My story post 57

 

I don’t travel much, the traveling I’ve done has mostly been between California and Hawaii.  Usually things go OK but sometimes…. Not.

 

The summer of ’82 my wife and I went to Oahu for a couple weeks. I off course took my surfboard.. a 6’3.  When we got to LAX and the terminal we were to fly out of there was a line at check in a mile long. The line wasn’t moving at all but since we were all the way out by the door we couldn’t tell that the line we were in was for some delayed international flight and our flight to Hawaii was checking passengers at the end of the counter, but because the area was so crowded we couldn't tell.

 

I kept thinking there was no way we could get through this check in line and get to the plane in time.  Then the friend we were meeting and going on the trip with walks up and says “ you’re going to miss the flight, come around this stupid line and get your stuff checked. So we hustle around the crowd, check our stuff and run to the gate.

We’re like the last people to board this 747 on a summer day going to Hawaii. Guess what?  The pickin’ plane is all but full, and because we’re the last 2 people to board there are only single seats available anywhere.  So I get seated next to a couple strangers and my wife is seated about 6 or 7 rows away from me with a couple guys… she doesn’t know either.

 

I’m thinking this isn’t the way to start a fun couple weeks in the tropics. I get up, go to a flight attendant and complain. “what the heck, we get stuck at the airlines chaotic check in counter, because we got stuck at the chaotic check in counter we almost miss our flight. And then when we finally get on the plane you guys seat my wife with a couple strangers?” I say.  “ this is a 5 hours flight,  this ain’t right.”

 

The flight attendant knew of the situation at check in… which is why things seemed a bit chaotic on the plane as well, she said, “hold on a minute, let me see if we can straighten things out.”

 

As the crowded plane started to quiet down and was about ready to pull from the terminal, the Flight attendant came back to me and asked if I’d get my wife and follow her saying.. “I’ve got a place for you.”

 

So my wife and I follow her into first class, then to the stairs that go up to the upper area of the 747, above first class and seat us.  There was another couple on the other side of this cozy little room, windows on both sides, with big wide comfortable seats. We sit down, buckle up and the plane took off.

 

After the plane got in the air the flight attendant came back to check up on us and brought us a bottle of champagne.  What started like a nightmare ended up a sweet dream all the way to Hawaii.

 

D.R.



 



 

My wife Suzi at the Honolulu airport circa 1982

Man I like summer!  The warm days and long days at that.  It’s light at 5:30 am.  If you go down to the beach at the butt crack of dawn you can surf 2 hours and still be at work by 8am if you work close enough to the beach. Or, you can go down to the beach at 5:30 in the evening and surf for 2 hours and be on your way home before it’s even dark.

 

I had my grandson here visiting all last month.  I took him surfing about 3 or 4 times a week, he was getting the surfing bug.  He went home June 28 so the day before he left we went surfing in the morning and the evening.  There was a little south and west combo swell running that day. The morning wasn’t that great but as the day progressed the conditions cleaned up so that evening was really fun.

 

That late afternoon when we were out surfing again I kept asking Merrick if he’d had enough, he’d say no and we’d just keep surfing.  It was sunny and warm but when the sun dipped behind the inland hills it seemed like a good time to call it a day.  When we got back to the Van to dry off I checked my phone for the time.. it was 15 minutes to 8. We went and got hamburgers drove home pulling into the driveway just as it was getting dark. Compare that to winter when dark is 5pm.

 

Yeah, Merrick’s last day was one full summer day, and I was tired that night.  Only to wake up early and take the kid to LAX.

 

D.R.

 



The solid resin tail block.  For a interesting look and a strong tail area.

 

Made of excess resin from color laminations that is pored into a tray. One color at a time over a period of weeks. Then cut close to size and glued to the tail of a Tip Tool…. In this case.

 

36 grit sanding disc on a variable speed grinder to shape and feather in to a fine finish before deck lamination.

 

The random element to the strata happens naturally from the various color layers and the particular way each layer gels.

 

When back lit the transparent colors illuminate. 

 

D.R.



 



Our annual camp out a Leo Carrillo has come and gone already.

