Making surfboards is inspiring. Surfing is inspiring too. Though for both there can be some not so inspiring times.

Like right now where I live the weather has been poor.  Quite cool or cold and wet along with. Most days haven’t gotten much warmer than 60 so making surfboards in a room with no heat is limited. Shaping, sanding or polishing is ok because you generate your own heat via the physical activity. But resin work is not very physical and working with resin in cold temperatures is not the best practice. I’ve gotten little to no work done on surfboards in the last couple weeks. Having the last 10 days cold with a number of wet days with the cold… not inspiring at all.

So go surf right… not much surf either, as well cold water. And not a good idea to surf after rains because of local street drainage contaminating the surf zone. Again, not inspiring.

Hopefully the new year will bring in more inspiring days. Weather forecast says next week may be dry though not much warm up.

Thinking back on this year… had some happy surf days and new boards to get acquainted with. Happy surf and new surfboards are definitely inspiring. Though today I started thinking about some of those in surfing that we’ll not carry over into the new year which is sad.

During my time growing up with surfing there have been iconic names that were inspiring. We’ve lost some of them this year. Seems more this year than in past years. 

I’ve written about a few… Greg Noll, Rich Harbour and Tom Morey.  And just this month Hap Jacobs passed. A half century ago these names were a big inspiration to surfing. But still others have left us too. Ben Aipa passed in January. Phil Becker, Mike Eaton and Joe Quigg have all passed on this year too.

I will remember them all and how they inspired surfing and surfers like myself. For me inspiring for the surfboards they made as well. I’ve only known one of these guys personally but have memories of seeing them and their work from when I was just reaching my teenage years. Looked at some of the boards they made and thought through the design elements for ideas and inspiration.

I like to think that all those memories get put into the surfboards I make. Part of the process of crafting my boards. That may be a lofty notion but as the new year gets started, I’m inspired to continue to make the best boards I can for as long as I can.

Happy New Year!

D.R.

 

You might think that a guy that makes surfboards would be making a board for himself on a regular basis. That might be true for someone else. Me? Not so much.

Earlier this year I sold a few boards I had. Two reasons for that…. I was thinking of making a couple new boards for myself so room was needed in my board locker. And those few boards were sold for the room and the extra bucks to pay for the new boards I wanted. Believe it or not guys that make boards have to pay for the materials and any labor that goes into making the boards… they aren’t free. I really didn’t want to unload any boards but a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do.

Even though I sold the boards earlier in the year I didn’t get to make my new boards until later in the summer. I put together a 8’0 Gadget … quad, and a 10’6 T & G, the longest board I’ve ever had.

The Gadget was very familiar, I’ve had one before and has been one of my favorites. The T & G I’ve never had. I’ve surfed a couple different ones but not had one of my own. The Gadget is very maneuverable, fast, paddles well, easy wave entry and is good for waves chest high to overhead. The T & G is a guilder. Great for really small stuff or bigger waves too. I like it for the smaller waves. Sit a little outside paddle in early and coast into the wave, get to your feet and cruise. It’s all about “relax”.

Got to thinking how long it had been since I had a new board. So, I checked when the last 2 new boards I’d made were done. The first…My Dream Cycle was made in November 2015 and then a 70’s Single fin was made in October 2016.

Time flies yeah? I didn’t realize it had been some 5 and 6 years ago. No wonder I wanted something new. Now the Dream Cycle I surf all the time and will continue that. The 70’s Single is one I let go. It was 7’8, didn’t get surfed that much so made the determination the Gadget would replace it.

It’s hard to let go of a surfboard. Well… if you don’t particularly like a certain board ok but I really haven’t had that problem. Imagine if you kept all the boards you had over the years…. For me like 60. You’d need a pretty good size warehouse for sure. So many surfboards and so many stories they could tell.

If your surfboards could talk, what would it say?

D.R. 

 The Gadget and the T & G 

Do we all have people that have influenced, or impacted our lives in a significant way?  Maybe through friendship or through schooling or work. You may not be around them that much but none the less what they do, say and how they live reaches you in a way that has meaning.

For me it started when the guy gave me a job. He actually hired me twice, I worked for him about 6 months then left for about 6 months then went to see him again about work and he hired me again. All totaled I worked for the man around 3 years.

I’m not sure what he saw in me but what ever it was had impact. He was my boss so I looked up to him and at the same time I don’t remember ever feeling uncomfortable around him.

