Richard Schmidt Surf School Inc.

In 1978 Richard Schmidt decided to share his passion for surfing and started teaching in his hometown of Santa Cruz, California. He started lifeguarding that year as well and worked the next 15 summers on the beach in addition to his teaching surfing. During that same period he would travel to the North Shore of Oahu every winter to compete in the Triple Crown of Surfing series, thus his professional surfing career was gaining recognition. In the late 80’s the surf media crowned him as California’s top big wave rider. During the season of 1989-1990 he recorded two 1st and two 3rd place finishes in Hawaii, which was the best competitive season anyone from California had ever had.