As far as surfing goes for So. Cal. 2016... was pretty good. The water temps remained very nice. I only put on a winter wet suit once last January, which was a mistake, got to warm. The warm water temps remained  through spring and summer as well. Love that warm water.

It's gone now, back to the typical cool temps. The Anacapa buoy has been reading 58 degrees of late. That's the coldest it's been for 2 years, and normal for this time of year.

The surf was pretty consistent for the most part. This past November was going off as a matter of fact. This past summer got off to a good start with back to back southern hemisphere swells for most of the month. But the hurricane season, what was up with that?

I love hurricane swells and watched no fewer than 15 develop off Mexico this year. Always hoping for the best where they would hook to the north for a couple days and send us some surf. All but a couple weak ones did. They all did a bee line toward Hawaii instead, leaving us with.... not much.

The thing about surf, you never know what's in the future. We can have surf or not. We can have great weather for going to the beach and no surf when you get there. We can have surf with junk weather so the surf is no good. You can have your day off to surf be epic or not worth the effort. You can have every day available to surf but see a long run of no surf and bad weather... so long that you're going nuts from boredom. I mean really, a guy can only make surfboards for so long before the need to get in the water is over whelming.

Fortunately 2016 was pretty good for surf. Hoping 2017 is as good or better.

Happy New Year!

D.R.  

If you think about surfboard design and are motivated to work through a certain design idea then being able to make your own surfboard is nice.

I consider myself fortunate that making surfboards is what I do. Being able to make a surfboard with some certain design elements and then go surf the board can be inspiring. Having a plethora of outlines accumulated over the years can make putting a new design together almost effortless. At least if the curves you're interested in match up nicely.

It's best to work off of something you're familiar with. So when I was asked to make a mid length performance type board that's not egg shaped or have a round nose I first thought of my Gadget model because of it's performance characteristics. But I would need to get a narrow nose on the front end.

So I got to thinking about another favorite performance board that runs about the same over all width with a narrow nose. It's a board that I surfed while living on Kauai and made for a number of guys there. Sure enough, this boards front end lined up very well with the Gadget back end. So using the Gadget profile and blending the two outlines together I came up with a new shape.

And as usual I didn't want to let the board go when it was finished. But it was promised to my friend Bob. Plus he wanted the board to be a tri fin. I've got ideas on making one for myself now but with a completely new fin set up I've been dreaming about.

More on that later.

D.R.  

For me the 'know before you go' thing never really settled in until I moved to Hawaii.

I remember seeing guys watching the surf for a half hour or more before they would grab their board and paddle out. And for good reason. When the surf gets big in Hawaii.... it has danger written on it. H3O = heavy water.

So watching the surf, knowing if the swell has peaked or still coming up.  Counting the number of waves in a set and timing the sets so you know what's happening in the water is smart.

I remember surfing a spot on the west side one winter day when the surf was a little inconsistent with sets in the head high plus size. But, about every 10 - 15 minutes or so three or four waves twice that size would roll through. The bigger sets would almost always pick you off.... Sets with 3 or 4 waves aren't terrible, sets of 8 or 10 waves are a whole other thing. So knowing how many waves you might encounter on big days is smart.

Being in heavy surf can bring on fatigue in short order. Being short of breath can bring on panic. Being panicked in the ocean is the opposite of a good thing. As well, being physically conditioned to be in the ocean even when the surf is small is smart. There is a lot to the saying 'Know before you go'.

In all the years I've been fortunate and not gotten in much trouble surfing. There have been moments but nothing real serious. Though this one time there is no doubt if not for being lucky things could have turned very bad. You can read the story here. And another story about not being strong enough to get past in coming sets is here.

D.R. 

The difference between the point in Ventura and the other three points a few miles up the coast?

They all have their own personality but the thing about Ventura is it's the place where the more novice surfers go, especially in summer.  Summer waves are softer breaking and sand fills into the beach at the point which makes for a much more casual go out. besides the other points don't really break on the summer south swells.

What happens then is the more novice or inexperienced surfer that is a little familiar with the point in Ventura may come for a surf in the fall and winter when the surf gets some size. And, have no idea that the surf and water conditions in the fall and winter are much different than what they've experienced in the summer.

First the surf will not look as big as it really is because where you look at the surf from the beach is a good 8 feet above sea level so you are looking down on the water. As well, the surf will be breaking much farther out, the distance makes the waves look smaller.

