For surfing, the 1930s can be said to have begun with the Pacific Coast
Surfing Championships begun in 1928 and Honolulu’s Ala Wai races that ran
in 1929 and 1930, both of them backdrops to Tom Blake’s development of the
hollow surfboard and paddleboard.
For the world as a whole, however, the decade began in the
shadow of “Black Friday,” October 28, 1929, when the New York Stock Exchange
collapsed and the worst worldwide economic crisis of the Twentieth Century
knocked people on their asses all across the globe.[1]
In fact, the 1930s became known as “The Great Depression,” because of the
impact of the financial markets meltdown. All families who lived through it
remember it vividly and all families were forever changed because of it. For
many, it resulted in death. For most, The Great Depression meant hardships of
many kinds.
Surfers, though, did not feel the impact of the financial hard
times as much as most people. They were not spared by any means, but in more
than a few cases, they even reveled in their “make do” lifestyle.
“Well, as far as surf was concerned,” pioneer California
surfer, photographer and dentist Doc
Ball pointed out to me, most surfers weren’t that affected because swell
responded to the natural flow of the planet, not the financial. “Of course, we
had a little trouble getting’ gasoline, but then it was 7-cents a gallon in
those days… that’s the way it was. It [the Great Depression] kept us kinda
limited in certain ways, but we had surfin’ to take care of everything. Long as
there’s waves, why, you didn’t have to pay for those. All we had to do was buy
the gas to get there.”[2]
It certainly didn’t hurt that surfers were mostly young and many not thoroughly
integrated into the work force.
Although the 1929 stock market crash was sudden, the Great
Depression took a while to build in intensity. But, by 1932, it dominated the
American lifestyle. In the United
States alone, 1,161 banks failed after the
crash, nearly 20,000 businesses had gone bankrupt, and 21,000 people committed
suicide in that year alone.[3]
It has been estimated that by the start of the decade, there
were over a hundred surfers in Hawai‘i – most all on the south shore
of O ‘ahu.[4]
Less than fifty surfers rode the waters of Southern California, and fewer than
that in Australia (New South Wales ) and New Zealand .
Santa Monica
Tom
Blake returned to the United States Mainland in 1932, most likely to
oversee the construction of his first production hollow boards made by Thomas
Rogers. While he was in Santa Monica , he did
some lifeguarding, even working for the Santa Monica City lifeguards for a
short time. “Oh, he came down there,” Santa Monica lifeguard and early
California surfer Wally Burton remembered of Tom at Santa Monica Beach, “and he
worked at the lifeguard station there. He worked as what we called an ‘as-needed
guard.’ But, he wasn’t the most dependable guy when it came to showing up for
time and all. He was an independent sort of a guy.”[5]
Tom made better money at private beaches and swim clubs, so
perhaps he was not all that interested in working for a municipality. Tom was
definitely not a regimented 9-to-5 man. He would never have gone for the
military style sworn-in guard atmosphere working for the city. Tom was a free
spirit and could not be tied down.
“Well, there’s one thing that’s deeply impressed in my mind,”
Wally Burton remembered about Tom Blake. “I worked for the County of Los Angeles
before they had the Santa Monica
lifeguard service. I worked for [the] first L.A.
guard system… it was at the mouth of the Santa Monica Canyon , where we had
our first station there… [This dates back to when I was] nineteen. Let’s see. I
got canned from the L.A. County
guard service because I wasn’t old enough. They deputized you at that time. You
had to be twenty-one. And I worked for them for a year before they found out I
wasn’t twenty-one. So, there were three of us they let go.”[6]
“So, I worked at that Santa
Monica station when I was nineteen years old… I was
nineteen [in] 1929. I remember sitting on the doorsteps of that guard station
there. And I vividly remember Tom Blake, because as the sun was setting one evening;
he was standing there motionless looking out at the ocean. And I betcha he
stood there just absolutely motionless, his silhouette etched against the
sunset. And when it was all over, he finally walked away. And you could just
tell he was just dreaming. He was a dreamer. And I walked up to him after it
was all over and I said, ‘What were you doing there, Tom?’ He said, ‘I was just
thinking about what’s beyond that sea, you know.’ Just like that. And he just
stood, kind of looked at me for a minute, and he just walked off quietly. He
wasn’t the kind of guy to talk very much… But when he said something, you had
to listen, because it was something that was, you know, sincere from his heart.
