So, while on the subject of surf forecasters.  Today was the arrival of a hurricane swell. The forecast was for good size surf. Though it’s Sunday and I usually don’t surf the weekends I decided to go down early and get in on this swell.

When I got out of bed and looked at what the buoys said, surprisingly they read 2 to 3.3 foot.  Which isn’t much… ok it was 5am. Maybe the swell just isn’t registering yet. After going down to the beach and seeing that there really wasn’t much I came home.  I would’ve been better off sleeping in. Sometimes the forecast is off…. Waist high isn’t double overhead.

Anyway, you know what the difference is between the guys that make a lot of surfboards and the guys that don’t make a lot of surfboards?  It’s the time that is spent on the process.

I don’t have to make a lot of surfboards… I have in the past but don’t now. Because I don’t have to make one after another after another with several boards in different stages of the process at once I can take my time on each part of the process and get a bit more involved with the craft.

I believe In Bing Copeland’s surfboard book he explained that during the 60’s when surfing started getting popular one of his goals was to always have a 2 week turn around time. This meant that when someone ordered a board it would be finished in 2 weeks. So on any given day if 4 orders came in those 4 boards would be finished in 2 weeks from that day. So what happens when 5 orders come in the next day and 8 come in the day after that? Suddenly you have to make a lot of boards in a short amount of time.

Hiring more help so that each stage of the process is done by one person is what happens. Then making surfboards becomes a production thing instead of a crafting thing. Which is fine, that’s what happens to successful businesses, work hard turning over product.

This week while working on one of my orders I got to thinking about how much time I spend fussing with some of the details of making a surfboard and how there would be no way I could have done that in the production environment. I smiled and said to myself ‘yeah and I’m having fun doing what I’m doing now’. 

Working in production is hard work, and I liked it. Other wise I would have done something else. But taking my time and enjoying the process is just more enjoyable.

D.R.    

I know somewhere in this blogs archive I’ve mentioned how in the old days we didn’t have surf forecasts. The way you found out if there was surf or not was to go to the beach. If there was surf you saw it.. and surfed it. If there was no surf? Well you just hang at the beach or went home.

As time went on there were radio surf reports that you could catch sometimes if you knew what radio station had them and when they were broadcast. But they weren’t forecasts they were reports on what the local conditions were like and surf size was at any given spot. They were dependent on the person actually going to the beach and seeing what the conditions and surf was like.

Fast forward to now…. We have forecasters that post on the internet when a swell is headed our way, giving us plenty of time to plan our days and schedules for when the swells show up.

There were 2 south swells forecast this August. Both hit on Fridays one week apart. I always look forward to these summer swells. I also like surfing early morning during summer so will head down even when the forecast is for smaller surf. Normally there is a crew of surfers on any given morning that get in the water almost everyday…. unless it’s completely junk or flat. But when there is an announced and forecast swell suddenly every body and all their friends, brothers and sisters come down to get the good stuff.

It’s amazing how people come out of the woodwork for these announced swells. The odd thing to me is the number of people that get in the water that really have no business being in the water when there is a swell. Their surfboards are attached to their foot and are soft so the consequences of floundering and falling are nil…. Except if they get in the way of someone actually surfing.

My question to the surf forecasters that not only forecast when swells will arrive at our beaches but that also say in their forecasts when the best times of the day are to take advantage of optimum conditions…. Do you guys think you should be responsible for the hyped up novice surfer getting hurt during a swell event?

Here’s how it happens… I take off on a set wave and am flying down the line because the waves are pretty good long walls. As I come down into the inside section all of a sudden someone is going straight down the wave face in front of me. I move up the wave face to skirt by them but, they can’t get to their feet without falling. I try my best in a split second to not run them over… but no, they get hit by my fin. Fortunately on the arm… if it was their head who knows how that would’ve turned out like. This happened the last swell we had a couple weeks ago.

Last year it happened twice in the same day.  You forecaster guys need to encourage the novice surfer to stay out of the water when there is some sizable surf, warn them of the dangers of surfing in crowded line ups and let them know that days when the surf is smaller are the days to learn and practice advancing their surfing skills.

D.R.     

A couple posts ago I mentioned how a particular surf spot will begin to populate when the right conditions begin to work.  Like a break that works best on a higher tide will be vacant when the tide is low and as the tide fills in people with surf boards begin to show up… especially if there is a swell in the water.

Depending on what your routine is for knowing and going for a surf you may or may not venture to the beach. It’s pretty easy these days to know when there is a swell arriving and hence plan your days accordingly… My son always has his phone in his pocket. He’ll be at the house pull his phone out tap it a couple times and say “ you know there’s surf, and the conditions look pretty clean right now, wanna go?” …I wonder how may people do that at any given time on any given day?....

Anyway, this past week we received a nice southern hemisphere swell. Actually 3 back to back that ran for about 6 days from start to finish, building to a peak 3 days in. I wanted that swell bad. But, as is typical this time of year, the channel winds picked up a day or so before the swell began to peak. The ingredients for junk. And junk it was.

I knew it was junk without even seeing the ocean. There are things that monitor ocean conditions thanks to technology. One can check those things to know before you go. I do it almost daily as part of my routine for surfing.

