I wrote the below two paragraphs last December 31.

Milestones, everybody has them…. an important event or turning point. As well, a marker that tells us how far we’ve gone. For the New Year most of us look back and reflect at least a little and say we made it through another one. The marker.

Important events can happen any time of course, and can be something pleasant or not so pleasant. A turning point? Sometimes we can go a long while before we even notice we had one. Then it’s “hey, things are different now and you know what? It all started way back when”. I’ve been going through a turning point for the last half of this…now past year. So I guess you could say it’s not a turn but a long curve. I’ll save the story for another time.

Now it’s December 31, 2007 so I guess I should tell the story…

Some time during the year 2006 I began to realize that the person I was working for went about the surfboard business and building process in a way that was completely different than what I wanted to be involved with. Aside from the fact that work had slowed down to numbers that weren’t enough to make a living at, my working environment was quite uncomfortable. At the same time I was hearing from people interested in seeing reissues of boards that I had done in my past. The whole retro thing and a more history conscious surfing population has helped that, I think.

I wanted and needed a place that I could put my heart into my work, a place where I could really enjoy what I did and the creative juices would flow. So between Christmas and New Years day of last year I gathered all my gear from the shaping bay I worked out of and began setting up my own place.

The turning point can be looked back upon now that the year is ending. And I’ve settled into a nice high end board craft shop I call home, looking forward with hope, encouragement and plan to be making some of the best performing and best crafted surfboards ever in the year ahead.

And may I say thanks for taking some time to read my stories and your interest in D.R. Surfboards.

Happy New Year!

Dennis Ryder

So what kind of stuff does a surfer guy have on his Christmas tree?

I never realized how beach and surf specific some of the ornaments are that we put on our tree every year. My wife decorated the tree pretty much by herself this year, can’t remember what I was up too. But, I got to looking at her handy work and thought ‘geez, can’t tell what this house is into’.

Gotta have your surfboard ornament… and of course a ‘sshlipa ‘ or two.

The hula girl is a must.

What else was on the tree? A nice Aloha shirt ornament. Among other things, Santa dressed in Aloha shirt, shorts, sandles and a lei around his neck.

What kind of stuff does a surfer guy or girl get under the Christmas tree?

A surfboard would be good. Kind of big but, that would be nice. How about a wet suit. That’s a good one, fits into a box and looks like all the other presents. And of course the afternoon of Christmas day you’ve got to go test the new suit at the beach.

A new set of fins for your board is good too… make an older board seem new and different. A board bag. What about all the surf videos. That can help keep the stoke.

Wax, can’t be without wax. A few years ago my son went to the local surf shop and said he wanted to buy a whole box of wax. The kids behind the counter told him he couldn’t buy a whole box. “Why not?” “well you just can’t” So he started loading the counter with bars of wax until the box was empty and had them ring up each bar one at a time.

I still haven’t gone through all that wax yet! Great present.

Merry Christmas!

D.R.

My Story post 24

1968 was a fun year for me. After returning to Ventura and getting a job shaping at MP things began to turn around pretty quick. The surf scene was changing from the colorful long board days to an underground movement.

I went out to the William Dennis shop after returning to Ventura and shaped myself a stringerless 8’2 Vee bottom. Sprayed the deck with black slipcheck and took the baby to the beach. The board had an OK ride but I never got much of a chance to dial it in because it was stolen. Right from my little cottage house where I kept it, some guy nicked my board. That has got to be one of the most disappointing things… having your surfboard stolen.

It wasn’t long before I was out at William Dennis shaping another board. This time a 7'6 Vee bottom. But I got real cocky with this one. The worker bees at MP weren’t allowed to make boards for themselves at the shop there, so I’d go out to WD and do my thing. It just so happened that Morey had an editorial published in Surfer Magazine about gypsy board builders and how the industry suffered from these underground guys, etc. That was late spring or early summer of ’68 now and all the young guys thought what? We’re going to do what we want… get over it. So here I am… I work for the guy and I go make myself a board, then for fun, I make a label with a hippie looking guy on it with the name Gypsy Surfboards.

The really funny thing was the day I went to launch my new board. It was a Saturday morning, I was walking down Front St. on my way to the point and right when I got at the MP shop… it was on Front St. which was right around the corner from where I lived. Here comes Morey in the MP van to open the shop sales room for the day. I say 'hey Tom check out my new board ' and hold up my board with the Gypsy label in plain view.

The look on Morey’s face…. priceless.

But geez, what a smart ass I was, and went to lengths it seems to be that way. What was I thinking? Gotta laugh though… funny story.

D.R.

Funny how big surf arrives on Wednesdays. Yeah, everybody knows we had big surf this week. Even my mom, who lives inland about 40 miles saw it on the news.

I called my mom on Thursday the 6^th to wish her a happy birthday. She says, “oh I saw the big waves and I just knew you were out there, I was thinking, now he shouldn’t be doing this but… I just knew you would be out there, you wouldn’t stay away”. Too cute, she celebrated her 86^th birthday and she still worries about her son, who’s 59, getting hurt or whatever… surfing.

Now let’s see…. I started surfing when I was 13 so; this has been going on for 46 years? Well not really. Because inlanders that know nothing about the beach and surfing never knew what was going on along the coast, the news media had better things to do. So my mom and everybody else never knew what the surf conditions where like. These days the swells get so advertised, or is it sensationalized, that when the swells do show up it’s almost anticlimactic.

I stopped by the point on my way to the shop Wednesday, as I do almost everyday, to check the surf and conditions. It was really big. And so was the crowd watching. There were no parking spaces. There was a sign at the end of “C” Street warning of high surf and to stay away.

What happened to the days when the surf was big and it was no big deal? When there were places to park your car if you wanted to check the surf. When there weren’t news crews waiting on the sand at the pier to film a rescue and then go interview the person rescued.

I still know when we have big surf. I can hear it at night from my house. I can smell and feel the mist it creates in the air. I can look at a tide chart and determine when the best times to surf are. Yeah all that, then brace yourself for all the commotion at the beach.

I liked it better when you could go about your business and no one noticed. Oh well…it's OK mom, I'm doing fine, no need worry.

D.R.

Today my wife and I went down to the annual Ventura Christmas Street Fair. The city hosts these street fairs where they block off 4 blocks of Main St. down town and rent vendor space to crafters, etc. People come from all over the county… I’m guessing… to browse all the booths. It’s a cool time to find unique Christmas gifts.

There are a ton of people walking up and down the street, you never know who you might run into. So who was it today? Mickey Munoz. My wife and I where at one of the booths that had some nice pictures of Ventura Pier that where mounted on those magnet sheets so you can stick the picture on your frig. Anyway, I see a friend who had just bought one or the Ventura pictures. He comes over and shows me his purchase and then says “did you see Mickey?" Mickey walks over, whom I don’t think I had ever met, we’re introduced and start talking. I ask "what are you doing up here?" 'cause he lives down south somewhere. Turns out he came up to go to Bruce Browns birthday party in Santa Barbara last night. I think he said it was his 70^th.

So this year I run into Tom Morey at the NAMM show. I saw Greg Noll up in Santa Barbara… that may not count because it was a planned event but Kemp Aaberg happened to be there, and now today Mickey Munoz. Who else will I run into this year? Still the month of December to go.

OK enough name dropping. The really cool thing I saw at the street fair was some furniture made with surfboards. Ever not want to get rid of your old favorite ride but not have a place for it either?

Make it into a chair. Or have this guy do it for you.

Those things are really cool! I gotta get one of my boards made into a chair.

D.R.