My story post 21

I really didn’t have many friends when I started working at Morey-Pope. By that time I had only been in Ventura for a couple months and been going to school. Sure I was acquainted with some of the guys down at the beach but didn’t really hang with anyone except my friend Peter.

I still remember my first day at MP and the first guy I met at the shop. I had walked back to the shaping area and there was this guy in the very back area of the shop gluing stringers in blanks. As soon as he saw me walk in he came right over to me and said “hi I’m Blinky” and shook my hand. Back then a number of surfer guys where given nicknames. I had really never known any of them but… I’d just met one. Man, I was starting to get to the heart of the culture… though back then we didn’t know that’s what it was.

So I was given the chance to make a living in the surfboard industry. Given a job which I showed up for every day, and began shaping the Morey-Pope models. Penetrators, Eliminators and Coopers model the Blue Machine. I was slow at first but eventually got up to shaping 4 boards a day. All in the nine to ten foot range. I made a killer $4.75 each.

Also back then working at a surf shop was like a regular job. We had regular working hours and if you weren’t there at those hours you’d better have a good reason… not “oh the surf was good so that’s why I’m late or didn’t come in yesterday".

All the workers surfed but we went after work or before. As a matter of fact, during the summer Cooper, Dale Herd, Blinky and myself usually headed out for surf everyday after work. The Point, Stanley’s or a trip down to Secos. Yeah, Cooper was the shop forman and he had a really good work ethic and expected everyone else to have a good one too. We worked hard and surfed after. Get home after dark and just crash. Get up the next day and do it all over again.

D.R.

My story post 20

So there the guy was eating his lunch from a brown paper bag. I introduced myself, still dripping wet from surfing, and said something like ‘you looking for a shaper?’ Cooper and I carried on a short conversation which ended with an invite to come by the Morey-Pope shop on Front St. and show him what I could do.

The next day I went by the shop and found Cooper. He took me into the back of the shop where there were 2 shaping bays. One was being used by Richard Deese and the other one was empty. Cooper got a blank and put it in the empty shaping bay, got a template for a board, told me the dimensions he wanted the board to be, showed me where the tools were and walked away.

So there I was, an 18 year old kid in a pro shaping bay with a big hunk of foam which I was suppose to turn into a nice show room quality shaped blank…. What was I thinking?

I probably spent the next 4 hours sweating my way through the process. Every once in a while Cooper would come by, see I was making progress and then go on about his business. When I got near finished he’d stop me, take a look at what I’d done and point out where he’d like me to make some changes, then I’d go on until I finished.

When I was done I took a break and when I came back got together with Cooper in the shaping bay and went over the board. He said ‘looks like you can shape’ and asked if I’d like to start working the following Monday…. I of course said yes.

D.R.

The Rileys gave me another video this week, it’s some footage of Travis riding an Imperial and a Penetrator… or as I’ve been calling it these days the Ventura Classic Wing Nose.

So I looked at the video and realized that there is a story behind it in regards to the Penetrator. I’m kind of a sap when it comes to stuff like this but, even still, this is a cool story.

I made the Penetrator for Dan, Travis’ dad, in 1994. One of the last boards I made in California before I moved to Kauai. As I understand it Dan rode the board for awhile and then hung it on his living room wall. Yeah, even his wife said it looked good in their living room. I guess Dan decided to preserve the board and that it looked so nice he’d put on display.

When Dan first picked up the board in ‘94 his son Travis was just 3 years old. Who’d of thought that some 13 years later that Dan’s two sons would get him to take the board off the wall and let them ride it… as long as they took very good care of it of course.

So both Matt and Travis have been riding their dad’s Penetrator that is like 13 years old. And because Matt is the video guy he took some footage of Travis and they edited a little surf flick. When I watched it I got to thinking how cool it was, Dad first rode the board when his son was only 3 years old and probably never thought one day that little guy would have a great time riding his board when he was 16 some 13 years later. I think that is really cool!

A good board can last through generations. One of the reasons I said back when I first started reissues of some of the old boards I use to shape… like 25 years ago, if it works don’t fix it.

D.R.

My story post 19

It was spring time, I had a part time job shaping and laminating boards for Pacific Plastics, went to school at Ventura College and surfed as much as possible.

I wasn’t thinking about summer even though it was right around the corner. I guess having a part time job would be all I needed during summer… I’d have more time to hunt for surf. But, everything was about to change and it only took about a week.

It started one day, maybe a Monday or Tuesday when my friend Peter and I were down at the point between classes looking at the surf. The surf was small, kind of wind swell stuff, but I wanted to get wet so I went out. Peter stayed on the beach… I think he had a class to go to or something. At least I remember there was some reason why he didn’t go out with me. Anyway, I was out for maybe 15 or 20 minutes getting a few waste high slides when Peter comes paddling straight out to me calling “Dennis, Dennis”.

I had to have been thinking ‘what the heck, Peter said he didn’t have time to surf, what happened someone die or something?’ Peter paddles up to me and says “Cooper’s on the beach he wants to talk to you. He’s looking for a shaper and I told him I new this guy that shaped, he’s out surfing right now. Should I paddle out and get him?... and he said yes”

Cooper was one of the surfing icons of the day, a big name, immediately recognizable and it was always cool when someone like that was at the beach or you saw him somewhere, like at a surf flick or something. He wanted to talk to me? About shaping? This was going to be a big moment for me, one like when I talked with Greg Noll. I paddled straight for the beach… well, maybe I caught a wave and rode it to the beach. I found Cooper at his car eating lunch.

D.R.

My Story post 18

When I showed up there were basically 2 surfboard labels in Ventura in 1967 not including the Ventura Plastics guys. They didn’t have a retail shop and really didn’t sell local.

So it was Morey-Pope and Tom Hale. Tom Hale was completely local. He had a small shop and sold boards through that shop. MP had a local shop but also had dealers so the MP label went out beyond the local area. I’m not sure where Tom Hale fabricated his boards, I think over somewhere around Olive St. in the area that is now a shoping center at the west end of Main St. The Morey-Pope shop was on Front St. They had a small retail shop that was integrated into the factory just over the walking bridge from the Ventura pier.

I remember Tom Hale as being the board that the local guys liked. Morey’s boards were different, though there were guys that had MP boards, the name with the local crowd I think was Tom Hale.

The local crowd did ride other labels from out of town like Yater from Santa Barbara, or Bing from down south. I rode my own boards, or actually a Bud Cravens, the guy that bought out my Ryder label when I graduated high school, still, boards that I made. Tried to get a couple local guys to ride them too.

It would be a rare occasion that you’d see the likes of Tom Morey out surfing at the point but it did happen from time to time. But the MP label was happening. They had the fin system that was used by all the big labels and they marketed the Slip Check decking spray. MP had a top rated surfer riding a signature board, ran adds in the magazines and Morey even staged the first ever professional surf contest with something like $1000 in prize money.