As it happened the conditions didn’t improve until the third day of the week. I went and got a bit of the swell but, conditions still weren’t that good. By Thursday conditions improved more but the swell was fading, and fading more Friday with condition good by then.

Fingers crossed for the next decent summer swell and good conditions to go with it.

D.R.

Meg and her Gadget

This past week I surfed early morning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday the conditions were really clean with 2 small south swells in the water. One swell had a longer period than the other and a bit more size but both had pretty inconsistent sets.

Tuesday those same swells were there with a bit more size and consistency. To bad for me… right when I started paddling out a south wind picked up and the clean conditions started to deteriorate. Though the wind didn’t pick up strong enough to completely mess up and blow out the surf. It was still possible to pick off a couple set waves, over all it wasn’t that good.

Wednesday the surf had picked even more size and consistency but winds had also picked up later in the day Tuesday and continued through the night in the channel. I think gusts on the west Santa Barbara buoy were running around 27 kts. So even though there was a nice south swell in the water there was also channel bump and a junky small wind swell too. The bump is one thing but, typically the wind swell crosses the south swell and breaks it up to the point that it’s really not very surf able… which was happening.

Hoping for better size and when it finally reaches us it’s all bust up. I went out anyway, grumbling all the way. Once in the water I found that the junk wind swell had lulls and if a lull came when there was a south set you could pick off a decent ride… or decent enough. You’d bounce around and move around for several minutes then maybe find a decent line and go after it. It was a mental game battling frustration and manipulating for position every second.

I read this line recently… In restless forces the surfer holds their balance and flow smoothly through it all… that’s a good line. The interesting thing, from the beach it looks effortless.

D.R.

Leading a simple life is something to strive for…. at least from my point of view. I may be biased but, I think getting a surfboard from me is a pretty simple process. We discuss what you’d like, go over the particulars and I put our plan on my work list and estimate the completion date. I don’t do deposits…. So when your board is complete you pay for it when you pick it up… or if the board is being shipped you send a check before the board is boxed. It’s a simple process.

Just for fun here are a few guys that went through the simple process recently.

D.R.

 Dale with his 10' Tip Tool

 Brendt with his 7'10 Gadget

 Steve with his 11'1 T&G

Frank with his 9'6 Imperial 

When the surfing population makes it’s way to the beach.

It’s interesting how the day begins at any given surf spot that is a regular destination for the surfer.

Sometimes there are plenty people first thing in the morning and sometimes not. Other times people start showing up at different times of the day all depending on what they know about the surf spot they are going to.

When surfers start migrating to the beach it’s usually planned the day or days before. Knowing when the surf may be good because of the forecasts. Or... having a routine that has you follow certain indicators for conditions, tides etc.

So one day while camping, I walk down to the beach early in the morning at the camp ground to check the surf and first find that there is not one car in the day lot. Which means there is no surf or the surf is junk or the conditions aren’t right?

Well, the tide was super low and the spot is a high tide spot. Anyone that surfs there even a little bit would know that. So what will happen? As the day progresses and the tide fills in the surfers that surf this spot will begin to show up. They know not to come until the conditions are right.

For some reason I find this aspect of the surfing life style interesting... it’s the idea that the surfer learns not only how to surf, about waves and conditions, and also know the particular favorable conditions for the various surf spots they may frequent. And almost like clock work if there is any surf they begin to appear at a given spot when there is surf and the conditions and tides are right.

Knowing when the conditions may be good and the right tides at your particular surf spot. Seeing the people that are in the know begin to appear at the time of day when conditions begin to move in favor of surf improvement…

It’s all part of the life of a surfer.

D.R.

Gotta be 10 years ago already when the idea of making a resin tail block out of layers of resin left over from color lams was put on one of my boards.

I had a small tray and simply poured resin into the tray until over a week or two the tray was full. Random layers of colored resin from the tray that was about 8 inches long and a couple inches both in width and depth. Because the tray was a soft plastic that the resin didn’t stick so you could pop the 2 inch by 8 inch block out of the tray… which I did. Then cut it in half long ways and was able to get two tail blocks from the one block.

Getting the block on the tail of a surfboard and shaping the resin block was tricky but doable. The first one went on my Tip Tool prototype. They go on Tip Tools and other custom boards on request.

I say it’s the jewel on the tail.

D.R.

 You work hard to get the tail detail just right then saw it off?

 Get the block rough cut and glue it on

 With 36 grit on the grinder... reshape and feather in your detail

After clear lam and polish, you've got the jewel on the tail!

When you make surfboards the opportunity to make yourself a surfboard is ever present.  So it’s possible to find yourself with a decent size quiver of boards over time.

Years ago when surfboards were evolving I never really had more than one surfboard at a time. Reason being designs were going through changes, so I would make a surfboard, surf it, determine what I’d like to change, make another board with the changes, surf it until determining what needed to be changed. The idea being at some point one could refine a design until you were ultimately happy and didn’t make any more changes. That’s how a surfboard model was born.

On my web sites surfboards page I have 16 different models listed. And me being me, I’ve got to surf the boards I make. So at one time or another I’ve had each one of those models…. except one. I’ve surfed the "except one” but haven’t had one of my own. And I want one really bad.

