Septuagenarian Is Still Making Waves

Douglas F. Craig may not be the best surfer around, but he may be the most durable.

Five days a week, every week, rain or shine, hot or cold, the 70-year-old retired aerospace engineer is out there finding the good waves and ripping them up off San Onofre.

“It’s great exercise,” said Craig, who feels surfing keeps him in good health. “You can’t surf if you are overweight or drink too much or fool around with drugs.”

Surfing is also a test of strength, agility and judgment, “and it all ends up making me feel exhilarated, especially when I ride a good wave. You feel your adrenaline go.”

It also puts him in touch with the environment.

“You’re untainted by any man-made thing other than the surfboard,” he marveled.

Craig admits: “I’m not that great, but I ride a lot of waves and do my thing.”

Craig’s 42-year-old son said his father still has it.

“He’s real aggressive out there and still rips it up,” said son Don Craig of San Clemente, who along with brother Tom Craig, 40, of Cayucos, occasionally joins their father for a wave or two.

At times, the two brothers bring their sons too.

“That’s a big deal surfing with your grandfather,” said the elder Craig, who met his wife Bobbie in Hermosa Beach, his one-time residence.

“I don’t surf and I can’t even swim, but I’ve always loved the beach and always went to watch Doug,” she said.

The grandfather’s exploits and popularity among the generations of San Onofre surfers were obvious recently when about 150 of them gathered for a 70th birthday bash for the Dana Point man.

Among his gifts was a 3-foot-high trophy inscribed: “Doug Craig--A Living Legend.”

While the elder Craig spends most of his surfing time in the waters off San Onofre, he has visited the good waves at a number of countries including Bali, Australia and New Zealand.

He feels Hawaii offers the best waves but likes to hang around San Onofre.

“When you go to a place a lot, you get to know the shape of the bottom and know where the peak is. That gets you to the right spot at the right time.”

Craig said he started surfing in Hermosa Beach when he was 13, but never entered competitions.

“I’m sort of against contests,” said the former World War II B-24 pilot, who once surfed in Australia on a stopover flight. “To me surfing is a neat, personal thing.”

He feels that “down to earth guys that surf don’t go in for the fanfare. They’re not exhibitionists.”

In fact, many of his surfing buddies are professional men such as doctors, attorneys, dentists, teachers and businessmen looking for a good wave. “They are a great cross-section of people,” he said.

Besides surfing, Craig has shaped surfboards for family and friends and carves tikis from driftwood.

Each September he holds a potluck luau where trophies collected from garage sales are awarded for such unenviable deeds as the best wipeout and shortest ride.

Craig and two of his closest surfing companions, Ross McAdam and Fred Casserio, have been dubbed “The Three Wise Men.”

The name was pinned on the threesome for their penchant for discussing business on their boards while waiting for a wave.

“We don’t talk surfing all the time,” he explained.