Tracking on my wife’s question about changes in surfing over the past 50 years, I got to thinking that back then there were no long boards…. there were no short boards either. No, just plane ole surfboards. They were a bit long though.

As well, it wasn’t until 1967 that there was much thought to how much your surfboard weighted. I can’t remember ever actually weighting a surfboard back then but, all the major labels started making what everyone called a light weight model. Instead on 30 lbs maybe they were 25 lbs. I really don’t know… never weighted one. By today’s standards even the light weight boards were heavy though. Of coarse today’s short boards may be a little under 6 lbs, but even a modern long board could be just under 14 lbs. 

Until the mid sixties when Morey Pope started distributing removable fins all surfboards had glassed on fins. So what ever fin was on the board you had that was that.

When you got a new board you learned how it rode.  If it wasn’t going to well when you first started surfing a new board you stuck with it until you figured out how to handle the thing. 

I don’t remember hearing anyone say “this board doesn’t work”.  All surfboards worked and if your surfboards didn’t work then you had to figure out how it worked. And once you figure out how it worked that was that.

In the old days we were a little concerned about how well your board floated you.  We didn’t have much in the way of wetsuits so when it was cold you would paddle on your knees.  If your board floated you good then the deck of your board would be above the water, knee paddling meant that you would not get wet working your way to the lineup. Not getting wet meant you would stay a little warmer and could stay out in the water a little longer.

The way we made boards back then was different too.  Back then there were no surfboard specific materials. All the fiberglass materials we used were barrowed from the boat industry.  It wasn’t until the late sixties and into the seventies that we began to see surfboard specific materials.

Now with the retro movement guys want that old look to some of their boards. Getting that old look with the new materials is a whole ‘nother story.

D.R.

My story post 56

50 years ago I had a skate board I made myself.  My brother David made one too.

These boards were nothing like what you see today… not even close.  Why?  Because what you see today didn’t exist.  My skate board was made with a 2 X 4 and a single metal skate the would normally strap onto your shoe. David made his board from the other skate in the pair.

We took off the part on the front of the skate that was a clamp that would grab the front of your shoe and we flattened the back part of the back section of the skate so it would mount flat to the 2 X 4.  With a few nails those old skates were fastened to the 18 inch piece of wood and off we rolled.

What a treat… side walk surfing.  Only when you fell you hit concrete or asphalt not water, and that hurt. But we could not be stopped, on the prowl for streets with a slope. Long gentle slopes were nice but after awhile the challenge would grow and we wanted more thrills.  Like the guys riding big waves in Hawaii, we started looking for those steep hill streets.

I don’t remember how long we’d been using our skateboards, working on what to do when you’d get the wobbles or how to control your turns so the metal wheels wouldn’t slide sideways on you and land you on your butt.  The day did come when we decided to ride our bikes with our skateboards up to this street that was really steep and tackle the big stuff.

We talked about doing this for maybe months and finally got the nerve. After biking to the hill and parking at the bottom of the street we stood looking up the hill and discussed how we should take the drop. “ maybe we should go about half way up and call that good, what do you think” I asked.  “How ‘bout we just walk up a short distance and do a test run”? David said.  “Good idea, lets go”.

So we worked up to going about half way up the hill a do the serious run. Walking a ways up and stopping, giving a look down, then a little farther, a little farther, …OK here. We set our boards down and stepped on to them. Take a little angle to the left then the right and before we knew it we were racing down that hill, and going to fast to make any more sideways moves to slow down. Then we both got the wobbles and that was it.   

This was a long time ago and I still remember the look of the asphalt as I hit it. Hands first to break the fall, then the elbows and finally the shoulder we both went head over heels as our skate boards rolled past us.  “Are you ok”? “I think so”  OUCH! Oh man, as we worked our way back to our feet and hobbled to reach our skate boards and get to our bikes for the painful trek home.

Skateboarding really was birthed from surfing. 50 years ago it was way different than it is now.

D.R.

Last week my wife asked  “what is it like having been surfing and making surfboards for 50 years?”

