Dale Velzy
| Dale Velzy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 23, 1927 Hermosa Beach, California |
| Died |
May 26, 2005 (aged 77) Mission Viejo, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Surfboard shaper |
Dale Velzy (September 23, 1927 – May 26, 2005) was an American surfboard shaper, credited with being the world's first commercial shaper. He opened the first professional surf shop in Manhattan Beach, California in 1950, personally hand fashioning the surfboards from wood or synthetic material. By 1960, Velzy owned five retail shops and three production facilities in California and Hawaii. He was known as "Hawk" for his keen eyesight.
Velzy was born on September 23, 1927 in Hermosa Beach, California. He had Dutch ancestry and his family was involved in wood-working, cabinetmaking or logging. His father was a woodworker and part-time life guard. Velzy began surfing as a boy and he and his father shaped boards with his grandfathers' woodworking tools. He quit school in the seventh grade. His parents tried sending him to military school, but he ran away. When he was 16 he enlisted in the Merchant Marine Corp. His tour through the Hawaiian Islands exposed him to the surf culture of the region. He then took what he learned with him and applied it to his own techniques.
After serving in World War II, Velzy returned to southern California and began his career as a surfboard shaper in Manhattan Beach in the mid-1940s. It was during this period that Velzy began his research on surfboard shaping. At that time most surfboards were extremely heavy, hard to transport and not as functional as modern surfboards. Most riders used hand-me-down boards, but Velzy and his associates had the benefit of being able to shape a board from scratch or re-shape an existing board, allowing them to improve their design through trial and error. During the late 1940s shapers began using balsa wood and fiberglass for making the surfboards lighter.
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