Description
Velzy, known as Hawk, didn’t single-handedly invent the surf lifestyle and industry, but his pioneering work as a craftsman, his charismatic personality and his knack for sales and promotions did much to establish the ethos, attitude and style. Surfing and the surf industry couldn’t have developed without individuals as talented, determined, and downright unconventional as Dale Velzy. Through the prism of his extraordinary life, this book shows how it happened.
About the Author
Surfboard shaper, surf journalist, surf contest director and marketing executive, Paul Holmes career spans three continents and the era of surfing s emergence as the iconic sport of society s mavericks. From longboarding to the shortboard revolution and back again to the longboard revival, Holmes has pursued his love of surfing since his early teens as a gremmie in Cornwall, England. After shaping there for Bilbo Surfboards in Newquay, Holmes moved to Australia and pursued the craft at Keyo Surfboards, Farrelly, Morning Star and other labels. Later in Australia, he edited Tracks Magazine and was contest director of the 2SM/Coca-Cola Surfabout when it was the world’s richest professional surfing event. In 1981 he came to California to become editor of Surfer Magazine. During the next eight-plus years, Holmes oversaw the largest growth of revenues and page count in the magazine’s history, internationalized its coverage of the sport, co-produced the groundbreaking Surfer television series for ESPN and launched the radical and futuristic spin-off magazine, Beach Culture. Holmes subsequently worked as head of marketing for several surfwear brands, including Gotcha, Hang Ten and Bear and also for Action Sports Retailer, the industry trade show. Holmes then returned to surf journalism, using his diverse experience and insight to chronicle the lives of pioneers in the sport. Holmes has traveled extensively, surfing in places as far afield as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Costa Rica, Barbados, France, Portugal and, of course, Hawaii. He is based in Laguna Beach, California.
