A Surfing Fan Makes Waves

Re your article “A Shadow on the Waves” (Sept. 26): Like many other surfers of the older generation, I surfed with Bob Simmons. Bob was a genius but, to say the least, a very difficult person.

I was one of a group, along with the Stabler brothers, who first surfed “Three Mile” outside of Carpinteria, which is now known as Rincon. My family had a house at Malibu, so I also surfed there in the ‘40s.

Bob and his friends, unfortunately, set the tone of the sport when Bob invented light boards. Most of us were still riding Balsa redwood 110-pound boards, which were much slower than the new Balsa fiberglass boards. I can remember Bob yelling, “Coming down!” which really meant, “If you don’t get out of my way, I’ll take your head off.”

If surfing had remained a gentle sport, I think many of us would still be surfing. Because of the pattern set by Bob and others like him here and in Hawaii, surfing is not a fun sport. It is dangerous competition every time you paddle out.

CHRIS STONE

Los Angeles