I got into surfing a lot later in life (age 35) when my 2 boys were involved in the local "Junior Lifeguard" program.  They were about 8 and 9 years old, doing the summer program at Will Rogers Beach (Santa Monica). One day they came back from a session all excited about the surfing lesson they had. "Dad, you've GOT to try it!" But let me backtrack a bit...

I always loved the beach, and as a kid used to go to Playa del Rey to bodysurf and boogie board (at that time it was just canvas/rubber rafts). Our family had very little money, so a surfboard was out of the question, and our house was about 4 miles inland. I couldn't get to the beach very easily on my own.

Cut to 1965. I dropped out of college after one year, and got a job playing 1st chair oboe with the Metropolitan Opera National Company, on a 43-week tour of the US, Canada, and Mexico. FANTASTIC experience for an 18-year-old 
kid. But I lost my student deferment-- during the opera tour the draft age lowered to 19. I had a choice of going to Viet Nam for 2 years, or trying to get into a military band. So I auditioned for West Point, and got papers guaranteeing a permanent 3-year station if I enlisted. No brainer.

West Point turned out to be a blessing. I'll save the details for another time.

After doing military service I planned to go back to school, but a couple of symphony jobs were open for audition. I hooked on with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and college became a thing of the past.

1973 - job opening in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I was there. Tough audition - 70 players competing for one job. I lucked out.

1978 - I bought a 14 foot boat and kept it at Santa Monica Pier. Loved to fish. Got to know the captain of the Baywatch rescue boat, Tom Zahn (!) Yes, the same guy who was the champion tandem surfer in Hawaii in the '50's. He played the trumpet too, and enjoyed coming with me to Philharmonic concerts. Then in 1983 when the big El Nino storm destroyed Santa Monica Pier (and smashed my boat to smithereens), Tom said "Forget replacing the boat -- let's go surfing." He took me down to Old Mans at San Onofre and did the tandem number for about an hour. We'd try to paddle in synch, then "get up" and he'd grab my elbows and lift me up. Jeez did I feel like a wimp. But it was great. Tom gave me a couple more lessons, then I was on my own. One of Tom's friends, Norton Wisdom (veteran lifeguard at Zuma Beach) also started coming to concerts and helped me a little with my surfing. 

A few months later, Mike Doyle donated a 9' soft board for a Music Center weekend fundraiser. The highest price bidder would get the board and a free lesson with Mike. Sunday afternoon came. Before the matinee concert I looked at the merchandise still out there for "sale." The board was still there. After the concert the board was still there! Nobody had bid on it. As I was standing there thinking about it, one of the ladies in charge said "Take it -- you can have it for 100." 
Another no brainer.

So I called up Mike, told him I was the lucky "winner" (no doubt he was hoping it would be some cute female). But a deal's a deal, and he ended up taking me to lunch and then out for a surfing lesson at Salt Creek. When he learned I was friends with Tom Zahn, he got excited about a reunion at a Hollywood Bowl concert. A couple of weeks later, Mike and one of his girlfriends came up and met me with Tom and his wife Dagmar, and we all went to the Bowl. I can't remember the program we played, but they seemed about as stoked as you can get about classical music :)

I saw Mike only a couple of times since then. Pretty much have lost contact now. I guess he spends most of his time down in Cabo(?).

I remarried in 1986. My new wife's mother owned a top floor condo unit in Waikiki - right near the corner of Kalakawa and Kapahulu. GREAT location, fantastic view from the penthouse level (in the Waikiki Grand Hotel, one block from the beach). I believe that Steve Pezman stayed in the same unit once in a while.

We started going to Hawaii at least once a year. Got to know George Downing quite well. Bought some boards from him, one to keep over there, and the rest are here in LA. A few months ago we bought the place from my mother-in-law, and are in the process of remodeling it now. I'll be renting it out once it's finished. Should be a great spot for ASers who want to go to Oahu, and much less expensive than most other Waikiki accommodations. Even has free local phone calls, and a high-speed internet connection :-) Just walk 1/2 block to the beach, and paddle out -- to the left to get to Publics, right to get to Queens. Straight ahead is Kuhio beach with the boogie board concession right there. 
During my last trip in August I ran into Mama Süs out at Publics, and wrote about it on the newsgroup.

I'm on sabbatical from the orchestra this year, which gives me more chance to surf, travel, and perform recitals with my wife. I also play the musical saw (a hardware store variety "Stanley Handyman") and have gotten some pretty good gigs lately on that -- in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and with the San Diego Symphony in a pair of pops concerts.

Cheers,
illwind   (David Weiss)