Members of the Tourmaline Tailgaters Surfing Association have surfed their way through the city’s bureaucratic gauntlet and have earned permission to erect a memorial to the community’s surfing heritage at Tourmaline Canyon Surfing Park.
The Surfer’s Memorial will recognize all surfers, young and old, male and female, the famous and the unknown, according to association president Greg Miller.
“There are people who are very passionate about Tourmaline,” Miller said. “There are memorials up and down the coast, and we wanted to do something classy and tasteful and give people a chance to be a part of it.”
The monument is intended to celebrate the special aloha of Tourmaline. Association members believe Tourmaline Park is one of the few surf spots where surfers share a sense of camaraderie.
They felt the significance of the park and the tribe of surfers who use it should be celebrated so that the tourists and locals can appreciate and better understand the sport of surfing.
The proposal has been endorsed by City Council members Donna Frye and Kevin Faulconer, along with the Pacific Beach Town Council, according to Miller. Frye’s husband, legendary San Diego surfer Skip, was present when the park was dedicated in 1963.
The memorial will be located in an extension of the walkway above the beach and access ramp. Local surfer Tom Armstrong of Armstrong Construction, 755 Turquoise St., is slated to build the monument. Construction is anticipated to begin before the end of the year.
Once completed, the memorial will be donated to the City of San Diego as a park enhancement. Maintenance will be the responsibility of the Tailgaters Surfing Association.
To fund the memorial, the Tailgaters plan to sell 4-inch by 8-inch sidewalk brick pavers that will surround the memorial. Purchasers may create a message to be inscribed on their brick, with each brick able to accommodate 15 spaces of letters on three lines of text.
The bricks will be made by the same company that prepared the bricks installed at Petco Park.
The project can accommodate about 300 bricks. Bricks will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the location of each brick will be selected by a random lottery. The memorial brick purchase price is $200 and buyers may purchase more than one.
The committee, which spent two years getting the memorial designed and approved, includes Miller, Tom Davis, Jeff Grant, John Pruitt and Glenn Paculba.
Information is also available from Miller at (619) 997-6869 or from Paculba at Star Surfing Company, 4652 Mission Blvd., (858) 273-7827.
A website will be up soon with information at www.tourmalinememorial.com.