The Origins of Surfing In Virginia Beach

1912

SURFING gathered minimal interest on the mainland USA in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Sure, there were the occasional references to the sport with Captain Cook, then Mark Twain, and finally Jack London espousing the beauty of the Hawaiian natives riding the “billowing crests” of the waves in Waikiki. The young Hawaiian Princes in Santa Cruz, California in 1885 and Emma Spreckels surfing in Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1888 standout as possibly the first mentions of surfing on either coast of the mainland. However, the real catalysts to the first endeavors to ride waves on the East and West Coasts can be credited to a few early proponents.

First would be Alexander Ford Hume, the sometimes-noted racist from South Carolina who, when arriving in Hawaii in 1907, would see the opportunity to promote the Islands by expounding on the amazing surf riders in Waikiki.  Hume at times promoted the abilities of the white board riders stating their skills were equal to those of the Native Hawaiians.

Hume met the legendary George Freeth, who was half Hawaiian and thus met some of his requirements of ‘whites only’ that was his mantra when starting the Outrigger Canoe Club.  Hume then promoted Freeth during the legend’s first visit to California in 1907. Freeth was welcomed with open arms and his skill riding the waves became the first real example that the West Coast beach goers would see in person.

In 1908 and 1909 a young Hawaiian student attending college in Pennsylvania by the name of Alvin Keech wound up on the beaches of New York and New Jersey with Hume and two surfboards that they brought from Hawaii. In a letter Hume wrote to the Honolulu Gazette in the summer of 1909, he describes surfing the waves of today’s Rockaway Beach, NY with Keech and notes that “boardriders” are already taking up the sport in Atlantic City, NJ. Keech went on to be a renowned musician, who invented the banjulele.

In 1910 a group of musicians, dancers, swimmers and divers were sent by the State of Hawaii to the Atlantic City Exposition to promote Hawaii as a destination for tourists. Since Keech was already in the area he was hired to give surfing demonstrations during the entire summer. Surfboard riding took off with the locals and by the time Duke Kahanamoku, the true father of modern surfing, arrived in 1912 he was joined in the water by locals, who had been riding the waves for two years.

It was in this time frame that surfing started to find participants up and down both coasts. It comes as no surprise that the first real acolytes of the Hawaiian influence were the lifeguards.  Atlantic City had established a professional life saving group in 1891 and Long Island was close behind. Soon, resort areas created their own life saving corps, some volunteer and some paid, and it was in this petri dish of ocean awareness that surfing took hold.

It would take a number of years of beach and ocean awareness before the coastal town of Virginia Beach, Virginia established their lifeguard corps.

Surfing arrived in Virginia Beach in 1912 when James M. Jordan Jr. received a package from his world traveling uncle of a Hawaiian surfboard, which was 12 feet long and weighed in at 100 pounds. Jordan became a curiosity on the beaches as he would drag his Hawaiian plank to the surf and attempt to ride the local waves. Hawaiian culture was being presented throughout the U.S. and especially in Virginia and North Carolina, and surfboard riding was on display by Hawaiian Willie Kalama on the beach where the Wright Brothers first flew their glider on the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk. But it would take a group of young beach and ocean lovers to become the first lifeguards and to set the course for surfing to develop in Virginia Beach.

By the late 1920s surfing still had yet to grab on to the general public on Virginia’s beaches, however in 1930, with the establishment of the VB Lifesaving Corp, young men started figuring out a way to create a beach lifestyle for themselves. Names like Babe Braithwaite (ECHOF 2000 Inductee) along with friends John Smith, Bob Holland Sr. (ECSHOF 1996 Inductee) and a trio of brothers, the deWitts, were the real pioneers of lifeguarding and surfing in VB. Women were also a part of the surf riding community with Kay Garrett the top female rider of the era.

Though Peter deWitt’s name is certainly known outside of the VB beach community, his contributions are mostly lost to the greater East Coast surf world.  Born in 1913, deWitt was among a group of six individuals, who were the first to build boards for use on the Virginia beaches. The group also included Buddy Cox, Bill Cox, John Smith, Dusty Hinnant (ECSHOF 2000 Inductee) and Pierre Cronnenbergh.  Copying a Tom Blake design that had been seen on the beach in Florida where Blake had come to lifeguard, the group realized they had to improve on Blake’s boards, which were heavy and had a tendency to leak. Cox drew up blueprints that looked like proper naval designs and the six young men hauled their heavy lumber to the beach where they assembled their surfboards in the basement of Cox’s parent’s beachside home. Surfing had arrived and the surf lifestyle would come along with it.

VB’s surf pioneers were more than just lifeguards and surfers, they embraced other board sports and the long time tradition of busting each other’s chops. In a short article published in 1936 in the Norfolk Ledger, there is an example of both. “Peter deWitt, well known Virginia Beach Surfboard Rider, announced to his friends that he would leave Sunday for New York, where he would teach skiing.”  “But,” said one “you’ve never skied in your life.” “Well,” Peter said, “I’ve ridden a surfboard and ice skated so of the two I should have a fair idea of how to ski when I get there; I expect after a while, I’ll be good enough to teach.” “I hope,” growled Bill Cox, “that after this winter you will be able to ride a surfboard better than you do now.”

deWitt and this core of original pioneers, along with Holland and Braithwaite, set the standards for lifesaving in Virginia. Numerous articles can be found in the Virginia Pilot chronicling the many dangerous situations these waterman put themselves in to save people’s lives. In 1935 this crew held a 26 mile paddleboard race between Cape Charles and Cape Henry. After an article in the Pilot suggesting the paddlers got lost in the fog and needed help to return to shore, Braithwaite lambasted the local paper saying that none of the participants got lost and the Coast Guard boat was only there to bring them back after the race was completed. To underscore the skills these surfers had developed, two of the crew paddled an extra three miles and took the local ferry home!  Many of the surfers spent the winter in Florida where they connected with the Whitman brothers, Bill and Dudley (ECSHOF 1998 Inductees), working together to improve the quality of their surfboards.

The reason deWitt is such an interesting member of the group is because he took photos of the early days with their self-made boards. His parents built the first brick home on the beach on Oceanside Ave.  Though it is called the deWitt Cottage, it is now home to the Atlantic Waterfowl Heritage Museum. Peter deWitt and those original watermen maintained a relationship with surfing and the ocean for their entire lives. deWitt was a mentor to many of the young surfers in Virginia Beach, helping the local Boys Club to build their own surfboards in 1962. When Bob Holland and Pete Smith brought the East Coast Surfing Championship to Virginia Beach in the early 60s, Peter deWitt was on the first judging panel. deWitt was a Lieutenant in World War II with the 695th Armored Artillery Group that landed at Utah Beach and went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he opened the Tidal House Restaurant in Virginia Beach, the town where he lived to the ripe old age of 92, often posing with the original board he built in the 1930s on the beach in front of his family home, the deWitt Cottage.