All quotes below taken from "Man With a Mission: Dale Dobson," an uncredited profile that ran in the August 1968 issue of Surfing magazine, when Dobson was 21. The version has been shortened and edited.


The experimenting is over for me. There is no place to go but up. I have that kind of confidence in my ability. I won’t regress. I’d like to build myself as high [in the ratings] as possible, but I’ll know that point when the time comes. When I’ve achieved what I’ve set out to do, then I want to go back to free surfing.


The toughest part about this year was getting into condition. I mean both physically and mentally, as well as reaching the competitive peak that I needed, to go against the top riders. It was a matter of looking at the competition with a good point of view through a good point of mind. Of course, good waves help too. I'm trying to develop a style and a board that will fit together so that I can do anything want to on a wave, according to how I feel. I want to master noseriding, trimming, and up and down motions, no matter what the wave size.


I consider myself a stylist and prefer to ride medium-size waves. I concentrate on an up-and-down motion, with speed and good turning. The more maneuvers you can pull off the better. As far as big surf goes, that will depend on whether I want the challenge. Right now, I want to concentrate on new ideas, and for this, I feel you need to work with a medium or small wave.


Ever since the Australians put much into the V-bottom, a lot has been achieved in a short span of time. I feel comfortable with this kind of surfing but instead of making a big jump to a small board, I’m working down slowly. I think it’s really important to fully understand the difference in speed, maneuverability, and finesse that occurs between the long and shortboard.


The East Coast kids are still a little behind the rest of the surfing community. However, every time a Westerner goes back there, they learn from his visit. They’re getting better and better. Especially with the new ideas on wave riding and the new board designs. They also have a better attitude toward junky waves. I've been back East three times. On my last trip, I had better and more consistent waves, and more time to ride them. I had a chance to surf a lot of areas that I didn’t have a chance to surf before. Consequently, I also had a chance to see a lot more of their surfers. There are a lot of promising surfers coming up back there.


Butch Van Artsdalen was the first one I really patterned my style after, as far as having control when going either right or left, and switching stance, and thus being able to add more dimension to my riding. Today, I look up to Bob McTavish and Nat Young. They really have a lot of finesse and a very distinctive style. I like Jock Sutherland, David Nuuhiwa, and Corky Carroll, even though they are three radically different surfers.


The future of surfing looks promising. I believe there will be no limit to what will be done on a surfboard or a paipo board in the future. I also believe surfing will last as long as the World Series. However, baseball never really became professional until the public wanted to pay to see the game performed. The public, when told exactly how the game was played, became more interested. I would like to see our sport develop to a point where people will pay to see good surfing competition. I certainly hope that time is not far off, and if it does then the professional surfer will be able to make a good living from the sport.

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