 

It was this past week.  The weather was some what typical SoCal June but, we still had all but one day with sunny afternoons. 

 

There was a very small south swell Monday that didn’t quite hold into Tuesday. The bigger swell was forecast to have some for runners  Wednesday.  Unfortunately the for runners were few and far between with the swell really starting to show Thursday building throughout the day. 

 

My son got some of the building swell Thursday morning.  And that was it.  I on the other hand didn’t get more than an eye full of what was one of the biggest swells I’ve seen hit Leo.  I started feeling poorly Wednesday and didn’t start recuperating until Saturday… so I missed it…. The surfing part anyway.

 

But I was there and I saw it.  My grand son and I walked down from our camp site to watch the action Thursday late afternoon… early evening, when the tide was about at it’s optimum for the place.  Macking waves  with some 5 and 6 wave sets,  some would closeout the reef completely.  Yeah, macking waves and macking crowd.  The regular guys that surf there were doing pretty good but taking off quite north of the rock and blasting past it with guys all through the flight line looked pretty hectic.

 

To bad I didn’t take the camera with me. Sitting on the beach snapping pics would have been fun.  Especially if I’d gotten the first wave of the clean up set that pretty much raked the whole crowd. Guys were sitting outside waiting for the sets but still took that one on the head, kelp and all. Crazy.

 

D.R.



 



My son Robin down the line on one of Wednesdays for runners.

 

What is the dream job for a surfer?

 

When I was a teenager I really didn’t think about getting a job, well, actually in high school I had a job repairing and making surfboards.  I never thought of that as a job, it was something I did and it just happen to pay. 

 

10 months out of high school I landed a job shaping surfboards.  All the guys I worked with were surfers.  We made surfboards, talked about surfboards and surfing all day everyday and surfed everyday unless there just was no surf.  I guess that was a dream job.

 

Back then there were no pro surfers like today, at least the surf contests didn’t have cash prizes.  But there were a few guys that made money from being who they were.  Sort of the first sponsorship deals.  If you had a well known name from surfing really good and connected with a surfboard label and got a model made with your name on it you would get a few bucks for every board that was made with your name on it.

 

There were a few guys in the mid sixties that did ok with that.  Pretty much like being paid to surf. Now days there are plenty guys and gals that get sponsorship deals and pretty much get paid to surf.  For a surfer being paid to surf is the dream job for sure.

 

In the sixties and seventies and maybe to this day getting a restaurant gig was a good job for a surfer.  Best of course in an upscale place so the tips are good, and 4 to 6 hours at night… so your days are free for surfing.

 

I talked with a couple guys this week that had some pretty dream jobs for a surfer.  One was the wood shop teacher at the local middle school.  The school by the way is walking distance from the point in Ventura. 

 

The other guy is a lifeguard… his guard station?  First point Malibu.  We talked for a while, I was full of questions like, it must be nuts some days because of the crowds. He confessed they send a lot of surfers off to the hospital from surf accidents, of course.  Then I asked about the off season. We do get south swells in the off season and he confessed he does get days with good surf and no crowds. 

 

If you like to travel and like being on the go all the time then being a pro surfer would be your dream job. But if you’d rather have a regular routine and wanted to hang at home a guard station at first point Malibu is a good alternative for a dream job.

 

Did I mention that my shaping bay at the job I got 10 months out of high school had a view of the south peak at Ventura pier?  Back then the pier broke all the time and I could stop and look at it all day while on the job.  Pretty dreamy.

 

D.R.



 

 



One more month and summer will be officially here.  Summer means long sunny days and usually small to no surf around my local break.  But when there is a little surf it is usually fun.

Summer is for small wave surfboards.  Some guys don’t like it but long boards are great for small waves.  If you can’t ride a long board and always ride a short board then the alt boards that are wider and usually even shorter than the normal short board are a good ride too.

But, the traditional long board in my book is the ultimate small wave surfboard.  Catching waves is easy,  fading left go right or right go left, step up and trim, step back for a reset, step up for a nose ride,  step back and cut back, step up a reset again.  Unlike a short board where you move around on the wave face, on the long board you move around on the board itself.