Currently I’ve got a ’67, Tip Tool, PSQ, Dream Cycle, H2, Stubbie Quad, a Seventies Single… I don’t have that one listed and Blinky’s Mega Fish, which isn’t a model I make. Every one of these boards I like a lot. Each board has its own characteristics and I could be happy if I only had one. Any one would be fine. But hey, I make surfboards so why would I settle for just one? Maybe I’d have just one or maybe two if they weren’t so hard to part with. The last board I let go of was my Gadget. I loved that board but this guy kept asking me to sell it to him. Finally I gave in and sold it to him. He was barely out of the drive way when I started regretting my decision to sell. Lesson learned all be it the hard way.

Ok, the one board model I haven’t had for myself is the T&G. The T is for trim and the G is for Glide. Trim and Glide is the new fun in long board surfing. You want them long. A minimum of 4” longer than the long board you usually ride or even 10’6 to 11’.  Though I’ve made mini versions, I want the long version.

Not only do you have great glide on the wave the board paddles so well you glide into waves too. Fast in trim, casual turning and turn backs, down the line speed, stable under your feet. I’ve got to make myself one of these.

The problem with having a quiver of boards to surf is sometimes when you’re at the beach the board you have with you is not the one you wish you had with you. I’ve got a van and sometimes I’ll have 4 boards in my van when I get to the beach. I look at the surf and think dang I should have brought the Tip Tool. Yeah, that’s just surf crazy.

D.R

Dennis Ryder Surfboards

Steve with his 11’1 T&G

Just after the turn of the decade 1980 things changed in surfboards. It came with the fin. Actually 3 of them, on one surfboard.

It started in '81 and it seemed like within a year that was pretty much all you saw was the Thruster, also known as a tri fin. I personally didn't make the switch until the end of '82. I was a Greenough guy and surfed a single fin hull until finally deciding to try the Tri.

Not sure where that first tri fin I made myself went. I don't really remember how long I surfed it before making another one. But, I do remember that board well... and the one hang up I had with it.... fin location.

Never being one to take a ruler to another guys surfboard design... probably a pride thing... and even though I knew how important fin placement was I set out to figuring that tri fin thing on my own. The guys got to be different, or is it stubborn?

A few weeks ago I stumbled across some notes I'd written from January 1 1983 through January 18th. The notes were about 9 go outs riding my first ever tri fin. Even though I didn't remember writing about that board I always had remembered the problem I had with where the front fins were placed. So no surprise that in 2 of the 9 entries I mention a performance issue and the comment.. "I'm sure the fins need to be wider apart".

I fixed the issue by making another board. In retrospect maybe it would have been better to have sanded the fins off the board and re-positioning them. Guess making another board seemed easier.

Yeah, the tri fin design was pre fin system, so all those fins were glassed on. Funny too, there was the thought that if 3 fins are good maybe 4 or 5 fins would be better. I remember seeing a guy walk down the beach one day with a 6 finned board... I can't imagine glassing 6 fins on a board. Actually what's worse... having to sand a board with six fins on it. And the sander says " you want me to sand that? .. I quit.. sand it yourself".

Multi finned boards are great, and the removable fin system make them greater.

D.R.  

The story of a surfboard blank.

Early 1994, during a typical routine of ordering blanks from Clark Foam. Usually I'd have a few blanks I'd need for specific custom orders. Then while I still had the order gal on the phone I'd grab the Clark catalog, turn through the pages asking the gal if there were any seconds or reject blanks available of the different blanks I'd call out from the catalog. Every blank that I was interested in that was available in a second or reject I'd buy and have sent up with the other blanks I'd ordered for my custom work.

Seconds and reject blanks had blemishes, or were order screw ups, like wrong stringer or glue color. Most of the blemishes would shape out. So I could end up with a good blank to use for a good discount. The blanks that wouldn't clean up good enough I'd keep for myself. Then fill or cover anything that didn't get shaped out of the blank. I'd get a board for myself and spend a little less in the process.

May of 1994 I moved off to Kauai. My original intention was to return to the main land a couple times a year, make some boards for Ventura Surf Shop and any orders that might come along, then return to Kauai. When I left in May I had a few stock blanks, seconds and rejects, that I put up in the rafters for safe keeping. Thinking I'd use them on my return visits.

I ended up only coming back September of '94. And as it happen I got an order for several boards all to be shipped to the east coast.  The orders took up all the time I had for my return visit so those stock blanks I had in the rafters weren't touched. And remained in the rafters until I returned to Ventura in 2002.

The 2 years I was back in Ventura I never touched those blanks in the rafters. But when I went back to Kauai in 2004 I decided to put the blanks in our shipping container with the plan that I make a few boards with them in Kauai.

My wife and I ended up only staying on Kauai for a year and in that year I didn't do anything with the blanks. So, not wanting to bring the blanks back with me I thought I'd sell them in the yard sale we had to reduce the number of things we would need to ship back to the main land. I'd tried to sell the blanks for $10 bucks a piece but had no takers... crazy.  

The funny thing is... this was November of 2005. It was December 5th of 2005 that Clark closed leaving the whole surfboard industry with no foam and just a few weeks before that I couldn't give those darn blanks away. So they came back with me to Ventura and went up in the rafters again. Then when we sold our house the blanks moved to the shed up in the horse corral at our new place.