The biggest thing that someone who's surfed the point in summer will find different in the fall and winter is the current. And that's the problem. The current moves you down the point as you paddle out. If you can't break through the surf zone it's possible to get stuck in the current and end up still in the surf zone at the pier. Imagine being swept through the pilings in the white water. Then add your surf board is strapped to your foot. It can be and has been fatal.

The experienced regular surfers at the point have been known to caution and encourage the more novice not to go out when the point has some size.... for good reason.

My son while surfing one of the recent swells after getting one of those long rides all the way down the point got out of the water down by the pier and was walking up the beach with a guy that had got swept through the pier. The guy said his dad was not going to be happy because he was using his dads board and it got buckled on it's way through the pier.

Then my son sees this guy, with surf board under his arm, eyeing the surf at the waters edge about half way between the pier and the lower stairs like the guys is getting ready to paddle out. Robin says to the guy "this is not the place to be paddling out. If you're going to go out then walk way up the point first. Other wise you'll end up being swept through the pier with the current".

There is a saying... Know before you go.

D.R.     

Ok, it happens again. Only this time it's not a cover shot, it's a 2 page spread in the current issue of The Surfers Journal. 

This picture is looking at the Fair Grounds from the back side of the point to the Ventura river mouth. It's a morning shot with what looks like the typical morning river valley off shores, maybe between 7 and 8 am. I'm counting a 4 to 6 wave set that looks to have maybe 12 foot or larger fronts... using the buildings for reverence.

Looks pretty epic, and maybe the day the picture was taken it was epic. Or, it could be more like a couple Fridays ago when there was a pretty consistent WNW swell running a few feet over head and not much wind during the day.

I got down to the point and in the water around 1 or 2. The paddle out was uneventful having managed to squeak out to the line up between sets. Actually when you paddle out during a West North West swell with some size in Ventura you get yourself out past the break line, then you work your way to a line up spot. You can point yourself to where you'd like to be when you first enter the water but the along shore current will drag you well away and down the beach from where you want to be.

The first objective is to get through the surf zone. The more time it takes to get through the surf zone the farther down the beach you will be from where you'd like to be. After you get past the surf zone then you take stock of where you are and where you want to line up. For me that Friday I wanted to be a little above Figaroa St so after I cleared my way past the surf zone I was below Figaroa St. and paddled up the point to get to where I wanted to line up. By the way... you are always paddling on days like these because the current keeps dragging you down the beach.

In the almost 2 hours I was in the water that day I caught 4 waves total. The first one there was a guy above me that took off too. I didn't think he would make the section between me and him and I was in good position so I dropped in. The guy eventually milked his way through the white water and then I yielded and pulled out in short order.

The second wave was one of the bigger set waves. Once I took off and did a quick top turn the wave walled off an unmake able section so I pulled out. The third wave I rode down the point some ways and then pulled out because I didn't want to much of a paddle back up the point. As I paddled back up the point after the third wave I stayed a bit in side and picked off one of the head high waves a little below Figaroa St and rode the thing all the way past the inside stairs.

That one was easily my best ride and after being in the water all that time and being all the way down the point I was done, and went in.

When I looked at the surf that Friday before I went out it looked pretty darn good. When I got out of the water after all that time and looked at the surf again from the promenade before walking back to my van it still looked pretty darn good, and would've made for a nice picture. Reality check... with a smile... it was a lot of work for little reward.

You know what? I'll do it again next time... with a smile.

D.R.  

1966 was the year Tom Morey and John Peck started production of John's iconic board The John Peck Penetrator under the Morey-Pope surfboard label. I've been working on a new Penetrator order this week and realized it was 50 years ago MP went into production of John's board.

I started shaping at Morey-Pope in 1967, the second year of the Penetrators production.  '67 was also the last year MP made the board because by the end of '67 boards were going shorter and MP moved into production of the McTavish Tracker by 1968. As well, the longer boards went out of style. So all the surfboard labels moved to the shorter stuff because no one would buy a surfboard much over 8'0.

From 1968 through the '70s it was short boards all the time. Then about 1980 some baby boomers found the longer boards they surfed when they were in their teens early 20's were a better fit for their older and maybe less fit bodies. They didn't have to struggle as much in the line up and could get more waves and have a good time in the water too.

The Penetrator being one of the iconic boards from the old days found a renewed interest from some of the surfers that either had one or wanted one back in the day, and I started to get requests to make the board again. So in the early 80's I started making Pentrators on request and have been doing them that way ever since.

Now some 36 years after doing the first reissues today I realized the board was introduced to the world of surfing 50 years ago. And you know what? It's every bit as good a board now as it was then.

