2004 - 25th Annual Wavecrest
By 1961 Greg Noll had been making surfboards for almost a decade. In the early 50's he hung around Dale Velzy's shop watching the craft of shaping boards and eventually showing that he had the skills to be a master shaper himself. He created surf films (The Search for Surf series) and opened Greg Noll
Surfboards, first in Manhattan Beach then in his better known Hermosa Beach location. His Hermosa shop was located on Pacific Coast Highway and Pier Avenue. This was just across from Pier Avenue School where he and the other film producers of the era appeared. That group included Bruce Brown, Bud Browne, Walt Phillips, John Severson and others that regularly sold out to crowds of teenage surfers. By 1961 Greg had been surfing the big winter swells on Oahu's North Shore for several seasons. Greg's reputation as a big wave rider and his knowledge of how the big wave boards should be designed resulted in his boards being the most popular among big wave riders. These waves were awesome in size and only a handful of men rode them and even fewer had the skill to shape the boards for those huge waves.
Sixties era surfing was synonymous with Greg Noll surfboards because of the impact Greg had on surfing. He was a larger than life image that has not faded. The legend lives on in the stories that surfers tell. This years Wavecrest poster recreates that Hermosa Beach shop on P.C.H. and shows Greg beside a 1934 Ford Woodie.
We can take PayPal, Visa or MasterCard or a personal check made payable
to: |
Last Updated: April 16, 2008
© 2003 Wavecrest Woodies
The master of the "Big Gun" was Greg Noll as a rider and as the artist who created the equipment he and so many of the others rode. His Hermosa Shop could not keep up with the demand for Greg Noll
surfboards so Greg built the first factory dedicated to surfboard making in the industry. This one facility handled creating blanks, shaping, glassing and polishing the finished board.