Dana Point's Surfing Sculptures
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
When you're headed to Dana Point Harbor or Doheny Beach in South Orange County make sure to stop at Waterman's Plaza on the Pacific Coast Highway across from the harbor. The plaza is filled with life-size bronze statues of legendary surfers and surf industry innovators.
Crafted by San Clemente surfer Bill Limebrook, the statues capture the surfers in trademark poses – Hobie Alter with the Hobie Cat catamaran he invented, Bruce Brown holding a Bolex camera like the one he used to shoot the iconic surf film The Endless Summer.
Other statues include Joyce Hoffman, the first female international surfing superstar, John Severson, the founder of Surfer magazine, and Phil Edwards, the first to surf Hawaii's famed Banzai Pipeline.
Tandem surfers Barrie and Steve Boehne are here, too, in one of their memorable, dynamic duo surfing poses with Steve holding Barrie aloft in the air.
Statues of the Hoffman brothers – Walter and Philip "Flippy" – who revolutionized the surfing apparel industry with their Hawaiian print fabrics, show the brothers, not surprisingly, decked out in the Hawaiian wear they popularized.
And the latest addition – in his hunched over signature stance – is a statue of surfing great, board-shaper/designer Mickey “the Mongoose” Munoz, his move, known as the “Quasimodo,” now immortalized in bronze.
Along with the statues, signs and tile images pay homage to Dana Point’s past and its original big wave Killer Dana surf break that challenged surfers until 1966 when a new marina was created in its spot.
Waterman's Plaza has a crow’s nest view from the bridge over PCH of the harbor named after Richard Henry Dana.
Painting, Dana Point Harbor Haze, by Rick Blake, 2022
SurfWriter Girls stopped by the harbor to see the statue of Dana, the famed 19th century sea adventurer and author of Two Years Before the Mast.
Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.
