As a skate punk back in the early 80's some of my first exposure to surf music came from punk bands such as JFA and Agent Orange.
JFA's cover of Pipeline as Pipetruck had more of a punk edge similar to what Agent Orange was doing but their covers of Walk don't run and Baja on the Valley of the yakes album were more of an homage to the first wave than punk.
When I first started playing guitar it was their cover of Baja that started my quest for the drip and led me to discover more surf music.
I know they were a punk band and not a surf band but I believe they were a gateway for many punks getting into surf.
My condolences go out to his former band mates and family.