Another surf innovator

Regarding “To Protect and to Surf” [June 7]: I started paddling and surfing in Santa Monica in 1934 and continued to surf from San Onofre to Point Dume.

My first board was a 14-foot-by-15-inch-wide balsa redwood; it was a big challenge to keep it from pearling.

At 15, I bought an 11-foot balsa redwood plank and had pioneer surfer Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison shape it. My mother made me an early version of the wet suit out of a shower curtain. It helped with the winter wind, but didn’t do much when you took a dive.

Jack Power

Pacific Palisades