He was one good jazz drummer and found out that I was studying jazz guitar so invited me to his place to jam with him. He knew what he was doing with his drums, me…. I didn’t really know what I was doing. He said “just start playing something”. I did and he stepped right in and brought it all together. It was fun.

Just for fun we rode motorcycles in the hills above Ventura once. And once he invited me and my girl friend to his place for dinner. He, married with a couple kids and living in a nice house in a desirable area. Me in my late teens with my teenage girl friend.

At work he figured out a pantograph could be used to make a surfboard outline scaled larger or smaller. I got to see how that worked… long before there were computers to do that kind of stuff. The man’s designs were unique and different than anyone else. I could see that and the influence he had on surfing.

That Man was Tom Morey. October 15 I got a message from a friend that said he passed away the day before. That was a sad day.

Here is something I wrote about Tom in this post from 12/18/2011

Seeing Morey in the water heads would turn. He was a good surfer, not really a hotdoger, but had great wave knowledge and would draw nice lines with causal style. He never fell and would make every wave. Inspiring to watch. I was young, he seemed… old, smart, knowledgeable, like he had a plan and was executing it. He was my boss so at work, I was at his command. In the water? He was more than my boss, he had the respect of everyone. He was the guy in the water, I was just a guy in the lineup, stoked to be out there, but just a guy in the lineup… and watching Morey like the rest.

Morey did what no else did in many ways. And, he introduced surfing to thousands and thousands of people all over the world via the Morey Boogie. 

R.I.P. Tom Morey

D.R.

Tom...casual on the nose and in the pocket

Another time with Tom I will remember forever.

 

It was last summer when a guy dropped in on me and took me out at the shins. I still remember the split second thought I had when I saw the surfboard slide down the wave face in front of me.

There was no way for me go but right at that board but I saw it was a foam board and immediately knew getting hit by that foam board was not going to do me damage. Isn’t the common saying about a foam board is that they are safe? You don’t have to worry about getting hurt when using a foam board?

Well a few weeks ago I learned differently…. I got run over by a foam board. Some how when the board and surfer went over me my right hand little finger got torn open. I didn’t feel anything but while paddling back to the line up I notice blood on my surfboard and in the water around me. Looked at my hand and saw the damage.

My finger wasn’t cut, it was torn open and deep. The guys around me were asking what happened and looking at my finger as I was holding the wound closed so as not to continually bleed. I had to paddle in. Got out of my wetsuit, had one of the morning crew guys help me get a bandage around my finger to contain the bleeding and headed home. When home I cleansed the wound and put a new bandage on then went straight to Urgent Care.

Because my finger was torn open it couldn’t be stitched. Instead the doc had these narrow pieces of tape the she could pull the wound shut with by wrapping the half dozen pieces of tape around my finger. As my finger began to heal over the following 3-4 days the tape started falling off.

So docs orders… stay out of the water for 10 days. Until the finger is healed.

I missed out on a little bit of surf but, not much. After 10 days a decent south swell shoed up and I got some of it.

After all the gory details what’s the lesson… you actually can get hurt from a foam board. No doubt I’m not the only one that’s taken a hit from a foamy.

Accidents happen and usually can be avoided but avoiding them in real time doesn’t happen. It usually only happens in the instant replay. You know the one that plays through your head constantly… If I had done this then that wouldn’t have happened. At least the replay can help us to remember and possibly avoid or repeat the same thing again.

D.R.

 

What do you do when you’re ready for a new surfboard…  By new surfboard I mean brand new never been ridden kind? There are options.

Go to your local surf shop and check out what they’ve got. Go to the not local surf shop but has the label surfboard you’d like check out what is available, or order one to be made just for you. And when ordering one, do you order one from the store or go direct to an individual that makes them. Some of those individuals have their own glassing facility and some just shape boards and have those boards laminated at a contract lam shop, so choices there too.

Any way you slice it there is always that excitement of getting a new board. The anticipation of getting it in the water for the first time. Yeah! The next step in your surfing experience and all the fun that comes with it.

 Here’s a fun fact… I’ve never bought a new surfboard in my life. In fact I’ve only owned 2 surfboards I didn’t make myself. One was a Hobie Phil Edwards I got used from someone in High School and the other was a broken in half Donald Takayama I picked up from a friend and put back together. You can search the archives for posts on both those boards if you like.

Even though I’ve never bought a new surfboard I know the feeling of getting one, that excitement and anticipation. Getting it in the water for the first time, how it’s going to ride and feel under my feet. Yeah! I’m going through that right now because I’ve got a new board… just short of being finished.. to get in the water.

