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academia and surfing

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Aikau, Eddie

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Alexandre, João (Dapin)

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Alvarez, Pepe

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Andaman Islands

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Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

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Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

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Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

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Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

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Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Mainland America's first major surfing competition, held sporadically in Southern California between 1928 and 1941. The debut Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships (PCSRC) took place at Corona del Mar, next to a seawall that would soon be built into the southern arm of Newport Harbor. The event was organized in part by pioneering California surfer Tom Blake, under the auspices of the Corona del Mar Surfboard Club. It was a one-day contest, held on August 5. "Fifteen surfboard artists have signed up," the 

 reported in its preevent coverage, "some from as far away as San Francisco." (Top-billed entrant Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii was a no-show.)

The first PCSRC involved both paddling and wave-riding. Entrants lined up with their boards on the beach, and at the sound of a firing pistol ran into the water, paddled 500 yards out to a buoy, turned for shore, and rode a wave to a finish marker on the beach. Surfers were eliminated over the course of a few rounds. The contest had been well-promoted, and several hundred spectators were on hand, along with the local press corps, including a newsreel team. Blake later recalled that the surf was about head-high. Along with Kahanamoku, Blake had been touted as the man to watch, and at the start of the race he ran to the water's edge with a 15-foot, 115-pound semihollow paddleboard, then surprised everyone by turning back to get his 9'6" wave-riding board. He then placed the smaller board atop the deck of his paddleboard and set out after the other contestants, already 50 yards distant. Paddling his sandwiched boards past the entire field, Blake discarded the paddleboard after rounding the buoy, and moved into the surf zone on his 9'6" to wait for a wave. Some of the other surfers caught up—Gerald Vultee, soon to become one of the nation's top aircraft designers, in fact rode a wave before Blake, but angled to the left and lost momentum—but Blake was first to the beach. Later that day he also won the 440-yard paddleboard race. Other attractions in the 1928 event included canoe tilting and an ocean lifesaving demonstration.

In years to come, the PCSRC were sometimes referred to as the Southern California Surfing Championships. The event was moved to San Onofre after a dredging project begun at Newport Harbor in 1935 compromised the surf at Corona Del Mar. After the move, the number of contestants rose to nearly 50 (all from California), and the rules and scoring system were overhauled. Two buoys were set up, one outside the surf line and another near the beach and about 50 yards to the north of the first buoy. At a signal, everyone began to surf; contestants received a point every time they were able to complete a ride from south of the outside buoy to north of the inner buoy. The event lasted for about two hours. A photograph in John "Doc" Ball's seminal 

 book shows a phalanx of surfers riding the same wave during the 1940 PCSRC, all angling for the finish buoy. "Here are 17 men hell-bent for a trophy," Ball wrote in a caption. "The boards fly and they pile up in droves, but somehow out of the mess comes the new champ."

The PCSRC was held nine times between 1928 and 1941, at which point it was canceled after America's entry into World War II; four-time winner Pete Peterson was the event's dominant surfer. Winners of the Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships:

1928: Tom Blake
1929: Keller Watson
1932: Pete Peterson
1934: Gardner Lippincott
1936: Pete Peterson
1938: Pete Peterson
1939: Lorrin Harrison
1940: Cliff Tucker
1941: Pete Peterson

Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships

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