Foyld is a nice old man. I met Foyld a few weeks ago, when I was at San' O, getting ready to surf. I saw this old guy, walking up the beach, carrying this huge long board with him. The board towered over him and he is not that small, maybe around 5'9" or 5'10". He looks like he is 65 years old, a bit balded but still have some hair left. Looked just like your good old grandpa, minus the big beer belly. I walked by and said hi. He gave me a happy surfer smile and we started talking. I found out his surfboard is 11 foot long. Mine is only 9 and I thought my board was a boat already. He said he used to surf on a 9 foot longboard. As he got older, he does not paddle as good anymore so he switched over to a 10 foot long and now he is a on his 11 foot baby. But still surfing.
He said he is from sunny beautiful San Diego. I asked when he started surfing and he said he started when he was 6 or 7 years old and he is now 68. That means he start surfing when it was 1940! Wow, even before the war. He said back then, people did not have surfboard like we all do now. So they would go to the beach, carry a bunch of long silk pillow cases. They hold the pillow cases opened, ran against the wind, try to trap as much air as they could, tied them up and tossed the air packed cases over the incoming waves. Then they all jumped into the water, each grabbed a pillow case, wrapped it around their chest and start riding the waves. Just like bogey boarding we do now. So they rode silky pillow cases on beach breaks, cool! Each incoming wave would pick them up and plunged them straight down into the sand. They would tumbling head down, rolled around in the water, got up, shake the sand out of their hair, their nose, their ears and proceed to get right back to ocean to catch another one!
We started talking about surfboards and glass and epoxy and carbon fiber..So he said, back then, they did not have that many choices. He said people surfed on long balsa wooden boards that weighted a ton. When his brothers came home from the war, a few years later foam boards came out and it was a big deal. They all got foam surfboards and that's when he started got seriously into surfing. And it has been a non stop journey. At that point, I was itching to get in the water so I said goodbye to Foyld. I walked away, headed down the beach. I turned my head around, there he was, standing, watching the people catching waves, smiling happy face. I looked at him again and thought to myself, man, what a nice man and a great surfing history. You know, I really hope that I will be healthy and able to surf like Foyld when I am 68. Long live surfing.
He said he is from sunny beautiful San Diego. I asked when he started surfing and he said he started when he was 6 or 7 years old and he is now 68. That means he start surfing when it was 1940! Wow, even before the war. He said back then, people did not have surfboard like we all do now. So they would go to the beach, carry a bunch of long silk pillow cases. They hold the pillow cases opened, ran against the wind, try to trap as much air as they could, tied them up and tossed the air packed cases over the incoming waves. Then they all jumped into the water, each grabbed a pillow case, wrapped it around their chest and start riding the waves. Just like bogey boarding we do now. So they rode silky pillow cases on beach breaks, cool! Each incoming wave would pick them up and plunged them straight down into the sand. They would tumbling head down, rolled around in the water, got up, shake the sand out of their hair, their nose, their ears and proceed to get right back to ocean to catch another one!
We started talking about surfboards and glass and epoxy and carbon fiber..So he said, back then, they did not have that many choices. He said people surfed on long balsa wooden boards that weighted a ton. When his brothers came home from the war, a few years later foam boards came out and it was a big deal. They all got foam surfboards and that's when he started got seriously into surfing. And it has been a non stop journey. At that point, I was itching to get in the water so I said goodbye to Foyld. I walked away, headed down the beach. I turned my head around, there he was, standing, watching the people catching waves, smiling happy face. I looked at him again and thought to myself, man, what a nice man and a great surfing history. You know, I really hope that I will be healthy and able to surf like Foyld when I am 68. Long live surfing.
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