I was very much impressed with Tom, but I always considered him a dreamer.”[7]
“I liked the guy a lot,” Wally said of Tom. “I admired him an
awful lot. I guess he was one of my heroes, really, and I looked up to him. And
I also looked up to Pete
Peterson. Pete, I think, was a better surfer than anybody ever gave him
credit for. He surfed in the Islands , did
things, you know, when they take these gals [tandem] and put them on his
shoulders? Pete did an outstanding job in surfing and won so many trophies... I
don’t want to take away from Tom, but I think he [Pete] was, actually, a better
surfer than Tom… Although I admired Tom for a lot of other things – the
dreaming aspect of it all and his innovative deals. Pete was equally innovative
in a quiet sort of way.”[8]
Tommy
Zahn, Tom’s protégé later on, liked to tell a story about when Tom was
still lifeguarding at the Santa Monica Beach Club. It had to do with his
mentor, who was a bit past his prime as a competitive swimmer by this time, and
a quart of ice cream: “Blake was working at the beach club when Al Laws was
still there,” Tommy recalled the story that had been told to him. “Al was
talking to this one guy and he said, ‘Hey, there’s this great swimmer… [who’s]
a lifeguard down at the beach club.’ So, he takes him down there and he
introduces him to Blake. At that time… the beach club used to put out a
lifeline; a buoy line. It used to run out 300 yards into the water with a buoy
on the end. And this guy said, ‘Well, I like the lifeline. I can jump in there
and pull myself out to the end of that line and back faster than you can swim
it.’
“Blake didn’t say anything. You know. Al Law says, ‘I bet you,
you can’t.’ So, they were making a money bet on the thing and Al asked Blake if
he’d participate and what he wanted of the piece of the action. And Blake
thought around for a while and said, ‘Well, I’ll do it for a quart of ice
cream.’ [Tommy snickered]. So, they set these two guys off; Blake swimming and
this guy pulling himself hand over hand out to [laughs] the end of this
lifeline. You can imagine how that all ended-up, eh? I think Blake was back on
the beach, dry – his hair was dry – before this guy ever got back to the beach.”[9]
By 1932, Tom
Blake hollow paddleboards and hollow surfboards had been available,
commercially, for less than a year. Almost as if he had planned to underscore
its utility in ocean rescue, Tom made what was probably the first hollow board
rescue of a tired swimmer, on July 17, 1932. The Los Angeles Times reported:
“Lifeguard Uses Surfboard in Rescuing Pair.
“SANTA MONICA ,
July 17. – Enter the surfboard rescue! It was affected here late today before
the astonished gaze of thousands of bathers.
“Healy Kemp and Henry Wise put out from the Santa Monica Beach
Club in a skiff. The sea was choppy. Three-quarters of a mile off shore a swell
swamped the frail craft and the men found themselves floundering in the water. Tom
Blake, municipal lifeguard and reputed world’s champion surfboard rider, saw
their distress signals and struck out for them aboard his Hawaiian surfboard. He
found them clinging to the capsized skiff, took them upon his board and brought
them to safety through the breakers. Capt. Roger Cornell, head of the lifeguard
crew, declared it to be the first surfboard rescue of record.”[10]
This later supposition was not true. While it may have been the first rescue
using a hollow board, surfboard rescues had taken place in Long Beach nearly two decades earlier, beginning
in 1911.[11]
The next day, another newspaper article, “Lifeguard on Surf
Board Saves Two from Drowning, Boat Capsizes Three-Quarters of Mile from Shore
with Two Occupants” reported: “Tom Blake, world’s champion surfboard rider, was
today receiving the thanks of two victims of a near-disaster who found
themselves floundering in the water yesterday when their skiff overturned…”[12]
Before paddleboard or surfboard rescues, the rescue dory had
been the norm and continued to be well after boards proved more functional. The
dory took a long time to launch and reach victims. It also often took two men
to row it. Eventually, the board rescue technique completely changed ocean
rescue. It is used even today, although jet skis are now taking the majority of
duty in larger surf areas or where it is easy to launch them.