I thought What?... oh wait… it’s 2012, I started making my first surfboard in 1962, so I guess it has been 50 years.  Then she asked “how have things changed, you’ve kind of seen it all right?”

The question has been rolling around my head since she asked. And right now I know I can say this about being around surfing this long. When I got started the guys making surfboards were in their twenties, a good 10 or more years my senior… so now after 50 years, getting up there in years.

After losing Harold Iggy the first of the year, now this week Terry Martin passed away.  I was not fortunate enough to have ever met Terry Martin. Of course I knew who he was and what he did. Thinking that he is now gone and will no longer do what he did gives me a very sad feeling that I’m not sure I can explain. I’m not sure words can adequately express the loss to surfing and the surfboard craft.

Terry Martin was woven into surfing history.  You really can’t talk about the history of the surfboard shaping craft without his name being brought up. And of course the name Hobie Srufboards is world wide. Hobie Surfboards for the most part was Terry Martin.

RIP Terry Martin.

D.R.    

Sometimes it’s the thought that counts….

This past week I was working on a one off.  Well not quite a one off, but close enough.  I’ve done the H2 mini but this one was about 6 inches shorter than any I’ve done so far. 

It’s usually the outline that takes some time. Blending curves, messing with width numbers and all.  Sometimes you end up with three or four different lines and only one that you think you might like. Then because you’ve got three or four lines it’s hard to see one curve from the others.

So.. I’ve got all these lines and I know one of them is the one I want… I start thinking… ‘man, it sure would be nice if I had some White Out.’

For all those post analog people. White Out came in a small bottle with a small paint brush attached to the cap of the bottle.  When using a Type Writer ( whatever that is ) you used the White Out for typos by painting over your missed spelled word.  The stuff would dry and then you could type over the touched up page area and correct your mistake.

Yeah, so if I had some White Out I could paint over the outlines I didn’t like scribed on the blank and leave the one I wanted.  Then ‘hey, I bet I’ve got some white latex paint in the garage. I could paint over these junk lines and leave the good one’ 

So off to the garage I go. Find the paint, get a small brush, head back to my shaping shack and brush the paint on the lines I don’t like. Stand the blank up at the end of my room, check out the curve I’ve got and…. Perfect. I can see the outline, it looks good. I’m ready to start cutting my blank. 

And someone said… ‘Necessity, the mother of invention.’

D.R.

It happened in the fall of 1986, but it was conceived months before that. A small number of local surf guys started planning and working together for this event. It had never happened before but, these local guys made it happen.

It was really pretty cool, all these people meeting up at Pipe. All day long and into the evening. Gathering, surfing, eating, dancing, happiness. For me, having my foot in a cast mending from a broke heal, I didn’t surf or dance. I got to eat and greet people I hadn’t seen for awhile if not for years. And what I did was take pictures, not officially, I just set off on the side lines and clicked off pictures all day and night.

My 2 favorite surf pics of the event… who are the guys surfing? I don’t know.

The evening stage festivities. Unless they paint their hair, all these people have gray hair now

Actually the first and only.

D.R.

Murphy’s Law is alive and well in the surfboard laminating business….

If something can happen it will, and if something does happen to a surfboard during the lamination process the chances of something else happening to that same surfboard is more likely than not.

For instance. One of the problems we have is stringers gassing off, always on the deck lamination… not that big a deal on a clear lam if you catch it when the resin is still workable. But, if a stringer gases off under the label you’re pretty much stuck. And more times than not, a stringer will gas off under the label. Or, if a stringer is going to gas off it will be with a tinted or color lamination which are very hard to fix without a blemish.

Sometimes shaped blanks can get bumped before or during the lam process. Not that big a deal with a clear lamination. But, it usually happens with a board that gets a tinted lam which is next to impossible to fix without a blemish.

Ok, you have a regular customer that always get boards laminated the same way. Labels in the same place, fabric weights the same, finish the same. So, the one time you don’t look at the order card to make sure there are no changes and go ahead laminating the board like all the others.. you look at the order card after you’re done… the board was suppose to be different from the standard set up…. Oops.