I’ve wanted to replace the Gadget I had and sold maybe a decade ago with a new one. Finally got to it…. It’s been 6 years since I’ve made myself a new board. The excitement started the day I shaped the board and has continued through the process of making it.  

The mundane stuff like, ok should I put some color on it? Or, setting fin boxes, dressing it to laminate. All the normal things you do to a surfboard. But each step ends with the thought of getting it finished and in the water.

Speaking of individuals that you could get a new board from, here are some words about Rich Harbour… from an article on Surfline.com. Sadly he passed earlier this month.

 Rich Harbour, who died on Sunday, July 11, as could any posthumous tribute to a man who made making surfboards not only his life’s work, but his life’s passion. And did so out of the very same shaping room, in the very same shop, at the very same Seal Beach address, with the very same phone number, from 1962 to 2019, when he shaped his last board: number 32,680. Each, no doubt, crafted with the same exacting care and commitment that he afforded his top team rider back in 1969, yet provided with equal enthusiasm to each and every customer who found themselves walking out of the venerable Main Street shop in Seal Beach with a new Harbour under their arm.

Over 32 thousand new surfboards someone somewhere was excited to get in the water for the first time. Impressive.

R.I.P. Rich Harbour

D.R.

My new 8'0 Gadget

 

I saw my old friend Richard today, hadn’t seen him in awhile. It’s always nice to see an old friend and catch up on things.

Toward the end of our get together he asked if I had heard that Greg Noll had passed. We got to talking about the old timers and shared a couple personal stories of Greg Noll before we said good bye.

I’ve got a couple of posts here and here in my blog of meeting Greg Noll when I was a teenager and when my wife and I went to see him at a  book signing in Santa Barbara some years ago.

The man that was in the surf movies I’d go to. Seeing big screen sequences of him on giant waves with the whole auditorium hooting as he took on those monsters. A part of many surfers lives over the years.

His passing makes for a sad day but also brings up some happy memories… R.I.P Greg Noll.

D.R. 

 This is what Greg wrote on my Greg Noll poster after I told him about getting blanks from him.

After graduating High School I sold my little surfboard business and with the proceeds I bought my first car. Being a surfer what car would I get? Well the ultimate surf car… a VW bus.

I loved that thing. Aside from the freedom of having your on vehicle I could keep my surfboard in it and run off to the beach anytime I got the urge. Which, most likely is why that drafting job I got the summer after graduating didn’t last long? I don’t remember if I quit or was let go. But I do remember running off to Secos a few times during working hours.

One of the cool things I remember was the heater. Hot air was fed to a tube to the front under the dash board between the driver side and passenger side. After surfing on cold days you could idle the car to get some warm air on your frozen toes to get them unfrozen.    

It got good gas mileage but was a creeper on the Freeway. Especially going up hills. But with a decent 4 track tape player listening to music made road trips a little less tiring.

It’s the car I had when I moved to Ventura. Surfboard in car music on tape, run to school run to the beach and back, I was in heaven. Oh.. with the price of gas back then 2 bucks was all you needed to fill the tank. This was enough for a whole week of back and forth school and surfing.  Or, running up the coast to Rincon or how ‘bout Hammond’s Reef. Didn’t take much in gas

After landing the Morey-Pope job I was set. The perfect vehicle for after work surfing. Me and one of the guys I worked with off we’d go to find waves to ride. Great during the long days of summer getting off work at 3:30. You could surf until 7 or 8 in the evening. Sleep in the bus at Hobson’s and go back to work from there.

So what happened to the bus of mine?  Thinking back sit seemed like I had it for quite some time but in reality not that long. I bought it round June of 1966. 

After leaving Morey-Pope to start William Dennis my financial situation began to change. Starting a new business can be difficult. It can take some time to get the cash flow going all the while working through any money saved to buy materials, pay rent etc. Things got a bit tight. And the ole bus was handy then too. When I moved out of the place I rented I was able to sleep in the bus at night. Be at the shop all day, maybe surf after work was done and be hanging at the beach until dark then sleep in the bus. Start a new day from there.

Well, eventually I ran so low on money I decided the easiest way to get some needed cash was to sell my car. So I did. Thinking back it was a sad day when I let go of my first car. The best surf car a guy could have. That was late fall of 1967. So I had the car for about a year and a half.

