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.