There are supposed to be no oops. Oops is a bad word. A good laminator has no oops. At least most people think so. Reality, a good laminator is known not only for being a good laminator but also known for really well done cover ups too.

D.R.

I ran into Gene Cooper in a down town Ventura store some time ago and guess what we got to talking about? Surfboards…. Surprise.

During our conversation Gene asked me if I knew of any trade or craft that you could spend your whole life working at and after years and years of experience still be trying to figure things out…. Besides glassing surfboards?

The surfboard lamination process is basically simple. You stretch fiberglass fabric over a shaped surfboard blank, cut the cloth so it’s a little larger than the board, saturate the cloth with resin, neatly tuck the cloth over the rails of the board, make sure there is no air trapped anywhere in the lamination and let the resin dry. When the resin has cured you flip the board over and do the same thing to the other side.

After the board is laminated you put a coat of resin over both sides, one side at a time of course. Let it cure, then sand the board smooth and put a final coat of resin on both side again, sand the board again and sometimes polish the board at the end of all that.

Yeah, a simple performance based endeavor that has a ton of variables let alone just having a bad day. Over look something and you can have problems. Like when you get started in the morning your room may be about 65 degrees, but later it could be 80 degrees. So what happens when you catalyze you bucket of resin for the colder temp instead of the warmer temp… and you don’t realize that’s what’s happened until the resin in the bucket starts to gel half way through your 15 minute lamination window?

There are many things to deal with in a short working time with clear resin. Add colors or tints and you increase the “deal with” factor by 2 or 3 times. Come up with a couple cosmetic issues that a customer says are unacceptable and … well, you can become a questionable character over night.

Basically there are a couple of glass shop types. The regular production shop that does mostly clear sand only short boards and the middle to high end type shops that do color spray jobs and color lams on any type of surfboard that comes through the door… though they do more high end stuff they are still a production shop.

Most local shapers sends boards to a production shop for glass work. So the production shop pricing schedule is set for guys that don’t do their own glassing and must be affordable to stay in business. Which basically means that they can only spend a certain amount of time with each surfboard that goes through their shop. The over all cosmetics may be very good but there may be a small percentage of boards that the cosmetics are not that good. And prices being what they are set at means some times a board will be finished with a couple zits.

There are a few guys that build boards from start to finish in house, and the only boards they do are their own. They set their prices high enough to accommodate any and all issues that may or may not come up during the laminating process. So when their boards are finished cosmetically they look flawless or so close you’d say ‘wow, that looks flawless’.

Some of the production shops do very good work but because of financial reasons and market demands it’s not a good idea to compare a production shops work with that of the all in house builder that prices their work to accommodate all their time and effort no matter what happens in the building process.

D.R.

It’s really amazing that virtually every surfboard model has it’s own detail. Hundreds and hundreds of surfboard shapers and each shaper has their own details.

When you ghost shape you get to know what details are important to the designer that you are ghost shaping for. They can get very particular with how they want the tails and or noses of their boards to look. How the over all foil blends into the ends of the board. How much rails are tucked . Exactly how far up a vee will go from the tail on a certail size board. How deep to cut concaves… etc, etc.

I’ve ghost shaped for a number of guys but, I’ve never had anyone ghost shape for me. Just like others have told me exactly how they’d like certain things to look on their boards, I know exactly how I like my boards to look. From nose detail to tail detail and everything in between. With each model or shape comes all the corresponding details and they all need to look just right.

D.R.

A clean shop is a happy shop.

I’d had gotten my new shaping bay set up enough to get some work done, and then some more work done…. and more until it was a mess of things put here and there with enough foam dust on the floor to fill a couple rubbish cans.

I was getting some work done but not happy that the place was a mess. At some point you just gotta stop clean up, and get organized.

Two days of clean up and organized…..

D.R.

