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 paddle boards and cut them down. Velzy was the first board builder to put his name on his boards and the first to open a surfboard shop, just up from the Manhattan Beach pier. Hap, Greg Noll, Bing Copeland, and Rick Stoner hung out at the shop. Velzy couldn’t remember their names so he called Hap Gremmie 1, Greg Gremmie 2, Bing Gremmie 3 and Rick Gremmie 4. That’s where Gremmie came from. Hap was Dale’s favorite, even after he started making boards on his own in the back of Bev Morgan’s dive shop in Redondo Beach. Hap Jacobs makes former Dive N’ Surf partner Bev Morgan crack up during the memorial for Bill Meistrell at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach in 2003. Photo by Kevin Cody Hap was making boards for a lot of the South Bay’s top surfers. Morgan needed a name for his store, and asked Hap to help him out. Hap said, “You take care of all the scuba divers, and I’ll take care…
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