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 told me he needed me to win the upcoming Malibu Invitational Surfing Championships. He asked who I wanted to make the mold plug for my model. I told him I wanted Phil Becker. Phil and I worked together on a 6-foot-4, fish-shaped swallow tail, single fin with a slight concave in the bottom of the tail. On the day of the contest, Malibu was a perfect 4-foot and Phil’s design rode like a really loose skateboard. It was fast but slid out perfectly into my roundhouse cutback. I won the contest and Phil’s WAVE Hollow model became our best seller. Phil never looked like your typical surfboard shaper. The tall, slender, balding character with a giant handlebar mustache that curled up at both ends looked like he should be working at Disneyland in The Barber Shop Quartet. He went bald in high school, he said, because he grew faster than his hair. Phil didn’t have a…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com