“The First AAA: A New Day for Surfing,” Drew Kampion, SURFER, July 1968

Rivermouth, in the early, cold Santa Cruz shadows, quiet as a box of cotton except for the cold, sharp sound of the waves heaving and spilling in the early morning void. It is a new day; the sun is up, slightly, from the horizon. The sky is clear, a zinc sheet; the water deep blue and crisp. Dew streams from the rear windows of the cars parked on the cliffs, condensing with the first faint warmth. Silent here till the dull, wooden snapping of surf racks begins, followed by the hollow sounds of boards being set down on the cold pavement. There is little talking. There is some door slamming and the rubbery snap of cold wet suits going on over goose-bumped skin.

It is Saturday, April 6, 1968, and, for Santa Cruz, it is the beginning of a new day. A new day for surfing.

The tide is medium, going out; the waves are four to six feet. They will be much the same for the two-day competition of this Western Surfing Association event. They will be fast; the shorebreak will be crucial; the winds will be offshore. Though the water is a cold 52°, conditions will be recorded as ideal.

Mickey Munoz walks by on the beach below, his orange board under his arm, but the board is only a foot or so taller than Mickey. Skip Frye is there too, his board smaller even than Munoz’s, and lighter. Mike Doyle has scrapped his older, longer board. David Nuuhiwa’s board is a little over seven feet, with a long, sweeping pintail (during the contest he will alternate with a double-pintailed board, equally short). Even Mark Martinson’s board is short, though not as short as most of the others. Corky Carroll is riding basically the same shape that he used to win the Steamer Lane Pro-Am Invitational last Thanksgiving, but the board has been shortened twice since then and is now a mere 7' 10".

Dale Dobson looks strange carrying his full-sized board.

These were the signs of a revolution that crystallized at Santa Cruz on this April weekend. This contest would either cement or shatter the surge of surfers to the banner of the “Mini." This contest would determine the effectiveness of the new tool. The shortboard had come far since Corky Carroll’s first experiment with it had brought him victory in the Steamer Lane affair [five months earlier]. The skepticism that greeted Corky and his board at that contest had been replaced by apprehensive admiration. The local board-buying public followed—but perhaps more from fear of being left behind than desire to go somewhere new. Now, this weekend, they were going to see how far things had gone.

The influence of the new boards was apparent early in the contest. Almost every winner of the 3A men’s quarterfinals rode the new shortboard. It was also apparent early in the day that many of the surfers had not yet adjusted to the new equipment. Pearling, wobbling, over-steer on turns, unplanned pull-outs: these seemed to be the order of the day. The Australian influence of Bob McTavish and Nat Young was obvious, but in these early heats it seemed more like an embryonic flash than a mature, well-executed concept.

As the day rolled on, measured in sets, noserides (scarce) and wipeouts, it was also obvious that the new surfing was phasing out some of the old stylists. Mike Doyle and Mickey Munoz were both gone by the end of the first day. Dewey Weber and Skip Frye only made it to the consolation heats.

John Fain, on a standard length board, tried the new style for a while, but soon abandoned it in favor of his usual Malibu format: lots of steps, a few dramatic turns, and exaggerated pullouts, all of which now seemed somewhat old. And Dale Dobson, a close second behind Peter Johnson in his Sunday morning heat, was little stiff-looking on his longboard. Corky was there in body, but not really in spirit: “My joints hurt,” he said before his heat. “I just got back from five weeks in Puerto Rico and the water’s 80 there, and after a minute or so in this water, my joints hurt.” Would he go out anyway? “Yes, I’ll surf my heat,” he said, implying that he wasn’t promising anything.

Corky finished second to Kent Layton in his first heat on Sunday, then came in last in his next go-out, behind Fain and Martinson. Like many of the other small-board riders, he had trouble with control, losing points for basic contest requirements such as staying in the hook, riding the wave as long as possible, and maintaining trim.

Few surfers in Santa Cruz were really sure that the shortboard was a real and a functional thing. It seemed like it should be, but in spite of what Corky had done last Thanksgiving [at the previous Santa Cruz contest], there was still doubt: Dobson had finished a close second to Corky on his conventional board, and many thought he should have won.

It was during the first two hours of competition on Sunday morning that all the new shortboard owners of Santa Cruz turned to each other sighed with relief: 

The surf kept coming. There was now room and speed to really work a small wave. Nuuhiwa’s lefts on Sunday morning were so crowded with climbing and dropping and cutbacks that the tracks of his board almost intersected at several points. It was now evident that the shortboard was the innovation of the year and perhaps of the decade. Again and again, in tight situations, it proved that, if handled properly, it could be a highly functional, and even necessary, tool.

In the late morning 4A men’s semifinals, Peter Johnson turned in one of the strongest heats of the day up to that point, defeating Dale Dobson and Andy Neumann. Next up, Mark Martinson directed his small board to the fringe areas of control yet maintained stability throughout every wave, demonstrating that you could take this new board where no board has gone and survive.

In the 4A women’s final, Joyce Hoffman, with Joey Hamasaki absent, won a predictable victory over Margo Godfrey and Terri Eselun. Both Margo and Terri surfed daringly and aggressively in the icy water; and only by surfing almost flawlessly, did Joyce eke out a win.

The men's 4A finals were entering the water now: Pete Johnson, Dale Dobson, Mark Martinson, David Nuuhiwa and Steve Bigler. All but Dobson on shortboards.

Dobson’s waves in the finals were a study in complexity. Everything conceivable within the space of a short ride was crammed into his performance: extended left-go-right takeoffs into the curl; quick, effortless bottom turns; driving climbs and drops; perfectly timed noseriding (something the shortboard had virtually eliminated from the day’s competition). Judge Mike McLellan, sitting on the cliffs, almost gave Dobson the only perfect 20-point wave of the day, but ended up giving him two 19’s. David Nuuhiwa also earned a 19-pointer on a wave that should have smothered him three or four times, including one cutback that was impossible to make (until he had done it).

It was close. Nuuhiwa surfed stronger in the finals than at any other time in the contest, which is the mark of a real champion. But Dobson also turned in his best. Pete Johnson surfed consistently well, picking up 16 to 18 points on almost every wave. Bigler was smooth, solid, and quick. Martinson, a little weaker than earlier, nonetheless did well, except for one swim that cost him valuable time.

It seemed that Nuuhiwa, with his reputation as well as his excellent performance, would edge out Dobson. But when the trophies were handed out in the late afternoon, Dobson took home the prize. David, smiling, congratulates Dale, and it’s over.

The group scatters. The field on the cliff is scattered with blowing papers and hurried steps. Engines heave to a start, gears whirr, doors slam and boards and racks meet and more engines chug into life. Four or five surfers are out on the waves, different now without the megaphone of competition placed over every movement.

As demonstrated here in Santa Cruz, the new 4A classification stands now as the pinnacle of surfing achievement. At present, there is nothing beyond this select category. It is as professional a classification as a surfer can find himself in. Meanwhile, Dale Dobson has won a good, clean and popular victory. He has done it with a conventional board. But something stirs here at Rivermouth. Something besides the blowing papers and light words tossed on the late afternoon wind. Dobson’s win over the shortboard is pyrrhic. He has won the battle; he may lose the war.

1968 Santa Cruz AAAA

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests