Born in California in 1948, Jeff Hakman’s father introduced him to surfing at age eight. Four years later, the family moved to Oahu, and the year after that, at the age of 13, Hakman surfed Waimea Bay for the first time. In 1965, he was invited to the inaugural Duke Kahanamoku Invitational, held at Sunset Beach. Hakman was 17. He won. In the ensuing years, on his Dick Brewer-shaped boards, Hakman transitioned seamlessly from longboards to shortboards—and went on a winning streak. He won the Duke again in ’70 and ’71; won the first Pipe Masters in ’71; won the Hang Ten Pro and Gunston 500 in ’72; and the Hang Ten again in ’73. Bookending his stellar competitive run, he won the Bells Beach event in 1976. After winning that event, Hakman sat down with the owners of a fledgling Aussie brand called Quiksilver and convinced them to make him the US licensee.
Today, Hakman lives in Bidart, France, where he sits down with Jamie Brisick for this episode of Soundings to talk about surfboard design, growing up on the North Shore, the birth of the surf industry, humility, and the challenge of returning to an everyday existence after living the extraordinary.