If it works.... don't fix it.

D.R.

I saw an old friend at the beach today who hadn't been surfing much the past few years because of health problems. But he's on the mend now and getting back in the water. We talked for a few minuets before I mention my work shop was 95 degrees while sanding a surfboard so I'm going to go get wet.

After being in the water for 15 minuets or so I see John paddling into the line up. He said "I decided to come out after you did because at least I'd be in the water with someone I know in the crowd."  I thought that was a interesting comment for a local Ventura guy who's been surfing Ventura for over 50 years.

There really aren't that many of the old crew around anymore.... or at least that you might see at the point going for a surf on any given afternoon. So a guy could feel a bit out of place. Especially if you haven't been getting in the water for awhile.

I suggest he should come down early morning because there is a pretty regular group of people that surf the point in the morning and after a few days he'd start to see the same group and begin to feel more comfortable because of the familiar faces.

Yeah, that morning group of regulars.... almost every day at least through the summer, they are there. If there is any surf to ride at all 8 or ten of them will be in the water. That's some dedication. Me... I'll go down early if I know there's going to be a swell in the water and even then I've got to make an effort to get up and go. And when I do I will see the morning group, some with coffee in hand giving a look see before suiting up and going for a surf.

Ventura is a beach town. I think beach towns are different than other towns because of the people that live in the town or close enough to town and enjoy the beach on a regular basis if not almost daily. The beach can really become part of who you are.... and definitely if you surf.

D.R. 

It's amazing how time flies. September 9 2006 was the day of post number 1 for the D.R. Surfboards blog. 10 years ago today.

Wanting to do something which was apart of my web site that was easy or simple to work with and add regular updates to as well, I decided to start this blog.

So here it is... 345 posts spanning 10 years with between 2 and 4 posts per month. Even though blogs aren't that trendy these days, I keep at it.... it's still a part of my web site that I can put something new to as the weeks, months, and in this case years pass.

Someday.... I keep telling myself... I should index the darn thing so certain posts can be accessed without trying to find that certain post out of the pile of 345... can't say it will ever happen. But, hitting anything in the archives will bring a few posts to read and pass the time.  

Just for fun here are the results of a few searches... from inside my blog.

My Story search

Learning to surf search

Hull search

Thanks to all those that follow and or check in from time to time to see what I'm up to.

D.R.

Sometimes you just get skunked. But, it sure is nice when something else happens after you've been skunked.

It was late in the year, 1968. Richard Deese and I, after spending the first part of the day in our respective shaping bays, headed out to get some of the nice west swell that was in the water. But this one particular day the east winds where blowing pretty strong and the point in Ventura was junk. Despite what Surfline says about Ventura east winds are not the best wind conditions for Ventura. They may be nice for spots south of Ventura.... like Oxnard and on down to the county line but in town? Not. So we decide to head up to Rincon.

Sometimes the east winds will lay down as you move up the coast a few miles.... no such luck that day. What happened was as we went by little Rincon, saw some clean waves and thought Rincon was going to be good.... Rincon was junk from the east winds. So we turned back and stopped along the road at little Rincon.

Little Rincon is a bit sheltered from the winds by the surrounding hills and has a large kelp bed out side the surf break that will broom the wind chop to create  nice clean surface conditions and provide clean frosted faced waves. Which is why the spot was so good that day. To top it all off there were only a hand full of guys around to take part in the almost surreal waves and conditions. In short order we were suited up and finding our way to the water. The waves were running head high and better, very consistent and close to perfection.

Of all the surfing I've done over the years this was one of those times that still sits in my memory as a rare moment to have experienced. And fortunately Dan Merkel who at the time lived almost straight across the highway in La Conchita had his camera out to take pictures.

Not only having the memory of the surf that day in a picture, the picture is special to me because of Dan, we we're friends from high school, but also I'm riding the first Greenough hull I'd made. At 7'2 it was the shortest board I had so far.

D.R. 

Where I live there can be surf but it may not be that good. It can range from pretty junk to really good. Good like that picture on the cover of Surfer Mag. a few months ago or junk like.. "I'm not going out in that mess".

What happens in Ventura is wind. Winds that originate off the coast up above Santa Barbara that can blow for days at a time. The winds typically don't have a long enough fetch to generate surf but what we get instead of surf is lumpy local conditions. The summer swells we get can get totally ruined by those lumpy local conditions.... yeah, it really sucks too.

