Find somebody that’s going out there, and throw the board on top and go. But I couldn’t tell my parents that, ‘cause they didn’t like that idea at all, you know, going out to the North Shore. So, I’d have to sneak. But I always managed to, you know, I mean, they found out a few times, but I wasn’t beat or anything, just because I went. I just got a good scolding, ‘cause I was still young. As I grew older, the scoldings got less and less, and then I got my own car—a ’55 Chevy—and my dad came home one day, and I had a hacksaw. And where the crossbars on the trunk are, I was sawing those crossbars off. So, I could stick my board inside, instead of put it on the roof. He looked at me, shook his head, and walked in the house. What else is he going to do? It’s too late: I already did it.
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
Interviewee Bio
Wayne Miyata (1942–2005) was a pioneering professional surfer in both Hawai`i and Southern Calfornia and was known as a leading big wave rider. Originally from Hawaii, Miyata appeared in the classic surfing film The Endless Summer in which he was one of the first surfers to be filmed successfully surfing a tube ride through the hollow of a large curling wave. He also became one of the leading surfboard shapers in Southern California. He died in Hermosa Beach, CA at the age of 63. (August 10, 2005)