Fast forward to now with my granddaughter wanting a surfboard for her birthday, she is getting serious about surfing. I tell my son I've got a few old Clark blanks, we could use one for a birthday board. Some 22 years later one of the rafter blanks becomes a surfboard. 

To every thing there is a season.

D.R. 

As far as surfing goes for So. Cal. 2016... was pretty good. The water temps remained very nice. I only put on a winter wet suit once last January, which was a mistake, got to warm. The warm water temps remained  through spring and summer as well. Love that warm water.

It's gone now, back to the typical cool temps. The Anacapa buoy has been reading 58 degrees of late. That's the coldest it's been for 2 years, and normal for this time of year.

The surf was pretty consistent for the most part. This past November was going off as a matter of fact. This past summer got off to a good start with back to back southern hemisphere swells for most of the month. But the hurricane season, what was up with that?

I love hurricane swells and watched no fewer than 15 develop off Mexico this year. Always hoping for the best where they would hook to the north for a couple days and send us some surf. All but a couple weak ones did. They all did a bee line toward Hawaii instead, leaving us with.... not much.

The thing about surf, you never know what's in the future. We can have surf or not. We can have great weather for going to the beach and no surf when you get there. We can have surf with junk weather so the surf is no good. You can have your day off to surf be epic or not worth the effort. You can have every day available to surf but see a long run of no surf and bad weather... so long that you're going nuts from boredom. I mean really, a guy can only make surfboards for so long before the need to get in the water is over whelming.

Fortunately 2016 was pretty good for surf. Hoping 2017 is as good or better.

Happy New Year!

D.R.  

If you think about surfboard design and are motivated to work through a certain design idea then being able to make your own surfboard is nice.

I consider myself fortunate that making surfboards is what I do. Being able to make a surfboard with some certain design elements and then go surf the board can be inspiring. Having a plethora of outlines accumulated over the years can make putting a new design together almost effortless. At least if the curves you're interested in match up nicely.

It's best to work off of something you're familiar with. So when I was asked to make a mid length performance type board that's not egg shaped or have a round nose I first thought of my Gadget model because of it's performance characteristics. But I would need to get a narrow nose on the front end.

So I got to thinking about another favorite performance board that runs about the same over all width with a narrow nose. It's a board that I surfed while living on Kauai and made for a number of guys there. Sure enough, this boards front end lined up very well with the Gadget back end. So using the Gadget profile and blending the two outlines together I came up with a new shape.

And as usual I didn't want to let the board go when it was finished. But it was promised to my friend Bob. Plus he wanted the board to be a tri fin. I've got ideas on making one for myself now but with a completely new fin set up I've been dreaming about.

More on that later.

D.R.  

For me the 'know before you go' thing never really settled in until I moved to Hawaii.

I remember seeing guys watching the surf for a half hour or more before they would grab their board and paddle out. And for good reason. When the surf gets big in Hawaii.... it has danger written on it. H3O = heavy water.

So watching the surf, knowing if the swell has peaked or still coming up.  Counting the number of waves in a set and timing the sets so you know what's happening in the water is smart.

I remember surfing a spot on the west side one winter day when the surf was a little inconsistent with sets in the head high plus size. But, about every 10 - 15 minutes or so three or four waves twice that size would roll through. The bigger sets would almost always pick you off.... Sets with 3 or 4 waves aren't terrible, sets of 8 or 10 waves are a whole other thing. So knowing how many waves you might encounter on big days is smart.

Being in heavy surf can bring on fatigue in short order. Being short of breath can bring on panic. Being panicked in the ocean is the opposite of a good thing. As well, being physically conditioned to be in the ocean even when the surf is small is smart. There is a lot to the saying 'Know before you go'.

In all the years I've been fortunate and not gotten in much trouble surfing. There have been moments but nothing real serious. Though this one time there is no doubt if not for being lucky things could have turned very bad. You can read the story here. And another story about not being strong enough to get past in coming sets is here.

D.R. 

The difference between the point in Ventura and the other three points a few miles up the coast?

They all have their own personality but the thing about Ventura is it's the place where the more novice surfers go, especially in summer.  Summer waves are softer breaking and sand fills into the beach at the point which makes for a much more casual go out. besides the other points don't really break on the summer south swells.

What happens then is the more novice or inexperienced surfer that is a little familiar with the point in Ventura may come for a surf in the fall and winter when the surf gets some size. And, have no idea that the surf and water conditions in the fall and winter are much different than what they've experienced in the summer.

First the surf will not look as big as it really is because where you look at the surf from the beach is a good 8 feet above sea level so you are looking down on the water. As well, the surf will be breaking much farther out, the distance makes the waves look smaller.

The biggest thing that someone who's surfed the point in summer will find different in the fall and winter is the current. And that's the problem. The current moves you down the point as you paddle out. If you can't break through the surf zone it's possible to get stuck in the current and end up still in the surf zone at the pier. Imagine being swept through the pilings in the white water. Then add your surf board is strapped to your foot. It can be and has been fatal.

The experienced regular surfers at the point have been known to caution and encourage the more novice not to go out when the point has some size.... for good reason.

