California Hawaii Promotions CHP. Anybody know anything about this board line?

General Discussion
1

I scored another 80s era board.  An original quad from about 1984.  Been working on fixing it up on and off today.  The board is extremely white.  Unfortunately 4" of the nose had been busted off and the swallow tail was crunched.  I’ve got the nose reglassed and I’m waiting for the cabosil to fire off as I am rebuilding the swallow tail. 

The best part of this board is that it has been untouched for about 20 years and still has all of the classic old stickers on it from back in the day.

I don’t know anything about this California Hawaii Promotions brand label.  I only vaguely remember seeing the CHP logo back in the day.

2

There’s obviously a shaper’s name on that paw print lam. What does it say?

3

Tak Kurahawa (sp?) was the guy that put that program together.

Tak had been a shaper for Con in the sixties, also Greg Noll I believe. Sammy, you’ve posted photos of him in a Con ad I believe.

They primarily sold their products in Japan.

4

During the eighties and early nineties, CHP and Tak were the west coast distributers for Craig Sugihara's Town and Country Surfboards.  Did some boards, but an incredible amount of soft goods, T-shirts, etc. This was the time when Town and Country was peaking, and did an incredible volume of business.

CHP did do boards, but as Balsa Bill said, I believe that the vast majority was targeted for the market in Japan.

5

Yes CHP was T&C back in the 80's, Craig owned the T&C name and Ron did the soft goods side of the business.  Looks like it might have been a store display board, or maybe a board for a trade show.  CHP wasn't a line of boards, it was the name of the company. The line of boards they were pushing were T&C, with big names such as Dane K, and Martin P....along with a bunch of other no name hack wanabe surfers such as resinhead, etc.  viva la 80's

And it was Kaz Fukamura on the shape

6

I think that the CHP boards were made in/or for Japan distribution, not for the U.S.A.

Used to see their ads in the Japanese surf magazines that made their way to Hawaii.

resinhead, do not know your geographical location, but if you ever spent time in the old T&C Factory in Pearl City, do you remember Dwight?

I spent a lot of time there when Ben was shaping under the Town and Country label. Many times had the privilege of making the climb up the stairs to his shaping room and have him create some magic for me.

7

CHP was and i think, still is, a BIG board brand in Japan with strong alliances with Hawaii, Australia and Mainland USA.

Owned by the Nakamura family they have strong roots in the global surfing culture and their main operation in the Chiba area on the coast. They have also acted as distributors in Japan for other brands.

Two of the sons were top Japanese surfers and their family of visiting shapers hailed from all over the world. Several of whom lived as family , married local girls and have established their career thru the generosity of the Nakamura family.

The board pictured is a team board and could even be a Martin potter as the Gotcha and other stickers indicate sponsored owner.

Mr Nakamura, a real gentleman, has lived on and off in Cal and is very close with Greg Noll and many others surfing icons.

CHP was a world top10 board label and their shapers made boards for some of the worlds best, in fact I think current top 44, Mick Campbell was sponsored by CHP in the past 10 years.

That board may be of interest to the family, if you wanted to part with it. Just google CHP Japan.

 

Rocky …nothing like FRESH lobster with wasabi…RAW of course.

 

 

8

Tak Kawahara was… and still is CHP.  He was highly involved in bringing surfing to Japan.  I first knew him as the team shaper for Dewy Weber Surfboards back in the early 70’s.  He’s got a small shop on PCH in Redondo Beach.

9

 

Puamana,

I only knew the guys based out of Gardena, CA.  Most of my shape were done by Dave Wallace or Glen Miamani.

10

Tak retired. Sold the shop.

If you ever visit the Mexican place next door, “The Riviera Grill,” is my all time favorite mex food. Great grilled fish tacos and the best margaritas. Cool environment with beautiful boards hanging and a lot of historical South Bay photos.

