Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Cowabunga! I have heard my surfer friends use this term but I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant. My closest guess is that it means something is not just awesome, but surpasses awesome all the way to becoming totally awesome.
I think that can be used to describe the compact, but full of life, California Surf Museum in Oceanside.
I am not qualified to write this story as an insider, having only bodysurfed. However, by association I have been exposed to the surfing culture since I was in junior high.
What I do know about the surfers is they are a close-knit dedicated group who sometimes face obstacles and overcome them to pursue their sport.
My brother, who taught me to bodysurf, was also a board surfer who braved sleeping in a room crawling with cockroaches one summer in Hawaii just for the sake of being close to a good surfing spot.
My cousin Mark left the cool waters of Santa Cruz after high school graduation to surf the warm Hawaiian waters. Thirty-five years later Mark is still surfing and is still in Hawaii.
One of my best friends in high school, Julie Preston, was of an elite group of girl surfers in the seventies. Frequently, she drove fifty miles from her home in Pine Valley to surf the San Diego waters.
She was so very proud of what she called her “surfer’s knees,” which were bumps just below her knees that looked painful but weren’t. She further explained to me that her surfer’s knees set her apart from the girls who just claimed to be surfers. I was convinced – you can’t fake a surfer’s knee, that’s for sure.
Surfers like my brother, cousin Mark and friend Julie would enjoy the California Museum of Surfing. However, non-surfers like me will also enjoy it.
A current exhibit, “Tom Keck: EXPOSED – Documenting surfing since the late 1950s,” is soon coming down to make way for a new exhibit, “100 Years of Surfing,” which they hope will be completed around the end of March.
According to writer Chris Ahrens (The Coast News, 4/18/04), “As evidenced by cave paintings in places like Chan Chan, Peru, surfing began at least 4,000 years ago.” I guess that is why they call Duke Kahanamoku the “Father of Modern Surfing.”
Duke, a Hawaiian, was born in 1890 and inducted in the International Surfing Hall of Fame. He also won Olympic gold medals in swimming, taking one in 1912 and two in 1920. A large photograph of Duke flanked by two surfboards is impressive.
The museum packs a lot into their cozy quarters. Look to the ceiling and along the far wall, where you will find a vast collection of historic surfboards. They are on the lookout for more. See the current issue of their newsletter “Outside!” on the Web site for a list of boards needed to complete the collection.
Some of the boards are unique because of the materials used for construction; others, like a 155-pound surfboard owned by Eddie McBride, are a curiosity because of who surfed on them.
A surfboard made out of agave, or century plant, is a rarity. When balsa wood was unavailable due to WWII needs, a man named Loren Harrison decided to fashion one out of agave. It was a difficult task, so it didn’t really catch on.
One exhibit explained how vintage Hawaiian surfboards were made. They used three types of wood: Wili-wili, ulu and koa. The board was smoothed by coral and pumice and stained with the root of the ti plant or the pounded bark of kukui nut. The kukui nut oil was then rubbed into the finish as a waterproofing agent.
The historic “Jet Board,” which was the brainchild of Alfred Bloomingdale (of department store fame), was created in the 1960s. The hull was made by an aeronautical company called Sargent Fletcher and was driven by a McCullough chainsaw engine.
About 600 to 700 boards were sold for $1,700 each. It is said that Bloomingdale thought of the idea because he liked to surf but didn’t enjoy paddling out to the waves.
The California Surf Museum gift shop includes surfing-related items including t-shirts, books and videos. I bought my brother a bumper sticker that reads: “Surfing Since the ’70s.” They also stock maps to surfing spots from the Mexican border up to Ventura County.
In stock is a new book entitled “Surfing in San Diego,” which is part of the prestigious Arcadia Publishing collection of historical books. Museum Acting Director Jane Schmauss is one of the book’s authors and is dedicated to presenting surfing history to the world. She has been with the museum since it opened in 1986.
“More than half the people who come in don’t surf, but they are curious about surfing,” Schmauss commented. “We are about satisfying people’s curiosity and answering questions.”
The museum has a donation box, which also contains bills from foreign countries demonstrating their wide range of appeal. So, come on down, drop something in the box and be entertained by the unique exhibits. Cowabunga, man!
California Surf Museum
223 N. Coast Highway
Oceanside
(760) 721-6876
Open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free admission
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