R.I.P. Philip Hoffman, Surfing Pioneer
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 11.23.10 | 1:51 PM ET
Philip Hoffman, a ground-breaking surfer who took his first surf trip to Hawaii in 1952, has died in California. He was 80.
The New York Times’ Matt Higgins writes that Hoffman’s “pioneering big-wave riding in Hawaii in the 1950s charted the way for surfing pilgrimages to Oahu’s North Shore from around the world.”
The Surfer’s Journal publisher Steve Pezman calls him “the first guy on the North Shore.”