My son while surfing one of the recent swells after getting one of those long rides all the way down the point got out of the water down by the pier and was walking up the beach with a guy that had got swept through the pier. The guy said his dad was not going to be happy because he was using his dads board and it got buckled on it's way through the pier.

Then my son sees this guy, with surf board under his arm, eyeing the surf at the waters edge about half way between the pier and the lower stairs like the guys is getting ready to paddle out. Robin says to the guy "this is not the place to be paddling out. If you're going to go out then walk way up the point first. Other wise you'll end up being swept through the pier with the current".

There is a saying... Know before you go.

D.R.     

Ok, it happens again. Only this time it's not a cover shot, it's a 2 page spread in the current issue of The Surfers Journal. 

This picture is looking at the Fair Grounds from the back side of the point to the Ventura river mouth. It's a morning shot with what looks like the typical morning river valley off shores, maybe between 7 and 8 am. I'm counting a 4 to 6 wave set that looks to have maybe 12 foot or larger fronts... using the buildings for reverence.

Looks pretty epic, and maybe the day the picture was taken it was epic. Or, it could be more like a couple Fridays ago when there was a pretty consistent WNW swell running a few feet over head and not much wind during the day.

I got down to the point and in the water around 1 or 2. The paddle out was uneventful having managed to squeak out to the line up between sets. Actually when you paddle out during a West North West swell with some size in Ventura you get yourself out past the break line, then you work your way to a line up spot. You can point yourself to where you'd like to be when you first enter the water but the along shore current will drag you well away and down the beach from where you want to be.

The first objective is to get through the surf zone. The more time it takes to get through the surf zone the farther down the beach you will be from where you'd like to be. After you get past the surf zone then you take stock of where you are and where you want to line up. For me that Friday I wanted to be a little above Figaroa St so after I cleared my way past the surf zone I was below Figaroa St. and paddled up the point to get to where I wanted to line up. By the way... you are always paddling on days like these because the current keeps dragging you down the beach.

In the almost 2 hours I was in the water that day I caught 4 waves total. The first one there was a guy above me that took off too. I didn't think he would make the section between me and him and I was in good position so I dropped in. The guy eventually milked his way through the white water and then I yielded and pulled out in short order.

The second wave was one of the bigger set waves. Once I took off and did a quick top turn the wave walled off an unmake able section so I pulled out. The third wave I rode down the point some ways and then pulled out because I didn't want to much of a paddle back up the point. As I paddled back up the point after the third wave I stayed a bit in side and picked off one of the head high waves a little below Figaroa St and rode the thing all the way past the inside stairs.

That one was easily my best ride and after being in the water all that time and being all the way down the point I was done, and went in.

When I looked at the surf that Friday before I went out it looked pretty darn good. When I got out of the water after all that time and looked at the surf again from the promenade before walking back to my van it still looked pretty darn good, and would've made for a nice picture. Reality check... with a smile... it was a lot of work for little reward.

You know what? I'll do it again next time... with a smile.

D.R.  

1966 was the year Tom Morey and John Peck started production of John's iconic board The John Peck Penetrator under the Morey-Pope surfboard label. I've been working on a new Penetrator order this week and realized it was 50 years ago MP went into production of John's board.

I started shaping at Morey-Pope in 1967, the second year of the Penetrators production.  '67 was also the last year MP made the board because by the end of '67 boards were going shorter and MP moved into production of the McTavish Tracker by 1968. As well, the longer boards went out of style. So all the surfboard labels moved to the shorter stuff because no one would buy a surfboard much over 8'0.

From 1968 through the '70s it was short boards all the time. Then about 1980 some baby boomers found the longer boards they surfed when they were in their teens early 20's were a better fit for their older and maybe less fit bodies. They didn't have to struggle as much in the line up and could get more waves and have a good time in the water too.

The Penetrator being one of the iconic boards from the old days found a renewed interest from some of the surfers that either had one or wanted one back in the day, and I started to get requests to make the board again. So in the early 80's I started making Pentrators on request and have been doing them that way ever since.

Now some 36 years after doing the first reissues today I realized the board was introduced to the world of surfing 50 years ago. And you know what? It's every bit as good a board now as it was then.

If it works.... don't fix it.

D.R.

I saw an old friend at the beach today who hadn't been surfing much the past few years because of health problems. But he's on the mend now and getting back in the water. We talked for a few minuets before I mention my work shop was 95 degrees while sanding a surfboard so I'm going to go get wet.

After being in the water for 15 minuets or so I see John paddling into the line up. He said "I decided to come out after you did because at least I'd be in the water with someone I know in the crowd."  I thought that was a interesting comment for a local Ventura guy who's been surfing Ventura for over 50 years.

There really aren't that many of the old crew around anymore.... or at least that you might see at the point going for a surf on any given afternoon. So a guy could feel a bit out of place. Especially if you haven't been getting in the water for awhile.

I suggest he should come down early morning because there is a pretty regular group of people that surf the point in the morning and after a few days he'd start to see the same group and begin to feel more comfortable because of the familiar faces.

Yeah, that morning group of regulars.... almost every day at least through the summer, they are there. If there is any surf to ride at all 8 or ten of them will be in the water. That's some dedication. Me... I'll go down early if I know there's going to be a swell in the water and even then I've got to make an effort to get up and go. And when I do I will see the morning group, some with coffee in hand giving a look see before suiting up and going for a surf.

