The History of Bud McCray
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SFKneelo
The History of Bud McCray
Please post your stories and perspective on this Legend kneelo, shaper and generous host of Hawaiian events... I'm sure it goes on from there.
If I'd known Bud was going to be a legend someday, I would have paid better attention when I surfed with him. This happened 33+ years ago, so I'll stick to generalities unless the memory is clear. I hope you’ll excuse my 1960s and 70s era slang and wave height measurements.
Bud's family moved from inland to Newport Beach when he was about 5 years old. Later he took up body surfing and belly boarding. Obvious influences were his older brother who body surfed and his father who had body surfed in his youth. He took up belly boarding on an assortment of rafts, Styrofoam boards and Ziffy Boards before getting his first fiberglass and foam board.
Each year saw more time at the beach for Bud. He didn’t have a wetsuit yet, but he’d go out in water temps that kept most guys without wetsuits out of the water. Almost all of the surfing was done in Newport and Huntington.
The last bellyboard he had before evolving into a kneeboarder was noticeably longer than the typical board of the era. It was from Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach, and looked a lot like this
That length and volume made it possible to knee ride, except nobody knew what that was yet.
The transition to kneeboaring happened when that first picture of Greenough appeared in one of the U.S. surfing magazines. Well, a kneeboarder in theory. Becoming an actual kneeboarder started at the next trip to the beach. By this time if one of us went surfing, it was unusual when the other wasn’t there. I barely remember the transition from belly to knee, either Bud’s or mine. We had to figure it out for ourselves as other knee riders were a rate sight. I feel kinda sorry for Bud as I had him to copy and I don’t think anyone was looking to copy me.
He got wetsuit and surfing became year round and more frequent. That changed from frequent to as often as possible in 1970 when I got my driver’s license. Dawn patrol and road trips became the norm. He started surfing South Orange County and North San Diego county as well as the usual Zooport and HB.
This was also the period when Bud started shaping boards for his own use. He went through several purchased boards and a couple homemade boards mostly because everyone was trying to figure out what worked. There was a lot of design variety in those days.
Bud spend about six weeks on the south shore of Kauai in the summer of 1971. He was a good surfer before that trip, but came back noticeably better and never looked back.
So much for the chronology. What kind of kneeboarder was he?
SoCal waves were getting pretty crowded in those days. On the biggest days it was common for him to be at the beach early enough to have to wait for enough light to see well enough to paddle out. He took that to limit. One time on the second day of a building big swell, that meant getting up early enough to drive from Newport to San Onofre, walk to Lowers and still get there early enough to have to wait for first light.
Non-surfing friends of his took up kneeboarding who had never considered it before meeting him. He didn’t try to persuade anyone, he led by example and charisma. When the newbies expressed interest, he generously shared his acquired knowledge.
His style at the time was smooth, efficient and cool. I have a vivid memory of paddling out on the south side of the HB pier while Bud was riding in on a 3’ wave. He saw the wave was going to close out and responded with a bottom turn into a roller coaster that went off the top as the wave collapsed and into a pull out next to me. I told him that one could not have drawn an animation of his sequence that was any smoother than what he just did.
He considerable talent earned respect. One way this was expressed was on big days when there were no wannabes, posers or part time surfers in the lineup. He’d turn shoreward to paddle for a set wave at the same time a surfer who was in position to shoulder hop did the same thing. More often than not, the surfer would back off.
Bud also knew the limits of that talent. On the day we came back from Kauai, we went to The Point in Newport to see 5' peaks that were popping up and pitching over the sandbars. It was the steepest small waves I'd ever seen at The Point. On the set waves every takeoff was a late one. At least a third of takeoffs were instant wipe outs, and many more were done in survival mode.
With his freshly honed Hawaiian timing and reflexes, Bud was taking off behind the peak and stalling his board a bit to get the most out of the waves energy. On one wave he was on the right side of the peak and I was on the left. I wanted to go right but decided against it when I saw him also turning shoreward. ‘Go right!’ he said. I went right while he stalled long enough to go behind me. Had he blown his take off, odds are he would have gone over the falls right into me. I knew he knew his limits, it never occurred to me that he was putting me into danger.
And he has a sense of humor. When I saw him the day he came back home after becoming the asymmetric kneeboarder he greeted me with a line from Yesterday by The Beatles: “I’m not half the man I used to be”. He already had the design for his next board – he’s that kind of guy.
Bud's family moved from inland to Newport Beach when he was about 5 years old. Later he took up body surfing and belly boarding. Obvious influences were his older brother who body surfed and his father who had body surfed in his youth. He took up belly boarding on an assortment of rafts, Styrofoam boards and Ziffy Boards before getting his first fiberglass and foam board.
