Surfing Survivors

by Corky Carroll

​I have lived a relatively long life, zeroing in on my 76th birthday on September 29th.  (I put in the date just in case some of you nice readers might wanna send presents, cash or baked goods.).  In terms of being a surfer I am an old dude, almost always the oldest person in the lineup when I paddle out.  I feel pretty good to have made it this far, many of my good pals haven’t.

 But there are dudes way older than me that are still around and a big part of the surf culture.  It is with respect to them that I offer up this week’s ink and tell you about a few of them that I can call pals.
 
The first would be Walter “the Godfather” Hoffman.  Born in 1931 and still dropping in on sizeable waves.  Walter was one of the early big wave surfers in the 1950’s, part of the crew that hung out at Makaha.  This included George Downing, Buzzy Trent and Peter Cole.  He is also the owner of Hoffman Fabrics in Mission Viejo.  They supply the surf world with almost all the fabric used for shirts, shorts and all sorts of other surfwear.  One of the largest fabric companies on the planet.  If you are wearing a Hawaiian shirt there is a better than average chance that is Hoffman fabric on ya.  
 
Not only is Walter himself a surf world “biggie,” but his whole family rocks the planks.  His daughter, Joyce Hoffman, is a multi-time Women’s World Champion.  His late brother “Flippy” pioneered “tow-in” surfing way back in the 1960’s.  His son in law is the renowned Herbie Fletcher, surf star in his own right and father of Christian and Nathan Fletcher who are both world class wave masters. 
 
Next up I’d like to mention Bob “Ole” Olsen.  This dude is 94 and not only still surfing but also still shaping great surfboards.  I got my very first “team” surfboard from him back in 1960 when he had a shop in Sunset Beach and rode for him again in 1963, along with Mickey Munoz, when he opened up in Seal Beach and partnered with Hobie Alter.  I have always loved to include Ole in my rant about how back in the early days everybodys name ended in either a “y” or “ie.”  Think about it.....  Hobie, Ole, Gordie, Wardy, Dewey, a host of Mickeys, Velzy, Corky (ok, I had to do it.) and so on.   
 
There is more to me including Ole in this.  Decades ago he moved to Maui and set up shop and home in Lahaina.  He has become a huge part of the fabric of the surfing community over there, even hosting a longboard surfing event every year.  As you can probably guess by now, he lost both his home and his surfboard shop in the recent fire.  There is a “go fund me” set up to try and help him get back on his feet.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/yx9vc8-aloha-ole-fund.  I am sure he and his wife Beverly would appreciate any help you might wanna send their way.

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Have you ordered your Corkasso Original yet?

Another geezerly dude who is a HUGE part of our surfing culture is the infamous Dick Metz.  “Dick a doo doo” turns 94 in early September.  His story is a book, but I will try to give you the cliff notes.  He was born in Laguna Beach and his dad ran a restaurant.  One of his childhood beach playmates was Shirley Temple.  The guy has been like the total Romeo his entire life, so I would not be surprised if there wasn’t some hand holding going on there.  
 
Dick partnered up with Hobie back in the 1950’s and has been a major part of the Hobie empire ever since.  He opened the Hobie Surf Shop in Hawaii in the early 1960’s, the scene of one of my first surf shop jobs (closing time sweeper).  
Of great note is his involvement in Bruce Brown’s epic surf film, the “Endless Summer.”  Dick was the blueprint.  In 1958 he jumped on a freighter and spent the next three years traveling around the world in search of surf.  His adventures in Tahiti and Africa laid the groundwork for Bruce Brown to follow that path. The highlight of the movie being the “discovery” of the legendary “perfect wave” at Cape St Francis.  The location of which was passed along to Bruce from Dick.  See, there is a little-known fact I bet you didn’t know.  You get that kind of stuff here folks, stick with me.
 
Today Dick is the main energy behind the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente and splits his time between Laguna Beach and Ketchum, Idaho.  I think he is still a member of the San Onofre Surf Club too.  
 
My wife, the extremely pretty Raquel, just looked this over and her smug comment was, “Look at these guys in their 90’s still rockin’.  I don’t want to hear any more of your whining about aches and pains.  Get off your fat behind and go surfing.”  Humph!!!