This week we had a 3 day summer swell. It started showing Thursday and there was some bump in the water. But it laid down as the day progressed and stayed that way through the night. So Friday morning the conditions were really good. There's nothing better than surf that is dang close to perfect peeling down the point.

I surfed Friday morning until I started to fatigue. Didn't want to get out of the water but had an appointment to go to so I reluctantly got out of the water and did the responsible thing. With visions of those perfect waves in my head for the rest of the day and into the night. I made plans to get up at the butt crack of dawn and get some more Saturday morning. I seldom surf on the weekend but couldn't hold back.

So guess what happened? The wind picked up Friday afternoon and blew all night long. There was more surf Saturday with more size but, the conditions were lumpy... again. And once again I'd set my expectations to high. The surf was ok but after spending a couple hours in really good surf the day before? ... bummer.

Is it a bad thing to wish for really good surf  2 days in a row?

D.R.

I think maybe surfboards made with traditional materials get a bad rap. The normal line you hear is the 'polyurethane foam and polyester surfboards don't hold up,' and 'they dent and ding easy.'

I decided to refresh the wax on my newest longboard.  I made it last year late October into the first week in November. Then it sat, and finally got it in the water the first or second week in December. So the boards new foam and lamination had a 3 or 4 week cure time.

You know what happens when you take the wax off your board? You get a chance to see what condition the deck is in after 6 months of surfing. This board of mine has a US Blanks blue label core and the deck is laminated with a single layer of 7.5 oz. over a single layer of 6 oz.

After the wax had been cleared and the deck is cleaned should I be surprised to see the board still looks new? At first I didn't think there was even a dent in it. After a good long look I began to see a few dents. One up toward the nose and a few... maybe 5 very small dents in the tail area, no doubt from the ball of my back foot when I'd load up a turn. No shatter in the stomp area and really the dents were so small I could barely feel them. As well, to see them you'd have to get the perfect site and light angle. The board is never left in the sun and I do my best putting it in and taking it out of my van.  Sure if the board is hit it will ding. So do most surfboards regardless of what they're made of. Yeah, once I did loose it into the rocks and got a half dozen shatters along one rail ( that I fixed right away ) but no damaged foam dings from the rocks.

No secrets here, just take good care of your board. Keep it out of the sun as much as possible... except when you're surfing of course. When you get a new board make sure it's got good foam and a good lamination and, let the thing cure for 2 to 4 weeks.

D.R.

These 2 new ones will hold up well when taken care of.

While at the beach this past week I got to talking with a friend after we had gotten out of the water and were giving the surf a final look before we both went home.

The surf had a few chest high waves... really just a small inconsistent south swell. Like so many summer swells, but this afternoon the conditions were excellent and made for some fun long board waves.

While we're leaning against the railing at the edge of the Promenade watching the surf Kevin says " imagine how nice it would be if there were only a few guys in the water"?  I say "yeah like the old days when we were young"

Then Kevin says "When I was younger and working a lot I thought about how nice it was going to be when I got older had way more time and  could come to the Point and get all those waves I was missing because of work... I never thought for a moment that surfing would become so popular and this place would get so crowded. Always envisioned things would pretty much be the same as they were back in the day."

Kevin and I are the same age and as surfers very fortunate. We grew up surfing when times were simple and the population of Ventura was much smaller than now and Ventura's  neighboring towns populations were very small compared to now too.

Because of those small populations there just we're not that many people that came to the beach. As well, because of the giant population increases there are large numbers of people that do come to the beach now.

The roads that come into Ventura from all points inland are so much better than 30-40 years ago and the vehicles we use now are so much nicer and comfortable. Geez, if you came from the Valley to Ventura on a summer day in 1968 on the then 2 lane road through Calabasas, Thousand Oaks when the temps were in the nineties in a VW bug with 4 surfboards on top of the car and 4 guys in the car.... didn't matter what the surf was like when you reached 'C' Street. You were going surfing just to cool off.

Now... come in your air conditioned car, all the windows up so there is no road noise. Killer tunes from your phone playing on a nice sound system. And.... you've checked all the forecasts and cameras so you know what the surf and conditions most likely are going to be like. Other wise you wouldn't waste your time.

California, the beach, it's all so attractive, why wouldn't everyone want to play on a surfboard?  Or at least try to given the chance. I get it.

But no, we never thought things would change. Just thought we'd get older and have a great time doing what we love. And really I still do, all be it with plenty more people.

D.R.

Technology is great.... daily updates on surf forecasts,  look at buoy readings, check the surf from your computer or phone, E-mail a surfboard order.

