{"id":308,"date":"2016-02-14T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.topsea.co.il\/israelsurf\/?p=308"},"modified":"2025-04-24T09:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T09:32:09","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.topsea.co.il\/israelsurf\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the Israeli surfing scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It all begun at the time of the\u00a0 \"Kadesh operation\" back in the 50's when a young
\ndoctor from California named Dorian Paskowitz\u00a0 came to Israel.
\nHe had a dream - to create an Israeli surfing team which would
\nrepresent Israel in the world championships.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dorian Paskowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He brought with him 6 Longboards, which were partly made from Balsa wood, each
\nwith drawings depicting the Israeli flag, a \"Star of\u00a0 David\" with blue lines on either\u00a0side.
\nHe started cruising the coast in the\u00a0 hope of finding someone who would\u00a0take responsibility for the project.\u00a0 Eventually he came to \"Frishman\"\u00a0beach in Tel Aviv, where he bumped into local lifeguard Shamai \"Topsi\"Kancepolsky.\u00a0 He told Topsi about his idea.<\/p>\n

\"551909_486878111330026_1969527584_n\"
topsy & noami with the first surfboards in israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nir Almog relates: \"It was love at first sight, my father decided\u00a0to take on the project and be responsible for getting it started.
\nAt that time the lifeguards only caught waves with the \"Hasake\"
\n(a flat wide board that had been designed for near shore fishing by Arabs
\nand later adopted as a vehicle for the lifeguards...)
\nDorian gave them lessons and slowly the locals who hung out by
\nthe lifeguard station started to surf.
\nAt that time the waves on Tel Aviv's beaches were very high and<\/p>\n

used to break right on the beach (curved like a real beach break) - the reason for this
\nwas that the beach was open shore with no piers and the golden sand that came
\ndrifting up from the river Nile helped to shape the sea floor. To enter the water and go
\nsurfing then was thought of as pure madness and extremely courageous.\u00a0 The waves
\nbroke in sections, the first being a beach break, the second break was 500 m away.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Shamai \"Topsea\" Kancepolsky- Israeli Surf father.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nir Almog continues: \"My father, who loved the sea, decided that I\u00a0too, his first son, should learn to surf. He took me and put me
\non the board's nose with him, while the surf was up. He instructed me to stand
\nup, I did so, and that was the moment I caught the surf\u00a0 bug..
\nAfter a while I became a partner of Shaul the lifeguard who worked
\nwith my dad at the same beach tower, he was the best surfer at<\/p>\n

that time and he used to take me out to the second break where we surfed
\nthe huge waves that to me looked gigantic, maybe because I was so tiny..<\/p>\n

We used to rip the waves all the way to the beach.\u00a0 The technique of the longboard
\nwas to walk by crossing legs to the nose of the board and to balance ourselves on one
\nleg, a manoeuvre that was called\u00a0 \"Hang 5\" while balancing with two legs was called
\n\"Hang 10\".<\/p>\n

After a few years the local gang gained experience in surfing but no surf team had
\nbeen established for representing Israel overseas...
\nDorian returned to Israel and brought more boards with him that were distributed to\u00a0the local surfers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Topsi's storehouse at \"Frishman\" beach.1961<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nir adds: \"During the 60's a giant storm erupted which caused the storehouse to be
\nflooded resulting in the surfboards being damaged and broken. After this disaster my
\nfather took one of the surfboards and tried to fix it, he cut it down to 1.80m in size
\nand so the first short board in Israel was born.\u00a0 I was the first one here to have surfed
\non a short board.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Surfers at Tel Avivs \"Frishman\" beach.during the 60's<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same surfers kept on surfing but no progress was made until 1970. They were
\njoined by surfers from all over the country, a few who brought with them surfboards\u00a0from overseas.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eilam Bale and Ofer Zaramaty, the first Israelis mentioned in \"Surfer magazine\".<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The Frishman gang - Engel, Roni, Micha, Rami, Hezi, Ofer & Havana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the beginning of the 70's, a young paratroop officer called Yair told Topsi that the
\narmy uses a plastic foam called polioritan , and that a company in Haifa produces it
\nfor the army. The plastic foam is similar to the materials used for making surfboards.
\nYair came up with the idea to start producing\u00a0 boards locally with this material.
\nTopsi contacted the company and ordered the material. Topsi and Nir started
\nto shape boards, of course, the beginning was hard, with quite a few blocks of foam
\ngoing to waste.\u00a0 After trying for a while they succeeded in shaping blocks that looked\u00a0like surfboards
\nAnd so began a small industry of surfboard production. Most of the boards were used
\nfor\u00a0 hiring and a new generation of surfers entered the local Israeli surf scene.
\nTopsi ran a small factory at his new storehouse at the \"Hilton\" beach and
\nbetween renting \"Hasakes\" he shaped surfboards for the local kids.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tel Aviv's \"Hilton\" beach back in the 70's.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Orian kancepolsky topsea point 1978<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
More surfers at \"Hilton\" beach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Surfers at \"Hilton\", in the background Topsi's \"Hasake\".<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ofer Zaramati relates: \"David Paskowits gave us a few new
\ntips, up until then we used to surf in a simple style - catching
\nthe wave in a straight line - from the peak to the shore, as with
\nthe \"Hasake\". David taught us some new tricks which today are the basics
\nfor every surfer - \"off the lip\" and \"cutback\".
\nAt that time Dorian's Caravan was found in \"Ari\" Storage Warehouse and in it we
\ndiscovered a gallon of polyester and a flexible wooden board with 4 rubber wheels \u2013
\nthis was the first skateboard in Israel. Nobody knew what to do with it or how - except
\nYoni Bale - Eilam's younger brother. He was the first who dared to ride down
\nFrishman Street which was downhill. Shortly afterwards Topsi ordered a \"Gordon &Smith\" skateboard and the gang which included, Ofer Zaramaty, Gali Ziner and\u00a0 Shai\u00a0Raz became an attraction for the local youth in the beach area.Later they become the Instruction team in the \"youth city\" complex at the
\nsummer holiday fair for kids who took their first steps on a skateboard..<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ofer Zaramati riding downhill standing on his hands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ofer Zaramaty continues : \"The polyiaster gallon was something new for us,
\nI remember that the first time we fixed my surfboard we did so in the middle of our
\nliving room, we used cigarette filters instead of foam and
\nplasteline to frame the cast. Who had heard about foam then?\".
\nNir says : \"At that time I joined the army, after 4 years I got released
\nand decided to study\u00a0 fiberglass, I worked at a speed
\nboat factory in Herzliya for 3 years. Every day after work I spent my time
\ntrying to shape surfboards and I gained experience. After 3 years I quit my job and
\nstarted my own surfboard factory. I must mention that I was using local materials
\nand this was the reason that my boards did not look as good as those from overseas.
\nThe foam absorbed water making it much heavier, therefore the quality of the boards
\nwas nothing to write home about. I started a business in 1977 in the basement of my\u00a0mothers apartment which was called \"Almog Surfboards\".
\nAt the same time a lifeguard at the \"Country Club\" beach by the name of \"Musa\", a
\nchildhood friend of mine, also started producing surfboards. He brought materials
\nfrom overseas.\u00a0 I approached him with an offer of opening up a business together and
\nto become partners to which he replied \"Not this year, I've invested a lot of money,
\nmaybe next year\"
\nFrom that moment the \"rivalry\" between Hilton's Almog surfboards and
\nCountry beach's Musa surfboards began...<\/p>\n