Featured Bodysurfer: Patrick Donahue
Age: 40
Years of experience: 34 (started bodysurfing at Santa Monica
Bay at the age of six)
Favorite spots: El Morro, Newport Beach, Zuma (drainpipe), and
secret spots on Maui
Best contest results: 2nd place (anchor, relay team), Carlsbad International
Bodysurfing Contest, August 1995; 2nd place (34-40 year old
division; missed first place by one point!), Carlsbad International Bodysurfing Contest, August 1993)
Strengths: extremely fast in the water, especially going left;
excellent wave knowledge; big cojones.....
Brief Biography: Born in the San Fernando Valley in May of 1955,
Patrick Donahue (sometimes known as "P.D.") grew up bodysurfing at
such places as Santa Monica ("the grill" and "T's"), Zuma Beach
("drainpipes"), and Newport Beach ("44th" and "56th" street). Even
in his young teens he was a standout at Zuma Beach and was known
then for his ocean knowledge and courage for taking off on huge
closeout sets. Today, he is a well-established businessman with a
family, who continues to bodysurf in the Orange County area. Always
a contender in any contest he enters, Donahue scored the highest
single wave in the finals of the team-relays at the Carlsbad
International Bodysurfing Contest held in August of 1995.