Catalina Crossing, 1932
Although many would later refer to it as a contest or race, the
1932 Catalina Crossing by Tom Blake, Pete Peterson and Wally Burton was not so
much a race as a test of endurance and a promotion to spotlight Tom’s Thomas
Rogers production hollow board.[13]
“Blake did not consider the Catalina paddle a race,” emphasized his friend and
biographer Gary Lynch. “He said it was a demonstration of the ability of his
new Rogers
[manufactured] paddleboards. To prove how they could perform in long distance
rescue work. Also it was to prove the stamina of men who paddled then... He
said it was not a race and unfair to call it one. Wally and Pete did Tom a
favor, really” by helping him promote his boards.[14]
The Catalina paddle “was my idea,” California surfing pioneer Chauncy Granstrom
recalled. Pete [Peterson] and I paddled together quite a bit and [at that time]
there were two fishing barges out there [off shore from the beach]. We paddled
out to the barges one day and I said, ‘Listen, let’s see who can paddle to the
[Channel] Islands .’ So, Gary Halten [a
lifeguard lieutenant] got a hold of the idea and made a big deal out of it. We
started training harder [as a result]…”[15]
Out of all the paddling events of his life, the Catalina
crossing was the one that held the most memories for Tom. “My motive was to
prove the paddleboard a good rescue device. It [the Catalina paddle] reached
into unknown territory and was well worth the pain. I trained for it by
securing a paddleboard to the edge of the Corona del Mar [jetty] and paddling
up to three hours [a day]. The trophy I won was a blue urn; for my ashes.”[16]
Tom’s board for the crossing was a Rogers manufacture; a 14-foot hollow board that
weighed 75 pounds.[17]
Originally, there were four paddlers entered in “a race from
the California mainland to Catalina
Island over a 26-mile course, across open water.” Tom, Pete
Peterson, Wally Burton, and Chauncy Granstrom were the original entrants. Chauncy
later pulled out, leaving the field to just the three. Out of the trio, Tom
trained the hardest for the feat and was first to cross, making the trek in 5
hours and 53 minutes. “There’s an average of about 5 miles per hour,” Tom
wrote, “with only the hands and arms to propel the hollow surfboard.” Pete and
Wally came in later, at about 6.5 hours.[18]
The crossing was well publicized in area newspapers. “Blake
Takes Paddle Board Catalina Race; 5 Hrs. 23 Min.” began one article that went
on: “Battling rough and choppy seas most of the thirty-six nautical miles
between Point Vicente, on the mainland, and Long Point, Catalina Island, Tom
Blake crossed the channel on a paddle board yesterday in five hours and
twenty-three minutes actual time.
“En route he took thirty-two minutes for rest and refreshments.
“Preston Peterson was second, covering the distance in six
hours and twenty-nine minutes, and Wally Burton third in six hours and fifty
minutes.
“Blake is the Hawaiian paddle board champion and Peterson and Burton are members of the lifeguard crew of the city of Santa Monica .
“The contenders were accompanied by the 40-foot cruiser Gloria
H. under command of Capt. O.C. Olsen with timers and a physician aboard. They
were taken to Avalon, where they were awarded prizes.
“The object of the contest, according to Capt. George Watkins
of the Santa Monica
lifeguards, was to show the efficiency of the paddleboard in life-saving work.”[19]
Another newspaper printed: “GUARDS CONQUER CATALINA CHANNEL. Blake,
Peterson, Burton Make Trip to Island
on Paddle Boards.” The article continued: “Fighting choppy waves during the
last five miles of the hazardous trip, three Santa Monica
lifeguards yesterday bested the 29 mile stretch of open channel between Point
Vicente and Catalina Island by crossing it on
paddle boards.
