Eaton’s passing follows fellow shaper Becker’s, by just 7 days SHARE Mike Eaton lines up at the start of the 2006 Hennessey's U.S. Paddleboard Championships in Hermosa Beach. He is paddling a Tom Blake kook box, like the board he learned to surf at Bluff Cove in 1950 . Photo by Kevin Cody by Kevin Cody Pioneer surfer and surfboard shaper Mike Eaton passed away at his home from a stroke on the Big Island of Hawaii last Thursday, at the age of 86. Eaton’s death came just seven days after his childhood friend, Big Island neighbor and fellow South Bay surfer and shaper Phil Becker died of cancer, at the age of 81.