So the MP shop was probably the place a guy like myself would really have liked to get a job. I don’t know how I would have pulled it off, aside from going to the shop and applying for work that is. There’s a novel idea… that I don’t think ever came to mind. Besides I had a part time job making surfboards already.

D.R.

My Story post 17

Those early days in Ventura were really great. I can remember coming down from the college after classes and trying to time the traffic lights from 5 points to San Jon rd. along Thompson so you’d never get a red one. After all, a couple red lights means you could miss a good set if the surf was good.

Afternoon glass offs sitting in my VW van waiting for the tide to drop some or come up some or, waiting out the wind. You’d think it would be boring, nothing to do but go to school for a few hours and then surf. The only time I’d get bored was when there wasn’t any surf.

There was this local contingent of guys, and a couple gals that would be down at the point almost every day looking for surf. And, if there was surf they’d be out there. Sometimes I wonder where some of them are now. Well, I know where a few are and there are a few still around and still surfing.

So many days surfing you’d think maybe I’d have some memories of some epic surf. I’ve got a couple but mostly the memories are general kind of things. Like enjoying fun surf with the local guys. Or, sitting in a guys van watching some pretty junk south wind conditions, the surf all blown out. Then seeing the wind die out and a sneaker set come through that would clean the place up, and within minutes the surf was clean and not a sole around but me and a surf buddy.

BTW, we mostly surfed what I consider inside point. Often called the cove now. We wouldn’t surf much above Figueroa St, and not to much up at pipe. Funny, I here pipe called pipes now days. Why I don’t know, but for the record there used to be this big pipe that dumped this black slimy stuff from the oil fields into the ocean at the tide line right at the edge of the Ventura river. That’s why the spot was called pipe. The surf would get good there but the water could be pretty ugly.

You know I can remember the point getting pretty crowded sometimes back in the day. But it was always limited to the area below Figueroa St. Now? Geez it’s almost spooky seeing the number of people in the water on a weekend starting at inside point and going all the way to Ventura river.

You could complain about crowds in the old days but even still there were always the local guys out and everybody would know one another. Yeah, I never surfed alone back then because even if there were only a couple guys out they were always guys I new.

D.R.

What would you say if you were asked to fill a void on your high school surf team long board division but you really didn’t long board much?

Travis Riley was asked and he said OK. This was for the 06-07 ISF season. Travis had surfed long boards but didn’t consider himself a longboarder. Not being a longboarder got him started after the first surf meet at tied for 35^th, or dead last.

It seems that didn’t affect Travis to much because he continued surfing in the meets and continued to advance and rise in the standings. And come June there was one last surf meet to be held for the final standings and a surf off between the two rival teams Santa Barbara High and Ventura High.

Travis had his pick of boards to ride and at first he was going to ride my new prototype quad long board. The event was held at Pipe in Ventura and the surf… as usual for a surf meet… was not looking that great. So, Travis decided to ride an Imperial, thinking it to be the right equipment for small and somewhat sloppy surf and, his plan paid off.

Travis surfed in 3 heats. The first one was the team heat where Santa Barbara and Ventura went head to head. Travis took first place. The second heat Travis won as well which advanced him to the finals. Then he went on to take first place in the final beating out the leagues 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd place contenders and putting himself at number 4 in the over all standings for the season. From 35^th to 4^th and winning the final event! Way to go Travis, and doing it on a D.R.

Summertime.

We’ve been having a really nice summer this year here in Ventura. Usually the sky becomes overcast sometime in May and rarely breaks until sometime in July. This year we’ve had many sunny days and when it has been overcast the sun has been breaking out at some point for at least a couple hours. And I’m always saying…’if it was like this all the time I wouldn’t think about moving back to Hawaii so much’.

The water temps are in the 60’s so not to bad, and we’ve had some surf. At least something to ride, though pretty small, about every week so far.

I don’t know about you but, I’ve always like summer. Is it because as kids we didn’t have school and could just hang and do what ever and that feeling stays with us? Or, maybe when I was younger without responsibilities after shaping I'd go with the crew and hunt for surf. The days being long we’d still have plenty of time to hit Stanleys for a wind swell or run to Secos if there was a small south. We could surf right at the point too if it hadn’t blown out. All those great times and memories ingrained in the feeling of summer days.

I like summer swells a lot. The more casual surf, warmer water. Here in Ventura the south swells are a bit more steep, fun to ride, a nice hot dog kind of thing.

You can surf before work because it gets light by 5:30A and you can surf after work because it’s not dark until after 8:00P. I got some nice surf with light crowds with this last south swell. Went down to surf between 6:30p and 7:00p a couple days in a row and had a great time.

I think maybe I’ll get up early tomorrow and surf before I go into the shop…. Summertime.

D.R.

I’m a Lucky guy part 2.

My shop had been in need of a cleaning. The floors haven’t been redone for 6 months. As well there were a few things I’ve been wanting to upgrade around the place.

Well, I decided Friday, Saturday and if need Sunday to take care of putting down new floors and the upgrade work. My son helped with the floor along with the Riley boys on Friday. The job took about 3 or 4 hours and went well. Thanks so much guys!

My wife was out too, with food, snacks and hydration. And she helped out around the place as well. As a matter of fact, she came out about mid day Friday and stayed with me working and cleaning up until about 7 p.m.

Then Saturday she came out with me and continued to help out all day Saturday. We didn’t leave the shop until around 5 p.m. Went home for dinner and then went out to Lowe’s to pick up the material I needed to complete the projects I started earlier. This morning, Sunday now, we went out for breakfast and then my wife came with me again to the shop and spent the whole day helping around the place until I was finally finished at 6 p.m.

She is so supportive and helpful, hanging with me until we’re done. I’ve got to be one of the luckiest guys.

D.R.

Growing up as a surfer… you get started early. In this case 6 years old. Go for paddle outs with your ole man on his tanker.

When you graduate to going out on your own it’s with the ole man but on one of his other boards, not your own. And when you finally get your own board it is special made, it’s 6’0 but only as wide as the length of your arm so you can carry it to the beach by yourself.

The only way you go surfing is either with your dad or your mom takes you when the ole man is busy. Though eventually you get to go on your own. And because you live within walking distance to the beach, a nice point by the way, it’s not that difficult. As a matter of fact, the ole man makes you a rickshaw so the trip is made easy on your bicycle.

Surfing becomes virtually an everyday thing. So much so that when your dad comes home from work and needs you for something but you’re not home he knows right where you are. One of three locations along the point, where you always surf.

Your parents never worry about you being at the beach by yourself because your ole man has plenty surfer friends and they all know you and keep their eye on you when you’re surfing. So in reality you aren’t alone anyway.

