Only Waves Remain the Same

Before Jan and Dean sang about going to Surf City, wave riders such as Jack Haley, L.J. Richards and Linda Benson came to Huntington Beach every summer to compete.

Forty-five years later, the surf contest next to the city’s pier has become a major event on the professional surfing tour, complete with corporate sponsors, scores of vendors, television coverage and an elaborate beachfront concert stage.

More than 300,000 people are expected to attend the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing, which begins today and runs through Aug. 1.

And surfing is only the marquee attraction: the event also boasts competitive skateboarding, volleyball and BMX events.

But there are still a handful of early surfers who remember a simpler time.

“The atmosphere was so different back then,” said Benson, now 60 and a retired flight attendant who lives in Del Mar. “You would travel to San Onofre or Malibu and you would know everybody. It was a very close-knit surfing community.”

Benson was 15 when she won the first U.S. Surfing Championships for women, as the competition was called in 1959. She added victories in 1960, ‘61, ’64 and ’68.

The rewards were meaningful even without prize money, said Richards, who was presented his trophy by Hawaiian surf pioneer Duke Kahanamoku in 1963.

“I would say the intensity wasn’t as it is today, especially because we were amateurs,” said Richards, 64, of Encinitas. “With today’s pros, well, when there’s money on the line.... “

Richards competed in the original longboard era, when 9-foot-plus boards made mostly of balsa wood ruled the sea.

There were no leashes on surfboards -- if you wiped out, you had to swim to retrieve your board.

“Huntington Beach was called the mecca of surfing,” said Chuck Linnen, 68, of Huntington Beach, who competed against Haley, the winner of the ’59 contest. “Your ability was measured by whether you shot the pier or not.”

This year, many of those early competitors are returning to Huntington Beach to be honored and attend activities recognizing surfers from their era.

Haley, a surfing icon and restaurateur, died of cancer at age 65 in 2000. He was inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame in 1999. Benson was inducted in 1997, followed by Linnen in 2003.

Haley was considered a Pied Piper of the sport. “What Haley rode, we rode,” said Linnen, one of Haley’s longtime friends.

“He set the tone,” Linnen said, recalling one day when Haley paddled out on Linnen’s surfboard after Linnen complained that it wouldn’t perform well.

Haley, a tall and muscular Seal Beach lifeguard, walked up and down the board, made his way to the nose and raised his arms in the air triumphantly as he rode all the way to the sand.

“He walks ashore, finds a comb in a back pocket and combs his hair. I stood there and the only thing I could say was, ‘Wow!’ ” Linnen said.

Despite the camaraderie, everyone wanted to win the Huntington Beach contest, according to Benson.

“It was our first chance to make our mark,” she said. “Many California surfers were responsible for creating some of the early maneuvers, like walking the nose, which was the beginning of the hot dog era.”