Ventura is a beach town. I think beach towns are different than other towns because of the people that live in the town or close enough to town and enjoy the beach on a regular basis if not almost daily. The beach can really become part of who you are.... and definitely if you surf.

D.R. 

It's amazing how time flies. September 9 2006 was the day of post number 1 for the D.R. Surfboards blog. 10 years ago today.

Wanting to do something which was apart of my web site that was easy or simple to work with and add regular updates to as well, I decided to start this blog.

So here it is... 345 posts spanning 10 years with between 2 and 4 posts per month. Even though blogs aren't that trendy these days, I keep at it.... it's still a part of my web site that I can put something new to as the weeks, months, and in this case years pass.

Someday.... I keep telling myself... I should index the darn thing so certain posts can be accessed without trying to find that certain post out of the pile of 345... can't say it will ever happen. But, hitting anything in the archives will bring a few posts to read and pass the time.  

Just for fun here are the results of a few searches... from inside my blog.

My Story search

Learning to surf search

Hull search

Thanks to all those that follow and or check in from time to time to see what I'm up to.

D.R.

Sometimes you just get skunked. But, it sure is nice when something else happens after you've been skunked.

It was late in the year, 1968. Richard Deese and I, after spending the first part of the day in our respective shaping bays, headed out to get some of the nice west swell that was in the water. But this one particular day the east winds where blowing pretty strong and the point in Ventura was junk. Despite what Surfline says about Ventura east winds are not the best wind conditions for Ventura. They may be nice for spots south of Ventura.... like Oxnard and on down to the county line but in town? Not. So we decide to head up to Rincon.

Sometimes the east winds will lay down as you move up the coast a few miles.... no such luck that day. What happened was as we went by little Rincon, saw some clean waves and thought Rincon was going to be good.... Rincon was junk from the east winds. So we turned back and stopped along the road at little Rincon.

Little Rincon is a bit sheltered from the winds by the surrounding hills and has a large kelp bed out side the surf break that will broom the wind chop to create  nice clean surface conditions and provide clean frosted faced waves. Which is why the spot was so good that day. To top it all off there were only a hand full of guys around to take part in the almost surreal waves and conditions. In short order we were suited up and finding our way to the water. The waves were running head high and better, very consistent and close to perfection.

Of all the surfing I've done over the years this was one of those times that still sits in my memory as a rare moment to have experienced. And fortunately Dan Merkel who at the time lived almost straight across the highway in La Conchita had his camera out to take pictures.

Not only having the memory of the surf that day in a picture, the picture is special to me because of Dan, we we're friends from high school, but also I'm riding the first Greenough hull I'd made. At 7'2 it was the shortest board I had so far.

D.R. 

Where I live there can be surf but it may not be that good. It can range from pretty junk to really good. Good like that picture on the cover of Surfer Mag. a few months ago or junk like.. "I'm not going out in that mess".

What happens in Ventura is wind. Winds that originate off the coast up above Santa Barbara that can blow for days at a time. The winds typically don't have a long enough fetch to generate surf but what we get instead of surf is lumpy local conditions. The summer swells we get can get totally ruined by those lumpy local conditions.... yeah, it really sucks too.

This week we had a 3 day summer swell. It started showing Thursday and there was some bump in the water. But it laid down as the day progressed and stayed that way through the night. So Friday morning the conditions were really good. There's nothing better than surf that is dang close to perfect peeling down the point.

I surfed Friday morning until I started to fatigue. Didn't want to get out of the water but had an appointment to go to so I reluctantly got out of the water and did the responsible thing. With visions of those perfect waves in my head for the rest of the day and into the night. I made plans to get up at the butt crack of dawn and get some more Saturday morning. I seldom surf on the weekend but couldn't hold back.

So guess what happened? The wind picked up Friday afternoon and blew all night long. There was more surf Saturday with more size but, the conditions were lumpy... again. And once again I'd set my expectations to high. The surf was ok but after spending a couple hours in really good surf the day before? ... bummer.

Is it a bad thing to wish for really good surf  2 days in a row?

D.R.

I think maybe surfboards made with traditional materials get a bad rap. The normal line you hear is the 'polyurethane foam and polyester surfboards don't hold up,' and 'they dent and ding easy.'

I decided to refresh the wax on my newest longboard.  I made it last year late October into the first week in November. Then it sat, and finally got it in the water the first or second week in December. So the boards new foam and lamination had a 3 or 4 week cure time.

You know what happens when you take the wax off your board? You get a chance to see what condition the deck is in after 6 months of surfing. This board of mine has a US Blanks blue label core and the deck is laminated with a single layer of 7.5 oz. over a single layer of 6 oz.

After the wax had been cleared and the deck is cleaned should I be surprised to see the board still looks new? At first I didn't think there was even a dent in it. After a good long look I began to see a few dents. One up toward the nose and a few... maybe 5 very small dents in the tail area, no doubt from the ball of my back foot when I'd load up a turn. No shatter in the stomp area and really the dents were so small I could barely feel them. As well, to see them you'd have to get the perfect site and light angle. The board is never left in the sun and I do my best putting it in and taking it out of my van.  Sure if the board is hit it will ding. So do most surfboards regardless of what they're made of. Yeah, once I did loose it into the rocks and got a half dozen shatters along one rail ( that I fixed right away ) but no damaged foam dings from the rocks.

