 |
| Patty and Cory at Padres Game |
Patty Whitlock –
Family Matriarch
There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the driving
force in any family is the mom, the matriarch, the head or ruler of a family.
Patty Whitlock leaves no doubt that she is, indeed, the driving force in this
family. Divorced for many years, Patty and Rusty have two very distinct roles
in the dynamics of the family personality and the family business.
It is this writer’s impression that Patty has been the
glue that has held the family together through some difficult times. Not unlike
many families, the Whitlock’s have had their difficulties. Trying to build a
board shaping business in the late 60’s and early 70’s on Oahu was challenging.
Rusty and the kids may have been living in paradise, but Patty was tasked with
keeping the whole thing together. While Rusty was surfing, competing and
building a board shaping business, Patty was having and raising kids and
managing the money. Those are all stories we will explore as we get to know
this family. But, first, there was a love story.
Surfer Girl Meets Surfer
Boy
Her eyes take on a soft, faraway luminescence as the memories
move her back through time. Her face is transformed, time and stress slipping
away. The beauty and youthfulness of a young girl hums around her as she tells
us ‘I was 17 when I first saw him. He was walking out of the ocean after a
competition.’ She smiles at the memory and said, ‘I knew at that moment he was
mine. We did not talk until later that evening. When we did, we were never
apart again. ‘
I don’t know about you, but that story took my breath away.
The look in Patty’s eyes told me, without a doubt, the truth of that moment in
time, about 45 years ago.
The Story
Those first moments were magical, sparking the beginnings of
a family that would span 3 generations in the surf world. The story will broaden, covering this family’s
joys and tragedies, woven through the world of surfing from the days when the
brands and competitions we all know today were just forming. Their family story
closely linked to the transformation of a simple surfing lifestyle into the
high powered, fierce, competitive world of professional surfing, as we know it
today. This family was there, at the beginning. This family is there today,
even now shaping the way we surf. 
