Loading ...Killer Dana was once considered as one of Southern California's premier point break surf spots. Situated along the coastal communities of Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente... Read more
For those of you who live in San Clemente you might have noticed these huge barges with massive boulders out by Seal Rock. What are they there for? I have heard many speculations on what is going on out there, but not one of them is from a reliable source. Anyone with some knowledge of the project please let us know.
I heard that they are building a wave like
Shipsterns in Tasmania! Wouldn’t that be sick!
Jeffrey “Midget” Smith, Legendary Shaper, ASP Judge, Local Surfing Icon, Father & Grandpa passed away on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at the young age of 56. Midget spent his last remaining days surrounded by his loving family, dogs and close friends in the comfort of his home in San Clemente. Midget’s 22 year battle with cancer has sadly come to an end. Midget touched the lives of many in & out of the water during his incredible life. The surfing world has lost a great role model.
For those of you who didn’t know Midget Smith he played a major part in the San Clemente progressive surfing movement. Midget was one of the heavy hitters that frequented the Pier back in the 70’s & 80’s. He had been shaping for over 30 years and for many of today’s top pros along the way: Andy Irons, Occy, Luke Egan, Martin Potter, Dane Kealoha, Ben Bourgeois, Shane Beschen, Danny Fuller, Jesse Merle Jones, Homer Henard, Jim Hogan, Kieran Horn, Omar Etch, Keoni Cuccia, Adam Virs, Aamion Goodwin, Chris and Pat Drummy, Maureen Drummy- Haggar, Sean Haggar, Travis Mellem & the late Jason Bogle are just a few of Midget’s list of pro custom shapes.
Mark Occhilupo’s win at the OP Indo Boat Challenge & Shane Beschen’s win at the WQS at Lowers were two defining moments that highlighted Midget’s love for shaping and surfing as they both rode to victory on Midget’s boards.
Midget has also served as head judge for the ASP North America, Bud Tour, ASP World Longboard Tour, X Games, and National Surf League.
Midget’s work as a judge is respected worldwide, and in his hometown of San Clemente he has long been revered as a surfing legend and mentor to many.
Midget grew up surfing Beach Road & San Clemente Pier in his early days. In his later years he enjoyed surfing out at Middles & Church.
With the San Clemente reefs and beaches as his training ground, the diminutive natural-footer quickly advanced and began a competitive career. And it was during these competitions that the “Midget” moniker came about. “When I was competing, there was another kid named Jeff Smith, so I started going by ‘Midget’,” Smith said.
At a time when modern surfing was in its infancy, Smith was privy to one of the most important eras within the sport: the shortboard revolution. The advent of Alby Falzon’s immortal Morning of the Earth film had surfers around the globe chopping their longboards down in favor of the smaller, more maneuverable shortboards, and overnight, board length shrank from 10 feet to five.
This uprising provided the perfect opportunity for Smith to delve into board making. The enterprising youngster’s first shaping experience involved going out to the backyard, stripping the fiberglass off of his longboard and whittling it down to the new standard—and this was just the beginning.
Upon graduating from San Clemente High School in 1969, Midget went to work at Hobie Surf Shop in Dana Point. It was there, under the tutelage of renowned board maker Terry Martin, that Smith developed his skills as a shaper. Following a brief stint with Natural Design Surfboards, Smith started the Midget Smith Surfboards label in 1972 and quickly cultivated a reputation for crafting some of the best boards in California.
In 1978, Midget Smith opened his own shop in San Clemente.
At the time, amidst the growing number of accolades Smith was collecting as a surfer and shaper, a third passion came along. “I was competing and I used to complain about the judging all the time,” Smith said. “Finally I went, ‘Why am I complaining?’ I didn’t even know what those guys were going through, so I figured I’d try it out. And I had a blast; I loved it.”
Since his first judging experience at 24 years old, Smith has judged for the Western Surfing Association (WSA), the International Surfing Association (ISA), the elite Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and has served as head judge for the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA).
The amount of love and support the community of San Clemente and the surf industry gave to Midget over the years has been overwhelming and touched both Midget and his family very deeply. Our family would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all who supported Midget throughout his battle.
Midget Smith’s love for his friends, family & the sport of surfing will be greatly missed by many but never forgotten.
Details on the location, date, & time for the celebration of his life will be determined over the next couple days. We look forward to celebrating Midget’s amazing life with all who attend.
Information will be posted on http://wsasurf.org/.
Some of the following words were contributed by the SPN & OCR interview.
Ever since Slater won his ninth world title, I have been paying a little more attention to the WQS. I took a look at the rankings, saw who was getting results and who was realizing that they should start working on their marketing skills for the next sales rep job that opens up. The names at the top are legit, surfers recognized as contenders on the slog for a few years now. What did suprise me is that I didn’t realize until recently that one of these names actually surfs for Killer Dana.
Nate Yeomans is battling hard for a spot on the dream tour in 09 and I was interested to find out how he got to this point. So I tracked him down when he was in town for the US Open and followed him around for a day. I had no Idea what I was going to get out of him, but I figured it was worth a shot. Turns out the rumors are true about the slog, it isn’t easy. Even while Nate was home, his schedule was packed.