As you grow up surfing is ingrained into who you are and what you do. Though you do other things you love the beach and most likely will always surf. And when you do, alot of the times it's with your ole man, just like when your were young.

A short story of my son Robin.

D.R.

The difference between boards.

Having videos is really a nice thing. Being able to review how a board is riding as well as how you are surfing is made easy via replays of video.

We’ve got video of Travis Riley riding the Quad and an Imperial. The Quad being a high performance long board that weights around 15 lbs. and the Imperial, a retro long board or traditional single fin that weights around 23 lbs.

Travis weights in at 150 lbs. the Quad is 9’1 and 22 ¼ wide. The Imperial in the video Travis is riding is 10’ and 23 ½ wide. He surfs both boards well and with the videos you can see the differences in the way each board works under his feet. The Quad is lively and bounces around a bit. The Imperial being a heavier board you can see the stability and glide. Among other things of course.

Is it a question of which one do you like or what one would you prefer to ride? Or, is it a question of which one should I ride at a certain break in certain conditions? Would you want one over the other or would you want both, and use them as surf and conditions dictate? Or mood for that matter.

D.R.

Travis riding the Quad

Travis on the Imperial

My story post 16

I’m not sure how many weeks went buy after I moved to Ventura and started going to school, but I eventually found a job. My guess is it was probably sometime in April 1967. I know I applied at a small number of locations for a job but the only one I remember right now is Colonel Chicken. Seems odd to me now because I don’t think I’m the type to work at a place like that. Up to that point I’d had a paper route or two, been a box boy at a grocery store, had my own little back yard surfboard business, and worked in a boat yard. Oh yeah, and a short time as a draftsman.

More on the boat yard…. I had the job, among other things, of grinding the inside of fiberglass boat hulls. The task was to feather out the seams where the different layers of roving and mat overlapped. Holding down the power of a 5000 rpm grinder with a 36 grit disc on it, standing or kneeling inside grinding the fiberglass of a boat hull? That was first class job misery. I didn’t last long…. How ‘bout getting inside the hull and doing the hand lay up? I didn’t do that, it was more skilled labor, but there were guys that did!

So one day I heard that this company that made surfboards was hiring, I went and applied. I had a nice looking application for this place because I could say that I was once the owner of Ryder Surfboards. And, know all aspects of board building. I got the job, part time because I was going to school. I’d report for work in the afternoons.

The Company was Pacific Plastics, they made what we all have called popouts. This was the place that made Tiki and Ten Toes surfboards. Though they were doing a different thing when I got there. The company had done a licensing deal with a number of name surfers and started mass producing regular hand shaped and laminated boards with their names on them.

One of my jobs was in the laminating room. I’d work with another guy and we’d team laminate. There were maybe 20 boards on stands in this room all dressed to be laminated. One guy would start down a row wetting out the cloth on a board then move to the next one doing the same and on through all 20. The other guy would come behind him and squeegee out the applied resin and tuck the lap and continue on until all 20 boards were done.

My other job was shaping. And there I was shaping surfboards that would get the names of some famous surfers on them… some of my heros, Paul Straus, Bucth Van Artsdalen, Duke Kahanamoku, not sure of all the names but, I was in Heaven.

D.R.

I think I’m a lucky guy.

Friday, the end of the week and I was feeling a little down. Small things that accumulated through out the week that bugged me is all. So 4…4:30 I head down to the point to see if maybe there’s a little surf, surfing has a way of curing depression. So I see a couple small waves come through the point and think I’m going for a surf.

I call my wife and tell her “I’m at the beach and will be home later ‘cause I’m going to surf for a bit. But, geez I forgot a towel…oh well I’ll wrap up in my shirt or something to change into my wet suit.” She says “OK, see you when you get home”.

I saw a friend and used his towel to change and off I went. After 45 minutes or so I look up on the promenade and see my wife. She waves hello and watches for a few minutes. So I think I better go in and see what’s up. When I walk up the sand she smiles and holds up a towel… and says “Go ahead and surf, just thought I’d come down, bring you a towel and sit at the beach for a while”. So I went back out for a few more while she sat and watched the surf...with her camera.

A few more slides on the quad… photo courtesy of my wife.

As well, it’s fathers day. And what did my son want to do? Go to the beach and surf with his dad. He’s a father too so he gets to do what he wants on fathers day. So we met up with a friend of mine and his son, the four of us had a great time.

Yeah, I think I'm very fortunate.

D.R.

Design talk.

There wasn’t much in the way of surf this week so I didn’t get the new Quad in the water for any further testing. Doesn’t look like there will be much surf for this coming week either.

So I’ll talk a little about the over all shape of this new board….

The outline is my Hawaii long board outline. So the tail is like a short board and the nose is narrower than my regular HPLB. And, the nose is more pointy similar to a Penetrator nose. The Tail has a hard edge through the tail starting above the fins. Rails are tucked and softer forward.

I’ve moved the concave back on this board so it starts about 8 inches back of the nose and runs through mid length and is deepest 3 ft back of the nose. Rather than vee in the tail I’ve run a mild roll that fades out to flat behind the fins. There is also slightly more rocker in the tail than the nose.

The idea behind the design of this board was to make a high performance long board that also would trim well. Usually high performance long boards tail surf well and nose ride good but there is no in between. With the lower nose rocker and pulled back concave combined with the nose flex from the stringer arrangement I’ve got a board that turns well, nose rides good and will work in trim. I’m stoked!

More video on the way. BTW the video in last week post is from a first go out on a small clean day. Testing by Travis Riley.

D.R.

Test riding a prototype part 2.

Getting wave time on the new perimeter stringer quad long board is continuing. This week we’ve gotten into some better waves with a little more juice. Head high reef and point waves in good to excellent conditions.

My test rider spent at least 4 days this week putting the board to test and finding how the board is working in turns and nose rides. As well said he was beginning to feel the boards flex characteristics in the waves that had enough energy.

So I asked him how the board compared to the high performance long board he rides from a well known label. His comment …..

The P.S.Q nose rides as good as the well known label but the turning aspects of the P.S.Q. are much better.

I myself surfed the board on 4 occasions too. The best day for me was just yesterday late afternoon. The Point had some head high sets with a very light crowd… actually it was one of those rare days when hardly any one was out, half dozen people at the most. So I got plenty waves.

My test riders has yet to have the fins break free on him. I’ve gotten them to break free twice. The second time being yesterday on my second wave. I was standing on the tip for a few seconds through a speedy little section when the fins let go. I was unable to keep my balance and fell. The first time the fins let go I was able to get them to reset and continued down the wave.

