?
Read MoreHermosa 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.
Read MoreSurf Fest surf stokes locals
Neither the surf nor the surfing at the Hermosa Beach pier on Saturday matched that of the Van US Open, taking place the same day in Huntington Beach. But the stoke was just as high. “I love this contest,” Christian Steutzman said of the International Surf Festival surf contest. He had reason to be happy.…
Read MoreBreakwater: the early days Longboards, no wetsuits and already hierarchical
The first time I rode the Redondo Breakwater was the winter of ‘62. I was a 12-year old-grom. I paddled down from 30th Street in Hermosa. A lifeguard truck spotted me at 26th Street and followed me the rest of the way. The Breakwater was a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project, begun during the Great…
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