“Tom Blake, Hawaiian champion in 1929, and club guard here,
made the fastest time in the unique contest, which originally was planned as a
demonstration of the use of paddle boards in the open sea. Blake made the
crossing in five hours and 53 minutes.”[20]
Under a sub-heading of “Peterson Second,” the newspaper report
continued: “Second place went to Lieut. Preston Peterson, of the municipal
lifeguard service, who made the crossing in six hours, 31 minutes. Lieut. Wally
Burton was third, finishing in 6 hours and 53 minutes.
“The three men were exhausted when dragged from the water by
Guards Pat Lister and Bob Butts, who rowed a dory alongside the paddlers the
entire distance, quite a feat in itself. The Capt. O.C. Olsen Co. boat, Gloria
H., chugged ahead as a convoy.
“The participants reported the crossing uneventful, except for
the last few miles, when they were forced to battle through water made choppy
by a brisk wind.”[21]
Under the sub-heading “‘Shot’ for News Reels,” the article went
on to report: “News reels ‘caught them’ when they arrived at Avalon and were
greeted by city officials and prominent yachtsmen of the island colony.
“Dr. J.S. Kelsey Jr., chairman of the lifeguard committee,
which authorized the event, and J.H. Blanchard, a member of the committee, were
among the Santa Monicans aboard the convoy boat.”[22]
“It started out as a test, not a race,” Tom underscored. “It
really put the [hollow] board across as a rescue device... During the paddle,
starting just after midnight, all of us separated. The convoy boat stayed with
Pete and Wally. I moved on, alone. Finished alone, at Long Point.”[23]
Unfortunately for Tom, Pete and Wally, everyone on the escort boat Gloria H.
ate whatever food was available on the way to Catalina. By the time the three
paddlers reached the island, there was no food aboard to feed the weary ones. To
make matters worse, despite their weakened condition, the convoy boat headed
back for the mainland right after the finish of the race. Consequently, all
three paddlers got sick to their stomachs (Wally’s second time). Eventually,
after getting back to Santa Monica
and being congratulated, Tom could not even find a ride back home and had to
walk back.[24]
About the value of the crossing as a promotion of the hollow board, “The L.A.
County and S.M. guard services,” Tom noted, “installed them soon after.”[25]
Two weeks later, Blake, Peterson and Burton were again recognized for their
achievement – this time at a better organized ceremony. “Guards Rewarded For
Water Feat” was the title of a newspaper article covering their recognition. Sub-titled
“Mayor Pins Medals Upon Men Who Paddled to Catalina Island,” it read: “Paddling
one’s way across 29 miles of windswept and tumultuous ocean is no mean feat,
Santa Monica city officials and civic leaders believe, so the three lifeguards
who made the dangerous trip on paddle boards last Sunday were awarded medals
yesterday for their ‘courage and accomplishment’ in an impressive ceremony at
the municipal auditorium. Band music, commendation speeches and the cheers of
the crowd of onlookers made the presentation a colorful affair.”
Under a sub-heading titled “Without Parallel” the article went
on to quote that: “‘It was an accomplishment without parallel in the world of
aquatic sports,’ Dr. J.S. Kelsey, Jr., chairman of the beach commission declared,
as he introduced Mayor William H. Carter, who, in turn, introduced the
recipients of the medals and lauded their efforts.
“Tom Blake, club guard, who won the paddle board race; Lieut.
