Alfred “Al” Gallant Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1918, nowhere near the ocean, but with an inner compass that led him to the sea and kept him close to it throughout his life. He started surfing at Palos Verdes Cove with Doc Ball and a handful of others in 1935, when America was beginning to come out of the Great Depression. During this time, most young men made their own boards and it was a challenge to have sure footing while riding waves on a smooth-surfaced craft. At some point surfers had discovered they could coat their wooden longboards...