We started out at the shop in Dana Point, picked up some wax and shot up PCH for some south swell wedges in Newport. Nate proceeded to blow up, launching a couple airs, a few lay backs and actually got a little backside barrel. We packed it up and headed over to Rusty to get the scoop on the catalogue shoot he was scheduled for later that day. While we were there we checked out some of Rusty’s new trunk line that looked pretty good.
After some kine grinds, we charged back down the coast for the photo shoot in Laguna. Puppet dancing in front of the camera is a main obligation for a pro surfer and I laughed at my hypocrisies as I videoed the whole shoot take place.
We ended up back at the Dana Point shop and went our separate ways, but not before I got him to agree to give me a recap at the end of the year. Can’t wait to see how it pans out for him. In the meantime have a look at what a day in the life of Nate Yeomans looks like.
Salt Creek legend and Killer Dana team captain Chris Billy is on the look-out for you groms who aren’t afraid and are here to surf. Think you have what it takes to be on the Killer Dana surf or skate team? You’ll be joining the likes of Nate Yeomans, Jesse Merle Jones, Raimana Bastolaer, Luke Davis, Alex and Koa Smith, Riley Metcalfe, Monyca Byrne-Wickey, Tyler Mumma and a slew of others. Show us what you’ve got by contacting grinch@killerdana.com
Who do you think are the most overrated and underrated surfers? I have my own opinion on the matter. But do I dare say and make the crowd blush and teether?
Last week, the US Open of surfing steamrolled its way through Huntington Beach and took a couple of us with it. I was lucky enough to experience four days of the event, seeing it go from a nice day at the beach to a suffocating array of tattoos, chicks, radness and everything that goes along with 100,000 people crammed in to a small area of beach.
The surfing was about as good as it gets for a contest at Huntington. There were solid waves all week, until the final that is. I wonder if someday contests will sacrifice show for surf and have the final in the morning instead of three in the afternoon when the south wind is howling. Probably not, and definately not the US Open, which pretty much is just a show, with some surfing thrown in. Its a good show though and although everyone in the industry dreads it, they all secretly love it and have a good time.
Our boy Nate Yeomans was on a tear until his wave starved round of 24 heat when he went down. Still a decent result for a six star and moved him up a couple spots in the rankings. Nathaniel Curran snuck his way through all the early rounds and then blew up when it mattered most to take the victory. Kinda like he was planning it all along. Tim Boal, a relatively unknown Frenchman was killing it too, and surfed his way to a second place result.
Brett Simpson was one of the more on point surfers the entire event, surfing HB like it’s his home break or something. One of the most memorable highlights of the event for me was his massive frontside air in round of 48. He suffered a heartbreaking loss to Tim Boal in the semifinal. With seconds left in the heat, Brett (with priority), let Tim go on a small outsider that reformed into a nice little wall on the inside. He racked a big turn out the back and hopped his way to the inside wall for two more huge turns and got the score he needed. It seemed like no one even knew what had just happened, but sure enough, Tim Boal took the semi win and put a stop to Brett mania that was going down the whole event.
Except for the final, it was one of the more exciting US Opens I have ever been to. With all the usual mix in’s thrown in there as well, it made for a fun few days. Be sure and check out the highlight video and peep some pictures while your here.
We like to have Fun Fridays here at KD HQ to get the weekends kicked up a notch!!!
Today I decided to style my girls out with a special lunch as all the boys are up at the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach and the girls are feeling a little dissed…but enough about that, let’s talk food!
First course was a fresh Caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes I grew in my garden at home here in Dana Point, along with fresh basil, good olive oil and aged balsamic. After that little opener, we moved on to a poached fresh Copper River Sockeye salmon platter with Meyer lemon balsamic vinegarette dressing, capers, shallot and fresh cracked pepper - all washed down with a nice bottle of chilled Italian Varnaccio white wine.
Our hardworking female office staff today, (Jamie, Irene, Ani and Claire), were stoked that GW kicked down with the good stuff!!
Enjoy your Del Taco boys, today was for the girls!
14-year-old Cole Oretga had his arm severed off when a dory boat plowed through him and a group of other surfers and swimmers. The horrific accident occured off the coast of Cape Kiwanda in Oregon, about 100 yards from the shoreline where crowds and boats were trafficking in collision with another between 8-10 foot swells.
Ortega was aided by an Oregon state trooper after fellow surfers dragged him to land. An emergency room doctor who was on the beach was able to stabilize the grom until he was air lifted by a LifeFlight helicopter and transferred to Tillamook County General Hospital’s trauma center.
The crowded conditions and high surf prompted beach officials to ask all surfers to get out of the water in order for the dories to safely return to shore. However, investigators are now looking into the possibility that some of the dory boat captains purposefully and maliciously drove their way through swimmers and surfers without any hesitation or thought as to the dangerous and harmful outcome that the situation may have accrued.
Ortega’s arm was found by another surfer and reattached. Reports are saying that Cole is able to sit up and communicate a little with family and friend…but that he may - understandably so - still have a ways to go with his emotional healing.
So Trail 6 in San Onofre, also known as Naturist Beach, may be closing down their access to the area soon. Those in the know know that this is an infamous and designated nude beach site. And, apparently, some creepy perv assaulted a lady and so park officials are now closing the area down…at least, temporarily.
Well, good riddance, I say. I’m tired of seeing 65-year-old hairy men with their shriveled-up twig and berries hanging, acting like lecherous apes. And would it kill them to do a little manscaping? Hello, Sasquatch! <shudder>
