World Class Surfers Attend 2009 Luau

World Class Surfers Attend 2009 Luau

Hey You Surfing Historians, Dudes, Gidgets, Goofies, Grommets, Groms, Kooks, Regulars, Shubies, Wannabies and other Surfing Interested Individuals…

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Meet Truly World class Surfers!

Really Check these Guys Out!

Come with Questions…they know it all…almost!

See Steve Pezman’s YouTube Invitation to You here or High-Definition here

They come direct to you, courtesy of the Surfing Heritage Foundation!

Famous Surfing Personalities to Appear at the Dana Point Historical Society’s Annual Endless Summer Hawaiian Luau.

Come get autographs and the real skinny on the history of surfing from two world-renowned surfing personalities, Paul Strauch, founding member of the Duke Kahanamoku Surf Club, often traveling with Duke and inventor of the “Strauch Five” surfing maneuver, and Steve Pezman, co- founder and publisher of The Surfer’s Journal, the pre-eminent surfing history publication, various surfing books, and executive producer of The Surfer’s Journal on Outdoor Life Network. Oh, and did we forget to invite you to stay for the great luau food, drink, music, and people?

Paul Strauch, Jr. was an influential surfer of the 1960s who perhaps is best noted for the “Paul Strauch Five” or “Cheater 5” maneuver, described below. He was also one of four riders on the Duke Kahanamoku Surf Team– an awesome honor in itself. ~Malcolm Gault-Williams

“His signature maneuver,” wrote his friend Fred Hemmings, “was to squat low on his board and stretch his left leg straight out in front of his body.”That maneuver came to be known as the “Strauch stretch.” also called a “cheater five.”  Paul did this on 12-foot waves at Sunset. “Think about it. It’s not easy to do on a big wave.”

“I remember seeing him at Sunset,” recalled Gerry Lopez of Strauch, “fading so that he was almost going left, lying down all the way to the bottom and then just doing this huge bottom turn, and walking up.  And this was on a terrible, heavy plank.”

“A lot of people don’t know that Paul Strauch was actually a goofy foot,” Barry Kaniaupuni remembered.  “In fact, he won the Makaha event one year in big surf as a goofy foot.  He was the best surfer in the world.  Nobody else was even close… And his bottom turn was just the most radical.  The most radical!  He had a balsa-redwood that he flipped around like it weighed ten pounds.  I mean, he was the first to go down and really crank a turn, and the way he’d accelerate!  He made that thing talk, play music.”  ~material drawn mostly from the writings of Chris Aherns, courtesy of Malcolm Gault-Williams in Legendary Surfing

Of official note taken from the Surfing Heritage Foundation website, where Paul is a Board member, Paul is a past president of the Hawaii Amateur Surfing Association and founding member of the Duke Kahanamoku Surf Club, often traveling with Duke. His event titles include the ’63 & ‘68 Peruvian International Championships, Hawaii State Surfing Champion, ‘65 & ‘66, ‘69 Makaha International Senior Men’s Champion, ‘82 Hawaii Modern Longboard Men’s Champion, and ‘84 Hawaii Nose-riding Men’s Champion. Paul is currently president of the Hawaiian Surf Club of San Onofre and is vice president at Sign Biz, Inc. in Dana Point, CA.

Steve Pezman, who is a Vice President of the Surfing Heritage Foundation, began surfing in 1957 in Orange County, CA., surfed the 1962-’63 winter season on the North Shore, then returned to California to lifeguard, sail in the merchant marine, build surfboards and co-own Creative Design Surfboards, a Huntington Beach surf shop through the late 1960s. In 1967, Steve began freelance writing for surf magazines, in 1969 becoming associate editor at Petersen’s International Surfing magazine, moved to Surfer magazine as Assoc. Editor in 1970, later that year becoming Publisher and serving in that capacity through 1991.

Debbee and Steve Pezman founded The Surfer’s Journal in 1992. It began as a quarterly and progressed to its current bi-monthly frequency in 2002. The Journal concept is a specialized hybrid, a cross between a book and a magazine, using a higher quality paper and printing, is content driven with restricted availability, and is reader supported (as opposed to advertising), a concept that is unique in the periodical publishing world. This strategy leaves Steve and Debbee free to tell the truth and explore the peripheries while emphasizing purist non-commercial aspects that are at the core of wave riding, according to the magazine’s website.

Steve has also published various surfing books, Book of Waves, Masters of Surf Photography and the Pioneer series of surf photo books. He is executive producer of The Surfer’s Journal on Outdoor Life Network. Steve has helped found various surfing organizations, currently serving on the advisory boards of the Surfrider Foundation and the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA), as well as the Surfing Heritage Foundation. According to the Surfing Walk of Fame, Steve Pezman “is a fixture of the Southern California surfing scene.”

So Dude, come on out and meet Steve and Paul and perhaps other invited surfing legends, Get Stoked, and join the Party Wave at Doheny Beach on Sunday, September 27, 2009 from 2-7pm and otherwise take pleasure in the annual Dana Point Historical Society Endless Summer Hawaiian Luau at Doheny Beach.

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