Memory: San Dieguito surfers rocked the 1967 Windandsea surf contest

Dan Dalager (’68) sent us this note and clipping, which a classmate brought to their 1968 class reunion last weekend. Thanks, Dan, for sharing this great memory with us!

Shot of newspapers clipping
(Click on image to view a larger version.) Caption on photo reads: “SURF ‘SWEEPERS’ – This group of surfers brought home the giant trophy in their midst from the Sunday-Monday first annual high school surfing contest at La Jolla which will be turned over to San Dieguito high for the trophy case (l. to r.) Cheer Critchlow, Ken Bernard, Sid Madden, Bill Bourdon; Cindy and Kathy Lienhard, Carol Haggbloom and Diane Brummett. The trophy became San Dieguito’s for leading the schools in best surfers, one of nine trophies taken out of 14 offered in the contest.”

The world’s greatest surf club (Wind n sea) sent out a challenge to the rest of the county to take on their HS team (La Jolla HS). Radio station KGB sponsored the contest. It was the biggest event to hit the coastal area ever. Every day there were promos on the radio. The big question was whether any team could place even one competitor [who] could eke out a place against the mighty WnS. A small, backwaters team from some school called San Dieguito, from some place called Encinitas showed up to take on the behemoth.

If memory serves me, someone from WnS took 5th in the ladies division, but the other 5 of the top 6 went to SDHS. The SDHS men took the top 6 of 6. (Maybe it was the second year before WnS finally got someone in the top 6).

–Dan Dalager