No secrets here, just take good care of your board. Keep it out of the sun as much as possible... except when you're surfing of course. When you get a new board make sure it's got good foam and a good lamination and, let the thing cure for 2 to 4 weeks.

D.R.

These 2 new ones will hold up well when taken care of.

While at the beach this past week I got to talking with a friend after we had gotten out of the water and were giving the surf a final look before we both went home.

The surf had a few chest high waves... really just a small inconsistent south swell. Like so many summer swells, but this afternoon the conditions were excellent and made for some fun long board waves.

While we're leaning against the railing at the edge of the Promenade watching the surf Kevin says " imagine how nice it would be if there were only a few guys in the water"?  I say "yeah like the old days when we were young"

Then Kevin says "When I was younger and working a lot I thought about how nice it was going to be when I got older had way more time and  could come to the Point and get all those waves I was missing because of work... I never thought for a moment that surfing would become so popular and this place would get so crowded. Always envisioned things would pretty much be the same as they were back in the day."

Kevin and I are the same age and as surfers very fortunate. We grew up surfing when times were simple and the population of Ventura was much smaller than now and Ventura's  neighboring towns populations were very small compared to now too.

Because of those small populations there just we're not that many people that came to the beach. As well, because of the giant population increases there are large numbers of people that do come to the beach now.

The roads that come into Ventura from all points inland are so much better than 30-40 years ago and the vehicles we use now are so much nicer and comfortable. Geez, if you came from the Valley to Ventura on a summer day in 1968 on the then 2 lane road through Calabasas, Thousand Oaks when the temps were in the nineties in a VW bug with 4 surfboards on top of the car and 4 guys in the car.... didn't matter what the surf was like when you reached 'C' Street. You were going surfing just to cool off.

Now... come in your air conditioned car, all the windows up so there is no road noise. Killer tunes from your phone playing on a nice sound system. And.... you've checked all the forecasts and cameras so you know what the surf and conditions most likely are going to be like. Other wise you wouldn't waste your time.

California, the beach, it's all so attractive, why wouldn't everyone want to play on a surfboard?  Or at least try to given the chance. I get it.

But no, we never thought things would change. Just thought we'd get older and have a great time doing what we love. And really I still do, all be it with plenty more people.

D.R.

Technology is great.... daily updates on surf forecasts,  look at buoy readings, check the surf from your computer or phone, E-mail a surfboard order.

Yeah, Technology is great... until it's not. Your computer goes south and doesn't come back, like mine did earlier this month. Shoot, I was stuck doing things the old fashion way, like going down to the beach to see what the surf was like instead of checking the surf cam. Oh wait, I have a phone and can look at the surf cam with it... never mind.

Things happen though. The shaping machine ( technology ) breaks so no surfboards get shaped. My shoulder ( old technology ) has gone out in the past so no surfboards got shaped. Kind of the same thing. Computer ( technology ) goes out so you can't write your blog. Actually you can write, long hand on paper. But, can't get what you wrote by hand on the web without a computer. Well I don't know how anyway.

The computer got fixed just in time for this last swell. Which meant I could follow the latest buoy readings to see how the winds in the channel might be affecting the surf. Check the reading late at night then first thing in the morning... before dawn you can't see anything on the surf cam. but, you can get an idea of what the surface conditions will  probably be like from the buoys. As well, see if the swell is on the rise or not, what the water temps are etc. That's the info you need to know what board to take to the beach and what wet suit you might want. All the tech we take for granted now until we can't access it. But, I'm still going to take a few boards and a couple different wet suits to the beach just in case.

Here's a picture of some old surf technology... and the way it was carried. On the head for the most part. Darn things were heavy, and , we didn't have cool foot ware. Bare foot all the way down a long path to the beach. If the little stones in the dirt didn't tweak your feet on the way down. with  30 lbs. of surfboard on your dead,  getting the bottom of your feet blistered on the way back to your car could be a problem too. Once the sun started baking the dirt on the trail in the summer sun... like walking on hot coals.

Only an old surfer knows the feeling.   

D.R.

How's that.. even one of these guys has a wet suit.

It's a holiday weekend and my grandson is visiting for our annual surf camp trip. He's itchin' to surf... but it's a holiday weekend. What's worse is there is a marathon from Ojai to the beach which ended at the Fair Grounds. And the course goes down our road so if we want to go somewhere we've got to go out of our way a good 6 miles unless we wait 'til after 10 a.

About 10:30 or 11:00 I tell Merrick the race has passed so let's go down to the point and try our luck at getting a place to park. There was a little south swell maybe we'd get lucky.... and we did.

When we pull into inside point there were no other cars on the street looking to park and the very first parking spot was empty, we pull in. Suited up and went out. It was a bit crowded in the lineup but not terrible. After an hour the crowd thinned out. I counted only 8 people at one point. Merrick had a good time and so did I.

