WATCH: ONE MORE GREAT THING ABOUT GEORGE DOWNING

George Downing didn't keep every surfboard he ever owned, but he kept a lot of them. His very first, a horrifying crayon-shaped solid redwood plank, purchased for $4.80—George held onto that one. Same with "Pepe," the hot curl Downing took with him when he sailed from Honolulu to California in 1947. Same with "Rocket," a gorgeous balsa javelin with three redwood stringers, the Adam of big-wave gun...