There are a lot of great memories stored in that year and a half. From back in the day.Like when I was going to be introduced to Dick Brewer the VW go me there  https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2020/06/  

And when I got into some huge surf at Morro Bay.. The bus was waiting for me when I made it to shore. https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/search?q=morro+bay

How ‘bout my first surf contest the VW got me there.                  https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-story-post-40-my-first-attempt-at.html

D.R.

Here's a real clean version of the VW I had.

It’s Spring time… which for me means early morning surfs when we get a south swell in the water.

This past Monday there was a south swell running up the coast so with fingers crossed I headed down to the point just before first light so I could get a parking spot and check the surf for a go out.

Well, there was a nice swell hitting us here but the conditions were junk. That was due to winds that had blown the whole night down the Santa Barbara Channel. It happens more times than not this time of year spring through summer months. Can be frustrating for sure. Down south, L.A. and  Orange County will be fine but above Point Magu the situation changes because of the channel winds.

South swells generated in the southern hemisphere take a number of days to reach California. You know they are on the way and forecasting can estimate arrival days. I monitor the channel buoys to see how the winds are behaving, and generally know when the channel gets roughed up with winds when a south swell is coming our way. This past Monday was no different.  But like I said… fingers crossed… I went down with magical thoughts that the channel junk wouldn’t over take the swell… no such luck.

So I walked up the promenade to the Fair Grounds. On the way back I stopped at the free lot on the point to see the new pay machines that have been installed. Yeah, the free lot is not free any more. Which means all the beach parking areas in Ventura are pay to play. The free lot cost $1 per hour with a 4 hour max. And if I remember correctly no parking after 10 p.m.

It’s so odd to think back to a time when the free lot area at the end of Figaroa St. was dirt. And the time me and a couple other guys with VW vans circled the wagons and spent the night right there on the point. Never to be bothered or harassed… shoot, we wouldn’t even see another soul until morning when the morning crew would come for a surf check.

Back then you had to know something was up with the land from the Fair Grounds to the pier. All the houses were razed, big giant rocks were brought in and stacked along the mean tide line, back filled with dirt and graded flat all the way back to Harbor Blvd.  Nothing but dirt from California St. to the Fair Grounds.

With the satellite pic of the beach at the point imagine this… From Shoreline parking at the left of the pic to the pier on the right there was nothing but dirt. No Shoreline parking… the free lot. No Beachfronter apartments, no Paseo de Playa, no Crown Plaza, no Aloha Steak House, no parking structure or Harbor Blvd parking for that matter. Just dirt from Harbor Blvd to the ocean and the Fair Grounds to the pier. Of course no Promenade either.

If you weren’t there you really missed it.

D.R.

Ventura Point

 Enlarge for detail.

What is it about a fresh coat of wax that seems to make your surfboard….. better? Happy? More appealing? Or like, lets get this baby in the water!

I’ve had my Dream Cicle in my surf shed for a week or so collecting dust…. Making surfboards is a dusty business. The dust complemented it's dirty wax but, not in a good way. So today while I had a little time before an appointment I decided to clean the dust and dirty wax off the board.

This board has a nice story. It’s one of the first two Dream Cicle boards I made to introduce the model. This one went under my feet. The other went to Wave Front Surf Shop for sale. They were made the first week of November 2k15. So I’ve had the board for 5 years now and have surfed it more than any of my boards. Or put another way, I’ve surfed it a lot.

Dirty wax can hide stuff you may not want to see, revealing foot wells, or heavy dents from a fall you took spazing out like a kook and putting your elbow into the deck. This could be a good reason not to clean your board up. Out of sight out of mind. You just don’t want to know what lies beneath.

Well… I went after it anyway. Thinking as I got started “ wonder what the deck is going to look like after all the times this board has been in the water”.

Clean boards look so much better than dirty ones. After cleaning the Drean Cicle was a happy surfboard again. And I was happy that the deck was in such good shape as well. There were some dents but nothing liked I thought it might be.

I lost the board one day at the point when the tide was up on the rocks. By the time I got to it the board had done some battle with those rocks and suffered a half dozen shatters along one rail. There is one repair spot that has discolored up by the nose. That’s the only unattractive element really. I could fix that… but will I??? Time will tell.

What I can say is most likely the board will not get a new coat of wax for awhile. The board will stand in my board locker with the others. I will forget about the needed new wax job. Then get excited about a new swell that shows up with good conditions and warm weather. Grab the board for a surf and go… “Oh Man, There's no wax on the darn thing”. Grumbling about the time it will take and the sets missed in the mean time. Or thinking heck with it...just take The TipTool.

