Glenn Paculba
I caught my first wave and rode it all the way to the beach in August of 1962 at Ewa Beach, Hawaii. I borrowed a 9’4” Velzy and I remember the sound of the surfboard slapping against the water as it slid forward. What an exhilarating experience! I knew then that I was going to be a surfer. In the Fall of 1967 as a newly assigned airman to Miramar Naval Air Station I started surfing Tourmaline and many other breaks along the west coast and Mexico. I opened our surf shop in Pacific Beach called Star Surfing Company in March of 1979 and served our community for over thirty years. During that time, I founded the Pacific Beach Surf Club in January 1995 and served as its first president for over six years. My involvement with the surf club included contributions to Tourmaline like the installation of the emergency phone, the information kiosk and two murals that were painted on our bathrooms. The surf club also raised funds for various community groups through the Pacific Beach Summer Longboard Classic and the World Famous All-Women Surf Contest. Our club members included original Pacific Beach pioneers from the 30s and 40s like Skeeter Malcolm and Hadji Hein as well young influential rippers Kevin Connelly, Eric Sommer, Ben Fassbaugh and Byron Rohrer. As a member of the Tourmaline Tailgaters Association I was part of a committee that funded and installed the Tourmaline Memorial honoring its most inspirational and influential surfers. Although I’ve surfed around the world Pacific Beach and Tourmaline Surfing Park will always be my home. For decades it was my source of friendship, family and memories of many epic, and not so epic, surf adventures.
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