Phil Edwards (June 10, 1938-)

The Largest Surfing Encyclopedia

---

A-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

Killer Dana was the best wave in California, and on good days, it was no place for a snot-nosed kid. It was for manly surfers such as Peanuts Larson and Jim "Burrhead" Drever. They stood stock-still and rode straight to shore, just like the Hawaiians.

But in 1953, everything changed. A teenaged Phil Edwards paddled out on a big day, surrounded by big-time surfers, and everyone wrote him off as a goner. But he didn't fold; he came into his own. Edwards took off behind Burrhead, who was racing for the shoulder, and coolly hung in the pocket. Within moments, he shocked his elders by cutting back into the foam, then catching Burrhead back on the shoulder. Performance surfing has been born.

Edwards was born in Long Beach, where he first cruised around the lagoons on a paddleboard. When he moved to Oceanside at age nine, he was taken aback by the lifegaurds riding their rescue boards to shore. He began surfing soonafter, taking a couple years to really catch on as he battled rheumatic fever. By 13, he was reshaping boards for himself and others by hacking away at the nose until the things looked right. Upon mastering the basics at oceanside, he began traveling the coast with his seventh grade teacher Jim Trueax to places like Doheny and Malibu. For a while, he was content riding straight to shore -- that is, until the ripe age of 12.

Miki Dora turned up at San Onofre from Malibu that year and showed everyone what the future held. He was swooping, hanging 10, blowing minds. Edwards was floored. He took the ball and ran with it, carving full turns within a year, the first of many firsts he is credited with. He and Dora started surfing together -- the two greatest surfers on the planet -- alone at then empty Trestles. Together, they turned surfing into an art form.

In high school, Edwards began a relationship with Hobie Alter that spanned his career. He shaped boards for Hobie in 1959 -- the year Gidget ignited a frenzy. Board orders went through the roof as the once privileged sport of surfing had gone public.

By that time, much of Oahu's North Shore had been conquered by the first wave of California hellmen. Phil had first ventured to hawaii in 1955 but what yet to have an impact on big-wave surfing. The Californians had turned Sunset, Makaha and Waimea into battle zones. But one place remained taboo -- Pipeline. For the day's equipment -- wide, heavy planks -- it was suicide. In 1961, Edwards casually changed all that. He stroked out on a sunny 6-foot day, powered through the drop, made it to the beach and opened the floodgates. Instantly, Pipe was surfable.

Thanks to the birth of surf media, the bulk of the '60s belonged to Edwards. After his Pipeline summit, and thanks to his starring roles in Bud Browne's Cat on a Hot Foam Board and Bruce Brown's Surfing Hollow Days, word spread that Phil was the best surfer in the world. In 1963, he began shaping the Phil Edwards signature model (the first to do so) for Hobie. He made $23 a pop and was suddenly considered the first professional surfer. While shunning publicity, he became an icon, and surfers worldwide mimicked his smooth, powerful style. He won the inaugural Surfer Poll in 1963, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and was paid handsomely to travel the world. But just as in 1953, a revolution loomed.

Shortboards were the next logical step after Nat Young shocked the world with his power surfing at the 1966 World Contest in San Diego. Edwards, living in Hawaii, couldn't make the radical adjustment and was left behind. Two years later, he broke his neck and soon returned to California to begin a life away from surfing. He became involved with Alter on the Hobie Cat, but didn't shape a surfboard for 20 years.

As the baby boomer generation began yearning for surfing's roots in the late '80s, Edwards' skills were again in demand. He started shaping replicas of his old boards for Hobie's shop in Dana Point, back where it all began in 1953 -- before all the awards, the publicity, the crowds. Back when the feeling was pure and he fell in love with the act. -- Jason Borte, October 2000