I had a brief conversation with a guy in the water last week about surfing. The guy asked how long I'd been surfing. After I told him he said … something like you must really like to surf… and that got me to say… “surfing is a lot more than just surfing.”

It was early morning about 6:30 and one of my favorite weather set ups…. Cloudy along the horizon  but not the overcast marine layer like we get at the coast here in California so much of the summer mornings.

What’s nice about that kind of morning is as the sun rises the clouds block the sun from reflecting on the water as it rises making very blinding conditions riding a wave into the direction of the suns reflection. The same thing happens on overcast mornings as well but with the horizon clouds as the sun rises the clouds and reflecting light can  be very picturesque. So I pointed that out to the guy I was conversing with, the surroundings and environment we are in when we surf is all part of the experience.

And really when you think about it… which I do… just being in the ocean and looking back at the beach is pretty unique. At the point in Ventura when you’re in the water there can be dozens of people on the Promenade looking or watching the surfers and never know what it’s like to look at the beach from the water. Seeing the land scape, the mountain back drop and all.

How ‘bout surfing in the winter up in the Fairgrounds and looking at the Topa Topas covered in snow. It’s cold but can be very beautiful.

Just watching perfectly formed waves while in the water is in itself pretty amazing. Seeing and feeling that energy that has traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles across the ocean to be presented right at the very spot you are sitting on your board.

Seeing phenomenal sunrises and or sunsets while in the water surfing adds so much to the surfing experience that only the surfer knows about and that most people will never know.

It’s all part of surfing, and surfing goes far beyond just riding waves. And riding waves in it self is pretty amazing.

D.R.   

surfing and the surroundings 

Summer is here…. My favorite time of the year. How many times have I said that now?

Yeah, not much for surf and usually on the small side. But, the long warm days and warmer ocean temps where you can spend time enjoying the beach… and not freeze. Surfing can be really fun on the right equipment.

For California summer surfing The Tip Tool is the right equipment. I look forward to getting on mine when the conditions are clean and surf is running waist high or so. Got mine in the van at the ready.

Isn’t it interesting, having a surfboard that you really like being motivation to go surf? I think that’s a good reason to have a couple boards for the varying conditions so you don’t struggle with a board that doesn’t fit the waves and conditions you find at any given time.

You might expect me to say something like that… I make surfboards. Can’t help saying it though, because it’s true.

D.R.

The Tip Tool

I heard a great line in a movie the other day that really hit home for me. A couple hours later it was still with me so I asked my wife if she caught the line…. We were watching the movie together. She asked  “what line was that” ? I repeated the line and she said “no didn’t hear or remember that one”.

Interesting how these things happen. The seen was set in an art class and was spoken by the instructor who wasn’t the lead.. the lead was in the class. It went by in just a few seconds but it hit on something I’ve thought about for years, the difference between art and craft.

So often said… ‘shaping and making surfboards is an art’. Or the person that is making a surfboard is an artist. I’ve never thought that, but rather that I am a craftsman. So then the question… is a craft art? Answer = yes.

So if crafting is art what is the difference between an art and a craft? It comes from the individual working their art or craft… and the line in the movie. “An artist strives for expression… a craftsman strives for perfection”.

My other life long endeavor is playing guitar… a performing art. So when I heard that line I saw exactly what the line meant… in life application. Because when you’re playing music you are expressing yourself. When I’m making a surfboard I am constantly in every stage of the process, from shaping through to the final detail I’m working on or trying to perfect what I’m making… a very nice surfboard.

D.R.  

Photography is an art.. A photographer I'm not.  

I had a conversation with long time local Ventura board builder Stan Fuji this past week. We usually talk surfboards when we see each other and this time was no different.

Stan put out the question.. “What aspect of a surfboard shape do you feel is the most important?”  We hit on rail apex, outlines, rocker etc. Stan mentioned rocker as being critical over rail shapes and outline. I agreed and suggested as far as outline is concerned that bumps and lumps didn’t matter because we’ve been putting bumps, wings in outlines for decades. As well there is a surfboard outline that is the shape of a peanut.

As far as bumps and lumps… once a surfboard gets ridden enough the decks get foot wells and dents from regular use and the boards still ride fine. Stan mentioned bottom contours would effect a boards performance and I said yes but to me foam distribution may play the biggest over all part of a boards ultimate behavior.

How much foam and where / how it is all placed throughout the board is pretty critical to how a board will perform.  Starting there adding rocker curve and how that moves along the length of the board. Outline will have an impact on how the board fits in the wave face. Rail apex impacts how the board will behave on the wave face. Bottom contours for where water flow is released along with the rail lines.

One more critical element… the fin, or fins. Once you have the complete package, the fin or fins, shape, placement can literally make or break how your favorite surfboard performs. So if a board is not working right for you don’t toss it until you’ve gone through a few fin sets ups.

D.R.

I went down to the point yesterday to hang and watch a surf event. It had to be one of the most refreshing surf events I’ve known about for a long time.

The event “1 fin 1 win” was promoted by Ventuckyco, Ventucky.com. @ventuckyco. And ran by my friend Vince Felix.  It was an invitational event so the entrants were selected and limited to 16 men,  16 women and 8 groms. Ok, that’s nothing real different, and that it was a longboard event, nothing different, only single fin longboards, a bit different, no leash… also different.