A clean shop is a happy shop

Ok, maybe I’m just nuts… actually I am nuts, I make surfboards! But I think shaping a surfboard has been redefined. Because it seems from this article on Surfline that shaping a surfboard has nothing to do with what has always been considered shaping. Now using a CAD program is shaping according to the author.

I just don’t get that. Using a computer to “shape” a surfboard? If you’re using a CAD program to “shape” your surfboard then shouldn’t the program be labeled CAS? And then of course it would be right to call hand shaping HAS. If CAD is computer aided design. Then CAS would be computer aided shaping… right? And then HAS would be hand aided shaping.

When you “design” something with a CAD program you also usually use a CNC machine to actually make the something that you “designed” in CAD.

CNC = computer numerical control. The machines that “cut” blanks that have been “designed” in CAD are CNC machines or …specifically a computer "controller" that reads coded instructions and drives a machine tool, a powered mechanical device typically used to fabricate components by the selective removal of material.

The machines that “cut” blanks into surfboards selectively remove material. You know what? That’s what a “shaper” does when shaping a blank… selectively removes material from the blank.

When you “design” a surfboard with a CAD program you are not removing any material. I think one needs to be removing material to be “shaping.” Sure you can take a little volume out or make an outline change to your over all surfboard “design”. As a matter of fact, you can add more volume and make your outline wider if you decide to. Try doing that after the “material” has been removed. You can’t add “material” when you are actually “shaping.”

Ok, no I don’t have a problem with “shaping” machines. I have and do work for guys that machine cut blanks. From time to time I have boards cut. But I don’t think it’s time to call using a CAD program to “design” a surfboard “shaping”… yet.

D.R.

My serious face... nicked from Surfer... obviously

Replicating is a lot easier with a cnc shaping machine than by hand shaping.

It is possible to be pretty accurate replicating a surfboard by hand. It will take some time, making sure all your cuts are right, checking rocker curves, deck crown, rail profiles etc. But, in the end you can be right there with making one board the same as the other.

To replicate a board with a machine you can either scan the board you’d like to replicate with the machine… if the machine as that capability or, you map the board and input the numbers into the software program and build your computer surfboard file that way.

Basically mapping a board for program entry is the same as mapping a board for replicating by hand. You make a list of all the particulars… numbers… of the board like rocker, what the rocker curve is like at the nose tip, at 6 inches from the tip, 12 inches etc. Then the same for the tail. What the various measurements are of the outline or plan shape. Like width at center, 12 inches from nose and tail, 18 inches from nose and tail and so on. Rail apex point at different potions along the boards length as well as thickness at 6 inch intervals down the length of the board.

Once you’ve got all your numbers then you input them into your computer program and build your computer model for the machine to replicate. If you hand shape you reference all your numbers as you work through your shaping process.

In the end whether you hand shape or use a machine you have your board. The one thing you don’t have when you hand shape is knowing what the over all volume of your board is. When using a computer program you get that information.

D.R.

Balance

You always hated to fall off your board, because it meant you were in for a swim, and possibly to the beach to fetch your board. Sometimes, depending on where you were surfing, your board could end up on the rocks. Almost guaranteeing a ding or two.

Paddling out you had to give it everything you had to hold onto your board if you had to push through a wave or two on your way out to the line up. There is nothing worse than having your board ripped from your hands on the way out, especially if you just got in the water and haven’t even caught a wave yet. Like ‘dang, I haven’t even reached the line up and I’ve got to swim for my board.’

So the smart surfer would always pay attention to the surf. You’d do your best to time your go out between sets. Scramble hard to get to the line up so as not to get picked off. As well, you could plan your paddle out so as not to reach the impact zone when a set wave was on coming. Slow paddle or just sit on the inside and let the wave’s energy diminish some before it reaches you. I even would paddle inside a little to get away from an impact zone if it looked like I was not going to get picked off.

I never forgot getting picked off on a good sized wave at D and W. I tried my hardest to hold onto my board but the wave just laughed at me. Ripped my board away, tossed me around like a rag doll and left me to swim. When I reached the beach I couldn’t find my board… until I looked up on the jetty. There it was resting on top off that pile of rocks. So I always did what needed to be done to keep my board from getting away from me.

