Posts by Mike Purpus
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…
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…
Read MoreCarroll, Barahona, Saltzman in Blue Mango
At 71, Corky Carroll is still the coolest surfer around. The three-time International Surfing Champion, his lovely wife Raquel, Blue Mango Surfboards founder Joel Saltzman, and old friends John Joseph, Joey Lombardo and I had lunch at the HT Grill in Redondo Beach last month. I hadn’t seen Corky for 19 years, but as soon…
Read MoreSanta rewards Ratopia surfers with fun waves
Every Saturday before Christmas, Nick Weber presents the Ratopia Surf Classic at Torrance Beach. The contest was founded in 2005 to raise funds for 22-year-old local surfer Denny Bales, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since the contest’s ounding, it has raised $150,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Every year Santa rewarded the contestants…
Read MoreBig days at the Hermosa pier
During a recent big storm swell, the south side of the Hermosa Beach pier had the best ridable waves in the South Bay. Photos taken confirmed it. But surfers had such a difficult time paddling out that some were rumored to have jumped off the pier If true, it wouldn’t have been the first time.…
Read MoreRedondo High’s Hughes joins new generation of chargers
Ryan Hughes started boogie boarding before he could walk, then skim boarded and at 11 got his first surfboard. The fair-haired, freckle-faced, 5-foot-11-inch Redondo High senior learned to surf from his father Daren on an 8-foot-4 Becker at Torrance Beach. “The board was really old. I think it was made in the ‘80s. But it…
Read MoreUp-and-coming surfer talks boards, ‘California’s answer to Pipeline,’ and the day he became a reef fillet
Pipeline: Ryan Hughes Ryan Hughes started surfing when he was 11. He started on a Boogie board before he could walk and advanced to a skimboard and then a surfboard. Now he’s cap[tin of the years old but was riding a skim and Boogie board before he could walk. The fair-haired, freckle-faced, 5’11” Redondo High…
Read MoreStutzman steps up to claim ISF longboard title in Manhattan Beach
A new format for the International Surf Festival Surfboard contest was complimented by a powerful, head high swell at the Manhattan Beach pier on Saturday. Contest director John “JJ” Joseph did away with the conventional age and shortboard divisions in favor of an open longboard contest.
Read MoreLifeguard Kip Jerger will join the three lifeguards who saved his life when he is inducted into the Surfer Walk of Fame
From rescued to rescuer In 1977, Kip Jerger was awarded the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Medal of Valor for rescuing a fisherman off the rocks at White Point in San Pedro. Jerger was stationed at the Lifeguard tower overlooking the rocky point. “Lifeguard Recurrent” magazine printed Jerger’s account of the rescue: “There was a hurricane…
Read MoreTorrance Beach ‘better than Pipeline’ for 13th Annual Ratopia Surf Classic
The annual Ratopia Surf Classic was founded in 2005 to raise funds for 22-year-old local surfer Denny Bales was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Over the ensuing decade, the contest has raised $127,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which has recognized contest organizer Nick Weber with its de Villiers Society Award. The contest includes longboard…
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