When the waves are small there’s not much wave face to move around on. Moving around on a long board takes wave knowledge, timing, balance, coordination.  And to do it well.. style.  Riding a short board takes all the same stuff of course but, in small surf the long board is so much fun.

Maybe it’s just me and memories from days long gone.  But, warm summer days at the beach surfing, hanging on the beach and surfing some more… always on a long board because that’s all there was… is what I see as the ultimate for surfing during summer.

And sure, there are some summer swells that have some size, and depending on where you are can give you a good pounding.  But, for the most part summer is the laid back, take it easy, have fun kind of stuff all surfers enjoy.

D.R.



 

 

What can be said about classic lines?  Nothing needs to be added to them or taken away.  Classic lines don’t get old… or better put, you don’t tire of a classic line.  And, every time you see a classic line it captures your attention, even if you’ve seen it 20 times or 100 times or more…

Classic lines are in car bodies, boats, buildings, musical instruments, furniture, of course that’s not all.

For surfboards the lines are curves. Bottom curves, deck curves, how the two curves fit together. Outline curves, from tip to tail.  How the outline curve accelerates and then will stretch but never become flat or straight. How all the curves blend from where they start to where they end. 

I really like the curves below.  First drawn on foam in 1967 and to this day I have never tired of it.

D.R.



 

 



Photo by David Pu’u

Some guys are lucky… they grow up at the beach, that is, their family just happens to live at the beach while they’re growing up. 

I would think if you did it would be pretty easy to get into surfing. I wasn’t lucky like that. Though we almost moved to Oxnard Shores when I was a teenager.. I talk about that here. 

My son was pretty lucky, we didn’t live on the beach, but in a beach town and close enough to walk to the beach, and a nice surf spot. 

So my family didn’t live at the beach or in a beach town when I was a kid but we did spend time at the beach…. camping no less.  When I was a little guy my dad would pack us up and go camping at the beach.  Back then you could pitch a tent right on the sand, no permit, no parking fees.

But anyway,  I’m going to guess that at a young age spending time at the beach, and more than a day trip, is what’s responsible for me being happy at the beach and interested in things that you do at the beach… like surf.

Running around at the waters edge. Playing in the sand, the sun on your back, it all gets ingrained in you. If you like it you just want more. Happy stuff, fun stuff, great memories that stay with you for a life time.

D.R.

Me, 3 years old taking care of business on a camping trip at the beach. As tanned as I was, you know I was spending time in the sun and sand.

My son at 3 years old on one of our many camping trips at the beach. He's happy!

 

 

To most guys it’s all about the shape…. And a board should be shaped well, though a not so perfectly shaped board still can ride very well.

But take a well shaped board and do a lousy lamination and that nice shaped board is not as nice. It may ride great but the lamination is a distraction. Take a well shaped board and combine it with a killer lamination and you’ve got a really nice surfboard.

Doing something different with the shape of a surfboard is not easy.  Doing something different in the lamination process is not easy either.  Being unique is hard… it takes a fair amount of thought, and work.

So I’m working on a couple boards in the laminating process and I have an idea. I can see what I’d like this one new board to look like, or the way I’d like to color it but the application is tricky.  I’ve spent at least a couple hours trying to figure out how I’m going to get the look I want.

You’d think making my first surfboard 50 years ago and making them ever since I’d not have anything to think about when it comes to the process. Surfing is a never ending search, about finding new places on the wave face or off the wave face or just getting to be a better surfer.  And, for some, crafting surfboards is a never ending process… really the art craft part of it.

Well, I think I’ve figured out how to do what I want to do to make this new board color thing.  I’ll probably be the only guy that knows it’s uniquely different… because it won’t really look like much.  And that really doesn’t matter, because I’ll be content that I’ve done something different… again.

D.R.



  

There are a some surfboards with square noses and of course there is the square tail… a short straight area, but really the only straight thing in a surfboard is the stringer.

