Watermen’s Plaza in Dana Point to Add Sculpture of Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison

By Ella Boyd, Dana Point Times

Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison, a pioneering Californian surfer and central figure in the growth of outrigger canoe racing in Orange County, has been selected as the next honoree at Dana Point’s Watermen’s Plaza. His life-sized bronze statue is scheduled to be installed in 2027.

Watermen’s Plaza, located along Pacific Coast Highway across from Doheny State Beach, recognizes influential surfers and industry icons with ties to Dana Point. Harrison will join a lineup that includes filmmaker Bruce Brown, shaper Hobie Alter, surfers Joyce Hoffman and Phil Edwards, SURFER magazine founder John Severson, and tandem surfers/skateboarders Barrie and Steve Boehne. Surfer Mickey Munoz is scheduled to have his statue unveiled later this year.

Harrison, born in 1913 in Garden Grove, began surfing in 1925 at age 12. Eight years later, he was among the first to ride waves at San Onofre, and in 1933 he won the Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships. These milestones are documented in his entry in the Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw, who describes Harrison as a “hot-rodding California surfer in the 1930s and ’40s, and pioneering geriatric surfer in the ’80s and ’90s.”

In 1932, Harrison stowed away not once, but twice on a cruise ship bound for Waikiki. According to Warshaw’s account, he was caught and returned to the mainland on his first attempt, then allowed to remain in Hawaii after being discovered again less than 24 hours later on a second try. During a return visit in the late 1930s, he was among the first of the Californians to surf the North Shore of Oahu.

Artist Bill Limebrook, who created the plaza’s bronze sculptures, said Harrison’s time in Hawaii shaped the direction of Southern California surf culture. “He was the guy who first went to Hawaii and got to know the Hawaiians, brought the California boys over there,” Limebrook said.

Limebrook also said Harrison earned the nickname “Whitey” from Hawaiian surfers because he was the first white mainlander fully accepted into their group. “It’s really an amazing story, that he was the guy who introduced them, the California friends to the Hawaiian friends,” he said.

Harrison built surf racks modeled after those at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki and learned to carve koa logs into outrigger canoes. In 1959, he helped organize California’s first outrigger race, from Catalina Island to Newport Beach.

By 1971, he founded what became known as the Whitey Harrison Classic, a 20-mile outrigger canoe race from Dana Point to Laguna Beach and back. The event coincided with the opening of Dana Point Harbor and continues each August.

JP Van Swae, Harrison’s grandson, described his grandfather’s approach to life during a recent interview with Dana Point Times.  “He was just always doing something interesting,” said JP, who grew up surfing with Harrison. “No matter what, whether it was working or it was playing, it always seemed fun. Everybody gravitated towards him.  …

“He was the patriarch. Hawaii had Duke Kahanamoku. Huntington has George Freeth. In Dana Point, he was the guy everybody looked up to.”

Harrison worked as a Santa Monica lifeguard, Hollywood stuntman, surfboard builder, dry cleaner and night watchman. For roughly three decades beginning in 1946, he earned his living as a lobster and abalone diver. That year, he married Cecelia Yorba, a descendant of a California Spanish land grant family. The couple lived in her 18th-century adobe home in San Juan Capistrano, one mile inland from Dana Point, and raised four children together (Harrison had two from a previous marriage). 

In 1990, Harrison reached a national audience when he appeared in a Nike advertising campaign, was featured in LIFE magazine and made a guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, presented as a vibrant senior surfer.

He died of a heart attack in 1993 while driving home with his wife after a morning swim.

But with the planned installation of his statue in 2027, Harrison’s legacy will be permanently seen in the community he helped shape through surfing and the revival and growth of outrigger canoe racing.  DP