Yeah, Technology is great... until it's not. Your computer goes south and doesn't come back, like mine did earlier this month. Shoot, I was stuck doing things the old fashion way, like going down to the beach to see what the surf was like instead of checking the surf cam. Oh wait, I have a phone and can look at the surf cam with it... never mind.

Things happen though. The shaping machine ( technology ) breaks so no surfboards get shaped. My shoulder ( old technology ) has gone out in the past so no surfboards got shaped. Kind of the same thing. Computer ( technology ) goes out so you can't write your blog. Actually you can write, long hand on paper. But, can't get what you wrote by hand on the web without a computer. Well I don't know how anyway.

The computer got fixed just in time for this last swell. Which meant I could follow the latest buoy readings to see how the winds in the channel might be affecting the surf. Check the reading late at night then first thing in the morning... before dawn you can't see anything on the surf cam. but, you can get an idea of what the surface conditions will  probably be like from the buoys. As well, see if the swell is on the rise or not, what the water temps are etc. That's the info you need to know what board to take to the beach and what wet suit you might want. All the tech we take for granted now until we can't access it. But, I'm still going to take a few boards and a couple different wet suits to the beach just in case.

Here's a picture of some old surf technology... and the way it was carried. On the head for the most part. Darn things were heavy, and , we didn't have cool foot ware. Bare foot all the way down a long path to the beach. If the little stones in the dirt didn't tweak your feet on the way down. with  30 lbs. of surfboard on your dead,  getting the bottom of your feet blistered on the way back to your car could be a problem too. Once the sun started baking the dirt on the trail in the summer sun... like walking on hot coals.

Only an old surfer knows the feeling.   

D.R.

How's that.. even one of these guys has a wet suit.

It's a holiday weekend and my grandson is visiting for our annual surf camp trip. He's itchin' to surf... but it's a holiday weekend. What's worse is there is a marathon from Ojai to the beach which ended at the Fair Grounds. And the course goes down our road so if we want to go somewhere we've got to go out of our way a good 6 miles unless we wait 'til after 10 a.

About 10:30 or 11:00 I tell Merrick the race has passed so let's go down to the point and try our luck at getting a place to park. There was a little south swell maybe we'd get lucky.... and we did.

When we pull into inside point there were no other cars on the street looking to park and the very first parking spot was empty, we pull in. Suited up and went out. It was a bit crowded in the lineup but not terrible. After an hour the crowd thinned out. I counted only 8 people at one point. Merrick had a good time and so did I.

When we got back to the van and started getting out of our suits the fun really started. There must have been 4 cars waiting for a parking space. Across from us there were 2 cars getting ready to pull out making their space available for those waiting. Just when one of the cars pulls out a guy pulls around the corner and snakes one of the guys that had been waiting. I turn to my grandson and say "looks like there's going to be a fist fight over this deal", and there almost was. The sparks started to fly but after some heated exchange the guy that had snaked the spot got back in his car, pulled out and left. I think his wife was telling him he'd taken advantage and that she was not happy about what he'd done.

Usually on nice days and when there is surf the inside point parking is jammed up. But, most people that park there to surf know the parking protocol. You wait your turn and hope every other car that comes down the street will be considerate and wait their turn too.

But hey, it was a holiday weekend... 

D.R.

Oh boy,  Ventura made the cover of Surfer Magazine..........

This picture is a screen print from the Surfer Mag web site.

For perspective,  the number of days that look like this in any given year?  If you are lucky, it would be the number of fingers you have on one hand. Sure it gets good, but to be glassy and good all day... kind of rare. Note the sun is setting in this picture. And to have the perfect swell direction at the same time as the perfect weather, yeah kind of rare.

This really is a great picture but don't go thinking the point in Ventura is consistently like the picture.... that would be a fantasy. As well, when and if you happen onto a day like this.... from the picture, I'm counting about 8 or maybe 10 wave sets. You will get your chance with one of the set waves in a rotation of at least 75 other surfers.

Ok, so how do I know? The arrow in the picture points to the house I lived in. Moved into the place in 1974 and sold the place in 2010.  And lived within a few blocks of that place the 6 years before 1974.  I could ride my bike to the pier, check the surf, ride home, put on my wet suit, put my board in my truck, drive to the point and be in the water in very little time. Which I did all the time.  It was really great too 'cause on those cold winter days I would get out of the water and just drive home in my wetsuit, go into the back yard, turn on my out door hot shower and get out of my suit.