Did you ever wonder about that? The only straight line in a surfboard is the stringer…  not counting the odd diamond shaped rails seen on a few boards out there.  Rockers are curves, outlines are curves, decks are curves. Now bottoms can be flat from rail to rail but usually this is only a small area, because the bottom will also incorporate Vees, roll or concaves.

The stringer in foam boards help the board from flexing past its breaking point. We want the board to flex but without a stringer they will break too easily. As well, the stringer will give the board a stiffer feel or flex which can be a good thing for overall performance. I make boards with specific stringer sizes and or placement for specific performance characteristics.

I’ve been making and riding boards with perimeter stringers now for 3 or 4 years.  They ride really well.  A soft flex, not as stiff, more lively.  So how about a board with a lighter or narrow center, straight stringer and perimeter stringers too.  On a long board it would be the contemporary equivalent of the traditional 3 stringer board.

D.R.

 





You find something you like, you buy the thing you like, because you like it.  Then, you go back for more, all be it a couple years later and the thing you like has changed.

I hate that!  A nice Tee shirt doesn’t need to change does it?  I’ve got a nice Tee shirt, well made, very good cut and fit.  Then I get a couple new ones from my wife for Christmas and the new ones don’t fit the same.  The sleeves are shorter, the neck is a bit tight and the fit across the back shoulders is funky.  It’s a $25 shirt for crying out loud!

So I think where was the new one made? I look at the label… Haiti it says. I look at the label of the older nice fitting one… Made in Mexico it says.  So what? The same patterns can’t be used at both places? Ok, I don’t get it.

I’m told that FCS is coming out with a new fin system.  Something wrong with the old one?  Or the old, old one.  Well the old, old one is still available… that’s nice.  But now a new, new one?  The new one has only been available for about 4 years I think. Now another new one?  So now we’ve got to retool and retrain for another system.  I don’t get it.

So, one of the board models I make was first introduced in 1966.  I still make it now…so it’s 47 years old.  I’ve gotten better at making it but it’s still the same board. If it works, done fix it!  I get that.

 D.R.

 

 

 

I’ve been making my hulls since 1969. I’m not going to fix them either.

 

Continuing on… about the 8^th grade story and my friend Jim. I really don’t know why he decided I was ok and if anyone ever gave me a hard time about being a surfer guy to let him know. 

Maybe it was because his older brother thought my older sister was hot. Or maybe it was because I was a surfer and not one of the guys that just talked like a surfer and wore surfer clothes, you know, like the surfer clothes mentioned in this post. 

We were in wood shop together. I made the fin for my surfboard in woodshop. So Jim knew I had a surfboard, but that doesn’t mean I actually surfed.  But maybe my sister told his brother that I went surfing every Saturday in Santa Monica… oh and her boyfriend was a surfer too.  Then Jim’s older brother told him that my sister said I actually did surf and “ dang, she has a boyfriend that goes to a different school and he surfs too”.

Who knows… it’s all speculation. 

The toughest part about being a surfer for me back then wasn’t that some greaser guy might choose me off, nah, it was those hot fall days.  You’re stuck in school, it’s hotter than blazes and all you can think about is how nice it probably is at the beach.  I didn’t live at the beach.. so it was no fun being land locked.  Later when I was doing Ventura College those hot fall days weren’t so bad.  If I was stuck with classes at least I could run down to the beach when they were over. Since it’s only a 10 minute drive from the College to the Point. 

If I had an iphone back then and could look at a beach cam on a hot fall day while being stuck in school?  Crazy, I would have gone crazy.

D.R.

 



 

Vince Felix riding his ’67 on a nice California day. Picture nicked from Deepzine.



My story post 55

 

I was in the 8^th grade… what they use to call Jr. High.  There were different groups of kids or kids that identified with a certain group at school, most likely no different now.

 

You’d wear certain clothes and comb your hair a certain way depending on what group you wanted to be like. Me? I was a surfer. The opposite of a surfer was a greaser.  I don’t remember having anything against greasers but they generally didn’t like surfers.

 

So one day I was getting my work project from the loft above the wood shop… I took shop like every semester.. mostly wood shop.  While in the loft this one morning one of the greaser guys, Jim, came up to get something when I was up there. 

