One of the surf reports I follow had this for an opening line a couple days ago...'Are you tired of this yet?'  Why?  Because it's been pretty much dead flat for about 2 weeks now.  

 

I think I've said this before... 'Welcome to Southern California in the summer.'

 

I've also said I like summer, but, it can go flat for a long stretch sometimes. Even once or twice between May and September. So we're in one of those right now and from the looks of the forecasts it's going to continue. Sad but true.

 

With the forecasts saying there's still not much on the horizon means there is time to do the things you always put off when there is surf to be had, and at the same time not going to the beach or worrying that you're missing something.... like for me, working on my house and getting surfboard work done. Geez, I don't think I've even stopped to look at the surf, or lack of surf for over a week. But then again I was out of town for a few days this week.

 

So when the waves are thigh high at best you've got to have the small wave gear. Something like the Tip Tool works just fine.

 

D.R.  



 



Shawn at Malibu, small wave Tip Tool dance.



I’ve gone digging into my outline archive… sorted through a half dozen of my Hull outlines for a new sub 7 footer.

 

So here’s The New Hull… albeit with an outline that is 44 years old.  The curve is more full forward and  I’ve thinned the foil out some over all.

 

D.R.

 





 

I’ve talked about my mom some but maybe not about my dad.  Actually I’ve had 2 fathers, paternal father and step father.

 

When I was about 7 or 8 years old my parents divorced. A couple years later my mother remarried.  With the remarriage not only did I get a new father but my 2 sisters and I inherited 2 brothers. We all became one big family… and in the process I didn’t see my paternal father until I was 18.

 

I still remember seeing him for the first time after all those years. And then over the years after that we got closer.  He liked camping and had a nice motor home just for that.  So When I’d set up surf camp trips he’d sometimes book a site and spend time camping with me and the family. 

My dad moved up to Sacramento during the time I was living in Hawaii. When we returned to Ventura we never got to visit until last year.

 

Last June was when my mother passed. Now 1 year, 1 month and 3 days later my father has passed away.  Even though I was not around my father during my formative years we were able to reconnect and have good family time, work time and recreation time together since we first said hello again some 47 years ago… and now it’s hard to say good bye.

 

RIP dad, you will be missed.

 

D.R.    

 



 

On a surf outing in summer of '92

Me on the left acting like a clown,  which is why my dad on the right and son in the middle are laughing. 

 

My story post 57

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.



 



 

My wife Suzi at the Honolulu airport circa 1982

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.

 



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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

When back lit the transparent colors illuminate. 

 

D.R.



 



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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.



 



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

 

What is the dream job for a surfer?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.



 

 



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

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

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

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

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

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

D.R.



 

 

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

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

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

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

D.R.



 

 



Photo by David Pu’u

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

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

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

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

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

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

D.R.

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

D.R.



  

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

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

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

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

D.R.

 





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

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

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

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

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

 D.R.

 

 

 

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

 

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

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

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

Who knows… it’s all speculation. 

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

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

D.R.

 



 

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



My story post 55

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.

 

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



 



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

 

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

 

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

 

Below is a short clip from the same video

 

D.R.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

D.R.







One day left for 2K12. 

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Good by 2K12, hello 2K13.

 

Happy New Year!

 

D.R.     



 

 

 



 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

D.R.



 

 



 

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



The Tropical Santa