The SURFERmag Interview: Gerry Lopez

SURFERmag: Were you excited?

GERRY LOPEZ: Not at all. I didn’t want any part of it, and Reno was over in the corner laughing his ass off because he already had his board.

SURFERmag: But it worked?

GERRY LOPEZ: Oh yeah. It had this weird teardrop shape, with a hot dog nose and a gunny tail, and we were all tripping out going, “What the heck is this?” But it made a huge difference at Pipeline straight away. Hackman, Jock, Reno and those guys gave it a spin, and from that moment on the longboards were done. By the spring Brewer was so busy you couldn’t even get a board from him.

SURFERmag: Is that why you started shaping your own boards?

GERRY LOPEZ: That was one reason, for sure...my friend Buddy Dumphy and I started in his dad’s garage by stripping down old longboards and reshaping them.

SURFERmag: Is that the season when Pipeline became ground zero on the North Shore?

GERRY LOPEZ: Not really, it was still another three or four years before we really started to ride the tube, because even with the improvements we were just making the wave. Sunset was always the spot, and it remained the spot all the way up until the early ‘70s.

SURFERmag: So what was the specific breakthrough that made the tube at Pipeline possible?

GERRY LOPEZ: For me it was when Mike Hynson came out with his lower rails that had hard edges from nose to tail. Before that the whole concept of edge didn’t even exist. Longboards had none, and even the Brewer boards had only a tiny bit in the tail. By comparison, Hynson’s looked pretty ugly, so naturally everyone was going, “Shit, that thing’s never going to work.” But man, I’ll tell you what, it worked so much damn better than anything before that it was astounding.

SURFERmag: And the edge helped you hold your line in the pocket?

GERRY LOPEZ: Exactly. And it’s sad, because Hynson gets absolutely no credit for combining the low rail with hard edge, but that was probably the most significant step in modern shortboard evolution. It changed tube riding overnight, and fins immediately started getting smaller and smaller because of the fact that we were using our edges more. In my opinion, that’s right when the shortboard design really coalesced and the boards really started to perform...when Pipe became a real possibility.

SURFERmag: Of course, the North Shore back then had a bit of an outlaw culture, with a pretty sizeable drug scene, but some of your peers have told us that you turned your back on that scene pretty quickly when others let it run their lives.

GERRY LOPEZ: Well, keep in mind drugs were around long before they invaded the surf scene, but a lot of surfers fell victim to them during that period and the truth is it killed off quite a few people in my generation. Sure, everyone went through their thing, myself included. I wasn’t innocent, but for me, when guys started dropping like flies that just reinforced the fact that the two didn’t work very well together. But it took some guys longer than others to figure that out, and even today with the young guys I see, there are always those uneasy alliances the real surfers have with the guys who like to cling on and get stoned all the time. There’s a price to be paid if that’s the path you choose. That’s something kids today have the benefit of knowing. Plus, the truth is, when the best surfers are surfing their best, really hitting their peak, they’re not going anywhere near drugs.

SURFERmag: What’s your take on the competitive side of surfing...the pro tour, the money? Could you have ever imagined yourself earning hundreds of thousands off of surfing alone?

GERRY LOPEZ: Hah... I wish (laughs).

SURFERmag: Is this a good thing or a bad thing in your opinion?

GERRY LOPEZ: It’s neither good nor bad...it’s just what is. I think it’s great that there’re opportunities for these guys to make a really great living being good surfers.

SURFERmag: And what do you think of the performance level?

GERRY LOPEZ: I’m utterly blown away by it...on every level. It’s so advanced from where we ever dreamed it would be. I just marvel at it.

SURFERmag: Do you see traces of former generations in there...your generation?

GERRY LOPEZ: Well, the good guys still make the hard stuff look easy, so in that sense yeah. Style still counts too.

SURFERmag: Were you consciously aware of style back in the day or did it just come naturally?

GERRY LOPEZ: Well, if you take a look at those boards you realize there really wasn’t a whole lot you could do but just stand there and get barreled, and if that’s the case, you better be thinking about how you’re looking. That’s really all that was.

SURFERmag: Do you think surfers today are doing enough to protect and enhance the future of surfing?

GERRY LOPEZ: Well, you always hope the guys who get opportunities will do something useful with it, and I think Kelly Slater and Laird Hamilton have been great spokesmen for surfing, which is great. That’s what they should be doing. But collectively we can all do much more. Not that many people, let alone companies, are doing enough to give back what the ocean provides us with. Personally, I’m pretty excited about becoming involved with the crew at Patagonia, who, you know, give a percentage of all their profits to environmental causes. I think that’s a fantastic example of what other ocean based companies can do, and I’m hoping to help raise awareness for those kinds of things.