He was handsome and brash and cemented a reputation for navigating the San Diego County surf long before he was captured on film and propelled to worldwide celebrity. Michael Hynson, co-star of the definitive surf movie “The Endless Summer” and an adopted son of Encinitas, parlayed his passion for waves into a lifetime of sand and sport on beaches across the globe. The fun-seeking surfer, whose sunset silhouette on the famous movie poster defined a generation and whose fashion choices rubbed off on most everyone around him, died Friday after a recent illness. He was 82. “He’s 40 years older than me, but he’s like the little brother I never had,” said Haley Ogden, Hynson’s stepdaughter. “He’s mischievous and kind of a jokester. He was kind of a troublemaker but always making us laugh.” Born in Crescent City on one of the northernmost stretches of the California coast in 1942, Hynson was the son of a U.S. Army soldier who spent much of his youth shuttling between Hawaii and San Diego County. He was not long out of Mission Bay High School and staring at a potential draft into military service to fight in the Vietnam War when he was recruited for “The Endless Summer” by filmmaker Bruce Brown. La Jolla surfer Mike Hynson (right) is pictured with Robert August in the film “The Endless Summer.” (Courtesy of Pete Townend) Hynson had worked with Brown on some shorter films. When Brown conceived the feature-length documentary, he needed a pair of accomplished surfers for an around-the-world venture in search of the perfect wave. He signed up Hynson and Robert August for a monthslong tour of beaches in Australia, Tahiti, Ghana and other remote venues. Brown, who made his young stars buy their own plane tickets, captured the experience of chasing surf above and below the equator in a nod to the film’s title. “The Endless Summer” was released in 1966 and became an instant smash, showcasing Hynson’s talent, personality and good looks. The project introduced the sport to millions of new fans in the United States and to people in the locations where it was filmed. Hynson described how he discovered the perfect wave one early morning at Cape St. Francis, a small village in South Africa, to surf journalist Scott Hulet in 1991. “I was looking way up the point and saw these unreal waves coming through,” he told his interviewer. “I watched and watched until I couldn’t stand it anymore, then I started screaming and woke everybody up. They were tired, didn’t want to be hassled, but I knew this was it!” Hynson was fashionable in his clothes and personal style. Others often emulated what he wore, and how he always combed back his thick white blonde hair, even in the surf. “Every kid in the community started combing their hair straight back,” said friend Kevin Kinnear, who was with Hynson when he died on Friday. “It was an instant hit. He was very stylish and set incredible trends.” Hynson was also a noted surfboard shaper whose designs influenced the sport for generations to come. His famed Red Fin longboard was heralded for the edge control it gave experienced surfers, spawning what became known in the 1960s as the “Red Fin Army” that included many of the most famous surfers in the world. Skip Frye, a San Diego surfing legend of his own who was close friends with Hynson in the late 1950s and early 1960s, called Hynson an innovator who was constantly tinkering to find a better path forward. “He applied the low rail, which allowed people to surf the hollow waves like the pipeline,” Frye said. “The edge was a little lower than the center so it holds into the face of the wave, especially when it’s steep.” Frye said his friend also was a scratch golfer — no handicap — and Hynson excelled at eight ball and other billiard games. He helped establish the Windansea Surf Club with Chuck Hasley, Frye and others in the early 1960s. “He was really sure of himself. He was a go-for-it type of guy,” Frye said. “So it ruffled feathers once in a while. He knew how good and how great he was.” Melinda Merryweather met Hynson as a teenager and the two became fast friends. She said they used to skateboard all around Pacific Beach and often traveled to Laguna Beach to skate the hills there. “He went off to make ‘The Endless Summer’ and I went off to New York to be a Ford model,” she said. “We reconnected. We were the best of friends for many years.” The couple married in 1970, with surf icon Phil Edwards serving as best man and a wedding cake laced with hashish. They collaborated with Jimi Hendrix on “Rainbow Bridge,” a film released in 1971 that explored the 1960s counter-culture. The marriage did not last, however. The couple divorced some four decades ago, although the two remained friends and stayed in touch. “We’re from the psychedelic era,” Merryweather said. Hynson’s ingenuity, charisma and celebrity never translated to great personal wealth. He ran one of the first juice bars opened in San Diego County in the early 1970s. He sold his designs, generated income by signing surfboards and autographs at major surf conferences and events, and more than one friend said he sometimes sold and smuggled drugs. But his friends and family said Hynson began straightening out his life after meeting Carol Hannigan two dozen years ago. They have been together ever since. “Mike was a rock star, basically,” said Toby Ogden, Hannigan’s son. “He never tried to impress anyone. It just seemed like just the way he was was attractive to people. He was a rebel, a troublemaker, but at the end of the day he was a good-hearted guy. “He was the guy everybody wanted to be,” he said. By 2009, Hynson was collaborating on a book, “Mike Hynson: Transcendental Memories of a Surf Rebel.” The book, which is still available on Amazon, recounts Hynson’s exploits as a younger man. It was co-written with Hannigan’s sister, Donna Klaasen Jost, and features an image of “The Endless Summer” poster on its cover. Hynson is survived by Carol Hannigan of Encinitas; stepchildren Haley Ogden of Encinitas, Toby Ogden and Krys Ogden of Vista, and Damien Ogden of San Juan Capistrano; his son, Michael Hynson Jr. of Laguna Beach; and multiple grandchildren. No services have been immediately scheduled for Hynson. The family is planning a paddle-out ceremony at Windansea Beach in June, when Hynson would have turned 83. They want time to plan a remembrance worthy of the man. The family also has set up a GoFundMe account to help defray expenses.