It's hard to believe it was 5 years ago when I did this blog post about Blinky coming into the shop and asking if I'd ever thought I'd be making surfboards when I was 60.

My birthday and Blinky's birthday are 6 days apart and Blinky is 5 years older than me.  Blinky's 70th birthday bash was last night, 60 is gone now, for the both of us so try this....William Dennis is now 135, our combined ages.  When William Dennis was founded in 1967 our combined age that November was 43.

Ok, now my head is spinning.  We were either really young, crazy or both back then starting a surfboard business. And now? We certainly aren't young and we both still make surfboards and we both still surf.

When you really like doing something, in my case surfboards, and it becomes a job as time passes that job can become hectic. Sure you're doing what you like but with the responsibility of doing your job it's easy to lose that feeling of enjoyment for doing something that you like. After all these years it's really nice to be able to say I still enjoy making surfboards. I know Blinky does too.

Life is different now. I can make a surfboard in short order but now I can take my time and enjoy the process. When you're young and learning everything is new. The excitement of trying and doing new stuff is very enjoyable and fulfilling. When you're older knowing what you're doing is enjoyable. Knowing when you're finished with a project that you can hold in your hands, see and take in the thing you made is very fulfilling.

Something Blinky said last night... "hearing positive things about a board you made is the best thing".

Here's a note I got this week that made my day....

Here's a quick report on the new stick. Have ridden it twice, both times in 2-3 ft waves. Once at C St. when I picked it up and this morning at Pismo. So far I really like it. It performs as I hoped it would. Reasonably loose on the tail, and can get more so with a different fin I'm sure.  And then a quick cross step or shuffle  towards the nose and a nice squirt of speed, and it is fast and maneuverable from 1/3 back from the tip, as I had hoped. Also, catches waves really well, better than any of my other boards and floats me just right. Stoked and looking for bigger waves!

Thank you Jack!

D.R.

 

Still having a good time after all these years.





My story post 57

 

The first time I saw it my head spun around for a double take.  I think it was on it's way down Thompson Blvd.  Wow! I thought that was one of the coolest things I'd seen on the road.

 

After that first sighting every now a then I'd see it again, maybe down town or somewhere around town or mid town.  I never saw a surfboard sticking out the back and don't remember ever seeing it at the beach, but I thought if I did it would be the coolest thing ever.

 

Then  one day it happened, while I was out and around it went by with a for sale sign in the window.  I couldn't help myself.... I had to follow along until the driver got to his destination. When it stopped so did I.... went up to the driver and asked "how much do you want?" all along thinking even if he wanted all the money I had in the bank I would buy it.  When he told me what he'd take I said OK and  we made arrangements to meet up in the next couple days and do business.

 

I was so stoked the day I handed over my money and got a signed pink slip and the keys to the car of my dreams.  And, I'd like to say that it was all wonderful after that.  The car looked pretty darn good but there were some undisclosed mechanical problems that needed attention and would sometimes get me stranded.  But the real problem came when I went to transfer title.

 

The previous owner signed the wrong line on the pink slip and then erased his signature and rewrote it on another line. The DMV would not  except the pink slip and said I needed to get the previous owner have him sign some other paper work and return with a fresh signature and authorization stating all was honest and well.

 

Problem was the previous owner  was moving away.... one of the reasons he was selling his car, and the few weeks between the time I bought the car and went in to the DMV to change title he had moved and was nowhere to be found.  I was stuck looking like I had stole a pink slip doing some dishonest changes to a legal document and made off with someone else's property.

 

There were ways to fix my problem but I didn't know of them and at 19 years old I was not smart enough with these things. So after a few trips to the beach with my surfboard sticking out the back like a true surf guy I ended up parking the car thinking maybe one day I'd figure out a way to get it legal.

 

It did finally get legal a couple years later.  Not by me though, but by the guy I sold it to. He said he didn't care that there was a problem with the title. He knew how to take care of that and took my '47 Ford woody off my hands.

 

D.R.