Legendary Big-Wave Surfer Greg 'Da Bull' Noll Dies at 84

Greg 'Da Bull' Noll, who pioneered big-wave surfing in the 1950s and 60s, has died at age 84.

Noll died Monday in his hometown, Crescent City, Calif., his son Jed confirmed via the Instagram account of his company, Noll Surfboards.

"It is with a heavy heart the Noll family announces the death of our patriarch, Greg Noll," the post read. "Greg died of natural causes on Monday June 28th, at the age of 84. We invite all of our friends and family to celebrate his life by sharing this post and your stories, pictures and experiences through your preferred platform."

Noll was three when he moved from San Diego to the surf town of Manhattan Beach with his mother, according to ABC7. It was there that he honed his surfing skills. For a while he was happy to surf the beach breaks, which relied heavily on winter swell for bigger waves, but there was always something calling him to explore the bigger surf.

In the 1950s, Noll decided to fulfill his curiosity by going out in search of the biggest waves. Over the next few years, he would travel to Mexico, Australia and the North Shore of Hawaii's island of Oahu.

It was on Oahu's North Shore, at Waimea Bay, in 1957 that he first defied all preconceived limitations by riding a wave roughly 30 feet high. The last person to try and surf this spot, when the waves were massive slabs of water, was Dickie Cross, but he died there in 1943. Since then locals said the waves were not surfable.

Noll proved them wrong.

Several years later, Noll was credited as the first person to surf the waves at Oahu's Third Reef Pipeline, where the threat of death is a reality. Noll paved the way for big wave surfing and became an icon to many other surfers, but he was never comfortable with that label, he revealed to The Temple of Surf in an interview last year.

"Do I consider myself a surf legend? I gotta be honest with ya. I was just a kid having fun and I would just, I’d say I was more of a fun hog than a legend, I just surfed because I loved it and whatever happened, I’m a little amazed at all of this attention, you know, to somebody that was just having fun, doing what they love doing, and they make a big deal out of it, but…. Whatever," he said.

Noll retired from surfing shortly after 1969, when surfers asserted that he rode the biggest wave up until that point at Hawaii's Makaha Beach. He was growing increasingly disillusioned with what the surf scene was becoming. Noll and the handful of other pioneers were used to surfing waves that were void of other surfers, but this soon changed when Hollywood’s "Beach Party" portrayal of surfers had crowds flocking to the coastline.

"That whole Hollywood scene at that particular time was just a mess when it came to doing anything meaningful with the surf community," Noll previously said, according to ABC7. "They lived in their own little bubble and thought surfing was all about beach parties and people jumping around dancing in the moonlight to funny music."

Noll and his son Jed went on to shape surfboards and in 2009, Jed opened Noll Surfboards in San Clemente, where he worked with his father for years to come.

A list of survivors has not yet been made available, but Noll shared daughter Ashlyne and sons Jed, Tate, and Rhyn with his wife, Laurie.

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