The north west corner of Ventura County has 4 points the last 14 miles along the county's coast line. The 1st one is Ventura and the last on is Rincon. What would be nice to see, along with this picture of Ventura, is an aerial pic of each one of the other points on this same day... you know, just for fun. And to be fair, when coming to Ventura, there are 3 other points that are surf able too. If Ventura looks good just think what the other points would be like. Yeah, they're only a few minutes up the road.

So far I haven't talked to anybody from Ventura that is stoked about seeing The Point on the cover of Surfer Magazine.

D.R. 

 Shaping surfboards is pretty much done behind closed doors. That's what Wayne Rich said one day when we were talking about surfboard stuff.

Here's a look behind closed doors one day last week...with some explanation. When I started working on a new board patterned after a 1968 V-Bottom.  One that I didn't keep an outline of from back in the day. Fortunately a friend of mine had the old board so I could map it. 

First I write in my book all the numbers from mapping the board. Outline numbers every 3 inches, same for rocker and thickness.

Second I mark the outline numbers on the blank I'm using for my board. And pull a tape line connecting all the marks. 

Then I cut one side of the blank and true up the curve where ever needed.

After the outline on the one side is clean and satisfactory I scribe it onto some template material and cut the template.

 I used sheet vinyl for the template, which will hold a line, easily cuts with scissors and  it can be trued up with block plane and sanding block.

Now the other side of the board can be outlined using the new template running along the marks from mapping the original board.

With board outline complete the board is shaped and finished, ready for glassing.

D.R.

Woodland Hills, the place my parents moved my 2 sisters and I to in 1954.

We lived on a street a few blocks south of Ventura Blvd and a few blocks west of Toganga Canyon Rd. Our Aunt lived in Woodland Hills as well on a street up Topanga about 12 blocks and 1 block east of Topanga.

When my mom started working she took me and my sisters to our Aunts house every week day in the morning and pick us up after work. We'd leave for school from there, return after school and play until mom returned to take us home. During the summer me and my sisters would play all day around our Aunts house with the kids that lived on the street there.

At the time my Aunts house was pretty much the last street up Topanga that was developed. Just a couple unpaved roads up from the house was Mulholand Drive. The adventure was to hike up to Mulholand and look around. It was a dirt road where people would dump unwanted stuff... an old chair, matress, misc. house hold things. We could go up there and bust bottles on the rocks, be generally mischievous and not get noticed.

Fast forward to an all day surf with Bob Cooper and Dale Herd. Cooper the Morey-Pope shop foreman and Dale the shop salesman and I took a Saturday surf trip to the spot where Topanga Canyon meets the coast. A small point south of Malibu... Topanga point, or just Topanga. In 1967 Topanga was a private community and the only way you could surf the point was if you lived in one of the small houses on the point or were invited by someone that had a place there. We were invited, so we got to surf the place with just a couple others that happened to be there that day too.

The surf was small and inconsistent so after some time we decided to go off somewhere else for something better... if we could find it. Since home was back up the PCH that's the direction we headed and stopped where Mulholand Highway, the west end of Mulholand Dr. meets the coast...  Secos at Leo Carrillo State Beach.

Little did I know when I was 7 that Mulholand Dr. and Topanga Canyon road both end at  the Pacific Coast Highway and, there are surf spots where each road meets the coast. And 13 years later I would surf both spots in one day.

D.R.

Do you ever wonder how many times you've surfed your go to surf spot... if you have one?  If you're fortunate enough to live at or close to a surf spot then it's most likely the place you surf most of the time.

For me it's been the point in Ventura. Sometimes when I'm paddling out for a surf the thought runs through my mind... how many times have I surfed this place? Ok, maybe I've averaged 3 times a week, maybe 150 times in a year, so over a ten year period maybe 1500 times... though I took up residence in Ventura about 49 years ago. Not that it matters, and it certainly doesn't give you any priority in the water at any rate.

The thing that I think about as well is how much the spot I surf all the time has changed over the years. I'm sure with a little research you could develop a time line showing how the area north of the pier has changed. I'm sure it would be interesting. 

This picture was taken after the big storms of 1969. It's an afternoon minus tide shot so there is a lot of beach exposed in the picture. The red dot about in the middle of the picture is all the debris that was deposited on the beach from the Ventura river.  The dot below and a little to the left you see large rocks that curve from the lower right hand corner to the upper left hand corner of the picture. After the area from the pier to the Fair grounds was cleared of the homes that used to be along the point those large rocks were put along the tide line as a revetment and is what the promenade sits on now.

