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The first time that I ever saw anyone riding waves on a surfboard was back around 1950 by the pier at Malibu
cove. It was a care-free time when only a handful of lifeguards, movie stars and college students were lucky enough
to belong to that select, underground group known as surfers. This was before surf shops, foam boards and The
Beach Boys. The only way to get a hold on a balsa board at that time was to know one of the guys on the inside of
the loop, such as Dale Velzy or Joe Quigg. Or if you could find the wood, you could try shaping your own. In my
case, my dad used to take me to Malibu on weekends in the summer. At that time, he was an engineer at Northrop
Aircraft Company and had been working on the original Flying Wing. After gathering information at the beach,
he was able to find some balsa wood at L.A harbor and shape my first board in the garage . . . that was the way it
was done. As far as crowds were concerned . . . there were none. Some days you would actually hope that more
guys would show up so you wouldn't have to surf alone. It was a time when the water was clear and words such
as ''ecology'' and ''pollution'' were unheard of. Guys never pushed you out of the way. They would allow you to
drop in because it was cool to ride a wave with a buddy. And you could hone your surfing skills very quickly
because surf spots were never crowded. Compared to today's technology, those early wood boards were primitive
and heavy. But the long rides into the cove enabled us to spend our summers developing our classic, erect, ballet-
like styles. If I wasn't in the water, I would sit on the beach and study the surfing styles of the early hot-dog masters
such as Matt Kevlin and Mickey Dora. I knew then that surfing was going to be a part of my life forever.
Then along
came ''Gidget'' and ''The Beach Boys''. The 60s commercial boom was here. The lighter foams surfboards had
been invented. Surfboard shops appeared on every block. And the surfboard manufacturers and their logos became
as famous as the hot surfers. The surf culture as we know it today, had arrived. The good surfers were all being
sponsored by their local surf shops. Surf teams were put together by the various shops complete with all the team
apparel. Surf competitions were held and it was a real status symbol to find your photograph in the new ''Surfer''
magazine. Surfing was no longer just that neat thing that we did on summer weekends. Now, it was business. So,
I went with the flow. I got a job at one of the major surfboard manufacturers in the early 60s as a salesman. In the
mid 60s, signature models became the rage. Every surfboard manufacturer had his top guy's name on a specially
designed board thatwas a cut above the others. I was fortunate enough to be picked to have my name on that
special model that eventually was to be the class of the industry. It was, and still is, one of the finest longboards
that has ever been produced.
During the 70s, short boards had completely revolutionized surfing. Longboards
had all but disappeared. You couldn't find one to ride, let alone have one made. I was still riding my old 10 foot
pintail that I was smart enough to hold on to. Since style was a major part of what I considered good surfing,
I never liked what I saw in short boards. It was a lot of performance, but no style. It was as if guys were trying to
show off rather than just have fun. So, refusing to give up longboarding, I still dragged my old heavy pintail up to
Malibu. I felt like a stranger in a foreign land. I probably was the only guy in California who refused to give up riding
a longboard. I used to get a lot of criticism from all the other guys in the water that I wasn't keeping up with the
trends. For a long time I actually wondered if I was doing the right thing. But instead of giving in, I stuck with it
and in 1976, I got a hold of a couple of old paddleboard blanks and shaped a couple of longboards to see if I could
sell a few to re-generate an interest in longboards. I can't honestly claim to be responsible for the resurgence in
longboarding, but by the mid 80s it was back. It's been said that if you do something long enough, it can only get
better.
Today, I'm still producing those 60s style longboards along with a line of t-shirts and accessories. The current hi-tech
materials allow us to make millennium style, lightweight, high performance surfboards. I can make these kinds of
boards too, but my traditional longboards have been time tested. They reflect a style of surfing that is part of my
soul. They are memory inspired and are designed, not only to help improve your surfing, but enhance your style for
the type of recreational surfing that is just plain fun. So please check out my web site. And feel free to contact me
if you have any questions. I would love to discuss designing a board for you that will help you get back a little bit of
an era of surfing that many of us still cherish. |
