Just about every top surfer who grew up in Orange County has gone to Hawaii at one time or another, most many times.
Hawaii is where the big surf is and has always been a kind of “proving grounds” for the best surfers from all over the world. Nowadays, there are other big wave locations surfers can get to, but the North Shore of Hawaii is still ground zero when it comes to seeing if ya got it or ya don’t.
While just about everybody goes over there, most come back. Some might stay longer than others. Herbie Fletcher is one Orange County dude who comes to mind. He stayed a number of years and made a great name for himself in all kinds of waves, and also for pioneering the use of jet skis for giant surf.
But he eventually came back to the OC and raised a trio of great surfers in their own right: Christian, Nathan and Greyson.
A couple of guys stand out who started out their surfing careers here in the OC and then went to the North Shore to hone their skills and made a life over there. One is the legendary Billy Hamilton.
Bill grew up in South Laguna Beach and was one of my best pals when we were teenagers and surfing in the junior divisions of the contests up and down the coast. We went to many of them together.
I think our surfing together was good for both of us, as we were kinda opposite as far as our approach. Billy was ultra smooth and went as far as to make sure even his fingers were pointed in the perfect aesthetic positions. He would study photos of style masters such as Phil Edwards and Skip Frye in an effort to perfect his form. I was more flamboyant, was hell-bent on maneuvers and doing as many of them as I could. I was more successful in the contests, but Bill had the better style.
When he went to Hawaii, it all came together for him. His great style, probably the best surfing style ever, truth be known, met up with the maneuvers, and he was just magnificent to watch. As he was hitting his stride in surfing, he met a little kid swimming in front of his house. They became pals and the kid introduced Bill to his mom, Joanne.
Things went well, and the two got married, and Billy adopted the boy. His name is Laird. Laird Hamilton has gone on to become one of the greatest huge wave surfers and innovators off all time. Tow-in surfing, stand up pPaddleboards and foil boards, all more or less came from Laird. The dude is in another universe all his own.
Another great OC surfer who transplanted to the North Shore is Craig “Owl” Chapman. Owl and his older brother, Gary, got their surfing starts in Newport Beach in the mid 1960s and were part of the infamous Newport Beach Surfing Association. Some of the top young surfers on the coast lived in Newport Beach at that time: Herbie Torrens, Walter Vizolay, Davie Abbott, Roger Yates, George Weaver and others.
When Owl got to the North Shore, it was like that was where he was always meant to be. He fit in perfectly and Dick Brewer became his mentor. In the late 1960s, he and Huntington Beach’s Sam Hawk solidified themselves as serious hot surfers on one big afternoon at the Pipeline. After that, they were two of the hottest young up-and-comers over there.
One of my favorite Owl stories was one day when I was out surfing a fairly big day at Sunset Beach. I was on a wave and Sam Hawk was paddling out. All of a sudden, he started waving and hooting, I thought at me. I was kinda in shock as I was more or less not somebody that Sam Hawk would hoot for. We didn’t travel in the same circles.
As it turns out, Owl had swung around late on the other side of the peak and pulled into the barrel, trying to “back door” this huge peak. He didn’t make it and ate it like a rat. I looked around trying to figure out what I was doing to get the hoot from Sam, but never saw Owl, he had taken gas before I looked. So, I am paddling back out, all happy that I got the hoot from Sam Hawk when a pal of mine clued me in on what Owl had done and the fact that Sam was hooting for him, not for me. Oh well.
Both Billy and Owl became great surfboard shapers and have made a life for themselves in Hawaii. Both are among the greatest surfers ever and are super respected as locals.
OC kids made good.