On January 27, the City of Dana Point will unveil a life-size bronze statue of local legend and international surf icon Joyce Hoffman within its Watermen’s Plaza. The statue will be the first life-size statue in the United States to honor a female surfer.
This latest tribute joins bronze statues of Bruce Brown, Hobie Alter, John Severson, and Phil Edwards, who are all memorialized within the plaza that honors prominent watermen and women in Dana Point’s history who influenced the surf industry.
From 1963 to 1971 Hoffman dominated women’s surfing competitions across the globe, confirming her place as a pioneer for generations of female surfers. Hoffman’s many surfing accomplishments include being featured in Sports Illustrated and on the cover of Life Magazine. Hoffman’s multiple victories in the United States Surfing Championships (1965, 1966, and 1967), the Makaha International (1964, 1966), and the Laguna Masters (1965, 1967) made her an international surfing star. Hobie Surfboards introduced the Joyce Hoffman signature modelsurfboard in 1967 and not until the 1990s has a female surfer come close to matching Hoffman’s popularity. Hoffman was the first surfer to be named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1965 and in 1994 she was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame as Woman of the Year.
Hoffman started surfing when she was 13, when her family moved to Capistrano Beach, making Dana Point an integral part of shaping her early career. When asked about this latest honor, Hoffman says, “I feel it’s a tribute to all the women surfers. I’m the one that’s going to be the face, but if it wasn’t for all the women surfers that came before and after me, I wouldn’t be getting this honor.”
The statue was modeled after a widely-recognized surfing photo of Hoffman. As she states, “Phil Edwards was one of my idols, and David Nuuhiwa. They were both very aggressive surfers. David is famous for riding the nose so I tried to model my surfing after a combination of those two. That’s why seeing me standing on the nose of the surfboard is applicable to what my surfing was like.”
“Joyce has such an amazing and far-reaching career legacy. It’s an honor to recognize her and her contributions to surfing, in particular women’s surfing, as a global icon. The notoriety she has brought to Dana Point for its place in surfing’s history cannot be understated,” said Dana Point Mayor Joe Muller.
The public Joyce Hoffman statue unveiling will take place on Thursday, January 27 at 3 p.m. The life-size sculptures of local surf industry legends are created by artist Bill Limebrook, who grew up on Beach Road in Dana Point. Watermen’s Plaza is located along Pacific Coast Highway just past its official starting point at the 5 freeway.
