Swellsearcher posted this over at longboard.net.
too young -definitely a bummer…
Wayne was the glosser at Weber’s when I was a team rider back in the 60’s. One of the most talented individuals to ever pick up a gloss brush… you should have seen his full side gloss tints. Incredible! Still don’t know how he did it…
Wayne spent some time in the La Jolla/ PB area around 1961, and was a frequent surfer at Windansea. I know what you mean about his tint gloss work. He had a rising sun ,top and bottom tint board ,that was a true work of art. He was well regarded as a craftsman, and as a stylish and highly skilled surfer. I am sad to hear of his passing. We have all lost a part our surfing history.
I am extremly sorry to here about Wayne. I have a friend on Maui(Dave Krumweide) who knew him well and had told me various stories over the years. I’ll have to email Dave. McDing
I never knew much about Wayne Miyata but will always remember the image of him getting totally barrelled at Garbage Hole at the begininng of “Endless Summer”. May he rest in peace.
Even the SF Chronicle ran an (AP wire) obit. on him yesterday.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/22/state/n164425S21.DTL
Hi:
Was also sorry to hear this. I am pasting a copy of my comments placed on the longboard net forum to this below.
I have found out the memorial is scheduled for 4/3/05, 2 pm at 8th Street in Hermosa Beach at the water.
Sorry to hear this about Wayne.
I worked at Dewey Weber Surfboards in 1968-1970, starting as a clean up guy in my last year of high school and eventually landed in the gloss room assisting Wayne, as well as some other jobs later.
Wayne was a very busy man, with an early morning shift and also worked at the airlines at the same time, forget which one. He had a mean dark green mustang fastback as well back then . . . would be worth a lot today. He was experienced in martial arts and had an awful temper, usually manifested when something went wrong with his set of boards. (Wayne did the decks then with Joey Hamasaki doing the bottoms.).
The most vivid memory of him was once when some boards didn’t go off the correct way, ruining several in the middle of the run. He was so frustrated at that moment that he took a drum wrench, used to open the resin, and threw it so hard that it went west along the gloss room and it hit a sealed door on that end, actually breaking the door and dinging a couple of boards on the other side that was in the showroom (for you old guys, this was in the “A frame” section of Dewey’s shop on Lincoln in Venice). Pat Stephen: if you ever visit on this board, remember?
He was always very nice to me, a complete grunt at the beginning. I would run into him once in a while in Hermosa Beach and it was always like we had never had any time between meetings, always like old friends. If anyone knows when the memorial service will be held, could you let me know?
Tom Graner
Yeah Bill, I watched Wayne pretty much take Wind’n Sea apart on that rising sun board with the balsa stringer - do you remember it? Not a big guy out there but he certainly rode the place with authority and style! Another one of the “colorful characters” has moved on.
Barry Jones
Barry,
Oh yes, I remember that board well. I still want to duplicate that design on a board. It wasn’t just colorful, it was one of the most well composed and integrated designs I’ve ever seen on a surfboard. When I called it a work of art, I meant it in the truest sense of the word. I’m delighted to know someone else shares that memory of Wayne.