Greasers were tough guys, and Jim was definitely a tough guy. Nobody would ever bother him ‘casue if they did? Things wouldn’t go to well if they did.  So Jim sees me in the loft and says “ So Ryder… surfer” as he moves my way.. “ funny I find you up here”.  I’m thinking ‘oh shhhht’. Not that I’d done anything but, it’s Jim, and if he don’t like you…. and I couldn’t say if he liked me or not.  The way he was coming toward me was like he didn’t like me. Shoot I was a surfer and he was a greaser, so how could he like me?

 

At that moment I was a bit intimated as he started to give me a hard time, as well as afraid I was about to get it.  Then.. he stopped a said, “nah, Ryder you’re ok.  And ya know, if anybody ever gives you a hard time just let me know”  I said ‘uh, ok.’ And we came down the loft stairs into the shop together. 

 

After that we were friends,  or at least friendly. Not that I’d hang with the greasers during lunch or anything but at least we could say hello to one another in the hall ways.

 

Then some months later there was this guy that started going out of his way to hassle me.  If I was walking down the hall he would make sure he’d give me the shoulder wack as he passed.  One time he got me good enough to stop me in my tracks.. then gave me the tough look and said “ What Ryder, you gonna do something.”?

 

A few days later I happen see Jim.  Remembering what he said to me in wood shop I ask if he knows of this guy that’s been hassling me. He says “ yeah I know that guy why”?  “well he’s been hassling me lately”  Jims says “really”.  “ yeah, why, I don’t know” Then Jim says “ he can’t do that” and walks away. 

 

After that I never mentioned it to Jim again and he never said anything to me about it either. But, That guy never bothered me again either.  As a surfer, it was nice to have a tough guy on your side.

 

D.R.

 

Surfers can be pretty tough too.  Imagine what kind of tough you’ve got to be to take one of these boards down to the beach and surf waves at least head high or better?



 



Recently my friend Vince Felix has had an interview article in both Slide Magazine #24, and Deepzine January/February 2013. 

 

In the Slide article he mentions  the board I made him. One of the pictures in the article shows Vince in a speed blur cutback on the board and in the caption the board is called the Dennis Ryder Special.

 

I’ve posted some pictures of Vince riding that board which is actually a high performance ’67.  The pictures where frame grabs from some video taken by Matt Riley.

 

Below is a short clip from the same video

 

D.R.

The Perimeter Stringer Stubbie Quad. With a marbled abstract rail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've got one... But the rails on mine are lime green.  BTW, it rides really well!

 

 

D.R.







One day left for 2K12. 

 

What I do on a daily basis is a little different… I sold my share of Studio 609 in November. 

 

What 3 different surfboard labels do is different… since Harold Iggy, Terry Martin and Donald Takayama all pasted away this year.   The story of surfing took a big turn because of these 3 passing.

Things change when a company founder is gone.  What the founder started can live on but the story changes from being about the founder to being about the company that was started by the founder. 

 

Interesting to think about… but now with cnc replicated surfboards you could have a board that was created by Donald Takayama and still get a new DT next year that is the same model that you have now.  Donald’s designs can live on. 

 

Ten years from now someone may get a new DT and it will be just another surfboard brand.  “ you got a new board?” “yeah”. “what kind?” “ a Takayama”  “ who’s Takayama?” “ I don’t know, just the name on the surfboard”  That is the sad part.

 

While we’re here we are our own story. When we’re gone we are a memory. All through 2012 the story unfolded. The story of surf we got, surf we missed, friends we have, friends we now miss.  The good times, the not so good times.  After one more day it will all be memories.

 

Good by 2K12, hello 2K13.

 

Happy New Year!

 

D.R.     



 

 

 



 

Southern California has a mild climate, it’s pretty nice for the surfer. 

 

Where I live the water temperature in winter will get in the mid to low 50’s though.  Cold but nothing like up north or the east coast.  You guys that walk over snow on the beach to surf in winter…. I don’t know how you do it.  You’ll think I’m a total wimp if I say I don’t like to surf if the air temp is under 60 degrees.