The heats were 20 min. so with out a leash if you fell and lost your board, had to swim to retrieve it then of course you loose some heat time. Also, the heats started on the beach, which meant that the paddle out took up part of your heat time.  How about this one.. speaking of no leash and falling, one of the rules was if you did fall and lost your board that particular ride was a no score. Imagine finding the best wave of your heat, pulling of great turns and cutbacks, long down the line nose ride and toward the end on the inside you turn back dig a rail fall and loose your board… no score.  

This was a total throw back event. Using your complete board with transition and flow,

style, power and complete rides including the kick out. Yeah, the kick out was once apart of your ride. In the old days never falling off your board… wipe out… was what you tried hard not to do. The good surfer just didn’t fall. And.. the good surfer passed on riding in the white water. If you determine that the wave you’re on is not make able or the section you’re coming to is not make able you’d kick out, always part of the ride. 

On a sunny spring day there were some good surfing in this event and there was some pretty clean surf. Nice longboarding waves at inside point. Happy and fun.

D.R.

Hulls were a product of the short board revolution and many of the boards that came from the beginning years of transition had “S” decks. Having survived through the ever changing years of surfboard design from the late sixties through the 70’s the Hull is really the only board that incorporates “S” deck these days.

The “S” deck is part and parcel to the design function of a hull. Put another way.. a hull is not a hull without an “S” deck. And because of that, the process of shaping one is different than shaping any other design.

Why is that? Foil design consists of a bottom curve and a deck curve. And those to curves bend at differing degrees but the same basic direction. If you place a board on it’s bottom the bottom curve ( rocker ) bends up at both ends, and the deck curve bends up as well. The Hull foil curves don’t do that.

Except for the first 12 to 18 inches of the nose area of a hull where the bottom and deck curves follow each other all the rest of the deck curve moves in a different direction than the bottom. That’s because of the “S” deck. They also have a large crown from rail to rail on the deck as well. All these deck curves make for a very different over all foil design. And, all those curves need to blend together.  It’s tricky business.

I really like shaping Hulls. Putting all the curves together is an effort worth taking. It’s been 50 years since I shaped my first hull… after all that time I’ve never tired of it.

D.R

A 6'3 New Hull

I like to work up different applications when making my boards. One application I’ve been doing for some time now is what I call a compound color lam.

So what’s that? If you laminate one color on the bottom and a tint or translucent color on the deck you get a third color where the deck lam overlays the bottom lam along the rails. A little tricky to do but the results can be pretty cool… at least I think.

A couple months ago I did one in colors I’d not done before. Black and white. White over black can will make gray if done right. By making the white on the deck a translucent see through color I was able to get gray rails where the white over lapped the black along the deck and bottom rail laps.

White labels on the bottom, black labels on the deck and black deck lines to complement the three colors created from the two.

D.R.

As a teenager my parents would say to me “don’t think you’re going to be a beach bum and surf all the time. Find yourself something worth while that will make you a living.” They supported me in my surfing and surfboard stuff but didn’t think surfing would stay popular like it was when I was a kid in the 1960’s.

Little did we know back then that some 55 years later surfing would become the State of California’s office state sport? This year in August “Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Monday that enshrines surfing in the state’s code.” .. that from a story in the LA times.

I didn’t even know this had happened until a couple weeks ago, being uninvolved in things like news and surf media. My extent with the industry is I make surfboards and surf.  Now that I know this I’ve been thinking how surfing has not only grown but grown up as well. It’s not even close to the teenage fad thing of the 60’s. Now it’s a multi billion dollar world wide sport and industry.

Though my parents have passed it would be fun to sit with them now and say “who would’ve thought this would be surfing?… a state sport!”

D.R.

50 years is a long time but, what can a guy say? 1968, the year of the V Bottom was in fact just 50 years ago. The V Bottom didn’t last long as we moved quickly to still more advanced surfboard designs… or at least new designs. For me it was the Hull.

I shaped a fair amount of V Bottoms back in the day working for Morey Pope. Their V Bottom model was the Mctavish Traker. I always wonder where some of those old boards end up. And every once in awhile one surfaces.

D.R.

 A Tracker from 1968

I put my name on this one

A 21st Century reissue

The seasonality of surfing, in California anyway…

So its fall now with swell direction changing from south swells to west north west. The water is starting to cool, but not much so far, which is nice. The tides are changing from morning lows to afternoon lows and day light is getting short.

On that note when I woke up this morning to a dark room and looked at the clock which read 5:30., I thought ‘man if it was May I’d be on my way to the beach right now if there was a swell and it would be first light already. Today first light was after 6:30. As well in May you could surf until after 7pm, but not now.

In the early days of surfing California the summer months were when most surfing took place. I’m not sure how much change there is now in the number of people that surf summer as opposed to winter. Definitely the beach going crowd in winter is pretty much exclusive to surfers.

Some guys like surfing winter more than summer. There are usually more waves and more consistent swells and size. Personally I just like good surf and the surf in winter where I live means the points start going off. Though Ventura point gets south swells and west north west. But personally, I like summer swells more than winter swells.

I like the angle of south swells. Though in Ventura you can get longer rides with west and north west swells you do have to chase sections through soft spots where as south swells hook more at you and can give you the opportunity to really drive a line.

Winter surf pulls all the sand out and exposes all the cobles where as the summer months all the cobles get covered with sand. Another reason to like summer over winter where I live. You lose your board in summer and it washes up on sand.. at least during low tide. Lose your board in winter and it washes over rocks. And you have to walk over rocks to get in and out of the water during winter months too.

As a teenager growing up it was the summer months I got to surf the most and no doubt that plays a big part on why I like surfing during the warmer, longer,o lazy days of summer.

Going to miss them until they come around again next year.

D.R.

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.