Posted on 05/30/2005 12:40:56 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (AP) Master surfboard designer Dale Velzy, who helped popularize surfing along the California coast and at one time was the world's largest maker of surfboards, has died. He was 77.
Velzy died Thursday of lung cancer at the Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, hospital administrative supervisor Brian Noakes said Monday.
``Velzy's lasting legacy is the billion-dollar surf industry,'' said Sam George, global editor for Surfer Magazine. ``He created the archetype and everyone has followed it: Get the hottest guys to ride your equipment, get a photo of it, and market it.''
Velzy, a surfer since childhood, began repairing and reshaping surfboards in the family garage in 1949 and later opened a shop under the Manhattan Beach Pier in Los Angeles County.
He expanded the business to Venice and later Hermosa Beach, joining Harold Jacobs in 1953 to produce boards under the Velzy-Jacobs label until buying out his partner six years later.
Velzy's most famous board was the ``Pig,'' which debuted in 1955 and is now a collectors' item priced at more than $3,000.
He also helped launch the surfing-movie genre by providing money for the 1957 film ``Slippery When Wet.'' The film's maker, Bruce Brown, had a national success in the 1960s with the acclaimed documentary ``The Endless Summer.''
By the late 1950s, Velzy was considered the world's largest surfboard manufacturer, operating five shops and two factories that sold as many as 200 custom-built boards a week. He made boards for legendary surfers such as Duke Kahanamoku, George Downing, Mickey Dora and Harry Robello.
In 1959, the Internal Revenue Service shut down his shops after it found faulty record keeping. He reopened the business a decade later.
Velzy is survived by his longtime girlfriend, Fran Hoff, and his son and daughter.
There was a real-life "Moondoggie".
Wipe out, but only after a bitchin' ride. Thanks for posting.
My first surfboard, when I was about 8 years old, was a 9 foot Velzy. I needed help carrying it, but could paddle and ride it pretty well. It was so big that if you put it in the water today they would make you get it registered!
Wow, all the old guys are kicking out for the last time. Dale, I hope it is 8' and glassy with a light offshore breeze holding it open for you.
Good story. Is Bruce Brown still kicking?
I think he is. Last year I saw a documentary about the making of Endless Summer. I do not know how long ago the docu was done , but he was making comment on the making of the original.
I left the ocean, surfing, surf contests, deep sea-fishing boats and crowds behind about a decade ago, so I do not really follow the scene as I once did. Surprisingly, I do not miss it at all. I much prefer the slow Midwest life and the honest, easygoing folks of the country.
It's OK to put me on a the Surfer Ping List!
Thanks for the word, EG. "Endless Summer" came out in 1966, I believe. There was a quite good follow-up made in the 1990s. As of a few years ago, one of the two surfers in the original film, Bob August, was still operating a surf shop in Huntington Beach. As for leaving the ocean for the midwest -- well, Brian Wilson was living in Illinois a good part of the year, so maybe the real scene has shifted inland!!
First board was a 9'4" Miller out of Daytona Beach with a triple stringer, a five piece tail block and a reverse skeg. Current fave is 7'4", wide and easy to paddle.
Whoa, 40 years of tube riding. You're a better man than I am. Never more than a punk amateur wannabe here (but I learned enough to really respect the guys who do it right.)
It sure seems like just a fast summer rather than four decades. I had my grandson along on this trip (his third). He associates grandpa's birthday with palm trees and latin music. Every year for the past twenty I've thought about hanging it up (it really sucks to lose your edge to time - the fact that it's inevitable doesn't make it suck less) but I still have fun so what the heck...
Ahhhh, memories. I started surfing on borrowed boards at six years old. Surfed all over the world while in the Navy. Competed in lots of amateur contests, including the All Services Surf Championships. Lots of fun. Did the whole surf shop sponsor thing for cheap boards and baggies. I was really burned out on the cutthroat aspect of fighting for a little peak with a bunch of violent, uneducated mouthbreathing locals. As luck would have it, at age 31 I re-injured a previously broken neck, and was motivated to walk away from it before I paralyzed myself. It was fun, but there are a lot of other fun things to do as well.
Occasionally I look back and miss the old deserted peaks found while traveling or paddling out with friends into a glassy morning lineup backlit by a rising sun, but I do not miss the attitudes and crowds that are such a part of it now. The memories will warm my heart as I age peacefully on the porch of the gunshop that I am building at my our place in our small Missouri town. The surf trophies will serve as conversation pieces long after I can remember where they came from.
Surfing is no big part of my life but it is a constant...I still read flag poles and head dip whenever I walk along a wall of hedges...you know how it is.
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