Derf Mctighe first learned to surf in 1966 in Sea Bright New Jersey. A local on the Monmouth County beaches for decades he honed his considerable skills traveling to destinations all over the world. His first trip to Puerto Rico in 1970 would begin his yearly pilgrimage to the Island, but it was he’s visits to the North Shore of Hawaii starting in 1974 that would ultimately have the greatest influence on his surfing career. Being introduced to legendary surf photographer Bernie Baker would bring Derf into the circle of legendary North Shore surfers and shapers that would pass through Bakers house.
It was the winter of 74 when Derf would receive an invite to surf in the prestigious Smirnoff Pro Am but it was the relationships with Hawaiian and International shapers like Ben Aipa, Mike Diffenderfer, Rusty Preisendorfer along with Simon Anderson that would light the fire to become a surf board shaper. In 1977 Mctighe would open up his own surf shop in Sea Bright and a line of surfboards both called Island Style. A mainstay in the Sea Bright community for decades until the shop was destroyed in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy which also decimated the costal town.
Derf was lucky to have mentors like Hall of Famers Charlie Kanes and Bill Menders which set the example for him to sponsor many local Monmouth surfers like Gary Germaine, Joe Schluter, Rol Wolson and the Hopper Brothers among many. Derf is still an avid surfer and traveler and you can find him in the water year round on the waves in Monmouth County.