Yesterday I found the flex. After setting your edge on a nice steep wall coming out of your turn when the board unloads and springs back you get a very smooth extension out of the turns past what the fins provide. And the big surprise is how well the turn back and redirects flow with this board. The best I’ve ever gotten. With a 2 + 1 fin set up when your redirect after a cut back forward movement is lost and the board usually will need a second to step up to speed again. With the quad the redirects are seamless, with no noticeable loss in speed. Very fluid.

To be continued.

D.R.

First go out testing by Travis Riley

Test riding a prototype.

I’m now in the process of testing a new long board design. Which basically means I’m going to the beach and riding this new board and having some test riders ride it and get as much feed back as possible.

I took the board out twice this week in small surf….there hasn’t been much in the way of surf here for a few weeks if not more…it’s the time of the year for flat spells. Anyway, the first go out we had some small slow peelers at the point that were about waist high.

My observations:

The boards is very responsive. Like really nice power steering with a tight turning radius.

Though the surf was small I could feel the potential for good drive out of turns.

Turn backs were effortless and very smooth. As well, resetting direction after a cut back was about as seamless as I’ve ever felt.

The surprise was how well the board floats. I’m not sure if it’s the new performance foam or the high density foam on the boards perimeter.

The second go out the surf was about the same size but had a bit better strength, so I was able to set an edge on a couple waves and lay into a turn. Wow! This thing will fly out of a turn when given the input.

Also on the second go out I wanted to see how the board would trim and handle nose rides. So I worked a few waves on the forward half and third of the board with a couple nose rides. The surprise here is what a high line the board seems to hold in trim and on the nose. I can’t wait to see how this board is going to handle better, stronger and larger waves.

I’ve gotten feed back from one test rider with video too. More on that later.

The new high performance long board perimeter stringer quad, or, the P.S.Q.

9’1 X 22 ¼ and 2 ¾ thickness. With 2 1/8 bass wood perimeter stringers and high density colored foam rails on the outside of the stringers.

D.R.

An old business statement.

I happened on to the folder of the Ryder Surfboard Co. statement from 5/28/66 to 7/31/66 yesterday. Some interesting numbers in the inventory of my little surfboard business in this hand written document of 41 years ago.

From what was in some of the columns you would think that the numbers were just made up, hard to believe what they say really. Like the sale of a new surfboard was $90. Sheets of sandpaper were 6 cents. Redwood stringers for blanks were listed at 21 cents each? That just doesn’t sound right at all, but that’s what the unit price is listed at.

How’s this for used boards… 9’8 Ryder for $62, 10’4 Ryder for $62, 9’8 Hanson $60 and a 9’8 Jacobs for $45. And then there’s the surfboard blank price of $37.63. There were no such things as short boards back then, well actually there were short boards, 9’0 was considered a short board. So the blank for 37 bucks was probably 10 foot. No doubt the materials to make a blank these days are more than that!

So the cost of a new surfboard was 90 bucks, and now a long board is more like 900 bucks. I wish the cost of housing was only ten times what it was back then. Let see if I remember right, the apartment that my wife and I rented when we were first married in 1969 was 65 dollars a month. If the cost of housing was ten times that now then that same apartment, which is only a couple blocks from my house, would be $650. But, that same apartment is more like 1200 or 1600 now, more like 20 times what it once was.

Small increase is the cost of living and cost of doing business? Used to be it was trying to keep up with the Jones, who ever they were. Now it’s more like keeping up with the cost of living.

D.R.

The book signing.

A couple weeks ago my wife and I went up to Dan Merkels gallery
in Santa Barbara where Greg Noll with author Drew Kampion and Greg’s son Jed were doing a book signing for Drew’s new book “Greg Noll, The art of the Surfboard”.

The book is full of history of Greg Noll’s surfboards and full of excellent pictures of Greg’s boards both past and present. I was unable to put the thing down for a couple days, reading the stories and taking in all the photos. For me the book brings on old memories and is an inspiration to my interests in surfboard design and crafting.

When it was my turn to have Greg sign my book I took the opportunity to tell him the story of how as a teenager I got blanks from him and learned how to shape with those blanks and later I got my first job as a production shaper at Morey-Pope, all because of him. His response….” Wow” with a big smile.

Me, my wife and Greg Noll.

Another moment that no doubt will stay with me for the rest of my days.

D.R.

My Story post 15

Those first weeks in Ventura and Ventura College were a bit dark. I didn’t know anyone and I had a room in a house that had two retired ladies living there too. The two ladies were nice enough and my room was great. But the change of being in a new place and new surrounding took some getting used to.

I thought I needed a job so I started looking but had no luck. I would’ve liked to have some spare money but I did really well with what was provided for me. I got 15 bucks a week for food, gas etc. I drove a ’61 VW bus and I always had a few bucks left over at the end of the week. Gas being about a 23 cents a gallon and hamburgers about 19 cents.

The van had as 10 gallon gas tank so to fill it up and drive a couple hundred miles would not even cost $2.50. That $2.50 went a long way with school only a couple miles and surfing only a half mile from home. Even still, having a job would give me something to do.

Everything really changed when I saw this guy driving out of the college parking lot one day… a familiar face. The guys name was Peter and he had gone to the same high school as I had but moved to Camarillo and then stated going to Ventura College. It was one of those double takes. We both saw each other at the same time, eyes meeting, and the ‘hey I know that guy’.

As it turned out Pete was a surfer too. We hooked up and became good friends… I now had a surf buddy. And as time went on I started becoming a regular a “C” Street. Seeing the same guys in the water almost every day or at least when ever there was surf helps you to fit in. Ventura started to become home.

D.R.

My story post 14

Moving to Ventura was the big turning point in my life with surfing. The way it came about was no doing of my own really. I still remember the day my mom asked me if I’d like to move there.

It was the fall of 1966, and my first semester at college… I was struggling with school and personal stuff. For some reason my mom thought maybe I’d do better if I was away from home, that there were too many distractions in and around home for me.

My older sister had done a year at Ventura College so my mom was familiar with the town and the school to some degree. The college was an hour away from home so not to far away but far enough that it would be necessary to live in Ventura while going to school.

Without me knowing it was something my parents were considering for me my mom had gone on a couple trips to the school for my enrollment and checking out housing. After she had made a few arrangements and had tentative plans we had a little talk.

The talk went something like... ‘I know Dennis that you are having a rough time adjusting to college life and it seems you aren’t really happy, maybe a bit disoriented. So your dad and I have been thinking maybe it would be good for you to go away to school. Maybe that would help you be more focused.’ I’m thinking ‘OK.. so? Then she says…’ how would you like to go to Ventura College, you know where Linda went? Move to Ventura and go to school there?’ My answer was an immediate yes.

So January 1967 I had a room at a house in the corner of San Nicolas and McMillan streets in Ventura. About 2 and a half miles from Ventura college and half a mile from Ventura point. At first I was a little lonely, but after a couple weeks I was on track. Being there helped with school, I mean I did better but, it really helped with my surfing.

