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It wasn't hard to find Dave Devine.
Photo by Lloyd Kahn It wasn't hard to find Dave Devine.
The Santa Cruz surfer, legendary among an old-line community of local wave riders, was always sitting on a bench at Pleasure Point, watching the surf.
"With a cigarette in his hand, a cigarette and a cup of coffee," said friend Jack Roddy, 70, of Scotts Valley. "It was classic. He really was Mr. Pleasure Point"
Devine died April 2. He was 77.
Friends recalled Devine as a fixture of Pleasure Point, a fantastic surfer, a true waterman of the old style, a good friend, an athlete, an occasional grouch and a real character.
He won the Northern California Surfing Championships in the late 1950s, and he and his friends were some of the first to take surf junkets up and down the California coast.
A native of San Francisco, Devine was part of a group that moved down to Santa Cruz in the early '50s to surf uncrowded Pleasure Point, as well as Cowell's and Steamer Lane, well before such luxuries as leashes and wetsuits were available.
Among the crew he was surfing with were names like Alonzo Wiemers, Peter Cole and Fred and Gene Van Dyke.
"I started surfing in '52 or '53, and he was one of the first people I met," said longtime local Betty Van Dyke, 74, of Pleasure Point.
He tried to surf every day without fail, said Van Dyke and others.
The Devine house in Pleasure Point was kind of a meeting place, said Van Dyke, and the tight-knit surfing community would get together for barbecues. Sometimes, they'd sleep along the cliffs where Jack O'Neill's house is now, said Van Dyke.
Devine lived in the area for 50 years. He was a retired P.E. teacher and swim coach who worked at Watsonville and Aptos high schools.
During the 1960s, he led several of Watsonville High's swim teams to championship-winning seasons. He was a lifelong football enthusiast and a fan of the San Francisco Giants. In the summers, he worked for O'Neill as a salesman.
Some of his high school swimming students nicknamed him "Shark," according to local kneeboarder Dan Young, who swam under Devine at Watsonville High.
When Young and his best friend, Roger Collins, were freshmen on the swim team, a senior told Roger that Coach Devine liked to be called "Shark," according to Young.
"So Roger went up and said, 'Hi, Shark,'" said Young. "Dave about chewed his head off. Needless to say, the older swimmers were rolling on the deck, laughing their butts off"
The name "Sharky" stuck, but Devine disliked the moniker, said his son, Jeff "JD" Devine, 49, of Aptos.
No one could get away with much around Devine, said JD.
"He was definitely quiet and very wise," said JD, whose nickname for his dad was "Big D" "You could never pull the wool over his eyes. He always knew"
JD, who's built surfboards for the past 37 years, started to get into surfing at about age 12. Devine taught him to finish a surfboard.
"He taught me a couple trade secrets," said JD. "That was the first board I made, and it turned out great. I turned it in for some money and bought some more stuff, and I was on my way. He took the time to help me out"
In March 1997, Devine suffered a devastating stroke.
"It paralyzed him on the right side, and he had a speech impediment where he couldn't get the message out, though he was cognitive," said JD, who brought Devine into his family's home and cared for him the rest of his life.
Devine walked the first year with a cane, but then lost the ability and was in a wheelchair the rest of his life.
Watching his father struggle was tough, especially because he was an athletic man, said JD. But, he said, "I've been very honored to do that"
Though Devine wasn't riding waves the last years of his life, old timers remember him fondly for the legacy he established.
"He surfed more waves in Santa Cruz than anybody," said Rich Novak, a Santa Cruz native, veteran local surfer and owner of NHS Inc., parent company of Santa Cruz Surfboards. "He surfed almost daily 'til just before his stroke"
Devine's faithfulness to the waves made him memorable, said friends and family.
"He surfed loyally until the end," said friend Dave McGuire, 78, of Santa Cruz. "We all loved him. He was really a good guy"
Here's hoping Devine's in a better place, in a good spot on a bench in the sunshine, watching endless rows of perfect sets march slowly toward the coastline.
Send surf items to Gwen Mickelson at
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Photo by Lloyd Kahn
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