Of course sometimes you just get stuck. And, of course now days you’ve got your board velcroed to your leg.. so no need worry about loosing your board. Never mind if you ditch your board on your way out… unless someone else gets stuck by your board… but when does that happen?

My son told me the guy we work with at Patagonia FCD, Cyrus, got stuck by a ditched board. It happened last week. I haven’t seen Cyrus yet but was told the board busted his nose and left him with stitches in his head.

Slip off your board, hold your nose and submerge yourself… from what? Wake up and smell the salty air, and act like you don’t have your board tethered to your leg. Think, plan and hold on tight.

D.R.

http://vimeo.com/34903457

The closest I’d ever gotten to Harold Iggy was when he paddled by me at Malibu one day when the Weber crew were on a surf day from work because there was a good south swell in the water.

I was a teenager, he was about 8 years older than I, so he was in his twenties. Of course I knew he was Weber’s shaper, which is why he was surfing with Weber when they’d show up at Malibu on a good swell. But he could surf well too. Weber was a good surfer as well, so when they came to Malibu they just took over… you didn’t drop in on those guys.

They’d get the good set waves, ride them all the way down the point, pull out and paddle back to the top on the point only in time for another good set wave. It didn’t matter who was waiting for a good set wave. They would just paddle for the waves they wanted and that was that.

Dewey Weber surf boards was a big label. I always thought they were cool boards. And, because Harold Iggy shaped them I always thought he was one of the best shapers. One day I visited the Weber store and after hanging in the store for awhile looking at the surfboards I walked out of the store and ended up walking around the back of the building. To my surprise, I happened on to Iggy’s shaping bay, with him there mowing foam.

Either nobody saw me or nobody cared I was there… I wasn’t in anyone’s way standing off a distance. But I was in a dream, watching the guy I wished I could be, shaping surfboards for one of the big names. At that time I’d maybe made a few boards, and because I was self taught I’d never really seen anyone shape a surfboard before. I’m not sure how long I stood there, if someone finally came and told me to beat it or after a time I thought I should go before I got in some kind of trouble…. Really can’t remember.. I was in a trance the whole time.

A few years later when I was working with the Wilderness guys I got real close to one of the boards Harold shaped for Nat Young. Nat surfed for Weber in 1969 and when ever Nat was in California he’d come up and visit Mike Cundith… Nat and Mike were good buddies.

Well, Nat had gotten this new board that he was really stoked about and brought it up to the Wilderness shop one day. Mike liked the looks of the board so he asked me to shape him one. So I took Nat’s board, nicked the outline, set the board in my shaping bay, got a blank and replicated the board Harold Iggy shaped for Nat.

Nat would rave about how good Harold Iggy could shape, and for good reason of course. Nat said Harold was so good at getting his rails perfect. So here I am replicating an Iggy shape and Nat would come into my room and check the board to see how I was doing. I think Harold Iggy is one of the best shapers ever, I’m copying one of his boards, that he shaped for one of the best surfers in the world. That best surfer is in my shaping bay checking my work… talk about nerve racking!

Harold Iggy passed away this week, very sad to hear about. He no doubt impacted many, many lives. Mine included, even from a distance. One of my heroes now gone.

RIP Harold Iggy.

D.R.

There were a few big names in surfing around the southern California coast in the mid sixties when I was first a kook, then a grom and eventually an OK surfer. Surfers with a name in my neck of the woods would show up at the beach and of course heads would turn. It wouldn’t happen too often but I remember when it did.

Back then working in a surf shop making surfboards was like a regular job. You showed up for work everyday at 8 a.m. and put in your 8 hours. Unless the surf was really good, you didn’t go off and surf or just take off and go to the beach… you showed up for work and did what was required like any other job.

But, sometimes the surf was really good, that’s when the shop would shut down and the crew would go surfing… usually the whole crew. I remember a couple summer days at Malibu when there was a good swell and here comes Dewey Weber and his crew in the middle of the day. I can remember a couple times being at Rincon and seeing Renny Yater, or Bob Cooper. I was a teenager, these guys were the old guys, like 10 years older the me.