D.R.

My Story post 13

I went on an overnight surf trip with a few of my buddies one late spring weekend, let see, probably was ’65. The plan was to go up Santa Barbara way after school on Friday, surf and camp out overnight and surf the next day before heading home.

So we motored up to El Capitan state beach and camp ground in time to surf the late afternoon wind swell. Really just a small shore break close out for the most part but sometimes you could get a bit of a nice slide. Not much for a 35lb log but hey, they were waves.

I was on the beach when it happened…. One of the guys, Jim, got a short tip ride, slipped of the nose of his board and got nailed by the board in the small of his back. I can still see the whole thing in my head, didn’t look like anything. But, the guy bounced around in the sand and washed up on the beach unable to move. Me and one of the other guys dragged him out of the water and onto dry sand. The whole time Jim is screaming in pain about his back.

We were pretty freaked and couldn’t figure how such a freak thing could happen. All within the first few hours of our trip. Jim on the sand in great pain and seemingly paralyzed. The camp ranger called the rescue guys and an ambulance came to take Jim off to the nearest hospital, which was in Goleta. While the other guy went off with Jim in the ambulance Navarro and I followed behind in Navarro’s old 52 Chevy. My mind was racing, worried for Jim’s life and now mine because that ole Chevy seemed like it was going to fly apart chasing behind the ambulance at 80 mph.

At the ER Jim was warmed up and given some pain meds. The diagnosis was he had gotten a severe muscle cramp in the small of his back. With some muscle relaxing medication and rest he’d be fine. No he hadn’t been paralyzed, Thank God! We were all relieved including Jim’s dad who had now gotten to the hospital. He must have done a good 100 mph most of the way to get there so soon.

Jim went home with his dad that night and our other friend went too. Navarro and I stayed somewhere that night…can’t remember where but what I do remember was the next morning being cold and hungry. So we drove into west Ventura and stopped at the restaurant right past the highway 33 bridge on Main St., which is not there anymore. Sitting at the counter I had enough money for a bowl of oat meal. It was served nice and hot and was nice and filling. And now it seems an odd thing to remember as part of a very surreal weekend surf trip.

D.R.

Duct tape has many uses. If you’d like to see some of them try doing a Google search on duct tape and see what you find, or just go here. But, the one thing you shouldn’t use it for is covering dings on your surfboard.

The reason… water will penetrate the tape and enter the dinged area of your board. As well, the water that gets inside will not vacate or dry out because the duct tape will keep air from drying out the foam or letting the ding drain. Duct tape has a fabric type layer of material in it and the tape itself will get damp keeping unwanted moisture around a ding.

Moisture is not friendly to the foam core of a surfboard. Depending on the type of foam a surfboard is made from it will absorb water through small cracks in the fiberglass and the longer the board is in the water the foam could act like a sponge and continue to take on more and more water. So you don’t want to have a damaged board in the water very long, if at all.

The best thing to do when you get a ding is fix it or have it fixed right away. It’s a good idea to have a tube of solar rez and sand paper to do a quick fix at the beach… if you’re handy at any rate.

The other quick fix is with clear packaging tape that’s about 2” wide… not the light weight stuff but the one that is a bit more heavy duty. The stuff has good long lasting adhesives and the material the tape is made of is water proof, so water will not penetrate it. Just make sure the dinged area is dry and apply the tape well with no bubbles or wrinkles around the edges with the dinged area completely covered.

Examples:

Unless you have your 10 ½ fin box capped or you have the O'Fish'l glassed in box most likely you’ll see the front side of your fin box cracked. Rarely do people repair this problem that will continue to take on water and eventually begin to deteriorate the tail area of a surfboard.

This is an easy fix at the front of a fin box with regular scotch tape that you wrap Christmas presents with.

I put my thumb through the rail of my board when I got drilled in some shore pound. Believe me, I got hit really hard. Here is the rail fixed with packing tape that has lasted probably a good two years.

This board doesn’t get surfed to much anymore but the ding is still water tight.

D.R.

A California day.

Today was one of those days. Though it’s the 11^th of March and winter still isn’t officially over it was in the eighties. One of those ‘not a cloud in the sky’ kind of days. There wasn’t much in the way of surf but you can’t resist going down to the beach. I surfed anyway…. blue sky, blue ocean, warm weather small but ride able on a 9’8”.

These are the kind of days you live for when you’re a beach nut. If it’s a weekend ok then you don’t get much done around the house. If it’s a work day, you suck it up, but if there’s surf on a work day and the weather is like today then…Aloha, I’m going surfing.

The summer right out of high school was rough for me. After I had sold my little surf board business I got a job as a draftsman. Yeah, an architectural major my first year at college so a drafting job made sense but, not for the surfer. Setting indoors on really nice summer days knowing the beach is just waiting for you….I called in sick a lot. Sometimes if I went outside on a break in the middle of the day I’d get sick and have to leave work. After I got to the beach I felt much better. I didn’t make it through the summer at that job.

It’s irresponsible, it’s a disease, you can’t help it.

My shaping bay at Morey-Pope was on the beach side of the building. The bay door was always open and I had a pretty good look at the Ventura pier. If it was a nice day I had a hard time shaping because I could see out side. Take a lunch break and go down to the Point. There was no point in going back to work. If there was surf…forget it. If it was a nice day I hardly ever made it past 2 O’clock.

I guess I’m lucky because the beach in Ventura through out the year does not see that many nice warm sunny days, especially with surf to go along with it. In the summer we get that marine layer and won’t see the sun for days or even weeks at a time. Lucky thing, other wise I’d probably be a beach bum.

D.R.

In the tropics almost every day is warm and sunny.
Me and my son.

What is the right surfboard? To answer the question you have to ask another question… What type of surf are you going to use it in? Actually there are a few questions to ask when you want the right surfboard.

What is your preferred surf spot, or most frequented?
How often do you get in the water?
What is your body size?
What is your physical conditioning?
What level of surfing are you at?
Along with surfing level, are you a tail surfer or a rail surfer? Or maybe another way of asking the same question is… In your surfing style do you use your upper body more or your lower body more?
What would you like the board to do under your feet?
Long board or short board?

If you say you’d like a good all around board you’ll still need to answer the above questions. For me… I had a nice all around short board I used on Kauai. At 5’10” and 148-150lbs, ok conditioning, level of ability and age it was a 6’10” X 20” X 2 ¼” tri fin. The board was good for surf from 2ft to 6ft. ( Hawaiian ). Now that same board here in Ventura? No can, not enough juice plus, I wear a wet suit which adds a few lbs and cuts down on physical response. A 7’2” X 20 ½ X 2 5/8” would be a better all around board for me for Ventura surf. But I’d only like to surf it in waves about head high or better. Under that and it’s a tanker. Or I probably wouldn’t go out. If the surf was small with some juice to it, then ok but, there’s not much juice in the small wave of Ventura.