When we got back to the van and started getting out of our suits the fun really started. There must have been 4 cars waiting for a parking space. Across from us there were 2 cars getting ready to pull out making their space available for those waiting. Just when one of the cars pulls out a guy pulls around the corner and snakes one of the guys that had been waiting. I turn to my grandson and say "looks like there's going to be a fist fight over this deal", and there almost was. The sparks started to fly but after some heated exchange the guy that had snaked the spot got back in his car, pulled out and left. I think his wife was telling him he'd taken advantage and that she was not happy about what he'd done.

Usually on nice days and when there is surf the inside point parking is jammed up. But, most people that park there to surf know the parking protocol. You wait your turn and hope every other car that comes down the street will be considerate and wait their turn too.

But hey, it was a holiday weekend... 

D.R.

Oh boy,  Ventura made the cover of Surfer Magazine..........

This picture is a screen print from the Surfer Mag web site.

For perspective,  the number of days that look like this in any given year?  If you are lucky, it would be the number of fingers you have on one hand. Sure it gets good, but to be glassy and good all day... kind of rare. Note the sun is setting in this picture. And to have the perfect swell direction at the same time as the perfect weather, yeah kind of rare.

This really is a great picture but don't go thinking the point in Ventura is consistently like the picture.... that would be a fantasy. As well, when and if you happen onto a day like this.... from the picture, I'm counting about 8 or maybe 10 wave sets. You will get your chance with one of the set waves in a rotation of at least 75 other surfers.

Ok, so how do I know? The arrow in the picture points to the house I lived in. Moved into the place in 1974 and sold the place in 2010.  And lived within a few blocks of that place the 6 years before 1974.  I could ride my bike to the pier, check the surf, ride home, put on my wet suit, put my board in my truck, drive to the point and be in the water in very little time. Which I did all the time.  It was really great too 'cause on those cold winter days I would get out of the water and just drive home in my wetsuit, go into the back yard, turn on my out door hot shower and get out of my suit.

The north west corner of Ventura County has 4 points the last 14 miles along the county's coast line. The 1st one is Ventura and the last on is Rincon. What would be nice to see, along with this picture of Ventura, is an aerial pic of each one of the other points on this same day... you know, just for fun. And to be fair, when coming to Ventura, there are 3 other points that are surf able too. If Ventura looks good just think what the other points would be like. Yeah, they're only a few minutes up the road.

So far I haven't talked to anybody from Ventura that is stoked about seeing The Point on the cover of Surfer Magazine.

D.R. 

 Shaping surfboards is pretty much done behind closed doors. That's what Wayne Rich said one day when we were talking about surfboard stuff.

Here's a look behind closed doors one day last week...with some explanation. When I started working on a new board patterned after a 1968 V-Bottom.  One that I didn't keep an outline of from back in the day. Fortunately a friend of mine had the old board so I could map it. 

First I write in my book all the numbers from mapping the board. Outline numbers every 3 inches, same for rocker and thickness.

Second I mark the outline numbers on the blank I'm using for my board. And pull a tape line connecting all the marks. 

Then I cut one side of the blank and true up the curve where ever needed.

After the outline on the one side is clean and satisfactory I scribe it onto some template material and cut the template.

 I used sheet vinyl for the template, which will hold a line, easily cuts with scissors and  it can be trued up with block plane and sanding block.

Now the other side of the board can be outlined using the new template running along the marks from mapping the original board.

With board outline complete the board is shaped and finished, ready for glassing.

D.R.

Woodland Hills, the place my parents moved my 2 sisters and I to in 1954.

We lived on a street a few blocks south of Ventura Blvd and a few blocks west of Toganga Canyon Rd. Our Aunt lived in Woodland Hills as well on a street up Topanga about 12 blocks and 1 block east of Topanga.

When my mom started working she took me and my sisters to our Aunts house every week day in the morning and pick us up after work. We'd leave for school from there, return after school and play until mom returned to take us home. During the summer me and my sisters would play all day around our Aunts house with the kids that lived on the street there.

At the time my Aunts house was pretty much the last street up Topanga that was developed. Just a couple unpaved roads up from the house was Mulholand Drive. The adventure was to hike up to Mulholand and look around. It was a dirt road where people would dump unwanted stuff... an old chair, matress, misc. house hold things. We could go up there and bust bottles on the rocks, be generally mischievous and not get noticed.

Fast forward to an all day surf with Bob Cooper and Dale Herd. Cooper the Morey-Pope shop foreman and Dale the shop salesman and I took a Saturday surf trip to the spot where Topanga Canyon meets the coast. A small point south of Malibu... Topanga point, or just Topanga. In 1967 Topanga was a private community and the only way you could surf the point was if you lived in one of the small houses on the point or were invited by someone that had a place there. We were invited, so we got to surf the place with just a couple others that happened to be there that day too.

The surf was small and inconsistent so after some time we decided to go off somewhere else for something better... if we could find it. Since home was back up the PCH that's the direction we headed and stopped where Mulholand Highway, the west end of Mulholand Dr. meets the coast...  Secos at Leo Carrillo State Beach.

Little did I know when I was 7 that Mulholand Dr. and Topanga Canyon road both end at  the Pacific Coast Highway and, there are surf spots where each road meets the coast. And 13 years later I would surf both spots in one day.

D.R.