Herbert “Bing” Copeland opened Bing Surfboards on the Hermosa Beach waterfront in 1960. His name was to become one of the best-known brands throughout the ’60s and into the ’70s. Speaking of Bing’s name, have you ever wondered how he got the name “Bing”? Well I have, so I asked him. Here’s what he had to say: “Actually, I was born Herbert Bingham Copeland III. When I was two years old, my babysitter didn’t like calling me “Herbie” so she shortened my middle name and just started calling me Bing. It’s been that way ever since.”
Bing influenced surfing in many ways and worked with some of best-known surfers of the time. Names like Donald Takayama and David Nuuhiwa were included on the list of famous Bing team riders; Takayama is also a very talented shaper and introduced the Bing Donald Takayama Model. He also helped develop two extremely popular Bing models bearing the Nuuhiwa name–the “Noserider” and the “Lightweight”–of which an estimated 10,000 units were sold between 1965 and 1967. In 1967, surfboard designer Dick Brewer shaped the Bing Pipeliner, a model that Brewer still shapes today. In 1973, Bing produced a trademarked Bonzer model, a design introduced a year earlier and one of the first to use three fins–now a standard on all performance shortboards.
If you have seen our film then you know Bing’s interview played a big role in our movie. His knowledgeable and heartfelt stories were a nice contrast to some of the boisterous personalities that we had captured.
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