The Weber quotes below originally ran in SURFER ("Personalities," February 1964; "Inside Waimea," January 1966), Surf Guide ("Malibu: of Characters and Waves", November 1964), and Petersen's Surfing ("Profiles of the Experts," Surfing Yearbook #3, 1966). 


As a youngster, I spent my summers fishing off the Manhattan Beach pier. It was during these summers that I watched with envy the old-timers (Barney Google, Bob Hogan, Tom Rice, Bob Simmons, Dale Velzy, and others) perform on the waves. I bought my first board from Bev Morgan when I was in fourth grade. It was a Simmons, and one of the first all-balsa boards. It had a concave bottom with dual fins and round spooned nose with slots. I got some tips from the old-timers, [but it was mostly] trial and error. I taught myself to surf.


For years, Mickey Munoz and I were the gremlins there at Malibu; we were the ones who were always there late, hovering over the fire, waiting for the last wave. Of the younger kids, it seemed that we were the only ones who were surfing consistently. I remember once when I had chicken pox and couldn't go to school. As long as you had a single pock on your body they wouldn't let you back in. So I kept four or five pox going and had one heck of a vacation, riding Malibu every day for about three weeks.


At one time Tom Morey was one of the very best—even above the Guayole Kid [Phil Edwards]. At that time I would have matched Morey against anyone. He was fantastic. [A little later] I thought Dora was better than anyone, and that includes Edwards. We rode those flat-deck round-bottomed boards, and all we did was shuffle up to the nose. Or near the nose, anyway. Then I remember seeing Dora one day at Malibu putting one foot over the other—crossing feet—which got me pretty excited. It took me a month or so to learn how to do it. Dora was really great. He got the most out of every wave, no matter how it broke.


I was out the first time Waimea was ever ridden—a 14-foot day back in 1956—and I was unimpressed. There were about 10 or 15 of us from the South Bay, and conditions were good at Waimea. The next time I rode Waimea was four years later, during the winter of 1960-'61, and two of those days the surf was 20 feet and bigger. I enjoyed Waimea because of the size, but I didn’t think this spot was as good as it's cracked up to be. Basically, Waimea is very easy to ride. When you take off, it looks like a 14- or 16-foot wave, and you seldom look back. That’s one of the reasons I’m disappointed in Waimea—because you don’t see the full height of the wave as you're riding. By the time you drop in, the wave has hit the blowhole [boil] and has jumped up to 20 feet or over. You get a sensation of height when you first start to drop, and that’s the hardest part— getting halfway or three-quarters down [the face] and into trim. But from then on, Waimea is an open door. Other big-wave breaks are more thrilling because the wave is already big when you first see it, and you might get a full 60 seconds of fear before you take off. And at other breaks, after you take off, you’re not sure at exactly what the wave is going to do. But at Waimea, if you make the drop, you’ve got an 80 to 90 percent chance of making the wave. There are no surprises after the takeoff.


Most surfers agree that there are two predominant styles in surfing. The stylist concentrates on exactness and control. He retains control throughout the ride and purposely limits his actions. The hot-dog surfer remains the master. He is an accomplished small-wave rider. Being able to maneuver quickly and easily on a small wave betters his chances of becoming a small rider in all types of surf. A hot-dogger develops his reactions until they are almost instinctive, and because of this he is able to ride any type of surf with greater confidence.


Two stand out in my mind. The first was in 1958 when I first attempted and succeeded in hot-dogging on big waves in Hawaii. The second was when I was riding Malibu early one morning when a south swell was running and pulled out of a wave, facing the end of the Malibu pier. Other great experiences include riding Lunada Bay a few years ago on the largest swell I’ve ever seen on this coast, and also riding a wave at Mantachen Bay in Mexico for over a mile.

Dewey Weber

Subscribe or Login

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests

Surfboards