Sunday, March 27, 2016

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. 

Sunday, March 06, 2016

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.