Sometimes it’s the thought that counts….

This past week I was working on a one off.  Well not quite a one off, but close enough.  I’ve done the H2 mini but this one was about 6 inches shorter than any I’ve done so far. 

It’s usually the outline that takes some time. Blending curves, messing with width numbers and all.  Sometimes you end up with three or four different lines and only one that you think you might like. Then because you’ve got three or four lines it’s hard to see one curve from the others.

So.. I’ve got all these lines and I know one of them is the one I want… I start thinking… ‘man, it sure would be nice if I had some White Out.’

For all those post analog people. White Out came in a small bottle with a small paint brush attached to the cap of the bottle.  When using a Type Writer ( whatever that is ) you used the White Out for typos by painting over your missed spelled word.  The stuff would dry and then you could type over the touched up page area and correct your mistake.

Yeah, so if I had some White Out I could paint over the outlines I didn’t like scribed on the blank and leave the one I wanted.  Then ‘hey, I bet I’ve got some white latex paint in the garage. I could paint over these junk lines and leave the good one’ 

So off to the garage I go. Find the paint, get a small brush, head back to my shaping shack and brush the paint on the lines I don’t like. Stand the blank up at the end of my room, check out the curve I’ve got and…. Perfect. I can see the outline, it looks good. I’m ready to start cutting my blank. 

And someone said… ‘Necessity, the mother of invention.’

D.R.

It happened in the fall of 1986, but it was conceived months before that. A small number of local surf guys started planning and working together for this event. It had never happened before but, these local guys made it happen.

It was really pretty cool, all these people meeting up at Pipe. All day long and into the evening. Gathering, surfing, eating, dancing, happiness. For me, having my foot in a cast mending from a broke heal, I didn’t surf or dance. I got to eat and greet people I hadn’t seen for awhile if not for years. And what I did was take pictures, not officially, I just set off on the side lines and clicked off pictures all day and night.

My 2 favorite surf pics of the event… who are the guys surfing? I don’t know.

The evening stage festivities. Unless they paint their hair, all these people have gray hair now

Actually the first and only.

D.R.