Remembering Pete Smith, Godfather of Virginia Beach Surfing

The surf pioneer helped bring the East Coast Surfing Championships to Virginia Beach and co-founded the resort city’s first surf shop — leaving a legacy that shaped the sport along the entire East Coast.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Pete Smith, a pioneer of the Virginia Beach surfing community who helped shape the sport along the East Coast, has died after a battle with cancer and illness. He was 86.

Peter Morris Smith passed away peacefully on March 10 at “Cowabunga Villas” in Virginia Beach. He was born April 14 to Robert and Louise Lowe in West Palm Beach and adopted at birth by Eleanor Hawes Smith.

Family members and longtime friends say Smith’s impact on the city’s surf culture stretched far beyond the waves. His daughter, Sarah, said it was nearly impossible to go anywhere in Virginia Beach without someone recognizing her father.

“We owe him a huge debt of gratitude in showing us the way and paving the road for us,” said longtime friend Wes Laine.

“Surfing tends to be a very selfish sport. Surfers want the best wave, the most perfect wave, for themselves. Pete was the kind of guy who would go out of his way to give you a wave.”— Wes Laine, longtime friend

Smith played a key role in bringing the East Coast Surfing Championships to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. The competition began on Long Island in 1962, the same year Smith and a group of Virginia Beach surfers competed there. Their efforts brought the championships to the resort city just one year later — where it has remained ever since. Friends say that moment helped establish Virginia Beach as a hub for East Coast surfing.

Smith also helped shape the local surf industry from its very beginnings. In 1962, legendary California surfboard shaper Hobie Alter came to Virginia Beach specifically seeking Smith out, asking him to carry Hobie Surfboards. Together with fellow surfer Bob Holland Jr., Smith and Holland opened Smith & Holland Surf Shop — the first surf shop in Virginia Beach. A subsequent location at 28th Street became Pete’s Surf Shop, the storied landmark known to generations of local surfers.

Smith learned to surf on an old wooden board he called “My Buddy,” which now hangs at the Virginia Beach Surf and Rescue Museum — the old Life Saving Station on 24th Street — as a testament to the sport’s roots in the city.

A life in surf — key milestones

• 1962 — Competed in the inaugural East Coast Surfing Championships on Long Island
• 1962 — Co-founded Smith & Holland Surf Shop, Virginia Beach’s first surf shop
• 1963 — Helped relocate the East Coast Surfing Championships to Virginia Beach
• 1996 — Inducted into the inaugural class of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame
• Subsequently inducted into the East Coast Surfing Contest Hall of Fame

In 1996, Smith was inducted into the first class of the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame, and was later inducted into the East Coast Surfing Contest Hall of Fame. His title, earned through decades of contribution to the sport: the Godfather of Virginia Beach Surfing.

Laine, who described Smith as one of the first surf retailers not just in Virginia Beach but on the entire East Coast, also remembered his generosity in and out of the water — a quality rare in competitive surfing culture.

One of Smith’s favorite places to surf was near First Street on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Friends plan to honor him with a memorial paddle-out in late August.

Although the original Pete’s Surf Shop on 28th Street is no longer open, a surf shop bearing Smith’s name continues to operate in New Jersey — a small but enduring marker of a life that reshaped a coastline.

A memorial paddle-out is planned for late August at First Street, Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Details to be announced by the family.

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Wayne Creed

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