Each year saw more time at the beach for Bud. He didn’t have a wetsuit yet, but he’d go out in water temps that kept most guys without wetsuits out of the water. Almost all of the surfing was done in Newport and Huntington.
The last bellyboard he had before evolving into a kneeboarder was noticeably longer than the typical board of the era. It was from Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach, and looked a lot like this
That length and volume made it possible to knee ride, except nobody knew what that was yet.
The transition to kneeboaring happened when that first picture of Greenough appeared in one of the U.S. surfing magazines. Well, a kneeboarder in theory. Becoming an actual kneeboarder started at the next trip to the beach. By this time if one of us went surfing, it was unusual when the other wasn’t there. I barely remember the transition from belly to knee, either Bud’s or mine. We had to figure it out for ourselves as other knee riders were a rate sight. I feel kinda sorry for Bud as I had him to copy and I don’t think anyone was looking to copy me.
He got wetsuit and surfing became year round and more frequent. That changed from frequent to as often as possible in 1970 when I got my driver’s license. Dawn patrol and road trips became the norm. He started surfing South Orange County and North San Diego county as well as the usual Zooport and HB.
This was also the period when Bud started shaping boards for his own use. He went through several purchased boards and a couple homemade boards mostly because everyone was trying to figure out what worked. There was a lot of design variety in those days.
Bud spend about six weeks on the south shore of Kauai in the summer of 1971. He was a good surfer before that trip, but came back noticeably better and never looked back.
So much for the chronology. What kind of kneeboarder was he?
SoCal waves were getting pretty crowded in those days. On the biggest days it was common for him to be at the beach early enough to have to wait for enough light to see well enough to paddle out. He took that to limit. One time on the second day of a building big swell, that meant getting up early enough to drive from Newport to San Onofre, walk to Lowers and still get there early enough to have to wait for first light.
Non-surfing friends of his took up kneeboarding who had never considered it before meeting him. He didn’t try to persuade anyone, he led by example and charisma. When the newbies expressed interest, he generously shared his acquired knowledge.
His style at the time was smooth, efficient and cool. I have a vivid memory of paddling out on the south side of the HB pier while Bud was riding in on a 3’ wave. He saw the wave was going to close out and responded with a bottom turn into a roller coaster that went off the top as the wave collapsed and into a pull out next to me. I told him that one could not have drawn an animation of his sequence that was any smoother than what he just did.
He considerable talent earned respect. One way this was expressed was on big days when there were no wannabes, posers or part time surfers in the lineup. He’d turn shoreward to paddle for a set wave at the same time a surfer who was in position to shoulder hop did the same thing. More often than not, the surfer would back off.
Bud also knew the limits of that talent. On the day we came back from Kauai, we went to The Point in Newport to see 5' peaks that were popping up and pitching over the sandbars. It was the steepest small waves I'd ever seen at The Point. On the set waves every takeoff was a late one. At least a third of takeoffs were instant wipe outs, and many more were done in survival mode.
With his freshly honed Hawaiian timing and reflexes, Bud was taking off behind the peak and stalling his board a bit to get the most out of the waves energy. On one wave he was on the right side of the peak and I was on the left. I wanted to go right but decided against it when I saw him also turning shoreward. ‘Go right!’ he said. I went right while he stalled long enough to go behind me. Had he blown his take off, odds are he would have gone over the falls right into me. I knew he knew his limits, it never occurred to me that he was putting me into danger.
And he has a sense of humor. When I saw him the day he came back home after becoming the asymmetric kneeboarder he greeted me with a line from Yesterday by The Beatles: “I’m not half the man I used to be”. He already had the design for his next board – he’s that kind of guy.
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Mike Fernandez
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I'm sorry I forgot about Bud on "The history of." Thanks SF. I too met Bud in the water while we were in school. I don't remember what we said, been almost 30 years, and Newport was far away at that time, but I remember him ripping on a way overhead day 10-12 ft faces, somewhere near HB.
My only memory of him, is him paddling into a huge one, and ripping a bottom turn.
Glad he is still around, and obviously surfing huge waves in Hawaii today. His Blast boards that he makes work really well, are used by many people all over the world, and I own one myself.
My only memory of him, is him paddling into a huge one, and ripping a bottom turn.
Glad he is still around, and obviously surfing huge waves in Hawaii today. His Blast boards that he makes work really well, are used by many people all over the world, and I own one myself.
I am a traveller of both time and space, a weaver in and out of dreams, I see worlds seldom seen.
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Smokin Rock
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offroadbob
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