TODAYS COLUMN IN THE OC REGISTER PEANUTS LARSONS BIG ONE By Corky Carroll Lately a few photos have been circulating on Facebook of George “Peanuts” Larson. This dude is one of the legendary early California surfers. I have eluded to this story a bit in the past in my coverage of San Onofre Surfing Beach, but in light of the recent “Peanuts” photos and mentions I thought it a good time to revisit this and fill in a few more details. Peanuts Larson was a small dude although was one of the biggest surf names in the very early days of surfing here in California, like the 1930’s and 40’s. His biggest claim to fame was the tale of him riding what has been described as a forty-foot wave all the way from Lower Trestles through Church just south of San Clemente. This would have been close to a mile long ride. Several not so brave surf spectators who had climbed on top of a boxcar that evidently had been left on the railroad tracks reportedly witnessed this feat. The main reason I am bringing this story up again is the fact that in the post on Facebook that was put up by Henry Ford, another surf legend of the 50’s and 60’s, he mentions this ride but states that it was a twelve-foot wave. This was the first time I had ever heard it told where the wave was not described as forty foot. Why does this make a huge difference? After all, this is surf lore and all tales of monster waves that were ridden back in the far far agos are probably more than less, lets’ say, “pumped up” a bit. Or more. And who cares, it makes for a great tale. Well, this story had a fairly big effect on my adolescent personality growth pattern. That’s why it is of interest to me and why I was amazed to see it told with so much of a smaller wave involved. Back up to 1962. San Onofre beach was run by the San Onofre Surf Club in those days. You had to be a member to have access to the beach. I was a fourteen-year-old surf brat. Using the term “surf brat” is me being kind to myself and underzadurating the degree of my obnoxiousness. I loved hanging out at Sano and was on the waiting list to be a member of the club. I was close to the top and figured my name would come up just about the time I turned sixteen and could drive on my own. That was until the day I was sitting around a beach fire with a bunch of the old dudes and they were telling the Peanuts on the forty foot wave story. Being how I was at the time, and being positive that there had never been a forty foot wave at Trestles and for sure nobody had ridden it all they way through Church, I called them out on it and said they were all delusional. Seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. It was NOT the right thing to do at that moment or any other moment. Somehow my name got moved about two years down the waiting list to get in the club. This had a big effect on me. After the initial anger at the “unfairness” of it I finally got my mind around the fact that being a belligerent loud mouth could have bad effects. And this was a perfect example. It was kinda one of those “snap out of it and lighten up” moments. Of course it took more than that and a lot more time to fully grasp the concept. Lore is lore and should be left to be just that. Old dudes basking in the glory of some long gone event deserve the right to feel the glow no matter how wild the tale might be. It’s simple respect. When I was fourteen I did not have much respect. But now I have grown into one of those very old dudes myself. And to celebrate my geezerness I am about to invent some great and glorious story from the longbegones and I am going to expect you all to believe it. Stay tuned. And hats off to Peanuts Larson and forever may his tale be told.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:39:20 +0000