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# Chimps in the mist
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/chimps-in-the-mist/
- Published: 2006-04-01T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:28:32.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Sports, Montana, #archive-import

*By Daily Mess Makers*

SM BEACH — No dawg, that wasn’t your average surf sesh yesterday.

Dogtown Z Boys don’t have nothing on a group of monkeys who were spotted riding waves off the P-Block break on Friday.

“Dude, we were all bundled up in our Hurley hoodies smoking a doob when I looked up and saw chimpanzees in the water,” said surfer Corey Slater. “And I thought to myself, we’re not north of Montana anymore...

“And that this was some really righteous weed.”

Slater wasn’t alone in his aghastness as the city of Santa Monica staged the world’s first Chimp Surfing Contest just south of the pier, where the break is a quick close-out, perfect for the monkeys’ short, little legs.

The event is the realized dream of Dan Fossy, the burnout son of the famous scientist who devoted her life to work with endangered gorillas somewhere misty. The younger Fossy always seemed to prefer Chunky Monkey ice cream to working with the animals, but credits a recent hallucinogenic delusion with giving him this epiphany, and really a goal in his mostly detached existence.

And so there they were on Friday — eight chimpanzees, eight banana-hue surfboards, and a crowd of 38 people who seemed both incredulous and a little fearful, in turns.

“This is like some ‘Planet of the Apes’ shit, huh?” said Woody Mourning, shaking water out of his ear annoyingly while he was being interviewed. “I mean, I guess it’s cool and all, but it’s way creepy too.

“This would never happen north of Montana,” he added.

According to Fossy, the idea struck him on his sofa as he slept one off after gnosh-ing on Cool Ranch Dorritos. It’s all about them having opposable thumbs and DNA estimated to be between 97 and 99 percent the same as humans.

Fossy then called his famous mother, who thought the idea bogus and urged him to go back to San Diego State University, but in the end he couldn’t shake the idea of making chimpanzees surf in front of his paid-for beachfront condo.

“We are breaking all barriers down,” said Fossy, who smelled a lot like pachuli oil. “Think of it, if we can get trained animals to do our activities for us...”

Fossy seemed to lose his train of thought.

Regardless, the stage was set for the competition, and entrants came from as far away as Hancock Park. But when all was said and done, when the chimps had all dropped in on at least 15 waves apiece, it was a local chimp — Goobers, of Sunset Park — that captured the critics’ eyes and hearts.

Goobers, shaking off a rough opening set, dropped in on wave after wave of chest-high breakers that wooed and scared the early morning crowd at P-Block. Then for the cout-de-gras, Goobers showed a flair for showmanship on his last wave, seemlessly rotating to his front legs and shaking his monkeymaker at the bystanders.

Fossy seemed pleased with what he had created, agreeing to allow the winning chimp a free weekend at his apartment, rent-free. No word on whether or not the owners can accompany Goobers there.

Even so, the rent on a studio apartment in Santa Monica is $1,500, even south of the 10\. Street parking is not included.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/040106-26_01.jpg)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040106.pdf?ref=smdp.com)