GREG "DA BULL" NOLL -FIRST SESSION AT WAIMEA BAY NOV 7 1957
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- Опубликовано: 24 дек 2023
- Greg Noll was one of the pioneers of big wave surfing and probably the first surfer to ride Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
Noll was born on February 11, 1937, in San Diego, California.
Greg started surfing at the age of 11, and by the time he reached his teenage years, he was already one of Los Angeles' finest hot doggers.
The regular-footed surfer made his first trip to Hawaii in 1954. Noll was 17 and was eager to put his surfing skills to the ultimate test.
For seven months, he stayed in a Quonset hut on the west side of Oahu, near the infamous Waimea Bay, and finished his senior year at Waipahu High School.
So, on the following trips to Hawaii, Noll started stepping up his game by taking on bigger waves at Sunset Beach and Laniakea.
Aged 19, Noll traveled to Australia as a member of the American lifeguard team during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
He and his crew immediately hit the surf with their balsa Malibu Chip surfboards, leaving a long-lasting fingerprint and legacy in the local surfing community.
A few months later, Noll would experience the most iconic event of his career - a historic stunt that would immortalize him.
The year was 1957.
Dickie Cross had lost his life after a two-and-a-half-mile paddle from Sunset Beach to Waimea Bay.
He and his friend Woody Brown were desperately trying to get to the shore after being caught by a powerful swell and continuously breaking waves.
The goal was to make use of Waimea Bay's deep-water channel. Unfortunately, only Brown barely survived.
And so, "The Waimea Taboo" kept surfers out of the line for 14 years.
On November 7, 1957, Greg Noll and Mike Stange were ready to defy the haunted wave. The surf out the back was in the 15-foot range.
According to subsequent reports, the duo was not the first to break Dickie Cross's spell.
"It later came out that a mild-mannered Seal Beach lifeguard named Harry Schurch had, in fact, caught a few waves that same morning at Waimea, surfing alone, before Noll and his gang showed up," notes Matt Warshaw, author of "The Encyclopedia of Surfing."
But, symbolically, Noll and Stange had opened a new chapter in big wave surfing history, and the world could not be enough.
Greg Noll: a master surfboard shaper and legendary big wave surfing pioneer | Photo: Noll Archive
"Da Bull": The Birth of a Legend
Meanwhile, the Californian surfer kept close to the surf industry.
He founded Greg Noll Surfboards and launched a series of publications: "Surfers Annual" (1960), "Surfing Funnies" (1961), and "The Cartoon History of Surfing" (1962).
By 1965, the surfer-businessman opened a 20,000-square-foot surfboard building facility in Hermosa.
In less than a year, the extravagant investment allowed him to produce more than 2,000 boards per week.
The factory had separate rooms for each surfboard manufacturing stage.
One of the famous boards coming out of his assembly line was Mickey Dora's signature model, which featured "Da Cat" hanging on a cross made of two planks.
Greg's most iconic nickname is "Da Bull."
The moniker was given by Phil Edwards, the first surfer to prove that it was possible to tame the barreling Pipeline waves.
Wearing his legendary black-and-white prison-stripe boardshorts, the man who had defied Waimea Bay was ready - and hungry - for more.
"Da Bull" participated in The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational from 1965 to 1969.
And just when he thought his hey-days were over, Noll dropped into one of the largest waves ever ridden in two decades.
On December 4, 1969, Greg paddled into a 35-foot wave at Makaha, Oahu, and was forced to jump off as the mountain wall of water exploded around him.
"It was like looking over the goddamn edge at the big, black pit," Noll wrote in his autobiography "Da Bull: Life Over the Edge."
"Some of my best friends have said it was a death wish wave. I didn't think so at the time, but in retrospect, I realize it was probably bordering on the edge."
A few days later, he saved a seaman from drowning at Waimea Bay.
Soon after, the "Babe Ruth of Surfing," as he was often called, radically changed his life.
Noll moved to Alaska to live in a motor home and then worked as a commercial fisherman in Crescent City, California, for 15 years.
The larger-than-life adventurous character got back to the media spotlight in the 1980s as a legendary surfer who had pioneered big wave riding.
Between 1991 and 1996, he ran a contest in Costa Rica for veteran surfers called Da Bull Surf Legends Classic and found time to establish the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.
Noll was inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame in 1996 and received the SIMA Waterman of the Year 1998 award.
The fearless surf legend had four children with Laura Archuletta: Ashlyne, Jed, Tate, and Rhyn.
Greg Noll passed away on June 28, 2021, in Crescent City, California.
source: surfertoday.com
Music: Gun - "Gunsight" (UK 1969)
video:
Noll Archives
Dale Davis
John Severson 
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Best video on you tube
Grew up a few miles from Greg Noll’s shop in Hemosa CA. few miles down the street was Jacob’s. In those shops checking out boards as kid. Remember days surfing Redondo Breakwater Hermosa and Manhattan Piers with only a few surfers in the water. I’ll be 77 tomorrow some of the best times of my life there. Now Livin in Hawaii still in the water🌈🏄🏼♂️
Hearing Greg bring up those names really brought back memories of guys i knew in Hermosa Beach and their surfboard factories. Great.
Yeah I was in Hermosa then also, going to the shops: Greg Knoll, Jacobs, and Bing. Even had all of their stickers.
@GPT-Edward great 👍 don't forget Rick's down the hill from Bing's...that's where Phil Becker shaped his first 1000 boards, lol !