 

People that live where it snows will ask don’t you miss the seasons?  Or it’s great to see snow during Christmas.  Snow is pretty but, I’d rather surf on Christmas day with air temps in the upper 60’s or lower 70’s.  Not unusual for Southern California.

But really, I miss Christmas in Hawaii. “Don’t you miss the seasons in Hawaii?”  No.  Hawaii has shorter days in winter, like everywhere, and the average temperatures are a few degrees less than summer. I think that’s perfect. Island style Christmas music playing in the stores, cool enough for a long sleeve shirt in the evenings some times.

 

On Kauai some people get into Christmas.  One of the guys I worked with would decorate his house with lights like serious kind.  On the weekends in the early evening he would dress up in a Santa suit and wave to people from his roof top.  Another friend would put on his Santa suit and hand out candy to kids from the back of his neighbors pick up truck as they drove around a few neighborhoods.

 

I’ve only spent one Christmas where it snowed… in New England. Snow on Christmas is kind of magical but I miss Christmas in the tropics.

 

With snow or with trade winds… have a Merry Christmas!

 

D.R.



 

 



 

On Kauai at Christmas my wife decorated the palms in front of the house every year with red ribbon.



The Tropical Santa

Why do you surf? What got you surfing? What keeps you surfing?   

 

Surfing isn’t easy, it takes some time to get good enough at it to catch a wave and ride the thing for a few seconds and not fall.  I watched my grandson catch his first wave this past summer. He had got all wide eyed when he got to his feet and stood on up while being motored along by a wave for a few seconds straight to the sand…. Then hooting.

 

My grandson lives in Colorado,  he wants to come back next summer only stay longer than last summer so he can really get some more surfing in.  Why? 

 

Is it magic?  Really,  If you don’t know,  waves are kind of magic.  They come from nowhere, build up and roll over into a bunch of bubbles, wash up on the beach and clean any lumps, holes, foot prints off the sand.  I see people at the beach watching the waves, each wave does the same thing but each one is different. What makes people just watch the waves? 

 

Reality, waves travel for thousands of miles to finally crash on the beach you may be standing on. And that same wave could be miles long. A band of energy that stretches from one beach town to another.  And there you are sitting on your surfboard about 30 yards out in the ocean waiting for that one wave you’d like to catch and let it’s energy propel you along on your surfboard for 10 seconds until the wave rolls over and turns into a bunch of bubbles washing onto some beach… gone forever.  Then you paddle your surfboard back out to that spot some 30 yards in the ocean and try to catch another one, before it too is gone forever.

 

That’s some kind of weird, and only a surfer knows the feeling!

 

D.R.

 



 

I had another birthday this past week.  Because of the holiday and all we had a little get together at the house this afternoon.  While the family was here my 10 year old granddaughter secretly made a birthday card for me that my wife found it on my pillow on our bed after everyone had gone home.

Of all the things she could have put in her drawing as the theme she chose surfing. 

She knows I surf, and make surfboards. She knows her dad surfs and makes surfboards, stuff that was past from me to her dad. Her dad takes her to the beach to teach her how to surf, just like I took her dad to the beach.

No small wonder that she would choose surfing as a theme.

D.R.

Now days we have performance long boards, high performance long boards.  Before surfboards started to get short there were no high performance surfboards. We just had surfboards.  Making a surfboard high performance was up to the surfer. 

The last year of the long surfboard was 1967.  and reality is in ’67 there were some boards that could’ve been considered performance or high performance boards, but we didn’t call them  high performance boards, they usually had  the words “light weight” or “feather light” along with a model name. Basically a board that was in the low 9 foot range and a little thinner, not as wide as some of the other boards you might find on the rack in a surf shop and also, of importance, was they were laminated with lighter fiberglass cloth… of course that's why the were called light weight models.

