My story post 16

I’m not sure how many weeks went buy after I moved to Ventura and started going to school, but I eventually found a job. My guess is it was probably sometime in April 1967. I know I applied at a small number of locations for a job but the only one I remember right now is Colonel Chicken. Seems odd to me now because I don’t think I’m the type to work at a place like that. Up to that point I’d had a paper route or two, been a box boy at a grocery store, had my own little back yard surfboard business, and worked in a boat yard. Oh yeah, and a short time as a draftsman.

More on the boat yard…. I had the job, among other things, of grinding the inside of fiberglass boat hulls. The task was to feather out the seams where the different layers of roving and mat overlapped. Holding down the power of a 5000 rpm grinder with a 36 grit disc on it, standing or kneeling inside grinding the fiberglass of a boat hull? That was first class job misery. I didn’t last long…. How ‘bout getting inside the hull and doing the hand lay up? I didn’t do that, it was more skilled labor, but there were guys that did!

So one day I heard that this company that made surfboards was hiring, I went and applied. I had a nice looking application for this place because I could say that I was once the owner of Ryder Surfboards. And, know all aspects of board building. I got the job, part time because I was going to school. I’d report for work in the afternoons.

The Company was Pacific Plastics, they made what we all have called popouts. This was the place that made Tiki and Ten Toes surfboards. Though they were doing a different thing when I got there. The company had done a licensing deal with a number of name surfers and started mass producing regular hand shaped and laminated boards with their names on them.

One of my jobs was in the laminating room. I’d work with another guy and we’d team laminate. There were maybe 20 boards on stands in this room all dressed to be laminated. One guy would start down a row wetting out the cloth on a board then move to the next one doing the same and on through all 20. The other guy would come behind him and squeegee out the applied resin and tuck the lap and continue on until all 20 boards were done.

My other job was shaping. And there I was shaping surfboards that would get the names of some famous surfers on them… some of my heros, Paul Straus, Bucth Van Artsdalen, Duke Kahanamoku, not sure of all the names but, I was in Heaven.

D.R.

I think I’m a lucky guy.

Friday, the end of the week and I was feeling a little down. Small things that accumulated through out the week that bugged me is all. So 4…4:30 I head down to the point to see if maybe there’s a little surf, surfing has a way of curing depression. So I see a couple small waves come through the point and think I’m going for a surf.

I call my wife and tell her “I’m at the beach and will be home later ‘cause I’m going to surf for a bit. But, geez I forgot a towel…oh well I’ll wrap up in my shirt or something to change into my wet suit.” She says “OK, see you when you get home”.

I saw a friend and used his towel to change and off I went. After 45 minutes or so I look up on the promenade and see my wife. She waves hello and watches for a few minutes. So I think I better go in and see what’s up. When I walk up the sand she smiles and holds up a towel… and says “Go ahead and surf, just thought I’d come down, bring you a towel and sit at the beach for a while”. So I went back out for a few more while she sat and watched the surf...with her camera.

A few more slides on the quad… photo courtesy of my wife.

As well, it’s fathers day. And what did my son want to do? Go to the beach and surf with his dad. He’s a father too so he gets to do what he wants on fathers day. So we met up with a friend of mine and his son, the four of us had a great time.

Yeah, I think I'm very fortunate.

D.R.

Design talk.

There wasn’t much in the way of surf this week so I didn’t get the new Quad in the water for any further testing. Doesn’t look like there will be much surf for this coming week either.

So I’ll talk a little about the over all shape of this new board….

The outline is my Hawaii long board outline. So the tail is like a short board and the nose is narrower than my regular HPLB. And, the nose is more pointy similar to a Penetrator nose. The Tail has a hard edge through the tail starting above the fins. Rails are tucked and softer forward.

I’ve moved the concave back on this board so it starts about 8 inches back of the nose and runs through mid length and is deepest 3 ft back of the nose. Rather than vee in the tail I’ve run a mild roll that fades out to flat behind the fins. There is also slightly more rocker in the tail than the nose.

The idea behind the design of this board was to make a high performance long board that also would trim well. Usually high performance long boards tail surf well and nose ride good but there is no in between. With the lower nose rocker and pulled back concave combined with the nose flex from the stringer arrangement I’ve got a board that turns well, nose rides good and will work in trim. I’m stoked!

More video on the way. BTW the video in last week post is from a first go out on a small clean day. Testing by Travis Riley.

D.R.

Test riding a prototype part 2.

Getting wave time on the new perimeter stringer quad long board is continuing. This week we’ve gotten into some better waves with a little more juice. Head high reef and point waves in good to excellent conditions.

My test rider spent at least 4 days this week putting the board to test and finding how the board is working in turns and nose rides. As well said he was beginning to feel the boards flex characteristics in the waves that had enough energy.

So I asked him how the board compared to the high performance long board he rides from a well known label. His comment …..

The P.S.Q nose rides as good as the well known label but the turning aspects of the P.S.Q. are much better.

I myself surfed the board on 4 occasions too. The best day for me was just yesterday late afternoon. The Point had some head high sets with a very light crowd… actually it was one of those rare days when hardly any one was out, half dozen people at the most. So I got plenty waves.

My test riders has yet to have the fins break free on him. I’ve gotten them to break free twice. The second time being yesterday on my second wave. I was standing on the tip for a few seconds through a speedy little section when the fins let go. I was unable to keep my balance and fell. The first time the fins let go I was able to get them to reset and continued down the wave.

Yesterday I found the flex. After setting your edge on a nice steep wall coming out of your turn when the board unloads and springs back you get a very smooth extension out of the turns past what the fins provide. And the big surprise is how well the turn back and redirects flow with this board. The best I’ve ever gotten. With a 2 + 1 fin set up when your redirect after a cut back forward movement is lost and the board usually will need a second to step up to speed again. With the quad the redirects are seamless, with no noticeable loss in speed. Very fluid.

To be continued.

D.R.

First go out testing by Travis Riley