Note that the dot at the upper left hand corner is where the high tide line was and that there is no sand or play ground area in this picture. There was a massive amount of sand deposited on the beach from the '69 storms. But when this picture was taken it hadn't migrated down from the river mouth yet. Once it did the first jetty south of the pier held the sand and made the large sand beach in front of the hotel... that was built some years later.

The beach development from the pier into the fair grounds is nice and all but I liked it the way it was in my youth.

D.R.  

 The repairs are complete at the top of the point now. 

 This picture is about the same vantage point a year or so after original construction. 

In the mid sixties when I was a teenager making surfboards I'm sure the industry guys would have questioned my motivation. Though when I met Greg Noll to see if he would sell me blanks for my surfboard endeavors, I don't remember anything but positive interest.

Did I know what I was doing? No not really, I learned the old fashioned way, trial and error and learning as you go. A lot of thinking and intuition added to the process. If an opportunity had presented itself for a chance to work at a real surfboard shop no doubt I would have jumped on it. I was not that fortunate, until I moved to Ventura anyway.

After moving to Ventura in the mid 60's I got my first job working for a company that made surfboards in which the owner of the company didn't surf. In the 90's I worked for a surfboard company that the owner didn't make surfboards, that is, actually work in the surfboard craft... at least at first.

The owner of the company in the 60's simply made a surf product and had a way to market what he made all over the US coastal areas. At first the surfboards where generic but eventually he did a licensing deal with some well known surfers to make boards with their name on them, even though the surfers didn't necessarily ride the boards,

On the other hand, the company in the 90's.... the owner was a professional surfer. He may not have been able to make one of the surfboards he sold, but knew what a good surfboard was, not just if it was built well but if it surfed well... and he could surf the boards that had his label on them and input design recommendations.

To one it was a business that sold a product. To the other it was much more than a business that sold a product.

You know what? Now.... whether you know anything about surfboards or making them, it's pretty easy to make surfboards, and ones that a surf shop would be interested in putting in their store. Actually you don't have to make them, You can pay other people to make them for you. Wait... if other people make your surfboards then you aren't really making them are you?  OK, maybe who makes them isn't important... it's the end product that's important. After all, the end user is the one paying for and surfing what they buy.

Here are two words..

Authentic = an author or maker, one who does any thing by his own right.

Genuine = real; natural; true; pure; not false or adulterated. actually produced by or proceeding from the alleged source or author.

When it comes to surfboards do those two words mean anything or matter? Is a surfboard just a product or is it much more than that?

D.R.

You know what sucks? 

Loosing your new board, not being able to get to it before white water pushes it to the beach... when the tide is just high enough to have your new lost board get pushed into the rocks.

Yeah it happened. I got lucky though, there was a guy at the waters edge retrieving his board right where mine was and he picked my board up with his and pushed mine to me. So, the board didn't get bounced on the rocks for 3 or 4 minutes before it got picked up.

I say to my son " lost my board, it took on some shatters" . He says... "you know how to fix it, so...."  Yeah, so.... still sucks. Shiny new board, only been ridden 4 times and now it has half a dozen shatters on one rail. Who likes that?

I should have said "OK, how did you feel when that guy ran you over and dinged your new board...  remember that?" Poor kid, I saw the collision from the beach. Robin was all of 12 years old at the time, surfing his new board at pipe, he was so upset walking up the beach to the car.

That's got to be  one of the biggest surfing downers... getting your first ding in a new board. Yeah I hate that, and now I've got to fix the pickin' thing. Like I don't have enough things to do already.

Only a surfer knows the feeling.

D.R.

A 7'6 Gadget with some color going on.

In the on going story, Ventura Point post of  08 November 2015 I said that a few of the palm tree planters most likely wouldn't last the winter.

It was only a short 4 or 5 weeks later with a couple days of high surf and tides that one of those planters went down, the pier got damaged too. The City of Ventura from what I understand has a contract with a company to repair the pier damage so in short order there was a crew working on that.

The other thing I said in the November post was that the cobles were on their way to the pier. That has happened too, and are stacked half way up the height of the pier.  As well, the cobles stretch all the way to first jetty. Not sure what the City will do with them but it's a big treacherous mess. When spring and summer get here beach goers will have a tough time getting to the waters edge with out getting hurt in the process unless the cobles are some how removed.

The past couple weeks repairs have started on the beach at the top of the point, there is a  sign that said repairs are estimated to be completed in April. From word floating around, the City obtained an emergency permit from the Coastal Commission that allowed them to immediately move forward on fixing the erosion problem without any community input.

