It doesn’t seem possible that Dale Dobson is gone. I mean, he was so strong and had such great endurance — one of the best surfers I ever saw, always reinventing himself and earning a second professional career at an age when most surfers hang up the waves for the checkers board.
Dale was a famous surfer. Famous, but not as famous as he should have been. I first heard of him in the mid-60s when he was ruling La Jolla Shores, switching stance from regular foot (left foot forward to goofyfoot (the opposite) as easily as the average surfer walks down a sidewalk.
His switch stance was so effortless that I am not certain if his natural stance was regular or goofyfoot. While brilliant with either foot forward, Dobson was not the first switch footer from La Jolla. The original Mr. Pipeline, the late great Butch Van Artsdalen, had that moved wired on waves from 2 to 20 feet.
While Dale may have learned a trick or two from Van Artsdalen, his approach to wave riding appears to be basically original. There was something unique in the way he stood tall in the tube, heavy water threatening to collapse on him while he stood, smiling, seemingly unworried and exerting no more energy than someone would in rolling up their sleeve to check their watch.
While he is known for his tube riding, his nose riding and hard turns were also brilliantly executed. I didn’t know him in the early ’60s but imagine he stood out even then. Later, when boards dropped from 10 to 6 feet, Dale was among the top surfers in the U.S. As to the above reference to his having a “second professional career,” that occurred circa 1980 when longboarding roared back into favor.
I remember paddling out and seeing Dobson powerfully stroking into a 3-foot wave. He stood, ran to the nose, hung five and did something I had never seen before or since. While keeping his foot planted firmly on the tip, Dale leaned back and did a turn from that position and was soon racing down the line in a stealthy “cheater five.”
From that moment on, Dobson was the man to beat at every longboard contest from San Miguel in Baja to Central California’s crown jewel, Steamer Lane. From chunky beach breaks to board snapping slabs, Dobson was the leader. Our leader.
As Dale and I became friends, we conversed mainly on his board and fin designs, and his winning strategies for surf contests. I don’t recall what he told me that strategy was other than be in better shape than anyone else and out-surf them.
He never won a world title, but for those of us who knew him, he was the best there was. He will be missed in lineups from San Miguel to Steamer Lane. Aloha, Double D.
Dale Dobson, 78, passed away on Feb. 28. Check this column for news of a paddle out in his honor.