I grew up in Hermosa, started surfing in the early 60,s. Mike Stang was the lifeguard at Manhattan Pier. What great memories.
what a magnificent, tough, man of the Sea would love to be like him in that he don't care about what anyone else does just does his own thing his own way that 40 foot wave he rode in 1969 would be one of the guttsiest go outs in surfing History he was the Man back then Thanks God for thinking up Greg Noll :D
what a document thanks for sharing! Props to whoever recorded that in the first place!
Much respect for Greg and all the legendary watermen from the Southbay. I never got to meet my grandfather Rex, but he worked with Greg as an LA County Lifeguard in Manhattan/Hermosa Beach. Found a photo recently of their crew from the spring of 1953.
Dude that’s epic! You should definitely frame that photograph in your living room!
Cool to read these stories and learn about people like Greg that were so impactful from my area. Southbay LA love ❤️ 🤙
Those black and white trunks are so iconic. I wish a company would make a more modern version.
Wouldnt be hard to make
Every Big Wave Surfer's Hero
On the North Shore in the late 80`s ( working as a sander at T&C ) I met Greg sitting at a table at Aricias natural sandwich stand next to Kammies. Sitting there as humble as could be. Almost did not recognize him. We talked a bit and I complimented him on being the pioneer that he was. Such a nice guy. The way a true legend acts.
Gregs dog was named sam and Greg and I went to the bluebook bar in El Poirto, he put sam on a seat in the middle of us and gave him a glass of beer which he sipped this was on a Friday night and the place was packed not one person told Greg to move his dog ha ha ha , Greg was really fun to work for and bar hop with we all loved Greg I am 83 yrs old and wish I could go back to those times .
That is All Time Bob!!
A legend hits a target no one else can hit. A genius hits a target no one else can see.
RSS - very happy to have found your channel - love the footage - audio and notes ! Looking forward to viewing more - Most grateful for your efforts !!!
Thanks John!
I still have my ‘67 G.Noll da-Cat, Mickki Dora. Hangs above my desk ! Video highlights wicked wipe-outs ! Brave dudes !!
Been one of my idols since 1963
The Bull is a legend. I got my first surfboard in 1962, just a punk kid in So Cal. Who inspired me to go for it? Da Bull. Da Man!!
What a legend!!
8:20 way 25ft. And breaking in the middle of the bay! Before Ala Moana mall sand mining. These historic videos are golden.
What a superb video!
Yeah boss, thanks for the inspiration 🤙🏻😎🖤🐓
great subject. great soundtrack. gurvitz is the near hendrix level guy nobody ever heard of. well done post.
no leash, no lifeguard...legends.
That is what I wanted to point out as well. No leash boys!
"..so if you f&^ked up, you were on your own." GN from Riding Giants
Phil Edwards was my surf hero in the '60s. Names like Dora, Carson, Munoz, Weber, Nuuhiwa, Cabell, and so many others were the gods of the waves in my era.
But this is a video about Greg Noll.
So then it's a video about Greg "Noel" and not Greg Noll? You poser!!
@@GnomicMaster 🥱
@@jimrehman904 Good to see that you edited your initial post. I kept you up to speed.
11 years before I got there🌊🤙
I sold Greg the 150 gallon fish tank with breeding Oscars, for his new shop on PCH..He was a regular in Lunada Bay and other spots in the south bay..I am 73 and remember Greg in the early 60's...many other fathers of the sport of big wave surfing.
Thanks for the video.
Great upload thanks
DA BULL!
RIP “Da Bull” I always liked and respected him more than Dora…both chiseled the archetype of a “surfer”
Strong archetypes indeed. Wouldn't want either of them punching me in their prime either O_O;
Dude had balls of brass.
Bump bump bump goes the board xD
A real man
Awesome us geriatrics appreciate this.
Is there a list of tracks played?
Gun - "Gunsight" (UK 1969)
@@RealSurfStories awesome thank you! Enjoy your youth if you are young and great vid and music cheers.
Now personally well if the blonde is still in my encampment or room when I get out of water well why not! Maybe smoke 1st beforehand something I no longer do;)
@@RealSurfStories
"wasn't giant but around 20ft" LMAO so many people including me would ah soil their pants, but yeah I eventually braved some bigger stuff.
But what guys are doing today is just nuts.
It's great to see but I also know people have been killed or suffered horrendous injury.
It's something that always existed I guess but I think everyone who surfs shallow reef or big waves except that bad outcomes are apart of the the deal.
Thanks mate appreciate the vid.
4:43 great ride
Remember No Leash then...Had to hold on or go back in and hopefully the board wasn't broke in two... Around 66 my friend and I had to carry my brothers board down to the beach. It was firkin heavy and ever since then I said to myself I'll never surf a LOG ever. My first board was a 6'6" Blue Cheer square tail. I learned on that and then GSs came out and to this day I have a 6'6" and 7'2" both pin tails and runs circles around the now LOGs that these goofballs are on. I'm about to turn 66 and still goin. So everyone have fun and don't snake the guy that has the Right Of Way...take care.
Titanium Balls all of them. some of those wipeouts.... and they just kept pumping
He looks like he would destroy a 200m butterfly!
Don’t see how they avoided getting knocked out by those seventy pound missiles!
The days when the howlies showed the locals how to do it…end of story
Don’t worry John John still does
...and haoles, too¡ 😮
Did native Hawaiians ride big waves first?
Was it documented ?
Absolutely. However at Waimea Bay this is probably the day it was first ridden.
I didn’t realize he’s literally a celebrity out there🤙
really? He's the John Wayne of surfing.
No jetskis, no leashes, no reference point, huge heavy boards, giant balls.