Bronze Statue Of Surfing Pioneer Joyce Hoffman Goes Up In Dana Point
DANA POINT (CBSLA) — A bronze statue honoring surfing pioneer Joyce Hoffman, believed to be the first life-size statue in the U.S. of a female surfer, was unveiled this week in Dana Point.
Hoffman, 75, is a two-time World Surfing champion, the first woman inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, and the first woman to have her own signature surfboard. And now, she has the nation's first life-size statue of a woman surfer.
In a lei, Hoffman was on hand to cut the ribbon on her own statue.
"I can't even put it in words. It's absolutely incredible, it's such an honor, and it's so humbling," she said. "I guess I'll have to spend the rest of my life trying to deserve it and live up to it."
Hoffman began surfing when she was 13 when her family moved to Capistrano Beach. Between 1963 and 1971, she dominated women's surfing competitions around the world, won multiple surfing championships, and has been featured in Sports Illustrated and Life Magazine.
Her statue was placed in Watermen's Plaza alongside statues of other prominent watermen and women in Dana Point's history who influenced the surf industry.