Linda Benson's Quest

So who is Linda Benson?  Well, for one thing she’s not Joyce Hoffman, a contemporary of hers.  Just wanted to get that straight right from the start in case you were confused. 

Linda Benson, an Encinitas native, began surfing at Moonlight beach in 1955, when she was 11 years old.  She got her first board at age 13 and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1959 at 15, she entered the International Championship surfing contest, held that year at Makaha.  By doing so she was the youngest competitor in that contest; and, better still, she won it.  Later that same year, on a borrowed board, she paddled out at Waimea and caught a few waves.  Just to show the boys (Fred Van Dyke and John Severson both of whom had just wiped out) how to do it.  She quickly developed a reputation as a hard charging big wave rider; one of the few women into it at the time.

Linda also excelled in contests in the 60’s.  She won the first US Surfing Championship contest in 1959 and then won it again in 1960, 1961, 1964 and 1968. 

In 1964 Linda was rated number one in the International Surfing magazine poll.  She can also count Hobie Alter, Don Hansen and Mike Doyle as her tandem partners. 

Linda got her SAG card as the surfing double for Annette Funicellos’ beach party films and for Deborah Walley in Gidget Goes Hawaiian. Linda has been inducted into the Huntington Beach International Hall of Fame and the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame. 

Clearly, Linda is a pioneer in the surfing community and has some impressive surfing credentials. 

So why the uproar over her plan to hold a four day women’s longboarding championship contest at Swami’s in October of this year?  More about that in a future blog.

Aloha

Gary