Walked about a mile south to Honls Surf Break. Time to pay respects to Tom Morey who died late last month at the age of 86.
Text from the memorial wayside —
Here on the beach at Wai’aha, which translates as Gathering Water, also known as Honl’s Beach, renowned surfer, musician, and visionary innovator Tom Morey fashioned the first-ever boogie board and invented the sport of boogie boarding. When he rode that first wave here on his new creation on July 7, 1971, he revolutionized surfing and changed surf culture forever.
Living in a house that once stood here on the beach, Tom took out of his garage a 9-foot piece. of polyethylene foam he had intended to shape into a surfboard. Instead, he cut it in half with his wife Marchia’s electric carving knife to form a torso-sized plank.
Later, he outlined a short board with a square tail, no fins, and a squared-off nose that could be gripped for easier control and handling while riding waves in the prone position. To finish shaping his prototype, Tom laid down a copy of The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper on the foam and applied a hot clothes Iron to smooth it and make the board somewhat watertight.
Anxious to find out how his new lightweight invention would handle in the surf, Tom paddled out past the reef here in Wai’aha Bay to catch a wave: Success! “I could feel the wave under me, I could feel everything, and I thought, this is nice, this is special-and maybe it could be something important.” In that magic moment, the boogie board was invented.
Tom deliberately chose the word ‘boogie’ to describe his board, based on his love of jazz music. Thanks to his creative genius and passion for surfing, Tom Morey became the Father of Boogie Boarding, and made the thrill of wave riding accessible and fun for millions of people of all ages around the world.
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It doesn’t say so on the wayside, but his wife took the second test ride on Tom’s new invention. She was 8 and a half months pregnant. She would be the Mother of Boogie Boarding.
Come, sit on the rock for a minute and enjoy Honl’s Surf Break.
(Looks good on full screen. But take care, you might get splashed!)