Joey Hamasaki
by HWS
Joey Hamasaki, is one of the greatest female surfers that ever lived. Joey competed from around 1964 to 1972. At 5’1’ and 100 lbs., Joey had a fluid, graceful and powerful command over the heavy tanks of the era. She is one of the few women to easily make the transition form longboard to short board. Her style was of grace and innovation charging in places most women didn’t go. Quiet and graceful in and out of the water Hamasaki is the essence of the aloha spirit……she is the quiet thunder that brings warm ocean breezes into peoples’ hearts.
Joey was born in 1946 in Honolulu so it was only natural that she would gravitate to the ocean. She got her start from her uncle.
JH: “I started with redwood bellyboards…my uncle made them. He would take us, his sons and me, to the beach. We rode the bellyboards and saw surfing and wanted to do that too. So he made us balsa surfboards. I was about ten then.”
Hamasaki’s influences were made from legends. Donald Takayama took her under his wing in Hawaii and encouraged her to go to the mainland. Taking Takayama’s advice she came to Huntington Beach for the U.S. contest. She was only supposed to be gone for two weeks, but stayed for 10-15 years. Hamasaki moved to Dana Point. Raymond Patterson was like a big brother to her and got her a job at Hobie. While at Hobie she learned to gloss boards and made $50 a week. Hamasaki also glassed boards under the mentorship of Raymond Patterson. At the time she was the only woman who made boards.
Phyllis O’Donnell: “Joey also worked at Dewey Webbers’ doing the glossing of the boards. Joey was a perfectionist and did beautiful finish work for Dewey. She was a very good worker and a very, very nice girl. Everyone admired Joey.
Hamasaki pushed the limits of her time not only being the first woman to make boards, she was an accomplished musician (drummer) and an artist.
HWS: You have a lot of firsts – first woman glosser/glasser, one of the first women to have their own signature model board and one of the first women to easily make the transitions to short boards. What was it like to be a woman doing all those things back then?
JH: I didn’t think anything of it I just did it. It was something I enjoyed doing. Working with Raymond Patterson, Ronald Patterson and Phil Edwards was great.
Hamasaki rode for Hobie, Jacobs, Weber and Wardy Surfboards. Phil Edwards designed her signature model for Wardy.
JH: “One day Hobie came to my house and I had about 8 boards on the floor. He was surprised and wanted to know how come I had so many. I told him that Phil Edwards gave them to me to try. I didn’t know I had to give them back right away. (laughs) I brought em back right away ‘cause I didn’t want him to think I was taking them or anything ‘cause I wasn’t, I just didn’t know. This was all new to me.”
She was a stellar competitor competing in events in Hawaii, California, East Coast and was a member of the Windansea Surf Club.
JH: “There were only two contests in the beginning, the Makaha contest and the Huntington contest. The Wind and Sea club paid for everybody to go over there and compete at Makaha. The Hawaiians wanted me to surf for them but I couldn’t because I was surfing for Wind and Sea. Later there were more contests on the west coast. We even went to Santa Cruz. Back then we always got the worst waves.the slop. The guys always got the best waves.”
One of Joey’s most memorable moments in competition came on the East Coast. While on the Dewey Weber Surf Team, Dewey took her to the East Coast to compete. She won all 3 contests.
Nancy Emerson: “Watching Joey surfing in contests was clear to see how humble she is as a person. She had a very sportswomen like attitude toward her other competitors, which was very refreshing to see,and was respected by all with her performances.”
Josette Lagardere: “Her wave judgment was impeccable, beautiful bottom turns, along with untiming nose rides. Joey had what it took, on natural talent along with an unaggressive nature.”
When she wasn’t competing or making boards she was traveling the west coast surfing. Malibu was one of her favorite spots, perfect waves that could be ridden forever.
JH: “When I first came to the mainland, Joey Cabel took me surfing at Trestles. That’s when you weren’t supposed to surf there. We went in his dune buggy and hid it in the bushes. He taught me all about the poison oak to look out for and how not to get caught. There was no crowd because it was illegal to go in there. The morning was the best. That’s when we would usually go.