All around boards are good to have, they’re reliable. If you take it to the beach you’ll most likely have an ok time regardless of what the size and condition the surf is. But, if you want to dial into specifics you really need more than one surfboard.

For me the all around board would be good with a nice single fin long board as a second board. Why a single fin? Because I like single fin long boarding. If I had to travel some to get to the beach I could take both boards. The 2 board quiver, a nice all around set up.

D.R.

My Story post 12

Even though my parents supported me and my surfing interests and put up with my little high school surfboard business. They never took me to the beach to surf. Well, except for a couple summer vacations at Balboa Bay anyway.

When I reached driving age with my friends and school buddies I had a couple friends that surfed and either had cars of there own or could use there parents cars for surf trips. My parents wouldn’t let me just go off with someone to the beach. Had to be someone they knew of and approved. One of those guys was John Clark.

John had a ’53 Ford that we could take the back seat out of and stick our boards in through the trunk. We used to have a blast together in that old car going off on all day surf trips.

Those older cars windshield wipers worked off of engine compression. If there was a leak somewhere in the system they didn’t work to well. I remember one day it was raining so hard and the wipers weren’t working well enough to even see. John had a great idea… for me to reach down under the dash board, feel around for the windshield wiper arm and try to move it back and forth manually so he could see to drive.

So here we are racing down Pacific Coast Highway in the pouring rain, me with my feet where my head should be, my head stuck down under the dash board and with my hands reaching up trying to find the wiper arm. If I would have pulled on one of the wires stuck up there I could have been fried. ‘Hey, I think I found it. How’s that?’ “That’s it Dennis, don’t stop I can see the road again”. Me, the windshield wiper guy all the rest of the way to Hobsons Park.

Or how ‘bout the time we were cruising along and all of a sudden there was this loud pop? ‘What was that?... what happened to the car?’ We both almost having heart attacks. Then we see the Coke bottle on the seat between us squirting Coke all over. We started laughing so hard we almost crashed. The bottle had been there bouncing along the whole trip until the pressure in it blew the cap off the bottle.

D.R.

Learning to surf a shapers view post 4

Having the right equipment will make all the difference in the world when it comes to surfing. Having someone that knows how to surf and teach the fundamentals is a really good idea too. There are schools that have both.

So what should you look for in a surfboard if you’re just getting started?

A surfboard that will float you well with more rounded features. It will of course depend on you’re body size as well. Surfboards that are between 2 3/4” to 3” thick, between 20” and 23” wide and between 7’ and 9’ long. The boards should have moderately rounded noses in the 16” to 18” range and have tails that are more full in the 14” to 15” width. And the board should have over all moderate rocker.

The reason you need a board that will float well is because they are easier to paddle and catch waves on. If the board is a couple feet longer than you are tall it will glide nicely across the water too, and again will help with catching waves. The wider width board will help with stability after you catch a wave and stand up. And the board with moderate rocker will trim best with less effort.

There are surfboards that are pretty much targeted to the beginner, the foam boards and soft tops specifically. If you go on with your surfing these boards will become obsolete for you after you get to where you catch waves, stand up, turn and maintain some control over the board. When you get to the next stage you will want to ride a more progressive board. Nothing wrong with the soft boards but, keep in mind they will not carry you in the next level, another board will be needed.

D.R.

My story post 11, the day we sailed to Kings Harbor.

It was the last Saturday of surf lessons at the Santa Monica YMCA. The surf class went on safari to Manhattan Beach. There was a good swell running and I think about the only person to actually surf was the instructor. The surf was a bit to treacherous for all us beginners. But the fun was to begin later.

After the class my friend Bob (the guy I took surf lessons with) and I were picked up and taken to Marina del Ray to a mutual friends parents sail boat for an afternoon sail to Long Beach. At least that was the plan.

We motored out of the marina and into the great Pacific only to be greeted by a dead calm. There was absolutely no wind. Hoping we would eventually see some wind as the day progressed we continued to motor along the coast, it was the only way to actually move the boat.

I can remember going really slow, and seeing some pretty good size swells rising and dropping as we slowly moved alone. But, at some point the motor decided to give out so there we sat with no wind and no motor bobbing around those swells in the ocean. And the day was not getting any shorter.

Now the plan was to sail around Palos Verdes and into Long Beach but after a couple hours we had not sailed very far. As the sun set the one thing that I remember being really magnificent was the fluorescent water from the rudder of the boat. We would move the rudder back and forth to try and get the boat to move a little and the turbulence from the movement would light up the water. At one point some seals came along to interact with the rudder movement and the fluorescent water that flowed off of there circling in and under the boat was really something to see.

It was decided that there was no way we would make it to Long Beach. The sail was planned to take place all during day light and it was now a fair time past sunset. So we changed course and headed to Kings Harbor in the dark.

Navigating into Kings Harbor was spooky to say the least. Very little wind to go on, total darkness, hearing the buoy bell and the crashing waves on the breakwater, remember there was a good sized swell running. I was happy to see the dock.

After a day of feeling the power of strong surf and seeing how large the ocean can begin to look from a boat. At 14, I gained a new understanding of what surfing and the ocean meant that day.

D.R.

Making surfboards is a specialized trade. You may be able to get schooling on composites but actually knowing the what and how of surfboard design is pretty much a learn by experience endeavor.

Most people that ride surfboards don’t think or maybe even don’t care about what makes the board they ride work the way it does. And that’s fine, but there are nuts like myself that spend hours processing through ideas about design and trying to work through problems experienced in the last surf session and how the board you were riding might be improved, or, at least how your surfing may be improved by working through a certain board design.

I see the surfboard as mainly a foil. The over all dynamic of the surfboard foil will determine how the board will ride. How much or little curve the foil has on the bottom as well as the top (deck), where and how the thickness is distributed through its length, how the deck and bottom contours are shaped from rail to rail. The curve of the outline. All play together to make the surfboard of your choosing react to wave and rider.

Riding certain board designs will determine how you surf. If you try to surf a board against the way it’s meant to be ridden over all performance will be poor, for both board and rider.

An easy example of this can be best understood by the difference between short board and long board surfing. Short boards must be ridden with a low center of gravity, knees always bent, any body extensions are short and returned to that low center. If you stand straight up on a short board, unless you are moving fast along the wave, the board will sink. A long board on the other hand you will ride almost at a full stand up. Sure you’ll bend the knees but because of the foam volume if you stand straight up the board will continue to glide down the face of the wave.

Those examples may be extreme but, you can take just about any surfboard design and if you want to get its maximum performance you need to know why it will ride a certain way and not go against it.

