Landslide buries
rare surf collection

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. >> Avid surfboard collector Bobby Lockhart owns some of the world's most valuable boards, including one that champion surfer-turned-actor Kelly Slater rode to victory in the Hawaiian Pipe Masters championship.

But he had to watch helplessly when last week's huge landslide destroyed his two-story home in this community about a mile from the beach and buried nearly all his prized boards beneath debris and rubble.

Lockhart rummaged through his house Friday and managed to retrieve two Lightning Bolt boards and a Hawaiian big-wave board that had been owned by a deceased friend.

"I only got three out of 350," said Lockhart, a 37-year-old surfwear salesman. "But it's a start, it's a beautiful start."

Between 30 and 50 boards might be ruined, but the rest "looked salvageable," he said. His collection includes a 1930s balsa-wood board valued at $30,000.

On Wednesday, the landslide sent luxury houses with vistas of the Orange County coastline crashing down a canyon. The cause of the disaster was under investigation, but geologists suspect it was caused by heavy winter storms that saturated Southern California with near-record rainfall.

Fifteen homes suffered significant damage in the slide, including at least seven that appear to have been destroyed. Four people suffered minor injuries.

Hundreds of residents have been allowed to return to their homes, but those whose dwellings were red- or yellow-tagged can only retrieve their belongings on a case-by-case basis.

Lockhart, whose house has been declared uninhabitable, was only allowed in his house for about 15 minutes after a building inspector gave the go-ahead. He grabbed pictures from the upstairs living room before heading for the surfboards in a downstairs storeroom.

"He's got boards from the '70s, '80s, and up, surfboards owned and ridden by some of the best-known surfers in the world, like Kelly Slater and (current world champion) Andy Irons," said Allan Seymour, a surf historian and owner of Pacific Coast Vintage Surf Auctions.

"It's like having a Cooperstown collection in baseball going down the hill," said Jennifer Harris, a spokeswoman for the Surfing Industry Manufacturer's Association.

Jeff Booth, an executive with a competing surfwear company, said the loss of Lockhart's boards would be devastating to the surfing community.