Then I got a job at the surf shop, still a teenager but, with a regular job. And a few times there would be a good swell and the shop would stop and go surfing. That was a treat, going to the beach with Tom Morey and the crew and getting some good surf.

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

It seemed the older guys in surfing back then were the guys that made surfboards. And back then the older guys were in their late twenties and early thirties. That’s hardly old, but to a teenager it seemed old.

Except for golf or bowling maybe, most sports are populated with young people. Surfing is no different. In the sixties when surfing started getting popular it was a very young sport so there weren’t too many older people doing it.

Now it’s quite different, there are people much older than 30 in the water everyday, and not just when the surf shop has gone out for a surf break because there is a good swell in the water. Some guys liked surfing enough when they were teenagers to say they’d surf for the rest of their lives…. Now they are doing just that!

D.R.

Designing a surfboard doesn’t take much.

All you need is a free software program and several hours figuring out how to use it. Borrow one of the surfboard files available with the program to make your learning curve shorter and you are on your way.

After you’ve got your surfboard file finished just give it to the cutting house and get your new surfboard design machined… at the fine setting of course, so you don’t have to much work to do getting your new surfboard sanded and ready for glassing.

Now you can’t glass your board yourself so you take your finished blank to the local lam shop and hand in your board for glassing.

About a week later you get a call from the lam shop and think… wow those guys are fast… but instead you hear the guy from the lam shop say “ you didn’t mark your fin lay out “. You say “ oh I didn’t know I needed to do that “

He says “ yes, it’s your board, we simply cut the fin boxes on the shapers marks”.

You say “Well, can you put the marks on the board for me”?

He says “no, I don’t know where you want them”

You say “ Put them where you normally would”

He says “I normally put them on the shapers marks, where ever they are. So you need to come in and mark where you want the fins”.

You don’t know fin lay out … even though that’s part of surfboard design. So now what?

Who knew?… fin lay out is a major thing, fin lay out can and will greatly effect how a surfboard performs. Sure put the fins anywhere, the board will still surf ok but, put them in the optimum place and the board will perform much better.

Surfboard design is more than a computer program, computer file and a blank.

D.R.

Random thoughts.

I hadn’t been sleeping very well this past week, always waking up in the middle of the night. The night of the day I surfed… no more insomnia.

Surfing takes care of insomnia.

How come the minute you say I’ll get one more wave and go in the sets just stop?

You get to the beach, there’s some nice surf and it isn’t crowded. You’re stoked, get suited up, paddle out get to the line up turn around and look at the beach only to see 20 guys getting ready to paddle out.

You find a ding in your board and have no idea how it got there.

You sit and wait your turn for a good set wave. You are in perfect position, turn around stroke into the wave, drop to the bottom set your edge and see 3 guys paddling right in your line of flight… messing your whole trip.

There’s a kook in the water that you see trying to catch waves but never can. So, the one time you decide to quickly turn around and paddle into a wave he’s trying for he actually catches… you’re behind him and he can only go straight.

The south wind picks up right when you’re walking to the waters edge for a go out. Note, in Southern California south winds blow out most spots, period.

You get to the beach and can’t find your towel.

Your board is as slippery as snot and you have no wax.

You don’t surf with a leash and fall on your first wave. No beg deal, because your board popped out of the wave and is close by but, then the next wave takes it all the way to the beach just before you get to it.

It’s better to have one board you really like than 2 that are just OK.

It’s hard to have a good time in the water if you’re not relaxed.

D.R.

Tim Nesbit riding a Stubbie Quad

The swell was forecast for Friday, and, Friday it was…. Which happened to be a holiday!

My son and I walked up to the railing to give the surf a look before suiting up. The waves… were there, maybe a head high plus set just coming through as we walked up.
But it was crowded. What would you expect, it was a holiday. I said that already.

So let’s do the numbers.

