SI's Surfing Celebrity: Hap Jacobs

Hap started making surfboards in 1954 with Bev Morgan down by the Redondo Beach breakwater. In 1955, he teamed up with Dale Velzy to come out with the Velzy-Jacobs surfboard until 1960. Since then, Hap has been in business for himself, producing the Jacobs surfboard, noted for its quality and design.

He started surfing in 1947, learning to ride beach surf with Bing Copeland and Terry “Tubesteak” Tracy at the Manhattan Pier. His first Island trip was in 1951 while he was in the Coast Guard; he stayed there until 1953, with every night off and every weekend off, too. Hap lived with George Downing for about a year. Also over in the Islands at that time were Dave Rochland, Walt Hoffman, Buzzy Trent and Matt Kivlin. These men were the only ones who rode the big waves in those days.

Hap’s first day in the Islands, he saw the “First Break” at Waikiki Beach, which gave him the impression that all the Islands were like that. He soon discovered otherwise; Waikiki went down and they didn’t have surf for days after that. He borrowed a hollow board that first day and went surfing on it. He saw Velzy and “Tweet” riding bikes down Kalakaua Avenue—they were the only people who had come from the coast that he knew, but they stayed for only a few days, surfed, and went home.

At that time, Makaha and Maile were the only places they surfed. They never went to the Sunset side at all. Nanakuli kids were about the only ones surfing out there, and about eight of them were the only ones who surfed the outside sets, so they had the waves pretty much to themselves. Kivlin could only get one or two guys to go out with him when it was about 15 feet. He’d go around yelling and telling everybody it was big surf, but no one would go out with him.

Hap’s most recent trip to the Islands was in January, when he took his wife, Pat, and stayed three weeks. He rides a 9' 9" board. When asked his feelings about his kids surfing, he replied that he wants them to, but is going to let them decide for themselves. He said that Dale Velzy had tried to get his boy to go out in the water when he was young, but it had scared him so much that he has just now begun to like surfing. So Hap is going to let the kids make the choice. His oldest boy has a Greg Noll sticker on his bedroom wall—so evidently Hap is going to let them decide which board to buy, too!

Hap claims that his favorite spot to surf is the Redondo Breakwater. And that’s where he can be seen surfing—that is, when he manages to get away from work. But he enjoys his work, creating quality surfboards, [which is] his contribution to the sport of surfing.