Early 70s Tomb and Reeves Donation

Florida Surf Museum recently received a donation of an early 70s Tomb and Reeves surfboard from Rebecca Hoch in memory of her husband Chuck Hoch. Rebecca and Chuck came from […]

FSM newsletter Surfing Santas Chills Out!

FREEZING WEATHER DOES NOT DETER SURFING SANTA FANS The coldest front of the year paid a visit to Surfing Santas on the 24th, and it was cold! We were worried […]

Tomb and Reeves Beauty Added To The FSM Collection

We recently paid a visit to surfing legend Bob Reeves, down in Vero Beach. Originally from Imperial Beach CA, Bob was working at the Inter- Island factory in Honolulu when […]

Bob Freeman’s Surfing Memories- My memories of Gary Propper

  January 1, 2022 Read more of Bob’s stories at bobfreemansurf.com   The first time I saw Gary was in 1965 at a surf contest in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. He […]

‘Surfing Miami’ exhibit comes to Florida Surf Museum in Cocoa Beach, staying until March

  Hillard Grossman Reprinted from FLORIDA TODAY       Windex-colored water, pastel-painted buildings and bronze bodies typify South Beach. But lost in the world of models, muscles and “Musica […]

FSM newsletter and Updates

Hello Museum Supporters- The last two years have been challenging for all of us but we seem to be turning the corner and the museum is ready to get busy […]

A North Shore Adventure- Florida Style

Story by Gregory Hall      Christmas makes you think of good friends and good times with them. As was with me being one of the few Floridians that actually […]

Pete Dooley’s Magic Fish Tale

  Pretty incredible surf community we live in: The owner of Core Surf has a surfer a bring in a pretty destroyed Natural… Posted by Pete Dooley on Tuesday, September 29, […]

First Florida Shape Off Board Added to FSM Collection

Paul Eaton, founder and organizer of the annual Florida Shape Off competition, has donated the winning surfboard from the first shape off in 2008.  The event is a competition that  […]

Brave or Foolish? A Waterman’s Tale

Story by Chuck Evans Here is a story I sent to my daughter through StoryWorth.  She provides a question a week.  I respond and the stories are printed into a […]

South Beach Memories, by Mark Waldman

My family moved to Miami Beach from New York City in 1948, when I was 2. My grandmother had been in real estate there for a long time, and my […]

Kook Box Joins Museum Collection

Board collector Brian Wenzel brought an interesting piece to the museum to add to our collection- an 8ft blue kook box. The term kook box was slang for early surfboards […]

Healing Waves-Invisible Wounds and the Road to Recovery

  By Nate Dinger As conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq continues, members of the United States military faithfully pack up their lives and deploy in support of their nation’s call.  […]

Soldiering On

  Article by Justin Housman. Re-printed from Surfer Magazine, May 30, 2016 When duty called in Afghanistan, Captain Nate Dinger took his love of shaping with him.     If […]

Ricky Carroll Donates Catri Memorial Board

It has been more that three years since Dick Catri, the Godfather of East Coast Surfing, passed away. Always larger than life ,even in death, His legacy was celebrated in […]

Tales of South Beach- ” Is Mr. Surf In?”

Story by Uncle Bill In the same era of the late 1960’s when a Miami surfer rode over to the beach to surf for the day, they often found it […]

Dick Catri’s Personal Gun Joins the Museum Collection

The museum has received many donations over the years from our generous supporters. But every so often something special comes through our door. We were recently visited by Steve and […]

Tales of South Beach-The Saga of “Holy Joe”.

Story by Uncle Bill- I would imagine most every man, woman and child who surfed or even went to South Beach, Miami, FL on any given Sunday during the late […]

Buddy’s Daily Driver Donated to FSM

FSM was recently paid a visit by surfing legend Kevin O’Dare. Kevin was in town competing in the Annual Rich Salick NKF contest at the pier. He had brought with […]

Twofer Board Donation for FSM

    We recently received a visit from Bill Stimson and his fiance Betty at the Florida Surf Museum. In the back of Bill’s cherry  2002 4Runner were a Bing […]

Tales of South Beach-Road Trips by Uncle Bill

Uncle Bill grew up in Miami and began surfing south beach and points north in the early 60s. He shares his tales with us for your enjoyment.       […]

Central Florida Road Trip Visits Florida Surf Museum

WUCF’s popular series “Central Florida Roadtrip” recently featured the Florida Surf Museum in this episode. The show recounts how the space program transformed a sleepy beach town into a center […]

(Very) Early Florida Surfing History

Duke Kahanamoku. The Duke is an icon and legend who is widely credited with introducing surfing to the world. In 1912 after his triumph at the Olympic games in Stockholm, […]

Bob Freeman’s Silver Bullet

In the late '60s Catri and Propper lured me away from Hansen Surfboards to join the Hobie Team and gave me one of Hobie'… Posted by Free Surf on Tuesday, June […]

RIP for Legendary Shaper Bud Gardner

Bud was a true gentleman and eternally stoked on surfing and surfing culture. The quality of his surfboards was legendary and his artistry extended to resin paintings, furniture and anywhere […]

60s Space Coast Surfing: Bob Reeves’ Photo Album

Bob Reeves and his brother Jack were early pioneers of surfing on the Space Coast in Florida. They were representative of the early migration of surfers from around the country […]

Rare Tomb and Reeves Joins Museum Collection (More photos, More History!)

