Day Trips

The Texas Surf Museum in Corpus Christi tells the story of an era as well as the evolution of the sport along the Texas coast. There are basically two kinds of surfers: those who dabbled in the sport during the fad years of the late 1960s, and those who still enjoy the thrill of the ride. The museum has something for both groups.

I have to admit that I was in the first group. My friends and I would pile into a buddy's '67 Chevy Impala and head for the waves at Port Aransas every summer. Standing up on the rented surfboard, singing, "Ride, ride the wild surf" to ourselves, and then crashing into the shallow water was a thrill we carry with us like the memory of an old sweetheart. In both cases, the memory is much better than the actual event.

"I'm sure that there are many more surfers now than there ever were during the fad years," says Dan Parker, general manager of the Texas Surf Museum. Despite the small size of the waves along the Texas coast, the industry is still growing, and it is surprising to find that the Lone Star State has a long history of surfing.

"Maybe there wasn't a consistent scene, but where there are waves people can't resist trying to ride them," Parker says. In the museum are surfboards made during the 1940s and 1950s by Texans who got instructions from magazines. Even as far back as the 1930s, visitors to Galveston Island were renting rubber mats and riding the waves into the beach.

"It's funny," Parker says, "As we were putting the exhibit together we knew there were a lot of stories out there, but we found that Texas has a richer history in surfing than even we expected." Many of the items in the museum come from the private collections of Brad Lomax, the owner of Water Street Seafood Company; and Pat Magee, a Port Aransas surf shop owner who once had island-wear boutiques around the state.

Perhaps Texas' greatest gift to surfing is Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, one of the pre-eminent surf instructors on the Hawaiian islands. "There is a wisdom in the wave," the Galveston native is quoted as saying in the exhibit on his life. "While just a child, the warm waters of the Gulf Coast of Texas gave me my first chance at that wisdom." His sentiments sum up the feelings of many surfers.

As a child, Paskowitz rented surf mats from Leroy Columbo, another Texan featured in the museum. As a Galveston lifeguard, Columbo holds the Guinness World Record for saving more than 900 lives. Columbo, who died in 1974, is quoted as saying: "I saved 12 people by the time I was 15 and then I became a lifeguard."

Of course, the majority of the museum is taken up by surfboards of all sizes and shapes. Most were made in California or Hawaii, but the number of Texas-made boards is amazing. Many of them are extremely rare, like the model made by Surfboards by Jay which is one of only 300 made. East of Hawaii surfboards had offices in Port Aransas and Austin during the 1960s.

Among the examples of surfboards are rare rosewood boards that probably weigh as much or more than the riders who tried to use them. Included in the exhibit are artifacts from the popular surf culture of the 1960s. Those were the days when riding the wave was featured in movies, music, comics, and clothing.

For Parker, who is also an avid surfer, the best part of the exhibit is the storyboard that fills one wall of the long and narrow museum. The wall tells the evolution of surfing from Galveston to South Padre Island using newspaper clippings, photographs, and other personal items. "It tells the human story behind the sport," Parker says. "There are so many characters out there. We've only gotten started. There is a lot more of the story to tell."

The Texas Surf Museum is in downtown Corpus Christi at 309 N. Water St. and is open daily from 9am to 9pm. Besides the free surfing exhibits, the museum houses a small souvenir shop and a record store specializing in Texas music. For more information, call 361/882-2364 or go to www.texassurfmuseum.com.