The sets were about 4 minutes apart, sometimes more than that. There were usually about 3 or 4 waves in a set, with the occasional rogue wave and of course there were insiders as well. Sitting on the inside then scratching through sets was not a real good approach with the crowd. It isn’t fun getting run over.

So if you didn’t sit on the inside you were only waiting for the sets.

With at least 40 guys in the water and the set waves pretty much running from the point through the inside, make able the whole way, it wasn’t to easy to get a wave. With say 20 guys in position at any one time for one of 4 set waves makes things hectic. 4 waves every 4 minutes is 60 waves per hour shared between 40 surfers? That makes for a rotation of 1.5 waves per surfer per hour.

If there was such a thing as even rotation it would be one thing. You could sit in the lineup, getting cold but, waiting your turn for your 1.5 waves per hour. You know what? There is no such thing as an even rotation. Some guys have all the luck and some guys don’t. And some guys are unkindly aggressive.

I watched one guy get a good one all the way down the point only to get back just in time to back door my son. Geez, what’s up with that?

Another guy got one of the rogue outsiders only to paddle back to the line up just in time to scoop up a nice set wave… while a hand full of us watched both of his rides and none of us got anything.

I was in the water one day some time back when one of the local guys noticed I was getting no chance. He said “ looks like you couldn’t buy a wave today”!

Friday was kind of like that.

D.R.

Scott Beckley on the H2 mini

Travis Riley riding the H2 mini

My story post 55. The day I broke into Dick Brewers house.

I moved to Kauai in late spring 1994 but it wasn’t until ’97 that there was full time surfboard work for me. It came via Max Medeiros at Hawaiian Blades. In ’97 Max returned to Kauai and set up shop in Lihue town. We connected and I started working for him, shaping, sanding, and laminating… depending on what was needed.

As his factory got rolling some of the guys that shaped on the island brought boards to the factory for laminating. One of those guys was Dick Brewer. Dick eventually needed some help with shaping, he had more work than he could do on his own, and I got asked to step in and help.

Most of the work I did for Brewer was what I’d call team shaping. 2 guys shaping one board. One guy would outline and rough out and the other guy would do the finish work. I did the finish work and one of the long time Kauai board builders, Mike Wellman, did the rough work… I think we were a good team even though I’d never see Mike.

Mike worked out of his place in Wiamea town. After he finished roughing out a number of boards they would get transported to either the Hawaiian Blades shop or back out to Brewers on the north side. So I would either finish boards in my shaping bay at Hawaiian Blades or drive out to the north side and finish boards in Dicks shaping room at his house.

Since I lived on the south side, when I got called to go out to Brewers it would be a full day deal. The drive was at least an hour so I didn’t want to go that distance unless there was a big load of boards to do, and Brewer guys would always work that out for me.

So one day I got a call to go shape but was told that Dick was going to Oahu and no one else would be at the house. “We’ll leave the key under the front door mat” I was told. And, “all the boards you need to do are in the normal spot out side the shaping bay.” Dicks shaping room was inside his house or at least attached at the end. It did have an outside door but I always accessed it from inside the house. Anyway, when I got to the house and looked under the door mat there was no key. Somebody forgot….

I tried the door but it was locked. I went around the back and tried the 2 back doors, they were locked. I tried the siding glass door at the family room… locked. I’m thinking ‘What????? I’m came all the way out here???” as I’m walking around the house… I stop and look up at the balcony. ‘ Is that sliding door up there open? I think so’.

I walked back around the other side of the house to the new and under construction garage/shop and to my surprise saw the extension ladder… perfect! Grabbed that thing, lugged it around to the balcony, set it up, climbed up and over the railing and in the house I went. Relieved, I unlocked the front door, put the ladder back, went back to the house and shaping room and went to work. Usually there were 10 or 12 boards to do and that day was no different.

A couple weeks later I got a call from Dick to come out and shape some boards. I told him “hey, last time I came out the place was locked up, but, I found a ladder and got in through the upstairs sliding door you know?’

Dick said “now there’s a man that wants to work!”

D.R.

