Is history important?  Is getting the story right important or does it matter?

 

After the Surfline thing from a couple weeks ago I got to thinking about the story of surfing or at least the surfing story of Ventura.  How the little mission town then oil town of Ventura found surfing through a few young guys and how the young surfing community made up of kids from the towns working class grew to what it is today.

 

During the 1960's when surfing first started to grow Ventura was a pretty isolated town. My first trips to "C" St were spent in a car on the then 2 lane highway that connected San Fernando Valley to Ventura. This 2 lane road of at least 35 miles had one traffic light, at Victoria Ave on the very east side of Ventura.  For perspective, the current path the old road followed is now a freeway. It's run from Ventura stretches  all the way to down town L.A and beyond, as well, goes up the coast past Santa Barbara. The Ventura Freeway is no less than 6 lanes and as wide a 10 in places now.

 

Because Ventura was a pretty serious destination stop the local surfers didn't see that many visiting surfers.  There weren't that many people surfing in the early to mid sixties in Ventura so if you did make the day trip to surf "C" St. you may not even see anybody at the beach.

 

I remember my first surfing visit. I came with a couple friends via one of the guys dad who happened to have business in the area so he brought his kid and 2 buddies and dropped us off at the beach while he went off on business.

 

It was a cool overcast day with some small surf peeling down from the point, maybe about waist high to us.  As the day progressed  and some of the fog lifted I could see the bigger surf up the point and a few guys up there surfing. Granted I was young and not that experienced but looking up the point and seeing bigger surf and a vacant beach in the fog seemed un inviting and spooky.

 

Those guys I saw up the  point surfing that day were the locals.  They were comfortable surfing a spot that was out of the way and not crowded.  Maybe overcast and cold, not pretty and some what out of the way.  When the surf was good there was no one on the beach to see their great rides.  If they took some knocks while in the water they suffered on their own. 

 

The 2 or 3 dozen guys and gals that made up the local crowd at "C" St.  back then were the Ventura surf community.  They knew who they were and knew that the surf in Ventura was what they had. The good days, the bad days, the wind, the fog, the sunny days, the cold water, the cut feet from the rocks as well as the damaged boards.  The mild summer days and the heavy winter currents... it was all theirs.

 

So what happened when getting to Ventura became easier?

 

D.R.   

 



 

There has been plenty talk about shapers and the soul that goes into shaping and crafting a surfboard.  Now days we have surf media, both in print and online.  What about the soul the goes into what we see and read or view in the surf media?

 

This past week I received a phone call from someone at Surfline, the online surf web site. I'm told they are doing one of their Shapers Alley features on Ventura County and want to take some pictures and do a short interview with me for the feature.  I oblige and set up a time the following day to meet and do the short interview.

 

I'd had read a couple of the Shapers Alley features in the past so thought I'd go check them out and get an idea of what questions might be asked to get an idea of what to say.  To my surprise the Ventura County feature was already published, up and online for their readership.

 

Though Blinky, my founding partner at William Dennis was mentioned in the cover story  he did not have an entry in the shapers section, nor a number of other established shapers from the area including my self at that point.

 

Blinky and I have been making surfboards in Ventura longer than anyone by a long shot.  How is it that a publication can totally miss that, print a feature and make it look like we don't even exist to the out side world? Is it because they need to get something in print by a certain time and just can't get to everyone? Or is it because they just don't take the time and make the effort to get things right from the beginning?

 

When I make a surf board I put my heart into it. All my knowledge, experience, ability, research and even my history goes into every board I make. It's the effort, all the effort from our early beginnings that is most likely what we in surfing have come to call soul.

 

The surf media isn't new, though the online versions are some what young. Even still, the surf media is pretty much the representative of all things surfing to the surfing and non surfing world. Because of that it is important for what is published to the world be put forward with all the knowledge, ability, research and effort available.

 

Possibly Surfline will up date the shaper entries with the guys they unfortunately missed. The problem is... the damage has already been done. The feature has already been published and if it hasn't already, it will soon drop off the Surfline home page and will then be an old story.  Currently the piece has  received a little over 28,000 views. The Santa Barbara Shapers Ally feature was published over a year ago in June 2012 and has only about 10,000 more views than the current Ventura feature... Catch my drift?

 

D.R.  

 





 

Wipeout!