Single fins ride different than tri fins. Tri fins ride different than twin fins. Do you want to ride a certain board design? Learn how it works, usually by riding it, and have some fun with it. Think through your moves and try to understand what’s going on. Do you have to ride one certain kind of board? No. Is one design better than the others? Not really, it just depends on what it’s for, so ride it in conditions and style it’s built for.

You can experiment, learn, and grow your surfing.

D.R.

My Story post 10

One of my main spots or surf hangouts during my high school days was Hobson Park. Though a little smaller now because of erosion, at least it’s still there. It was there or Stanley’s, just a ¼ mile up from Hobson’s. Stanley’s is long gone.

Hobson’s is a small camp site right on the beach along Pacific Coast Highway about a 10 minute drive up the Rincon from Ventura. And, it happens to be located right at a coble stone reef. At minus tides the reef is dry, a good place for clam digs.

One of the first times I got to go to Hobson’s was with a friend and his family on a camping trip. Drove up there on a Saturday morning got situated in the camp ground did a little clam digging in the afternoon low tide and the guys mom made fresh clam chowder for dinner. Nothin’ like good clam chowder.

On Sunday morning my friend and I got up early to surf. I remember being a little spooked. Not being real familiar with the place, up early, cold weather, over cast and a bit dark. The surf was a much defined peak and the paddle out was a bit more than we expected. Not hard because of the need to push water but longer than imagined from the beach. This also meant that when we reached the line up the sets were much bigger than they looked like from the beach.

There were two other people in the lineup when we got out. Not that good of a surfer yet, I remember sitting there watching the surf go by. Paddling around so as not to get picked off, and too spooked to stroke myself into one of those, what seemed to be, large peeks. What if I didn’t make the drop and fell or couldn’t get a turn off the bottom and wiped out? The beach looked like a long way off, the water cold and dark. A swim for a lost board seemed more of a panic than the surf itself. So I just sat there.

You know… I think that’s why when the surf has a bit of size these days there are plenty kooks in the lineup. No need worry about wipe outs because they’re leashed up to their boards. Anyway, I eventually came in, probably did a shoulder hop or two but that was about it.

Well, I went back to Hobson’s plenty as my high school years progressed. Made up for that first time experience, and then some I’d guess. I’m sure the place has it’s moments but, I don’t remember the surf being that epic there, even if I went there alot. Now Stanley’s…. that’s the spot that could get epic!

I don't know who took this picture of Stanley's Dinner. But, this site was made into a freeway off ramp. For those that don't know… if you were sitting in that old panel truck and the hood was down, you’d be looking at the Stanley’s line up. Get out of the truck, suit up and grab your board, walk about 100 feet and you’d be at the waters edge. One of the favorite spots of my youth.

D.R.

My Story post 9

Before my friends and I were able to drive I was lucky to have a couple friends that could get their mom’s to drive them and their buddies to the beach on the weekends, sometimes I got to tag along.

One of the guys mom’s would take us to Will Rogers State Beach above Santa Monica along the jetties. Close to where the filming of Bay Watch was done, but like 30 years earlier of course. Anyway, she’d drop us off in the morning and then come back and get us in the afternoon.

So we’d hang at the beach all day, usually three or four of us. Thing was we could only take 2 surfboards. So a couple guys would surf while the others stayed on the beach. Then one of the guys surfing would come in and the guy on the beach got his turn to surf.

Having no wet suit and just getting out of the water, you’d get cold. We had a great remedy though. Not only did we bring surfboards but we brought skim boards too. Believe me, running around chasing a skim board can warm you up pretty good. It was a perfect combination. Go surf, get cold, go skim board, get warm. By the end of the day we were beat.

One of my other friends mom would take us just about anywhere we wanted to go. She was so cool. I remember one late winter day on the way to surf along Malibu. We were probably thinking of going to County Line. But when we got to the top of Malibu Canyon and looked down you could see lines coming in around the point at Malibu.

An odd south swell had showed up in late winter. The point was about head high, and long before there were surf reports or web cams. So guess what? there were very few people that knew. We got Malibu without a crowd! Miracles do happen.

I had another friend whose dad was a salesman and would have to do a fair amount of traveling up and down the coast in Southern California. Because his dad would be driving around during the week summer days he’d get the ole man to drop him and a buddy or two at the closest beach where his dad had to do some sales calls.

The first time I surfed ‘C’ Street was on a summer day when we were dropped off there. Little did I know, at 15 years old, on that nice sunny summer day that I’d grow up and settle down 5 blocks from ‘C’ Street. Once we got to stay at Doheny Beach for a couple days. That was before the break water. Man that place was fun.

The nice thing about good memories. Think back, close your eyes, and live it all again for a moment or two.

D.R.

Milestones, everybody has them…. an important event or turning point. As well, a marker that tells us how far we’ve gone. For the New Year most of us look back and reflect at least a little and say we made it through another one. The marker.

Important events can happen any time of course, and can be something pleasant or not so pleasant. A turning point? Sometimes we can go a long while before we even notice we had one. Then it’s “hey, things are different now and you know what? It all started way back when”. I’ve been going through a turning point for the last half of this…now past year. So I guess you could say it’s not a turn but a long curve. I’ll save the story for another time.

Sometimes turning points can really change your life direction. When it comes to your vocation all of us will usually have a few through out our working days.

I’d have to say for sure one of the biggest turning points in my surfboard building career came one day early in the year of 1967. I was out surfing at the point in Ventura when my friend Peter came racing out into the lineup and said “Dennis, Bob Cooper is on the beach and he’s looking for a shaper. I told him I know a guy that shaped, he’s out there surfing right now. Would you like me to go out and tell him you’d like to talk to him?”

Cooper had come down to watch the surf while on his lunch break. He was Forman of The Morey-Pope shop at the time.

I paddled in, met Cooper and set up a time to go by the MP shop. When I got there I was directed to an empty shaping bay, given a blank and out line and told to shape a board. When I was finished Cooper gave it a look over and said “looks like you can shape” and gave me a job. I was only 18 years old, very fortunate and little did I know it at the time but, my life was going to be changed forever.

At the New Year we look back and we look forward. And who knows what events and turning points there may be. Work hard, do your best and be hopeful.

Happy New Year!

D.R.

Surf memories around Christmas time.

I was given a surfboard blank for Christmas when I was 14 that became my first surfboard.

Got my first wet suit, a farmer john, for Christmas when I was 16. Went to Malibu to try it out in the afternoon on Christmas day with my older brother, he drove, and my sisters boy friend. It was over cast and freezing cold. And Malibu is a summer break not a winter break so it was dead flat. But, ‘ya gotta go out anyway’. Sat there on my board and froze. Farmer john wet suits were about all there was at the time.

It’s nice if you live at the beach, because of the holiday, crowds can be a bit thinned which makes Christmas day a good surfing day.