Preston Peterson of the Santa Monica service, who made the second best time,
and Lieut. Wally Burton, who arrived third, stepped up to the mayor, bowed
slightly as they received the medals, and then stepped back to the chairs on
the rostrum of the bandstand.”[26]
The medals had been decided upon early. Only a day after the crossing, “Gold,
silver and bronze medals were ordered struck by the” Santa Monica “city
council… for members of the Santa Monica lifeguard service who yesterday
finished the world’s longest paddle board race by paddling from the mainland to
Catalina Island.”[27]
“‘The feat is destined to bring world wide renown to the Santa Monica lifeguard
service,’” Dr. J.S. Kelsey declared. The short article ended by announcing that
“Arrangements were made by the [Santa Monica City] council to have the Santa
Monica municipal band… play at the celebration…”[28]
A local Santa Monica
newspaper featured two photographs of the winners, one on boards and the other
receiving awards. “‘To the victors belong the spoils,’ city commissioners and
civic leaders said,” printed the paper, “as they presented three Santa Monica
lifeguards with medals and boards for the paddle board crossing of the 29-mile
Catalina channel.”[29]
In the awards photo, Tom is referred to as “Guard” Blake and is sporting a Santa Monica lifeguard jacket, the same as City of Santa Monica lifeguard
Captain George Watkins, Pete Peterson and Wally Burton.[30]
“Well, I didn’t see it exactly like that,” Burton responded when told Tom did not
consider the Catalina crossing a race but more an endurance test, “because we
paddled constantly there, training for this thing. He along with Pete, myself
and a guy named Chauncy Granstrom. There were four of us [who] were going to
paddle over there; not as a race, but to see who could get there first. It was
a competitive thing, really. And Tom was the best of the bunch of us, there was
no doubt about it. He arrived there first. And Pete was second and I came in
third. Chauncy refused to make the trip, so that’s the way that ended up.”[31]
Wally Burton’s criticism of Blake and the Catalina Crossing grew
stronger toward the end of his life. At one point, Burton, who went on to
become a Deputy Chief in the California Highway Patrol, claimed that Tom got
Pete’s and Wally’s permission to paddle ahead the last couple of miles. This
flies directly in the face of what we know about Tom Blake, one of the most
intense swimming competitors of the early Twentieth Century. Burton ’s
claim is also contradicted by his own earlier acknowledgement that he, Burton , had gotten seasick
during the paddle. It’s possible he lamented getting sick to his stomach after
22 miles out. It was then that Pete, concerned about him, held back to keep an
eye on him. Before he died in 2004, Burton
said somewhat incomprehensibly, that he felt Blake’s coming in first was “opportunistic,
and a little headline grabbing.”[32]
“We were more or less advertising that thing for Rogers ,” he had said
earlier, in 2000. “And it was my understanding at the time that we were
actually trying to make the best times, all of us, all three of us. And, of course,
Tom made the best time, Pete was second, I was third. There were only three of
us that actually completed the paddle over there, but the time he made was
pretty darn good.”[33]
“That’s when Rogers began that
deal,” Burton
continued. “And from my memory, Rogers used to
come down to the guard station there in Santa
Monica . George [Watkins] and he would talk about how
to make a board for rescue work. And how it ever came into being I don’t claim
any knowledge about that accurately, but it seemed to me like he worked with
George with this idea about having struts like in the wing of an aircraft, and
making hollow. And the first ones he built had plugs in the end of them because
they leaked so bad. Then we’d have to stand them up on end and let the water
pour out of them, after we got through with using the board. And those that we
paddled to the Island [Catalina] were actually
of that type.”[34]
“Well,” Wally answered about how he physically felt after the
Catalina paddle, “I’ll tell you, I was pretty pooped. At one time there [during
the paddle], I thought, ‘I’m going to duck this whole thing.’ I got sick,
seasick really, rolling around on that board. And the chop was such that you
lay on your stomach for that length of time, or get on your knees a lot of the
time and paddle. But I forget what the time was… I was sick and so was Tom. I’ve
got pictures of Tom and myself on the boat, after we’d come in, there. We’re
both sacked out in bed, and we’re both sick.”[35]
Blake “told me,” Tommy Zahn wrote, “the Palos Verdes to
Catalina paddle was arranged so that the seaworthiness of his newly patented
board could be demonstrated (By the way, they all three paddled the Rogers ‘Model #1’). He won
numerous races on the coast, but after the Ala
Wai Canal ,
there was so much bitterness and hard feeling among the [Waikiki ]
locals (which persists to this day!) that he backed off. He was trying to make
a living on the beach at the Outrigger Beach Services of the Outrigger Canoe
Club. Tom… is a very sensitive person; a great competitor, without all
the fury of the manifest ‘killer’ competitor. Tom had too much class for this. His
method [was] simple: complete preparation and dedication in every aspect. In
short, he accomplished what he had set out to do: establish his boards. He
residualized some financial returns, as well as the satisfaction of the
humanitarian rewards of inventing a piece of lifeguarding equipment that has
rescued thousands.”[36]
View Larger Map
[1]
Grun, Bernard. Timetables of History, ©1991, p. 497.
