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Dale Velzy Surf Classic and Luau turns 35 at Doheny State Beach

October 6, 2023

The 35th annual Dale Velzy Surf Classic and Luau will hit Doheny State Beach this Saturday, Oct. 7. The fundraising event pays homage to one of surfing’s early-era icons.

The gathering will kickoff at 7:30 a.m. at the “Boneyards” surf break on the north end of the beach with a surf contest featuring about 80 participants.

“We’re really looking forward to it, it should be a great year,” said R.J. Harvey, president of the Doheny Longboard Surfing Association, which organizes the event.

One of the most popular draws is the tandem surfers who take to the water and flip and do tricks while riding the waves on the same board.

One of the biggest draws of the Velzy Surf Classic competition in Dana Point are the tandem surfers. This year’s event, now in its 35th year, will be held on Oct. 7, 2023. (File photo by Kevin Sullivan, The Orange County Register)

New this year will be a heat with the nonprofit Surf & Turf, which helps kids with disabilities get on boards at Doheny State Beach, while also providing horseback riding therapy in nearby San Juan Capistrano.

“It spreads the stoke of surfing, to see the stoke in their eyes,” Harvey said.

Weather should be summer-like for the event, hitting 80 degrees at the coast. Waves look promising, too, Harvey said.

The event is important to keep Velzy’s legacy going, Harvey said, because the board shaper who died in 2005 was a “super inspiring” persona who wasn’t just a surfer, but was also a hot rodder and cowboy who lived an eccentric lifestyle.

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Velzy is credited with having the first shop selling surfboards – a plaque marking that honor was recently approved in Manhattan Beach for outside the former shop. Later in his shaping career he worked in Dana Point and San Clemente. Velzy was inducted into the first San Clemente Boardbuilders Hall of Fame last month.

Dale Velzy helped popularize surfing along the California coast and a plaque is being proposed for where he got his start in Manhattan Beach, said to be the first surfboard shop. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Chas Metivier)

“It’s important because there’s were so many interesting facets of his life,” Harvey said. “He wasn’t just a surfer or shaper, he did so many interesting things.”

Tickets to the luau, which starts at 3 p.m. will include dance performances, music and dinner, are $30. More info: dlsa.club/velzy-surf-classic/

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Orange County Register