Does anyone know who Gary Dalton is? I just picked up an 1963/64’ Greg Noll, The tail block has the # punched in with the letters G D . A frind of mine said a shaper m named Gary dalton worked at the Noll factory back then. Any history on this person. Thanks
I believe I can shed some light on this, most fascinating subject. You see, I am married to the legendary Gary Dalton. Gary worked for Greg as a shaper at his hermosa surf shop. The shapers would stamp the initials in all the boards they shaped. Gary was a surfer himself, sailed up and down the coast of california and mexico with the gang. He eventually sailed to Hawaii, where he surfed some more!
He sailed from Hawaii with his friend and ended up living in the south pacific for 30 years. He had a salvaging company in the Solomon Islands, where he salvaged World War 2 ships (which is a whole 'nother story). Gary Dalton was also the first civilian diver allowed to survey the wrecks of the Bikini Atolls.
Salvage work was dangerous, so he moved to Fiji where he had a boat building and fiberglass shop. He built fishing boats, outrigger canoes, and all the workboats for the Tavarua surfing resort. He was (and still is) a passionate sailor. He sailed to new zealand, and australia, and Papa New Guinea.
After we were hurricaned out in Fiji we moved to The Big Island of Hawaii, where he worked as a mechanical engineer on the telescope, and did various fun side projects building things for small businesses. He went into his own business, we’ve done everything from having a machine and welding business (Dalton Engineering), to Ohia log drilling. Currently He is in the biggest project yet- We bought a boat. A downeaster 45’, and we (me, Gary, and our 2 girls and their dog) are going to sail this boat from texas to Hawaii- and then back to Fiji. Where this all began, and we are going to start all over.
I hope this answered a few questions you had, sorry it took 10 years to get to this post, we just found this post an hour ago! Thank you.