These shorter, thinner, narrower, lighter boards were the performance boards of the late 60’s. I designed one for myself while shaping at Morey-Pope in 1967.  A 9 foot 22 inch wide thinned out narrow nosed light weight board that surfed really well. Quick turns, playful off the tail, good speed in trim. Nose rides, coasters, cutbacks, all the great performance stuff.  I liked the board so much and felt you could push it to new and higher surfing performance levels that I used the design in most of the early William Dennis boards when Blinky and I first got started.

I’ve now got a reissue of this board, I call the ’67.  A traditional single fin performance long board with a slender over all foil. Nice curve in the outline back of center with a soft rolled bottom and accelerated rocker out the back for quick turns and playfulness on the tail.  Narrow nose for lighter swing weight and better wave face fit. A long and low rocker curve through the nose for good trim and nose riding.  

The ’67 takes traditional long boarding to new performance levels.

D.R.

Surfing is a relatively young sport.  The history of surfing may span some 80 years or more, the sport really didn't start to develop until around the 1950’s. And, the commercial side of the sport ,making surfboards as a business,  didn't start to develop until the late 1950’s. 

I’d say most of the early board builder/surfers though getting up in years are still apart of the surfing community if not still in business. This year a few of those early board builder/surfers have left us. First is was Harold Iggy, then Terry Martin and just a week ago Donald Takayama.  When I stop and think about these men and how they have impacted surfing and knowing they are no longer with us really gives me pause. 

As well, just over a week ago a long time local surfer here in Ventura past away.  His name, Jack Cantrell, passed a week before what would have been his 84^th birthday. Jack’s passing is significant to local Ventura surfing history. He was a first generation Ventura surfer… one in the small number of people that started surfing here locally many years ago. 

Few know what it is like to surf Ventura with just a handful of guys in the water… and not because of some freak swell that showed up unannounced that no one knows about but you and a couple guys that happen to be a the beach with you. But because there were only a few guys that surfed… period.  Jack did!

Not that many people have seen the changes the shore line has taken over the last 70 years here in Ventura and up the Rincon, Jack did!

Though now there are maybe a dozen guys that make surfboards in the Ventura area,  Jack was here, and surfing, when there was no one that made surfboards in Ventura. So he’s seen it all. Tom Hale, Tom Morey, Pacific Plastics, Morey Pope, William Dennis, Campbell Bothers, Steve Huerta, McCrystal, Wayne Rich, Roberts, Craig Angell , FCD, and the list goes on.  Imagine none of these or even one of the 5 retail surf shops in town.    

No surf racks, no surf wax, no leashes,  no wet suites and, sometimes, no one but you and your surfboard at the beach.  Jack was here and lived through all this history….  And, this too gives me pause.

RIP Jack.

D.R.  

I’ve seen another conversation going on one of the forums about the dying art of hand shaping.

The craft of shaping a surfboard with power tools and hand tools has faded from the production of surfboards for sure but crafting a shape “by hand” will always be done most likely.  And really, the guys that have any complaint about “The Machine” should be guys that were once production shapers and have been replaced by “The Machine”. Of which I am one.

Now days a production shaper is a person that finishes a cut blank.. hardly much skill involved for that.  Evidenced by a help wanted ad for a shaper at CI a half dozen years ago, they wanted someone with one year experience.

But here is the question.  Is hand shaping 10 surfboards a day five days a week art any more than a CNC machine milling a blank in 15 minutes?  What’s more graceful, a guy running around a blank with a planer or the magical moves of the cutting head on a CNC machine? 

Duplicating the same shape over and over again, all be it in different sizes, never seemed very artful to me. It seemed like work… and hard work at that.  Making all the same cuts… sort of like a machine… was the strategy for consistency, as well a necessity for being consistent.  Believe me, when you walk into a surf shop and see a model in sizes ranging for 10’2 to 8’0 or a couple dozen 6’0 to 6’6 boards they are all supposed to look and feel the same and just vary in size. Same rocker, same nose and tail details, same rail shape and bottom contours… just as if a machine had done the work. Doing that never felt like art to me.

Now taking your time and scribing an outline on a blank, making cuts to clean up inconsistencies in a blank, carefully making passes with your planer and hand tools to dial in a shape, and screening it down to a nice clean detail is artful.  The end result being an eye pleasing foil… yeah, that could be called art.