Roomer has it that the City will be putting in a 300 ft. long by 15 ft high wall in front of the palm tree planters, though the sign at the point says it's a Revetment . Currently the work being done is large rocks are being put in front of the ledge or small cliff created by the surf and tides. It also looks like the machine operators are digging below the tide line and dropping a course or two of rocks so the 15 ft height may start a few feet below the tide line.... just guessing.

The surf at the point has been affected by what the City of Ventura has done to the beach from day one. It all started with an eminent domain deal with the beach property owners along the point, back in the 1960's.  Surf will be affected by what is being done now too, depending on how far in front of the palm trees the revetment is put. It's really a wait and see deal right now. 

D.R.      

The surf and tide pull down one of the Palms

  

 The cobbles stones half way up the stairs at inside point. As the surf and tides move them to the pier.

 Cobbles piled half the height of the pier by surf and tides.

 Equipment operators pulling material out in front of the palm planters

Large rocks being placed for the revetment.

I graduated High School in 1966, six years into my life as a surfer.

'66 was the year Nat Young won the world contest in San Diego. A picture of him surfing is on the cover of Volume 7 number 6 of Surfer Magazine that year.  That's the seventh year Surfer had been in print and at that point was a Bi monthly publication having graduated from a Quarterly at it's start.

Flipping through that issue the ads for surfboards counted 10 full page, 1 double page and 1 half page ad.  There were of few smaller page ads as well, the larger ads were from Hobie, Dewey Weber, Morey Pope, Jacobs, Con, Greg Noll, Hansen, Bing, Dave Sweet, Rick, Harbour and Gordon & Smith. Interesting.... The Dave Sweet ad top line of copy said "$130.00 buys a new 9'6" Dave Sweet".

As a kid thumbing through Surfer magazine was a big deal. Seeing pictures of team riders and pictures of the latest iterations of foam and fiberglass, dreams and fantasies racing through your thoughts. Or having the chance to visit one of  the surf shops.... that was a big prize. There were the Santa Monica shops, the South Bay shops, Seal Beach, Dana Point and further south Gordon and Smith in San Diego.   

I don't remember why the family took the long drive to San Diego one time. What I do remember was when we started heading home. Just as we started driving through San Diego on the freeway I happened to look out the window at just the right time to see a large Gordon and Smith surfboard label on the side of a building off the highway. My eyes fixated on what I saw, head turning as we passed until I couldn't see it any more. There it was, the place where Gordon and Smith surfboards were made. All the elements, the moon the stars had aligned and I got the chance to see that magical place. even though it was just in passing, didn't matter.    

The drive to San Diego was 3 hours long, and we were just getting started on the 3 hours back. But I was in heaven, seeing that building and sign.... made every minute worth while. The image of what I saw... still there even after some 50 years.

Of those 12 names listed above, the pioneers and founders of the surf industry, six of them are no longer with us. The latest one, Larry Gordon of Gordon and Smith, passed  on the first day of the new year. Sad another gone, R.I.P. Mr. Gordon.

D.R.

Surfer Magazine Vol. 7 No.6 Gordon and Smith ad.

As mentioned in my post of 7 December 2015 there are 2 types of finishes for surfboards. The sanded finish and the gloss and polished finish.

Either way surfboards get sanded, which also fits into the labor not the creative part of making surfboards. Sanding is typically done with a grinder spinning up to 5000 rpm. And depending on how a board will be finished the grinder pad will have between 60 to 320 grit sand paper one it.

Grinding a surfboard takes finesse. It's pretty easy to ruin a nice glass job while sanding it. Good surfboards sanders have pretty secure jobs in the industry for that very reason.... As well, because it's possible to change the shape of a surfboard in small ways while sanding, the high performance guys rely on sanders to dial in specifics of their boards.

It's a dusty dirty job, can irritate your skin and lungs. Many people also don't  know that  sanding dust is flammable and an explosive. So don't go walking into a sanding room with a lit cigarette, or toss a fire cracker into a sanding room as a practical joke.  Yeah, how stupid... but it did happen to my son while he was working through a stack of boards to sand one day, a guy tossed a fire cracker into his room. 'Bout scared him to death,  fortunately the only boom was the fire cracker.

Each step in the process of making a surfboard is important. The guys that sand are specialist and pretty much go unnoticed. That's ok because a well made surfboard you don't notice the sand job, no, it's the poorly sanded boards that you see the sand job.

D.R.   

With a soft pad and board on rail the sander makes things smooth.