From a page in the log book

My story post 54

My son ,Robin, started learning to surf when he was about six years old.

At first I’d take him out with me on my long board. Then he graduated to riding one of my short boards, which he didn’t like because he couldn’t get his arm around the thing so it was hard for him to carry. It bothered him enough that I made the width of his first surfboard the length of the inside of his arm… just to make sure he could get his arm around it.

When he was still a little guy I would worry about him in the water. Not when the surf was casual but when it got a little bet more serious for the kid. As the years progressed we became surf buddies.

This past week we had a pretty nice northwest swell so the two of us made plans to hit the surf together in the early afternoon Wednesday when the swell started to come on. We paddled out on the back side of the point and surfed our way down inside. The surf wasn’t really big, sets were a little over head but, the sets were strong with a good 8 waves or more.

After we were in the water for 20 minutes or so we both got caught inside… I hate getting caught inside. I was further out than Robin and that first wave of the set pounded me good enough to push me inside of Robin. We both ducked at least 2 more waves when Robin turned and looked back at me with a thumb up. I nod with a smile thinking he’s stoked that the surf is good and this is a great set… even though it’s giving us a lickin’.

I lost count of how many waves I had to push but eventually I was so beat I turned around and let some white water propel me to the beach… the first time ever. I thought I’d go in, catch my breath, wait for a lull and paddle back out.

After about 10 or 15 minutes I started walking up the point for another round when I saw Robin ride a wave way down inside and come in. I waited for him so we walked up the beach together and decided to head back to work.

As we were walking back to the van Robin asked if I was OK. Turns out he was worried that I might be in trouble because I got swept past him on that first wave and then couldn’t catch back up to him. He said ‘I don’t think that has ever happened before. That's why I gave the thumb up, I was asking if you were OK." I said “I was beat, how many waves were in that set anyway?”

As we walked up the beach another set started hitting the line up, so I started counting the waves... 14. “No wonder, I bet there were at least 10 waves in the set that picked us off.”

After I dropped him off at the FCD shop he went in to boast how he out paddled his Dad. Geez, his 33’d birthday was this past September. My 63’d birthday is next month!

Funny though, I worried about him, now he worries about me.

D.R.

Definition of BRAND
1
a : a charred piece of wood b : firebrand 1 c : something (as lightning) that resembles a firebrand
2
: sword
3
a (1) : a mark made by burning with a hot iron to attest manufacture or quality or to designate ownership (2) : a printed mark made for similar purposes : trademark b (1) : a mark put on criminals with a hot iron (2) : a mark of disgrace : stigma
4
a : a class of goods identified by name as the product of a single firm or manufacturer : make b : a characteristic or distinctive kind c : brand name 2
5
: a tool used to produce a brand

I recently heard someone refer to the surfboards they made as a brand. So my question is are all surfboards made a brand of surfboard? No matter who makes the board or how many they make, as long as there is a name on the surfboards is it a brand?

4a reads above …. A class of goods identified by name as the product single firm or manufacturer … so if your surfboard is a brand then it is also a product… even a manufactured product. Because something made by hand or with machinery is manufactured.

I don’t remember the early surfboard makers or manufacturers calling their surfboards a brand. It seems to me that someone that makes surfboards, has a label that they created and for the most part sells their boards on a local basis wouldn’t be called a brand. Because I’ve always thought a brand name is something recognized on a larger scale than something local. Maybe that thought is wrong and there are local brands.

Does calling your surfboard a brand take away the personnel aspect? If I say my surfboards are a brand make it sound more like I manufactured a product? Rather than hand craft something for riding waves that I’ve developed over a long time watching and riding waves to learn how they waves form and break, and continue to fine tune the boards I make?

If you shape a lot of boards and have a long list of dealers and have a bunch of pro surf types riding your boards or maybe even have your boards made over seas and market them nationally or internationally then you should call your boards a brand.

I’ve never considered what I make as a brand. It’s a hand crafted, mostly with my hands, surfboard. Something nice to look at and nice to ride.

D.R.