There are a few people who stand out as surfing pioneers. Fred Van Dyke was one of them. Earlier this week, Van Dyke passed away at the age of 86.
Originally from San Francisco, CA, Van Dyke found himself living in Honolulu in the mid-50s–a time when surfing as we know it today was just beginning to take shape. Van Dyke has his hands deep in the clay, so to speak; without him, surfing wouldn’t be what it is today.
After bodysurfing throughout his teens in California, Van Dyke first stood up on a surfboard at the age of 20. It was 1950, and it wouldn’t be until five years later, armed with a B.A in Creative Writing and PE, along with a teaching credential, that he would move to Hawaii. According to The Encyclopedia of Surfing, it was an AP photo in a newspaper that prompted his move–three surfers on a 12-footer at Makaha planted a seed in his head that he couldn’t shake out.
For around three decades, Van Dyke taught at Hawaiian schools. The ’50s, of course was a time in Hawaii when a group of California surfers all made their move to Hawaii, chasing the biggest waves ever surfed. Fred Van Dyke was right alongside of them, conquering Makaha and Sunset on a regular basis, slowly shaping how the world would come to see surfing.
From the ’50s through the ’70s, Van Dyke was a staple of the surfing scene. He was featured in Bruce Brown’s Surf Crazy and John Severson’s Angry Sea, among many others. He was an accomplished surf writer, publishing five books revolving around his life in the water. For almost a decade, he was the director of the Duke Kahanamoku Invitiational at Sunset Beach.
He spent years living healthy and staying fit, and when he was 70-years-old, he was profiled in a documentary called Surfing for Life.
Fred Van Dyke was a much-loved and important part of the surfing world. And perhaps no one said it better than The Encyclopedia of Surfing’s Matt Warshaw: “I will warm myself with memories of Fred until my own checkout time, and try to always keep moving, as Fred did, toward love.”
Our deepest condolences for friends and family of Fred.
