The Legend of Pat Curren

The big-wave pioneer not only took on some of Hawaii’s most feared lineups, he built the boards that broke barriers.

Photo Credit Bev Morgan

Pat Curren is famously a man of few words, but the surfboards he built speaks volumes. At the 2023 California Gold Surf Auction there is a “holy grail” of Curren-shaped guns. Made of balsa with a redwood tailblock, this hand-shaped marvel is simply stunning. In 2022 a Pat Curren balsa sold for $47K, what’s this one going to go for?

To view the auction and bid visit California Gold Surf Auction

For a telling tale about Curren read on.

There is "Holy Grail" and then there is HOLY GRAIL. You are bidding on a rare and sought after 1993 Pat Curren Balsa Waimea Bay Elephant Gun. Pat Curren's board #2 of 6 from The Surfer's Journal Volume 3 #3 article titled The Curren Gun Project produced by Steve Pezman and Bob Beadle with C.R. Stecyk; and written by Steve Pezman.

Photo From Surfer's Journal Volume 3 #3 article titled The Curren Gun Project

An absolute sleek and sexy stiletto blade. Balsa with redwood tailblock and shallow era correct Curren fin design. This board was glued up and shaped with one pair of hands, by the man himself, Mr. Pat Curren, 30 years ago. Marked with his signature on the deck near the tail. Glassed at Channin Precision Glass. An incredible surfboard by a surfing pioneer and shaping legend. This is Smithsonian, Da Vinci level craftwork/art. The condition is near mint, a 10 out of 10. It is pristine. The pedigree is alpha. The provenance thorough and unquestionable. In 2022 we sold a Pat Curren balsa for $47K. The pricing is right, we have a motivated seller.

Of famous Meade Hall on the North Shore of Oahu in the late 1950s, Fred Van Dyke describes, “It was mostly Pat [Curren] and the La Jolla guys -- maybe 10 guys altogether. It was a three-bedroom, fully furnished place for $65 a month across from Ke Iki Road. Pat went in there like always, checked it out, didn’t say anything. Then he lined up everybody for a meeting and the plan unfolded. Two days later, they had completely gutted the place. Just tore the insides out of it. With the leftover lumber they built surfboard racks along the side and a giant eating table down the middle. Pat got the Meade Hall idea from the old King Arthur books. That was the meeting place for all valiant gladiators.”

“Ala King Arthur,” Van Dyke wrote, “the Knights of the Round Table and the meeting place known as ‘Meade Hall,’ Curren proceeded to convert [the] place in like fashion. He took on a number of roommates, mostly surfers from La Jolla, California, like Mike Diffenderfer, Al Nelson, Wayne Land and others. They razed all the inside separating walls, except the bathroom. With the lumber, they constructed surfboard racks from ceiling to floor, and built a huge rabble with connected benches on both sides. It stretched the length of the one big room.

“When it was finished, Pat stood back. ‘I think this will do; I’m going surfing.’ With that, he strolled into the backyard, picked up a machete, and hacked a couple of branches from a Hale Koa tree. He tied these to the top of his battered car and secured his board to the new rack. Pat disappeared in a cloud of fumes, headed toward Sunset.”

Ricky Grigg said Curren would sit at the head of the table, often wearing a mock Viking helmet, “and he’d pound on the table, going, ‘Ahh! Eat! We hungry! Gotta surf big waves tomorrow! Take wife and pull her by hair into room!’ Just totally joking around. I mean, the most Pat would ever say in a day was about eight words, and I just said all eight of ‘em.”

Photo Credit John Severson

Curren was also a professional diver who had worked for the oil companies on offshore oil platforms back in California. On the North Shore, he continued diving in the form of free diving. While Meade Hall was in existence, on one particular dive, he got bit by a moray eel. Bruce Brown told the following story of when he went over to Meade Hall that day:

“‘Pat,’ Brown addressed Curren, “‘I heard you got bit out there.’

“‘Yup.’

“‘Yeah, well, what happened?’

“‘I guess I scared him.’

 “‘Is it bad?’

“‘Umm... naw.’

“All the while,” said Brown, “Pat’s holding his hand in his pocket. I asked if I could see it, and he begrudgingly pulls it out, just a piece of hamburger, covered with old tobacco and pocket lint, unbelievably bad. Diffenderfer and those guys tried to get him to a doctor, but Pat just sat and rocked in a chair for a couple of days. Finally he just fell out of the chair with blood poisoning. We had to drag him to the hospital.”

Later on, Meade Hall would see its demise.

“There’s no way to express the look on the owner’s face when he came the next month to collect the rent,” wrote Van Dyke. “Needless to say, Meade Hall was short lived.”

Photo Credit Bev Morgan

From Malcolm Gault-Williams’ “Pat Curren: King Of The Bay”