My story post 21

I really didn’t have many friends when I started working at Morey-Pope. By that time I had only been in Ventura for a couple months and been going to school. Sure I was acquainted with some of the guys down at the beach but didn’t really hang with anyone except my friend Peter.

I still remember my first day at MP and the first guy I met at the shop. I had walked back to the shaping area and there was this guy in the very back area of the shop gluing stringers in blanks. As soon as he saw me walk in he came right over to me and said “hi I’m Blinky” and shook my hand. Back then a number of surfer guys where given nicknames. I had really never known any of them but… I’d just met one. Man, I was starting to get to the heart of the culture… though back then we didn’t know that’s what it was.

So I was given the chance to make a living in the surfboard industry. Given a job which I showed up for every day, and began shaping the Morey-Pope models. Penetrators, Eliminators and Coopers model the Blue Machine. I was slow at first but eventually got up to shaping 4 boards a day. All in the nine to ten foot range. I made a killer $4.75 each.

Also back then working at a surf shop was like a regular job. We had regular working hours and if you weren’t there at those hours you’d better have a good reason… not “oh the surf was good so that’s why I’m late or didn’t come in yesterday".

All the workers surfed but we went after work or before. As a matter of fact, during the summer Cooper, Dale Herd, Blinky and myself usually headed out for surf everyday after work. The Point, Stanley’s or a trip down to Secos. Yeah, Cooper was the shop forman and he had a really good work ethic and expected everyone else to have a good one too. We worked hard and surfed after. Get home after dark and just crash. Get up the next day and do it all over again.

D.R.