D.R.

Happiness and surfing you’d think go hand in hand. I watched a documentary this past week called Happy. It’s a study that some sociologist types did about what makes people happy, and the effects happiness has on our lives.

Since surfing makes people happy I wondered if there would be someone interviewed in the movie that surfed. Sure enough a guy from Brazil was interviewed about how surfing makes and keeps him happy. 

What is it about surfing that makes you Happy?  I really don’t know what it is.  But I do know that when I’m feeling down, or stressed a good surf will rinse those bad feelings away.  Had a bad day? Go surf and feel better. Stressed out with the kids? Go surf (if you can ) and feel better.  Someone got you irritated? Go surf and be un-irritated.  

Amazing how that works.

I got to thinking about bad vibes in the water, and how out of place tension in the lineup is. Really tension in the lineup is counter to what surfing is.  And to me it gives off the  feeling like there is some kind of pollutant in the water. When someone is not nice or unpleasant in the water it’s like a pollutant. The best thing to do if the water is polluted is go to a spot that isn't polluted…. Surfing should be a happy thing.

Also got me to thinking that maybe the reason my wife doesn't mind me going off for a surf. She knows I’ll come home happy…. I’d best not talk about what a great time I had too much though… it’s not good to be too happy.

D.R.

Tip Time

Scott Beckley

Matt Riley

The model I make for nose riding... the Tip Tool.  Both Scott and Matt finding tip time with the tool for the trade.

D.R.

Here’s another thing… The beaches are cleaner now.  50 years ago when you went to the beach in southern California you’d almost always had to clean tar off your feet at the end of the day.

There is a lot of oil under the ocean floor between the coast and the channel islands. Before oil production started in the channel there was natural seepage that would work its way to the beaches getting deposited at the waters edge with the tides.  Continually working its way into the sand on the beach.

Small 1 and 2 inch patches of tar. When you stepped on it, which would always happen, it would stick to the bottom of your foot.  If you sat on some, it would get on what ever you were wearing.  Lay a towel down in the sand… you got it on the towel. 

No matter where the tar got stuck first… if you knew it or not, it would migrate from one body part or clothing to something else.  You’d get it on your board, in the wax etc.

We didn’t have any citrus cleaner back then so you used solvents to get it off. Dealing with tar was part of going to the beach here in So Cal. Some people would carry a small can of solvent in the trunk of their car for clean up after a day at the beach.

I can’t remember the last time I had to clean tar off my feet now.  Never see it.  All the places that the stuff seeped from back in the day is now where the oil derricks are out in the channel.  And, most likely any residual leakage is mopped up so it never reaches the beach.  I guess you could say we have tar free beaches now.

D.R. 

The Miramar Hotel on the beach in Santa Barbara provided these for their guests.  That was some time ago, before the hotel was demolished.

Another post on changes to surfing over the past 50 years.

My son has an iPhone.  When he gets to talking about going for a surf he hits his phone to see what the tide is at that moment, maybe he’ll view a surf cam, and or look at a forecast.

50 years ago if you were planning to go surfing tomorrow and knew of a friend that went to the beach yesterday or today you called them to get a report on how the surf was.  But, you didn’t call him on his cell…. He didn’t have one.  You called him on a land line.  If he was home he’d pick up and you’d talk.  If he wasn’t home you didn’t leave him a message…. There were no answering machines.  If he was on the phone talking to someone else the line didn’t beep him for call waiting… you got a busy signal, there was no call waiting.  One way or another you may or may not have gotten a surf report. 

If you didn’t get a report and you went to the beach anyway it was going to be a trip to the beach to check the surf and surf if it was there.  If it wasn’t there then you looked somewhere else, or just hung out for awhile then called it a day.

Gas back then was about twenty cents a gallon… so if you drove to the beach for nothing it wasn’t that big a deal.  I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got all this technology now… with gas at $4.25 a gallon who can afford at trip to the beach nothing?

D.R. 

 Tim Nesbit on a D.R. Stubbie Quad

Matt Riley on a D.R. Fish