Another little anecdote . . . Spring 1962, maybe Memorial Day Sunday. I was 17 years old and working at Shopper’s Market in Santa Monica. That day I was working from 9:00AM to 6:00PM. As soon as I got up that morning, I knew right away there was a Santa Ana already starting; hot and dry, roaring offshore . . . and I had to go to work - S**T! Late that morning, Wayne Miyata came by the market (I knew Wayne because we had both worked for Tom Flaherty). He came through the checkstand and started telling me about the early South Swell that was hitting Malibu and that he’d been out all morning. He was so excited he was just about hopping up and down - kept saying, “6’! Offshore! Unbelievable!” I think he added that he was going back up later in the afternoon. It drove me nuts having to stay at the store. On my lunch hour I rode my bike over to the beach to check it out. Solid, walled-up lines, closing out, wind ripping the tops off; man, it hurt just to watch. Around 5:00, I was able to persuade one of the checkers to let me borrow his car so I could run up to Malibu right after work - ‘56 Chevy Convertible! I lived just a couple of blocks from the market so by 6:05, I had my board (9’7" Con Pintail) in the back of the Chevy and I was haulin’ ass north. The Coast Highway was bumper-to-bumper, going south but it was wide open going north. I figured it would still be crowded but when I pulled up to Surfrider, but there were only a handful of guys still out . . . and OH! MY! GOD! It really was going off - overhead sets off the point, roaring hot offshores, waves stacked up, cranking around the point, winding into the cove - I could hardly wax my board my hands and knees were shaking so much! I was supposed to have the car back around 9:00 so I just kept surfing, even after it got dark. On my last wave, I rode all the way into the shore break and then tried to power a kick-out. Close but not quite! I washed up on the sand but my board went over the top of the wave and was slowly drifting in the rip, headed out toward the pier. I waited and watched, thinking the next wave would push it back it in. I could just barely see the deck of my board reflecting the lights on the pier . . . and it wasn’t coming back! As much as I really, really didn’t want to do it, I don’t like to swim when I can’t see anything, I went ahead and jumped into the dark (and scary) water and started swimming out to get my board. It was probably only 75 - 100 yards out but in the dark it seemed like forever before I finally caught up to it. So . . . a little story with Wayne Miyata - a really unforgettable day at da ‘Bu. And, very likely, it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t stopped by and gotten me so frikkin’ pumped up. Mahalo Wayne . . . and Aloha. Barry
Barry,
Great story! I suspect that we have other friends from the early days, in common. Keep in touch with me. Talk story, drink beer.
Very sad indeed!
My father has shares many stories about Wayne, but he one that just sticks in my head is one night in Mission Beach my ole’ man, wayne, and wayne land (waynes karate teacher) are on the corner across from the old ballroom in MB and they are sitting there and Wayne Land pulls out a shotgun a tells Wayne the next person to walk around the corner you shoot him. So along comes three sailors and Wayne shits his pants and didn’t pull the trigger. So Wayne Land starts yelling at him calling him weak and how he thought Wayne was a tough guy. So Land grabs the shotgun and puts a hole in the side of the ballroom and landing some buckshot in one of the sailors arms.
I have heard many stories about Wayne, but there seems to be a general theme with all of them, WILD!!! When I told my family that he passed away they were blown away. No pun intended.
Condolences from the Lockwoods!!!
Stoneysurfer,
Wayne Land was the first “professional” shaper I ever watched at work. I still have the template he gave me in 1958 when he closed the Burland Surfboards shop in La Jolla. This thread has certainly been a trip down memory lane. It’s amazing how many lives these men touched.
Howzit Thrailkill, I met Wayne while working at Plastic Fantastic and yes he was a wild guy. The owner would hire him to collect past due accounts on the east coast,he was really good at getting the money. One time when on a mission the guy who owed money was a really rich guy who was just an ahole and after wayne convinced him to pay and also drive him to the airport he did the old sugar in the gas tank to the guys brand new Corvette. The guy always paid on time after that. Aloha,Kokua
There are a few stories I could tell about Wayne. Here's one of them from: http://www.surfwriter.net/ts_parties.htm
Speaking of great parties, I'll never forget the big one in South Bay in the winter of 1960. Guess they'd call it a riot now. But it was just a typical 'rent breaking' party back then.
Some huge Hawai'ians were slamming each other over the head with frying pans when I went out to my car to get another pack of cigs and passed out head first across the front seat. Woke up a few hours later and found the party had shifted into a new gear. The Hawai'ians were now slamming everyone over the head with frying pans.
Just as someone broke a table in half and started punching out a wall, my pal Kenny McWilliam said, "I think this might get nasty." So I went out for another pack and passed out till morning.
When I woke up it looked like a tornado had hit the place. Broken bottles, glasses, paper plates, underwear, shirts, pants, shoes, beer cans etc up and down the street.
Turns out the police had put a cordon around a two block radius of the party and picked up people as they left. I heard they gave up any attempt of closing the party down when Wayne Miyata tore off his shirt... raked his fingernails across his chest ... licked the blood off his fingers ... went into one of his wild-eyed Ninja stances and started screaming at them in Japanese. We'll never know.
Howzit Surfwriter, actually I was referring to Wayne Land who was mentioned in the post before mine. I never knew Wayne Miyata.Aloha,Kokua