Dewey Weber Classic

Dewey Weber Longboard Classic to hit Doheny this weekend
September 27th, 2007 · Post a Comment · posted by lconnelly

In the latest proof that longboarding is making a strong comeback, a competition starting Friday will showcase classic surfing skills on the soft waves of Doheny State Beach.
The three-day Dewey Weber Longboard Classic will feature raffle drawings, prizes, and of course, surfing.

It kicks off at 3:30 p.m. for competitors 12 and under, with all ages competing during the rest of the weekend. A Saturday night dinner and beach party will kick off at 5:30 p.m., and an awards ceremony will be held Sunday afternoon.
Charley Waite surfs last year's contest. Photo by Jim Coshand
Dewey Weber started manufacturing surfboards in the ’60s, and at the time was one of the largest in the world.

Weber has had such an impact on the surfing world that Surfing Magazine dubbed him the “father of Modern Surfing.”

The Dewey Weber Classic started in 1981 at Manhattan Beach Pier, when hundreds of surfers showed up to pay tribute to the classic style of surfing. The event continued until 1986, but faded out because of the difficulty of holding a surf contest.

It was resurrected in 2001 by Weber’s son, Shea, at the “Boneyard” surf break near the jetty at Doheny.
For Shea Weber, who runs the family store in San Clemente, the contest is an extension of what he gets to do on a daily basis.
Mike Scordia hangs ten at Doheny. Photo by Jim Coshand
“He was such an amazing guy, and such an awesome dad,” he said. “Even on my worst day, I feel like the luckiest person on the planet. We like to share our stoke and our philosophy with everybody, and it’s just a great way to do it.”

Longboarders will be traveling from as far as Japan, and this year’s contest is dedicated to Shu Oikawa, a team rider from Japan who passed away earlier this year from cancer.

Weber was born in 1938 and died in 1993. He was not only the typical Southern California surfer, but also a great wrestler and a national yo-yo champion, according to the Dewey Weber website.

He was one of the first Hermosa Beach surfers to build a foam board.

While the rest of the world saw Dewey Weber as a surfing icon, Shea, 36, described his father as “a big kid trapped in a man’s body.”

“He wasn’t the type of person that tooted his own horn, or boastful. People thought he was a surfing god. I never knew it as a kid. I just knew him as a really great dad,” Shea said. “He never was the kind of guy who tried to gain advantage because he was a famous surfer.”

dewey-weber1.jpgHe was a man with great energy, a very charismatic surfer who people were drawn to, Shea Weber said.

Longboards took a backseat in the ’60s after shortboards started hitting the scene. In the early ’80s, the longer boards started making a comeback. In the past few years, the number of longboard competitions along the coast has seen an increase.

“Because of his passion for the longboard style and attitude, Dewey decided to reunite the top competitive surfers from the heyday of longboard surfing,” said Denny Michael, board member for Doheny Longboard Surfing Association.

“It’s fantastic for us,” Michael said of the contest being held at Doheny. “The guys and girls are doing incredible things at this contest. Some of this stuff, you just go ‘oh my God,’ what are they doing?”

DID YOU KNOW: Dewey Weber was known has a hotdogger (a ’60s term) because he was very innovative deweymalibu.jpgwith his moves. Dewey was doing things on boards that others at the time could not even figure out. Extremely quick on his feet and always in motion, he could walk from one end of a board to another in very little time - this earned him the nick name “little man on wheels”- Denny Michael

CONTEST COST:
Entry fee is $95 for ages 13 and over, $85 for 12 and under. The fees include the contest entry, two lunch tickets and one Saturday night dinner.

Type of moves you’ll see:
The traditional ‘hanging ten’ which has the toes hanging over the nose of the board, and newer moves such as the “hanging heels,” where surfers turn around backwards and hand their heels over the nose.