As a teenager my parents would say to me “don’t think you’re going to be a beach bum and surf all the time. Find yourself something worth while that will make you a living.” They supported me in my surfing and surfboard stuff but didn’t think surfing would stay popular like it was when I was a kid in the 1960’s.

Little did we know back then that some 55 years later surfing would become the State of California’s office state sport? This year in August “Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Monday that enshrines surfing in the state’s code.” .. that from a story in the LA times.

I didn’t even know this had happened until a couple weeks ago, being uninvolved in things like news and surf media. My extent with the industry is I make surfboards and surf.  Now that I know this I’ve been thinking how surfing has not only grown but grown up as well. It’s not even close to the teenage fad thing of the 60’s. Now it’s a multi billion dollar world wide sport and industry.

Though my parents have passed it would be fun to sit with them now and say “who would’ve thought this would be surfing?… a state sport!”

D.R.