Vince Felix on his '67. Streamlined for advance performance.

Pictures are frames from video taken by Matt Riley.

D.R.

I like going down Pacific Coast Highway from Ventura in route to LAX… had to take family there this past week.

It was a nice warm summer day and as we went past Zuma Beach. Seeing the crowd of beach goers along that stretch of sand brought back memories.  When I was growing up Zuma was the beach the family would go to for day trips. That’s the beach I got really interested in waves… body surfing, playing around in the surf. Skim boarding and laying around in the sand.  I got stung by a bee that was stuck in the wet sand along the waters edged one time too.  That hurt.

I don’t quite know what the attraction is of the place.  Everyone that goes there has to drive some distance… a serious destination spot.  The wind will start to blow almost everyday  by 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. and a decent summer south swell will beat the crap out of you.  But, nice rest rooms and changing rooms a good size snack bar, life guards. 

It had to be an hour’s drive from where we lived, even still when the family took off for a day at Zuma Beach I couldn’t wait to get there. Except for the one time when my sister fell off my skim board and got the wind knocked out of her which meant that we all had to pack up and go home… only after being there for maybe an hour, every time we went to Zuma it was fun.

No body really surfed the spot until the late sixties. I’ve surfed there a few times, always when it was pretty small and never got it on one of those good days I’d hear about from time to time.  Seems now if you go by the place in the morning on any day there are guys surfing the north end.  Sometimes it does get good, and I’m sure that if I drove by the place on a regular basis I’d surf there when it got good and have a lot more good memories of Zuma Beach.

D.R.

Did you ever spend a fair amount of money on a new pair or shoes and find when you start wearing them they are uncomfortable? 

Did you ever order a custom surfboard, for no small amount, and find when you first start riding it the thing doesn’t respond as well as you expect?

Maybe new surfboards are like new shoes... sometimes you get new shoes and they are great, comfortable, easy on your feet, soft with a nice spring to them. But, maybe more times than not new shoes take time to break in.

I saw my friend George at one of my favorite clothing stores some months ago.  He was walking rather tentative, so I asked if he was OK… he said “yes, I’m just breaking in a new pair of work boots”.    

When I paddled out on my first ever perimeter stringer quad long board I was rather tentative.  I’d never ridden a board with 4 fins.  So when I turned around to catch that first wave I took it slow.  Got to my feet, did a casual turn, stepped into trim… slowly feeling how the board felt and would respond.  And each wave after the first I’d test how the board would react through different maneuvers.

I’ve had new shoes that gave me blisters!  Like, ‘I can’t wait to get these things off my feet’ kind.  The next day or two I put them on again. Over time they get worked in and become the best every day shoe in the closet.

After a few go outs I learned how responsive my quad long board was.  How much speed and drive I could get when I set it up, where I could place it on the wave face.  How nice it was for big cut backs and redirects. 

I hadn’t ridden that quad long board for a long time, But I’ve been using it again and just like before the board is responsive,  works just like I remembered… kind of like putting on a nice pair of comfortable shoes.

D.R.   

This new board went to the customer in a box. New shoes come in boxes too.