O'Neill SS17: Thousands of surfers join hands to celebrate the Life of Jack O’Neill

The life of legendary waterman Jack O’Neill was honored spectacularly in a worldwide series of memorial paddle outs on Sunday 9th July and Monday 10th July 2017. The moving display united surf communities across the globe with over 3,500 surfers joining hands in the world’s biggest floating memorial sequence to date.

Jack’s hometown of Santa Cruz, California led proceedings with simultaneous paddle outs taking place in Australia, Canada, Portugal, England, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Japan and South Africa.

With no greater way to honor a man whose life was led by the ocean, the memorial paddle outs were a chance for surfers across the world to pay their respects and remember the man who “just wanted to surf longer.”

As the clouds parted and the fog lifted in Santa Cruz, a huge crowd of surfers gathered at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz next to Jack O’Neill’s house to form the biggest memorial celebration the surfing world has seen to date. Over 2500 people joined the celebration on surfboards and in boats in the water and lining the cliff. With the O’Neill family on Jack’s legendary sailing yacht in the center of the circle, former world champion and close friend of the O’Neill family Shaun Tomson honored Jack as one the pioneers and founders of the surfing industry. "For all of us floating out here, some of the best moments of our lives have been spent in the water – waiting under the great dome of sky and catching that perfect wave that has taken us to where we need to be," said Tomson.

Jack was born in Denver, Colorado on 27th March 1923. He moved with his family to California, where he acquired a love for the beach early in his youth. Following service in the US Navy during World War II, Jack moved to Ocean Beach in San Francisco in the early 1950s and immediately began experimenting on his kitchen table with various materials designed to protect against the frigid ocean water in Northern California. He said, “I just wanted to surf longer.”

By the 50s, Jack had both invented the first surfing and bodysurfing wetsuits and opened his first surf shop near Ocean Beach. He also coined “Surf Shop,” a term for which he later received a Registered US Trademark.

Inspired by the growing surf scene, Jack moved with his growing family 75 miles south to Santa Cruz and opened his next surf shop. Shortly thereafter he began making surfboards, promoting the first surf movies and producing wetsuits for the expanding population of surfers in Santa Cruz and throughout California.

Paying homage to Jack, pioneer, maverick and surfer, O’Neill presents a new film, I Knew Jack O’Neill, ​ directed and produced by Peter Hamblin. Detailing the story of the wetsuit and the first ‘surf shop,’ the mini documentary reveals Jack O’Neill’s life and adventures.

Download the video here: https://we.tl/SNGg3AIYqa

Jack O’Neill Memorial Paddle Outs:

Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz, California USA

Great Western Beach, Newquay, Cornwall United Kingdom

Cox Bay, Tofino, Vancouver Island Canada

Anglet/Biarritz ​ France

Freshwater Beach, Sydney Australia

Lisbon Portugal

Scheveningen Netherlands

Surfer Paradise, Knokke Belgium

Jeffreys Bay South Africa

Shonan Japan

Share

Get updates in your mailbox

By clicking "Subscribe" I confirm I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy.

About O'Neill

O'Neill, the original California surf, snow and lifestyle brand, was founded in 1952 when a young man named Jack O'Neill took his unstoppable passion for surfing and used it to beat Mother Nature at her own game.

Pioneering the world's first neoprene surf wetsuit, Jack had successfully found a way to extend his surf sessions in the bone-chilling breaks of Northern California. He opened up the garage doors to his first surf shop soon after.
While many things have changed since those humble beginnings, Jack's initial vision of producing functional and innovative board riding products continues to inspire people and empower them to do what they love doing most.

Contact

09/216.80.40

www.oneill.com