Florida Surf Museum has added another classic surfboard to our collection thanks to a generous donation from Dale Eldred. The new addition is a rare Tomb and Reeves single fin […]

Greg Noll Surfboard Donated to the Museum

The Museum has added a classic Greg Noll surfboard to our collection thanks to the generosity of James and Faith Jones. James, who grew up in Sanford, bought this board […]

Historic Pensacola Label Board Donated to the Museum

We are proud to add an iconic label surfboard from Pensacola to our collection. Hutson Surfboards was one of the earliest line of surfboards from the area and this one […]

FSM Surf Magazine Archive Updated!

We are excited to announce that we have added more historic Florida surf magazines to our digital archive! New additions include: US Surf Magazine– Published by Carol Holland, Rob McGrath […]

The Original East Coast Surfing Magazines- Article by Doug Fiske

  Fans of East Coast surfing magazines were fortunate that the surfers who launched the four detailed below hadn’t learned much about magazine economics before they paddled out. Had they […]

FSM Swapmeet (Paying It Forward)

A fun, hot day at the FSM swapmeet today. Special Olympics surfing athlete Jake Snyder (pictured with his dad Dean and… Posted by Florida Surf Museum on Monday, July 30, 2018

Remembering Yancy…

Imagine paddling out on a beautiful winter day at Pensacola Beach way back in January, 1975. This is what you would… Posted by Tom Hutson on Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Rare Tomb and Reeves Joins Museum Collection

  Florida Surf Museum has added another classic surfboard to our collection thanks to a generous donation from Dale Eldred. The new addition is a rare Tomb and Reeves single […]

The Florida Connection: Carl Schaper

Re-printed from Aulta Surf  https://aultasurf.com/   Carl Schaper Occupation: Surfboard Shaper Hometown: Waialua, Hawaii Carl started surfing at age 13 growing up in Virginia Beach. He later moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida […]

Vintage Surf Movies Discovered

The Florida Surf Museum recently acquired 400 feet of 8mm surf movies from Greg and Pat Harlowe. The brothers ran ESA contests in Florida and  the Outer Banks in the […]

Beginner’s Break

Article written by Dan Reiter In the summer of 2001, I was couch crashing up in Topanga Canyon with a crew of lunatics and musicians who’d set up a commune […]

Mint Overlin Surfboard Donation Has Special Meaning

The museum recently received a special donation from local resident Mark Lucas- a nearly mint 70’s era Overlin surfboard. The board belonged to his late wife Rindy Arnone-Lucas who passed […]

East Coast Surfing Explosion

             History Of Surfing: But Will It Play On   The East Coast? Re-post From Surfer Magazine online Why the ’60s surf boom exploded loudest out east October 11, 2017 By […]

Digital Archive: The Florida Pro 1979

Take a little time and read this hilarious article by Jeff Johnson in the Winter 79 issue of Wave Rider Magazine. Raging parties, raging hang-overs and raging hurricanes. Bikini contests, […]

Tabeling Team Board Donation

The museum recently had a visit from Don Dickenson whose story was posted in this blog entry: Don Dickenson . Don wished to support the museum with a donation of his […]

Perspectives- El Salvador Surf Adventure

Another surf documentary by Will Lucas, Surf 64 Productions surf64.com. In the summer of 1975, six young surfers from The Jupiter Beach Florida area ventured out for their first El […]

Florida Pro at Sebastian Inlet Coming Soon

The Inlet is back! Announcing the Florida Pro Surf Competition presented by Florida Beer Company Sunshine State FL-Lager taking place January 18-26 at Sebastian Inlet State Park. This contest is […]

Paddleout for Pat O’Hare

  A Memorial Paddleout will be held for Cocoa Beach surfing legend and East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame member Pat O’Hare. The event will begin with a memorial at […]

Wave Rider Magazine- FSM Digital Archive Project

FSM continues its mission of preserving Florida’s surfing history with the first phase of our Digital Archive Project. We recently completed the archiving of Wave Rider Magazine, an important Cocoa […]

Tuy Hoa to Eniwetok- Don Dickinson’s Story

The 1960’s was an important era for the sport of surfing. What was once an exotic pastime for a few became an international craze thanks to the Hollywood media machine […]

FSM Donates to Assist Puerto Rico

The Florida Surf Museum has donated $1000 to the Waves For Water Caribbean Hurricane Relief Initiative. W4W provides water filtration systems that provide an immediate supply of drinking water to […]

Gary Propper Exhibit Grand Opening

Epic is a over-used word these days but it was a perfect description for the grand opening of the “Gary Propper-Surf /Art/Entertainment” exhibit at the Florida Surf Museum. The museum […]

From Sebastian Inlet to Margaret River

The museum recently received an inquiry from an individual concerning the history of an old surfboard he had acquired. We get messages like this quite often- mostly from someone wishing […]

2017 Waterman’s Challenge

The 2017 Waterman’s Challenge  (held June 3-4) continued the tradition of good weather, waves and vibes this year. We squeaked in two good days between two weeks of daily rain […]