Gates “GB” Foss

    Surfing at Rincon with my dad on the front of his 12 ft. hollow Peterson boad in the early 1940’s.  My dad was head lifeguard at Carpinteria beach during that period of time (his board is currently on display at the Beach House).  In those early days we always referred to Rincon as “Three Mile” because it was exactly three miles out of Carp. My first board was a 10 ft. balsa.  In the early 40’s I spent a lot of weekends surfing Mondos with my dad and his lifeguard buddies.  During the winters we would surf Three Mile (Rincon).  In those days it was all about knee paddling and wool sweaters.  I watched a lot.  The next board innovation was a huge and heavy 10’ or 12’ plank the “Yater Spoon”.  Just stay out of the way…

    During the late 40’s and early 50’s I surfed Rincon with my high school buddies.  In most all cases we had Rincon to ourselves.  In fact, I don’t ever remember surfing Rincon with anyone else there.  Now that I think back, that was unbelievable…

    During the 60’s and 70’s we did a lot of camping at Carpinteria, and I surfed some with my six kids right off the Rivermouth at the overflow area.  No flags at that time.

    During the 80’s and early 90’s there was not much surfing for me, and I started surfing again back in 2000.