A few years ago my son gave me a case of surf wax for Christmas. I still haven’t gone through it all.

Tools for keeping my block planes and finger planes sharp… only a guy gets stoked over tool gifts… my wife thinks of everything.

Surfing on Christmas day in Hawaii, forget the wet suit…do I miss that?

Being with family… 5 grand kids jumping around the house, we’ll have a great time.

Merry Christmas!

D.R.

Christmas day wet suit pose.

Learning to surf a shapers view post 3

Learning to surf takes time, a boat load of repetition, the right height to weight ratio surfboard and a good attitude about knowing your limitations.

It really is possible to hurt yourself and others in the water when surfing… or attempting to surf. When I was in high school there was a guy that went with his dad to the Dewey Weber shop one day after school to buy a board. Picked one out and proceeded directly to the beach at Santa Monica to try the new board out. Took the board out, caught some white water and stood up. When he lost his balance he dove off the board into 2 feet of water, hit his head in the sand and broke his neck… true story, I was there and saw it happen.

So don’t be in a rush to go pro! I know first hand how pumped you can get about surfing. But the learning curve can be steep, take it one step at a time. The best surfers are relaxed in the water. Start out by attempting to stay relaxed and as you advance the relaxed attitude will be a part of all your sessions. As well, know your limitations.

Knowing your limitations is part of the judgment thing. This past few days we’ve had some pretty good sized surf….finally! Of the west north west swell variety. North west swells in Ventura bring on a heavy long shore current that sweeps down the point rapidly. The surf was to large and the currents to strong for the beginner or novice surfer. Even so, there were some beginners attempting to go out in conditions way beyond their abilities. What happens is they get swept down the beach in the surf zone and end up at the pier, where they can then get in a world of hurt, being swept through the pier, bounced off the pilings or worse, rapped around a piling and drown. It has happened.

My personal opinion is that beginners shouldn’t attempt going out if the surf is bigger than head high. So how do you judge the size of surf? If there are people out in the lineup watch to see what a wave looks like when someone is riding one. If when a rider is standing close to straight up and the wave is curling about where their head is then the wave is head high. It’s also a good idea to watch the surf for a good 10 to 20 minutes to see how far apart the sets are and if by chance when you first get to the beach there has been a long lull between sets and you just haven’t seen the bigger ones. Also if smaller waves that are breaking inside of the surfers in the line up and you don’t see anyone riding the smaller waves it’s most likely because the sets are bigger and the surfers in the water are out far enough so as not to get picked off by the larger waves when they come.

If you get to the beach and no one is out you can judge the size of the surf by perspective. Look for an object that you can tell is a certain size and try to project its image out into the surf zone. You can also walk out to the waters edge and get a pretty good idea of what size of surf is breaking by just watching the surf for 5 or 10 minuets.

Be smart, stay relaxed, think before you go. Develop and use good judgment. And as the life guards say in Hawaii…when in doubt, don’t go out.

D.R.

My story post 8

The back yard of the house my family lived in when I was making and repairing surfboards had a big cement slab that was pretty good for skateboarding. There were some mean cracks in it, but possible to navigate.

The house we lived in before that had a killer circular drive way. The house set below the street maybe about 8 feet. So the circular drive way ramped up to street level on both ends, made for great skateboarding. I would walk to the top on one side, jump on my skateboard and ride down the drive way and up the other side, turn and ride down then up the other side again, back and forth for hours practicing and developing my skills. No doubt all that skateboarding helped my surfing. I didn’t get to the beach but once or twice a month back then but I did the skateboard thing constantly.

But how’s this for a near miss? In 1964-’65 my dad worked for a company in Newbury Park, which was about an hour drive from where we lived. Wanting to live closer to where my dad worked my parents found a lot in Oxnard Shores… a beach community that was maybe 25 minuets form where my dad worked.

The property was bought and an architect hired to design the house for the lot. The lot BTW was about 6 lots up from the beach. Well, right when my parents were shopping for a construction loan to build the house on that Oxnard Shores lot, my dad was laid off his Newbury Park job. They had actually already sold the house we lived at the time so we had to move… all be it not to Oxnard Shores.

My parents rented the house with the circular driveway that I loved to skateboard on in the interim while they found a house for the family to settle into in the same area we had been. All was not lost I guess, because the house we moved into was the house I was able to put my little surfboard shack up at.

Though sometimes I wonder what life events would have developed had we moved to Oxnard Shores. The The Campbell brothers are from Oxnard Shores… we would have most likely hooked up and surfed together… probably would have gone to school together. Duncan I can’t remember ever meeting. Malcolm and I have been acquainted for a long time. Some 6 or 8 years after the would be family move, in the early seventies, Malcolm and I were in the same geology class at Ventura College. We sat next to each other the whole semester. I never new he made surfboards until one day on a class field trip we started talking about surfing and boards. So, it seems we went to school together after all, a curious circumstance.

D.R.

Surveying Oxnard Shores property circa 1964

How much has shaping surfboards changed over the years? What has become normal now was not accepted once, or at least looked at with some scorn. Shaping machines, profilers, even molded boards are Ok. It’s interesting don’t you think, the way the surfboard industry has evolved and changed?

I can remember when one of the first shaping machines in California ramped up their business. They had to try and keep their business location secret so vandals would have a hard time finding them… Yeah, guys thought shaping machines were going to ruin everything… kill the soul of surfing. So hindering their operation was considered a good thing. Now? A shaper could get the impression that if he didn’t send his orders out to be pre-shaped by a machine his boards weren’t ‘state of the art’ and therefore of poorer quality than boards shaped by machines.

There was a time when massed produced surfboards made in a big factory by hourly employees that didn’t know the first thing about surfing was considered ‘not a good thing’. As well, surfboards made via a mold process also were considered ‘not a good thing’. Now? Massed produced boards made with traditional materials or molded sandwich construction or molded hollow core… it’s all considered good.

In the sixty’s surfboard production was pretty concentrated. In the U.S there were maybe about a dozen labels, mainly in California, that made most of the boards we all rode. Then at the turn of the decade things changed. By 1970 the industry started fragmenting. The dominating labels could not keep up to the changes being made to board design so small shops started popping up all over the west coast and east coast. The surfboard became a local thing. The board you rode came from the area you lived in or frequented for surf.

Now it seems it’s been changing into the dominate label thing again. And, with the increase in overseas production in Thailand and China it almost doesn’t make sense for the shaper that produces 1000 boards a year to make boards in the U.S. Because it’s cheaper to have a China production shop machine a shape in mass, produce boards start to finish and ship them directly to dealers.

I don’t know though… I think it’s very strange to see the little labels on surfboards that say “Made in Thailand” or “Made in China”. Call me old fashioned.

D.R.