I can see it now…. I’ll pull the board out, get a bar of wax and gently start rubbing it down. All the while saying to myself “what the heck did I take the wax off in the first place”

D.R.

My 9'6 Dream Cicle after 5 years and loads for surfing.

 

I’m filing this one under My Story post 58. After doing a search I found nothing over 57…which was November 17 2013… a little over 7 years ago.

How ‘bout this… it was this time of year some 58 years ago that I had finished making my first surfboard. That board was made from a Dave Sweet blank so there was very little shaping involved. The second board I made was balsa wood, glass removed and cut down from a bigger balsa board. I did do some shaping with that one. After the balsa board I fully shaped the different boards I made. How many? Not many, but some. I glassed and finished them all too.

It was when I got a job at Ventura International Plastics that I shaped enough boards to say I had some shaping experience. That experience gave me the opportunity to get hired at Morey-Pope and was my first production shaping job. 

As a production shaper you really don’t do any design work. You just shape the different surfboards the company or person you are shaping for offers. You sure get an up close and personal look at surfboard design though. You see the boards you shape and get ideas on how to take what you see and modify or make it your own thing. That’s how I got started in surfboard design.

The ‘67 Model I make is from a board I made myself during my Morey-Pope days and came from thinking about how I could personalize one of the boards I shaped then. I’ve done that same thing with my other models too. Only deference is I imagine changing a board of my own and how I might create a new design from what I already have.  You can take an outline curve from one of your boards and change it in the hip area for instance. Modify the rocker curve to complement the change in the outline. And add or subtract bottom contours. 

Of course you can do all that to make a new model just to have a new model. I don’t make new models just to make new models. The process develops over time from a small thought that comes to mind one day. Then slowly develops into something I get interested in trying out. I don’t really think that process is explainable…. It just happens.

Because I recently made a T&G that design process got into my head. So I’ve been thinking about the creative element of making surfboards. The T&G got started from a customer that was interested in a new surfboard. After talking to him I got the idea of making a glider and remembered an outline I had from my Hawaii days. Thought about how I could elongate the outline into a nice long curve. Looked at some of my rocker curves and determined what may work nice for a 10 or 11 footer. Worked through a stringer arrangement that would give a good feel, not to stiff but not to much flex. Then just as if it was done over night there is was.

Designing and creating surfboards…. It’s an amazing process.

D.R.

10'6 T&G

 

You never know what a day will bring. How nice when a surfboard from your past finds you…. Like an old favorite song that inspire all those not quite lost memories. So does that surfboard.

A couple weeks ago I got introduced to Ryan through a friend. Ryan was doing some repairs on an old Wilderness from back in the day so he could surf it. And he was able to come by so I could give the board a look over. I like looking at old work I’ve done and compare what I see to what I’m doing today.

Number 31 from the early beginnings of Wilderness Surfboards 1969. This one is 7’8”, a bit longer than most of the Wilderness boards I shaped, if my memory serves. As well this one has a more pointed nose outline than most.  The Hulls I make now are refined versions of the original ones. The bottom and decks have the same lines, the rail apex line is the same and I use the same outlines too.

The old design was flat out the back. What I do different now is the flat area I’ve got runs just in front of and through the fin then eases off out the tail.

I’ve got to say the big difference between the old Wilderness and my Hulls now is foam volume. The Wilderness was a good 3 ¼ thick with a more full rail than what I do now.

And really that is an evolutionary thing. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about the volume deal before which may not be thought about much.

The evolution of surfboards took on some accelerated changes from 1966 through 1970, 1971. My own experience in board size… which equals volume… went from 9’0 to 8’0 to 7’6 then 7’2  from fall of ’67 to fall of ’68. One year. I don’t have that old 7’2 but guarantee its foam volume would be a fair bit more than the current 7’ Stubbie I ride. 

Back in the day we were learning what we could do as we progressed. Was the old 7’2 as responsive as the current 7’ Stubbie? No, but at the time the 7’2 was more responsive compared to what I had in that 7’6 and 8’0. And really there is more to it than responsiveness. We refine and test and refine some more. The changes we make now are slow, not anything like the changes from the late sixties into the seventies. So it is with my Hulls, the same lines and curves refined over time.

It’s fun to find an old board for the history and discovering the riding experience it has… or had from time gone by.  It’s amazing that the Wilderness surfboard though quite used is still alive… if that can be said. And, of all the hundreds of thousands of surfboards made, one that my hands shaped finds its way to my door after some 50 years.

Thank you Ryan for bringing it by.

D.R.