[2]
Gault-Williams, Malcolm. Interview with John “Doc” Ball, January 10, 1998. See
also Gault-Williams, Malcolm, “Doc Ball, Through The Master’s Eye,” Longboard,
Volume 6, Number 4, August 1998. Written with Gary Lynch.
[2]
Ball, John “Doc.” California
Surfriders, 1946.
[3]
Grun. Timetables of History, ©1991, p. 497.
[4]
London , Jack,
1922, p. 8. Quoted in Finney and Houston, 1966, p. 71.
[5]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[6]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[7]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[8]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[9]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Tommy Zahn and Chauncy Granstrom, July 27, 1988.
[10]
Los Angeles
Times, “Lifeguard Uses Surfboard in Rescuing Pair,” July 17, 1932.
[11]
See Chapter One, “Long Beach, USA, 1910-1927.”
[12]
Unidentified Los Angeles area newspaper, “Lifeguard on Surf Board Saves Two
from Drowning, Boat Capsizes Three-Quarters of Mile from Shore with Two
Occupants,” July 18, 1932.
[13]
This section is nearly identical to the one in Gault-Williams, 2007.
[14]
Lynch, Gary . Email
to Malcolm, 29 November 1999.
[15]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Tommy Zahn and Chauncy Granstrom, July 27, 1988.
[16]
Lynch, Gary . Thomas
Edward Blake Interview, April 1988. Tom’s notations.
[17]
Blake, Tom. Letter to Tommy Zahn, October 12 & 14, 1972. Tommy’s notation.
[18]
Blake, 1935, 1983, pp. 72-73. See also Lynch, Gary. Email to Malcolm
Gault-Williams, 29 November 1999.
[19]
Unidentified newspaper, October 1, 1932.
[20]
Unidentified newspaper, “Guards Conquer Catalina Channel – Blake, Peterson,
Burton Make Trip to Island on Paddle Boards,”
October 1, 1932.
[21]
Unidentified newspaper, “Guards Conquer Catalina Channel – Blake, Peterson,
Burton Make Trip to Island on Paddle Boards,”
October 1, 1932.
[22]
Unidentified newspaper, “Guards Conquer Catalina Channel – Blake, Peterson,
Burton Make Trip to Island on Paddle Boards,”
October 1, 1932.
[23]
Lynch, Gary . “Biographical
Sketch of Tom Blake.”
[24]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Tom Blake, June 26, 1988.
[25]
Lynch, Gary . “Biographical
Sketch of Tom Blake.” Tom’s handwritten notation.
[26]
Unidentified newspaper, “Guards Rewarded For Water Feat,” October 16, 1932. Wally
misspelled “Wallie.” See photo of Tom, with paddleboard, cup, and
presumably Dr. J.S. Kelsey, Jr.
[28]
Unidentified newspaper, “Board Heroes – Guards Will Be Rewarded for Feat in
Crossing Catalina Channel,” October 1, 1932.
[29]
Santa Monica
newspaper, October 3, 1932.
[30]
Santa Monica
newspaper, October 3, 1932. Wally’s name misspelled in paper.
[31]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[32]
Lockwood, Craig. “Waterman Preston ‘Pete’
Peterson,” The Surfer’s Journal, ©2005-2006, p. 54. Wally Burton quoted.
[33]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[34]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[35]
Lynch, Gary . Interview
with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[36]
Zahn, Tommy. Letter to Gary Lynch, June 2, 1988; Tommy’s emphasis.
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