Muirhead, 1962, p. 119. Fred has it in October, but it was November 1957. The first year, a handyman from Colorado won a thousand bucks (world champ CJ Hobgood placed second). He was named one of the top 20 surfers in the world by the first SURFER magazine Poll in the early 1960's. His was what you would call a "big name." But he was not comfortable in the limelight and kept to himself. He began surfing at 18 after moving to La Jolla, and quickly climbed the local hierarchy to become a founding member of the notorious Windansea Surf Club. His impact was . Id done everything I wanted to do there., Its funny, I saw him in Hawaii, recalled Van Dyke, pinning the year as around 1976, , and he had this board that looked like a replica of his old Waimea guns. , who rode more waves than anyone that day because of an almost inhuman aggressiveness, took off way inside on a 20-foot-plus wave and Van Dyke on his outside rode extremely high and made the wave as Paul souped out at the bottom. We run until the last man in surfing and a Surfival Champion is crowned. But, when the surf comes up in the wintertime, the build-up at Waimea is both rapid and sizable. These were: George Downing. All rights reserved. Email to Malcolm, May 10, 2011. One summer we got kicked out of three shops in three months because of the mess we made. Tom Curren is the son of an earlier surfing legend, Pat Curren, who was one of the pioneers in the modern age of the sport. We were the first [of our group] in the water. Like many surfers of that era, Curren had a style all his own. I would stop the car to look at Waimea Bay. A wave which is only 8 to 10 feet when it hits the reef may rise to 25 feet in a few seconds, wrote Desmond Muirhead, . (1963). At 16, he dropped out of high school. Except that for Harry, who had been overlooked all those years, it was closure. The big guns surfer was 47. 78-79. At 18, two years after dropping out of high school, he moved to La Jolla and began surfing; he later became an original member of the La Jolla-based Windansea Surf Club, the loudest and rowdiest group of its kind in the nation. His father - Pat Curren - is a big wave surfing pioneer. Bruce Brown quoted. And while he didnt have much of a local connection to the San Clemente or Dana Point surf scenes, Currens impact can be directly linked to the heavy-water strategies applied today by someone such as Greg Long. But, interestingly, his presence in Hawaiian surf was at an end. Known for being magnetic but near mute at times, Pat built a reputation for his quirky sense of humor and often mystifying personality. They discovered that by taking off in front, Van Dyke wrote in his autobiography, where the bowl, , their eyes glaze over and they just look into the sky and shake their heads., There was fierce competition, wrote Noll, on a friendly basis, of course, among the big-wave riders: Peter Cole, Currens deal was being the taciturn King of The Bay, , as he would later be called. To me, quantity means nothing at Waimea. Father of three-time world champ Tom Curren, Pat's star burned brightest in the late 1950s and early '60s before he became more reclusive, largely shying away from a much-deserved spotlight. Just tore the insides out of it. Oh youve read of the bull sharks, that just ate a beautiful dolphin very near where famous surf journalist Nick Carroll lives and in front of families and lifesavers. Jenkins, 1995, p. 81. Rest In Peace, Amen., great surf legend but not such a great father. A little bit of wind coming out of the valley, pushing the waves back, holding them up a bit.. His son is 3-times ASP World Surf Champion Tom Curren & Joe Curren is also a notable surfer. [7] " In World War II guys started with balsa-redwood boards," recalled Curren. 10/02/2023. As Accin. Not only did he ride them, but he made them. Van Dyke places Meade Hall in 1957. Mickey Muoz quoted. Very purposeful. , Curren said of his board making days in Hawaii. We have an opportunity to lift up and support someone who has devoted his entire life to being the very thing others have commodified, and packaged, and sold, and made millions feeding to the surf-hungry masses. Mckenzie Bowden Cops A Flight On Kelly Slaters Shiny Noggin, You Can Spray Miley Cyrus With A Hose And The WSL Still Wont Tell You How Big Your Potentially Record-Breaking Wave Is, Joyride: Testing A Holy Mans Pagan Craft. Make sure there is pathways, make sure they [lifesavers] can still see the water and see their flagged areas, he said. Christianity is an important part of his life, largely thanks to the influence of his mother. Curren was one of the first members of the Windansea Surf Club,which would go on to become one of the most infamous surf clubs in existence. DP Times Daily He has kept his life simple, focusing on the things that count. Noll was always the stoker, the initiator, and Stange, Mike went with me, continued Noll. the sporting world right from her childhood. , quietly going about his interests, rarely mentioned as a popular surfer, going virtually unnoticed in non-descript surf, and then suddenly appearing on the biggest monsters Waimea Bay could conjure up. My husband, Pat Curren, is in it and he would love to take a look. Used to drive me insane. Then I stopped, turned around and looked across the lot. Pat got the Meade Hall idea from the old King Arthur books, recalled surfer and friend Fred Van Dyke. Much like his son Tom would grow up to do, he avoided the limelight, preferring simply to tread quietly and surf loudly. Warshaw, Encyclopedia of Surfing, 2003, p. 144. It was like a treasure trove to me, just studying this portrait of self-assuredness. Pat's surfing experience speaks for itself. How Do John Florence And Gabe Medina Both Lose At Full-Throttle Sunset? Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Bruce Brown A Mission Seaside, San Diego, child, he was there on the day in 1957 Oahu's Waimea Bay . He didnt care about the act itself, called it overrated, no big deal, but, being a history teacher, it bothered him to hear the inaccurate versions go into the books. Great sense of humor to go along with those big sad Buster Keaton eyes. All that and a great sense of humor too! Jenkins, 1995, pp. Does anybody teach anybody? It just isnt that easy. All the time, I was trying to build up my own confidence. We chatted for a bit and, as she walked away, I thought I heard her say, You should bring the board over to our car. The morning started with the surf just barely big enough to ride, and then by later afternoon, waves 25 feet and higher were hitting, with more water in them and more size than I have seen since Ive surfed. All the great spots that are still the great spots today were established within our first four years in the. Inside this horse racing betting page, you'll find a full breakdown of the event. Copyright a360media 2023. He tied these to the top of his battered car and secured his board to the new rack. Well, Currens the guy who makes the rhino guns, Doyle discovered that, what really set Curren apart, and won him the admiration of the others, was that he made the most beautiful, streamlined surfboards any of us had ever seen. He thrived throughout his career, yet managed to keep his feet on the ground. Others were making nice all-around boards, but Pat made the stiletto, specifically for Waimea, where all you want to do is make it alive from Point A to B.. It was the only surf trip the father and his two sons would make together.Jake Howard is a local surfer and freelance writer who lives in San Clemente. Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. RIP, A Warriors Death: Nazare Costs Surfing Community Majorly as Fans Come Apart from that the rules were confusing and the game play was boring. Presented by Encyclopedia of Surfing @encyclopedia_of_surfing . Nearly $100,000 was raised, and Pat was eternally grateful for it, despite his pride. Pat Curren was born circa 1855, at birth place, Pennsylvania, to Cath Curren. SURFERs Newsletter to receive stories like this straight to your inbox. In 1961, he married his wife Jeanie in Hawaii. Curren developed that template through years of big-wave riding, countless wipeouts, who knows how many scars and bruises, endless hours at a drafting table, plus an enormous amount of natural talent., A lot of people dont realize that Pat and Diffenderfer, He didnt want to be, though, Peter Cole, Pat Curren became legendary on the North Shore, From the way people talked about Pat Curren, wrote Mike Doyle, , I imagined him to be the greatest surfer in the world, a magnificent physical specimen, with an electrifying personality. He was a man of few words, but was renowned for a wicked sense of humour among those who knew him. He was not, however, interested in any sort of fame. If a guy made some money, hed go out and buy everybody food and drink, and the next day hed be scrounging for a cup of coffee, , building boards for people we knew, Curren recalled. 1950s. Nothing forced, nothing wasted, with Malia Manuel and Morgan Maassen, With only two events locked in and Haleiwa canceled for 2023 the CS. Jenkins, 1995, p. 80. Later I tried to start up some legitimate shops a couple of times, but they never really did much., s recollection, they did well because Windansea, Curren was a little older than most of the coast, He molded it into a state-of-the-art lifestyle,, , probably the shittiest car of all time, and the cops gave him a bunch of crap about having the front windshield knocked out. While surfers around the world were glued to the best Eddie Akau Invitational ever, being streamed from massive Waimea Bay a couple of weeks back, one of the pioneer surfer/shapers who put the Bay on the map was quietly breathing his last. In 1957, he paddled out at Waimea on a big day along with a group of other surfers. Pat Curren, a big-wave pioneer on the North Shore, and father to 3x World Champ Tom Curren, has passed away. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Female surfer controversially cut from world tour flaunts revenge film backed by activewear giant Lululemon, Were all familiar with the way the WSL rules bend with the breeze and under the weight of sponsors cash!, Worlds greatest athlete Kelly Slater, slammed by transgender surf icon as part of the far right going mental, shines in exhilarating video edit made by teenage surf fan! By the time Pat left Jeanine, herself a surfer and devout Christian, Tom Curren was already a winner. The Islands were too crowded, Well, it was gettin crowded, he ellaborated to another interviewer over 30 years later, and I was getting ready to do something else. Do yourself a favor and head on over to the Encyclopedia of Surfing to learn more about the imprint Current left on the surf culture at large. He and Jeanie divorced and Pat spent five years in Costa Rica before moving to the southern tip of Baja in the late 80s. Interacting, variously, with Pat Curren, Danny Fowley, and Mike Diffenderfer (among others), Fleet and Al have been favored collaborators of the cognoscenti. The irony was, at the end of the first day, when we were all sitting together rehashing our rides, everybody wondered, Why the hell have we been sitting on the beach for the past three years? It wasnt a huge break that day. Soon, it was all he needed. Jenkins, 1995, p. 79. Pat had 3 siblings: Margaret Curren and 2 other siblings. Straight to your business like many surfers of that era, Curren had a style his... Out at Waimea on a big wave surfing pioneer, preferring simply to tread quietly surf! 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