I surfed Doheny a lot. I really like that place. It was so fun and the water was so clean. I used to go to the river there (San Juan Creek) and pick cilantro. It grew wild you know. The water was crystal clear and you could see everything. I do miss California. It was so ‘country’ with the rolling hills. Besides Trestles and Doheny, Malibu was one of my favorite spots, perfect waves that could be ridden forever.”
In 1968 Joey traveled to Puerto Rico for the World Contest.
JH: “I didn’t make the team but went anyway. We drove across the U.S. to Florida and then flew to Puerto Rico. It was a great experience to see all the different kinds of people across this country. I remember going into a restaurant in Benson, Arizona. We walked into that restaurant and everybody was staring at us. It was a redneck place and we were surfers from California. The people working there just ignored us and wouldn’t serve us so we left. It’s sad people are like that. It happened to me another time in Florida. I went to eat with Dewey Weber and they wouldn’t serve us either. But Dewey talked to the manager and they served us.
There was this place called Jobos that you drove down a dirt road to get to. The waves were really good. A photographer followed us all over and he got a shot of me that wound up as the center spread for Cosmopolitan Magazine. That’s the one picture I really want.”
HWS: If anyone knows who this photographer is, please contact HWS and we’ll make sure she gets a copy.
JH: “We stayed in this house overlooking a beautiful valley and could see Tres Palmas. I walked down that valley one day, it was so peaceful and beautiful. Linda Benson, Phyllis O’Donnell, Duline McGough, Penny Whiting, Sheri Crummer and me stayed there. The lady across the street was so nice. We walked her 2 goats down to the pasture every day. I really liked those goats. One time we lost a goat, but the lady was really nice about it.”
HWS: Did you ever think that what you did back then would be such history now?
JH: “No. We just had fun doing what we liked to do. We were living what we did.”
From Joey Hamasaki’s peers:
Josette Lagardere: Joey Hamasaki was one of the most talented women surfers of the sixties and a pleasure to surf with. Her style of surfing was one that would always be remembered, so smooth and flowing. She will always go down in history as one of the best SOUL surfers to come out of the 60’s. WHAT A LEGEND!
Nancy Emerson: Joey’s grace, style and focus was a sheer delight to take in. I looked up to her and loved going surfing at three’s when she was out. She was fun to surf with. I only wish she could still be out there with us all in the lineup. I pray someday we can catch waves again, even on bodyboards.
Henry Ford: “In the sixties Joey Hamasaki was one of the most accomplished women surfers on the scene. Her style and ability to ride waves was in simple words…amazing! She was a class act!… and one of the kindest and most accepted female surfers of the time. To see her at Queens or #3’s or at Ala Moana was incredible, beautiful and awesome. Knowing her at the time was great. She had a persona and a shyness that attracted you to her. She spent time with a small but tight group of friends and was accepted, liked and revered! In the water she was poetry in motion with style and grace. All I can say is that I think of her often remembering her as a surfer who set standards for the next generation. She was a pioneer in her sport and should not be forgotten. JOEY HAMASAKI ROCKED! We miss You!”
Mary Lou Drummy: “I did not know her well but she was one of my surfing idols. It was always a great pleasure watching her surf and competing with her. She has been missed out in the lineup.”
Sheri Crummer: I met Joey around 1967-68. I was a grom and she was my hero. One day I was riding a wave at Doheny. I saw her paddling out and wanted to impress her so I walked to the nose….right off the end of the board. When I came up she was laughing. Of course I was mortified. My hero that I hadn’t met yet was laughing at me. I was wrong. She wasn’t laughing at me but for me. This would be the first lesson I learned from Joey…. to laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously.
I still carry some of the wonderful life lessons she taught me early on. I was extraordinarily shy in those days. She taught me it was ok to be me. “Just do it” she would tell me, long before Nike coined the phrase. Joey always said whatever you do put your heart, soul and passion into it and give it 110 percent…and 110 percent heart, soul and passion was what Joey did. Not only was she a great surfer, she was an artist and accomplished musician (drummer) as well. One time in PR we all got a treat. We went to a jazz club in San Juan and Joey sat in. She rocked the house. Good…at everything she did.
Today Joey Hamasaki resides in Honolulu.
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