|
|
|
Joey Cabell (December 10, 1938-) |
 The Largest Surfing EncyclopediaA-Z: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Advertisement
|
|
|
Aside from being paid to surf, the perfect job for the hard-core surfer is restaurant work. Not the get-up-at-five-and-make-the-doughnuts variety, but the kind where you surf all day, then show up in the afternoon perfectly satiated. Mornings are free, the cash flows daily and the opportunities to meet women are boundless. Joey Cabell knew this before anyone, and aside from being one of the fastest surfers ever and the most successful competitor in the '60s, his Chart House chain established a way of life.
Born in Hawaii, Cabell was part of a civilian convoy after the attack on Pearl Harbor that led him and his mother to a Minnesota farm. Two years later, they returned to Hawaii, where Cabell began surfing at age seven on a hollow paddleboard. By 11, he had graduated from a Hot Curl plank, on which he acquired the propensity for his legendary down-the-line approach, to a finned balsa board. His formative years were spent at Waikiki, hustling money, shining shoes and weaving coconut hats to sell to the tourists. A product of early lessons from George Downing and a beachboy apprenticeship from Rabbit Kekai, Cabell toured Oahu and Maui as a teenager, gaining experience in a variety of conditions. At 15, Cabell quit surfing in favor of working on hot rods and relocated to California after high school to work as a welder and mechanic. Lifelong friend Mickey Munoz helped refuel his interest in surfing after a two-year hiatus, but Cabell knew there was more to life. A committed student, he realized early on that the waves would always be there. After graduating from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, Cabell spent his summers surfing and his winters skiing in Aspen, Colorado. A highly successful competitive skier, it was in Aspen where he and friend Buzzy Bent opened the first Chart House restaurant in 1962. A Newport Chart House opened the next year, with the Honolulu restaurant coming in 1969. In 1963, the year before the World Contest named its first world champion, Cabell won both the Malibu and Makaha invitationals, establishing himself as the unofficial king of surfing. But with business and skiing taking center stage, he turned his back on the sport yet again in 1965. Sure to form, he was back in 1967, moving to Kauai and returning to claim the Makaha Invitational. Two years later, at age 31, he won the Duke Kahanamoku Classic and retired from competition. He sold his interest in the Chart House chain in 1972, retaining only the Honolulu restaurant, which he still owns and operates. The 1974 film Forgotten Island of Santosha marks the culmination of Cabell's full-time surfing career, though he still enjoys surfing to a lesser degree. Now a rabid sailboarder and snowboarder, he resides on Oahu. He has three children, including a daughter who is married to Sunny Garcia. While his best surfing occurred more than 30 years ago, his down-the-line speed runs were so revolutionary that they have yet be matched. -- Jason Borte, August 2000
|
|
