“Tom Morey Invitational,” by LeRoy Grannis, 

A new type of contest was inaugurated at Ventura, California, on the 4th of July week-end. This was the brain child of Tom Morey, a surfer, board designer, and manufacturer. Tom’s idea was to hold a contest for nose riding only. The contest was divided between left foot forward riders (15 entries) and right foot forward or “Goofy Foot” riders (10 entries). The boards were measured, and a two inch stripe was painted across the board, one quarter of the length from the nose. Judging was based on time rather than form or style. Three judging teams used binoculars and stop watches in order to accurately record nose riding time. After each ride, the judges radioed the total time, as well as the time for the longest single nose ride, to the official’s stand. This way the crowd was kept abreast of all contestants as each ride was completed.

The contestants were: Dewey Weber, Rusty Miller, Mike Haley, Terry Jones, Rick Irons, Mike Hynson, John Peck, Skip Frye, Bob Barron, John Fain, Bobby Patterson, L. J. Richards, Mickey Muñoz, Butch Linden, Robert August, Bob Bermel, John Day, Donald Takayama, David Nuuhiwa, Tom Lonardo, John Hayward, and Corky Carroll.

The best rides were scored on Saturday, but after all the rides were completed on Sunday, the two top left foot forward riders each had a makeup ride coming with Hynson leading Muñoz by about three seconds. Unfortunately, for Hynson, he fell on his ride and Muñoz was able to get a good enough ride to win by 0.9 seconds.

The winners: REGULAR FOOT (Left Foot Forward) 1. Mickey Muñoz (Windansea), 67.0 seconds; 2. Mike Hynson (Windansea), 66.1; 3. Skip Frye (Windansea), 62.6.

GOOFY FOOT (Right Foot Forward) 1. Corky Carroll (Windansea), 62.2; 2. David Nuuhiwa (Long Beach Surf Club), 53.0; 3. Robert August (Long Beach Surf Club), 42.2.

LONGEST SINGLE RIDES – STANDARD BOARD (Left Foot) Terry Jones (Ventura Surf Syndicate), 5.1 seconds; (Right Foot) (tie) Nuuhiwa and Tom Lonardo (unat.), 5.8.

LONGEST SINGLE RIDES – SPECIAL BOARD (Left Foot) Muñoz, 9.9; (Right Foot) Carroll, 9.8.

This was truly a professional surfing contest. Twenty-five of the coast’s best nose riders put up $50.00 apiece to compete for cash prizes totalling $1,500.00.

The special boards dominated the event and possibly the next contest will have two classes of competition for special and regular boards. Mike Doyle showed up with a way-out model featuring a four-foot extension tail to keep the nose out of the water. It was disallowed. Rusty Miller glassed two bricks to the tail of his board, but they weren’t the answer. Other innovations tried were built-up noses and hydro foils on the fins.

The biggest controversy came up over Mike Doyle’s “stinger” board. Mike was disqualified, but the controversy rages on. Don Hansen, whom Mike rides for, states his case as follows:

“NO RESTRICTIONS ON EQUIPMENT. SPECIAL BOARDS AND SKEGS OF ALL TYPES MAY BE USED—This was the key statement in the instructions for the nose-riding contest. On this premise, we went ahead and constructed special boards for L. J. Richards, Mike Doyle, and Rusty Miller. When they arrived in Ventura for the contest, they were informed that they would be disqualified if they rode their special boards. Although there was no basis for this disqualification in the official rules, Mr. Morey felt that he had to ban our nose-riding boards.

“In protest, Doyle rode his special board and was disqualified. L. J. and Rusty had to enter on their normal boards, although others were allowed to ride their specially designed boards.

“Mr. Morey’s wish to establish professional surfing, and to create a basis for surfing in the Olympics is commendable. But professional surfing necessitates professional organization and professional standards, both of which were lacking in the Tom Morey Invitational. I can only hope that future contests of this sort are better organized, defined and publicized, for the good of organizer and entrant, as well as for the future of surfing as a recognized sport.”

Tom Morey’s side of the issue was stated in a recent press release. “The stimulation of valid surfboard and fin design was one of my major goals for the contest. To encourage this design I stated in all invitations ‘No equipment restrictions—special boards and skegs of all types may be used.’

“I assumed that in the context of the invitation, this statement would be taken reasonably rather than literally. Most of the participants made little or no modifications. A few had outstanding board modifications which greatly improved nose riding characteristics.

“Unfortunately, four contestants showed up with ‘modifications’ that were technically legal, but so far outside the category of a ‘special board or skeg’ that acceptance of them into the contest would have completely invalidated the entire effort.

“I especially wish to thank these contestants for their cooperation as three of them rode their standard boards and the fourth rode his ‘modified board’ for fun rather than competition. To these four contestants and their board maker I apologize. It’s my fault that the Invitational rules were not explicit. I should have definitely included some statement concerning the reasonable limits of modification in the invitation to eliminate such extremes.”

All in all, the contest was a very big success. Most of the contestants had a good time riding under the rules of this new type of contest, the manufacturers had a chance to use their imaginations and building know-how to construct different types of board designs, and most of all, the spectators knew exactly how the contest was going at all times. We at 

 think that the last point is the most important. For if surfing is to grow into a spectator sport, the people on the beach must be able to not only follow the scoring system during each event, but must be able to feel that they are part of the contest by cheering or anticipating some tactical maneuver by the contestant. Morey’s Invitational is more than a step in the right direction, and next year’s meeting should be even better.

1965 Tom Morey Invitational

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