Alive on Arrival
Dale Dobson

by Robert Wald

Many phases of the moon have passed, at least 40 years worth, since I first witnessed Dale Dobson take on his competition and mop the contest floor with one unforgettable ride after another, pulling off surfing stunts that defied laws of motion.

On one inside section, Dobson walks to the nose of his board, lifts the fin out of the water, spins the board around in a full 360, then re-enters the wave, all the while hanging five. It happened so fast that spectators standing on the cliff were unsure if they really saw it, or they only dreamed it.

As the sun dipped, the last contestants were put away in dramatic Dobson fashion—back arched in a soul stance, arms and hands clasped high above his head, moving through each section hanging ten, then finishing the ride by sliding all the way to the beach, causally stepping off on Del Mar sand.

For those in attendance it was truly a magic moment, for they were just treated to a stellar performance by arguably one of the finest surfers who has ever taken to the water.

“Dobson’s style is so much his own,” SurferMag’s Drew Kampion once wrote. “He is one of the most unique and creative in the business.”

Sandwiched between Dobson’s first learning to surf in 1957 at his home break in Pacific Beach, all the way to his 2022 induction into the San Diego Surfing Hall of Fame 65 years later, is a lifetime of adventure and high accolades, not only in competitive surfing, but kneeboarding, skateboarding, and surfboard fin design as well. He has dedicated his entire life to the sports.

With clarity, Dobson recalls some defining moments in his young life. “I first met surfers Butch Van Artsdalen and Blau James at Maynard’s Tavern, right at the foot of Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. This was 1957, and Wednesday was 25-cent spaghetti dinner night.”

Replete with the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club in attendance, “Butch and Blau would play this very dangerous game they called ‘Chicken’, with a live hand grenade they had found somewhere. The object of the game was to not ‘chicken out’ by running out of the bar after the pin was pulled, and the grenade detonated, which was typically 2-6 seconds, not long to decide. Whoever stayed the longest was the winner.”

Though hanging out and surfing with Butch could at times be a dangerous proposition, Dobson made the most of his friendship by studying and practicing Butch’s surfing style, and over time, becoming equally adept at noseriding and executing fluid switch stance moves.

“I fell in love with the ocean at a very early age,” Dobson said of his rise. “I just used simple motivation, hard work and training. I kept at it.”

A natural athlete, especially in a competitive environment, Dobson began winning at what he loved to do most—surf. By his 18th birthday, he won the 1965 Swamis Mid-Winter Pro/Am. This would be the first of many victories in a string that would span four decades. “Dobson was a something of a surf world curiosity,” surfwriter Matt Warshaw notes. “He notched his first big competition win in an early 1968 Santa Cruz event. At that time the shortboard revolution was in full swing. Surfers had taken to the counterculture, with long hair, beads, and bell-bottoms—conversely, the strong jawed Dobson had a crew cut and won the event over a field of some of the most talented surfers in the world, on a 9’ 6” longboard.”

“Instead of making a big jump to a small board,” Dobson said at the time, “I’m working down slowly. I think it’s important to fully understand the difference in speed and finesse that occurs between the long and short board.”

All but ignored by the surf media, Dobson, over the next few years, was one of California’s most dependable competitors, placing highly in the elite AAAA-rated Western Surfing Association events between 1969 and 1972, and placed first at the 1972 U.S. Surfing Championships.

The results kept coming. In 1973, he won the U.S. Kneeboarding Title, and in the 1975 U.S. Surfing Championships he placed third in men’s division, second in longboarding, and third in kneeboarding competition.

Asked about his approach and success in surfing, Dobson said, “Iconsider myself a stylist and prefer to ride medium-size waves. I concentrate on an up-and-down motion, with speed and good turning. The more maneuvers you can pull off the better. I concentrate on new ideas, and for this, I feel you need to work with a medium or small wave.”

From 1976 to 1980, Dobson withdrew from competitive surfing to focus on skateboarding and fin design, joining Bahne’s skate team. He also had a signature fin design that Fins Unlimited produced and marketed.

As longboarding began to return to West Coast surf breaks in the late ‘70s, the perennially fit Dobson came out of semi-retirement, and proved nearly unbeatable in longboard competition.

Over the course of his competitive surfing career there were two events close to Dobson’s heart: “At the 1966 Atlantic City Pro/Am, Dick Catri told Gary Propper, who rode for Hobie, that the only way he’d beat me was if he ran me over, which he did, putting me in the hospital with a concussion. While in the hospital I was determined to return and win that contest. I did in fact return, and beat Propper, properly.”

Another was the “Queen of the Coast” surfing competition at Rincon. Dobson, a natural goofyfoot, won the contest surfing entirely regular foot, no switching. “I worked very hard to perform regular foot, so I’m proud of this achievement.”

Over the course of his career, Dobson has appeared in more than a dozen surf films and videos, including Tracks (1970), Five Summer Stories (1972), A Matter of Style (1975), Gone Surfin’ (1987), and Powerglide (1995).

A recent rumor circulating on social media that Dale Dobson was no longer with the living is false. “I asked my landlord if I was still alive,” Dobson said. “He told me he could see me standing in front of him, so I guess I must still be alive.”

From a leaderless latchkey child to a legendary, innovative surfer proves no matter what cards you are dealt in life, it’s how you play them that count.

Dobson took the bull by the horns and made something of himself.

This past February, Dale celebrated his 77th year in life with a party of his peers at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside. Dale currently resides in Cardiff by the Sea.