11

grilled fish tacos?? suckerin me in, not so sure about the board above but there is a chp shop up the coast a click, actually there are many chp shops still here in this country.  Lots of retail goods and when I went in the few times, friendly people. 

12

I normally would not respond to open forums however, there seems to be several statements made in this forum that are not accurate and I felt compelled to set the record straight.  I feel I am the best one to do this since I am the founding father (1974) of CHP (California Hawaii Promotions).  My original, registered logo is the one in the second photo down from the top, the one in bold, black letters, "CHP."

The board in the top photo was shaped by Kazumi Nakaura, the president of CHP Japan, founded around 1976.  The Bear paw was his shaping logo.  He was a very well respected shaper in Japan and one of the elder spokespersons.  Kazumi and I developed a friendship ever since my second trip to Japan in 1965 and I said yes, when he ask me if he could use the name and logo of CHP for Japan.  Also, that board in that photo I am fairly sure belong to Martin Potter who was sponsored by CHP after his days with Town & Country.  Martin's clothing sponsor was Gotcha.

At the time of CHP's involvement with T&C, we not only designed, produced  and sold the soft goods, we did all accessory items as well as the surfboards as well.  The boards were extremely popular both on the West and East coasts.  For the records, I did not produce CHP boards for the U.S. market because of any conflict it may create with the T&C boards.  Ron was the sale's manager and did not have any ownership.

Not to bore you more, I will finish by saying I did shape for Con (with my close friend Carl Ekstrom, who was recently featured in Surfer magazine), Dewey Weber (shaped the Nat Young model, Mike Tabling model, the Performer, etc), Greg Noll (Mickey Dora's Da Cat models), Hap Jacobs (shaped next to my close friend Donald Takayama and when Robert August was the store sales person), Tom Morey (shape the John Peck model, Bob Cooper model and Tom later went on the invent the Boogie Board), etc.

I am still heavily involved in the surfing industry.  I do some prototype surfboard and SUP designing and shaping.  I did own CHP Surf shop in Redondo Beach for 9 years and sold the shop 2 1/2 years ago. I also had the first factory in Japan and produced the Malibu brand boards.  I am the past president of the Malibu Surfing Association, one of the older established surf clubs in California.

I hope that clears up a few facts.

Aloha, Tak Kawahara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13

 

Hey Tak - I'm stoked this thread came up, and you've responded.  A lot of surfing's icons - you're one of those - spend time on swaylocks.  Some are active participants.  You've just jumped over the fence from "lurker" to "poster".  

Swaylocks is a great surfboard forum.  It's one of the bricks in the foundation of preserving and passing on the art of the surfboard.  Surfboards and surfing are better because of guys like you.

Now that you've risen, please jump in now and then.  You're voice would be highly valued here.  Did you know they're talking about you on this thread too - http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/any-info-con-surfboards-auzzie-model

 
14

There’s a possibilty I’ve ridden a board you shaped. At one time or another, I rode a Weber Ski (Nat’s model), a Noll “Da Cat”, and also a Morey Camel.

Since some one else asked for this, and I hope you don’t mind, here’s a picture of you taken from a mid 60s Weber ad. Plus, a 1963 photo of the Con team when you were a member.

 

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15

Aloha Kendall,

Thank you very much for your kind words.  It's so nice to know people like you remember and value surfing's history.  I appreciate Swaylock's site and a place where real surf people can have a forum.

Thanks again, warm mahalos Tak

16

Anybody have any photos of Martin Potter durring his days riding for CHP.  How cool would that be to find that this board once belonged to a former world champ!!!!

17

G'Day Tak

Back in the early 90's I was on a glassing stint at the CHP Ichinomiya factory and staying at the Nakamura family home when you and your family came for a visit...

Didn't take me long to realise your a man worthy of great Respect.

Anyway, upon returning home to Australia I seem to recall someone ( Midget? ) telling me that you were one of two representitives for Japan at the 1964 World Titles held at Manly...

Care to ellaborate ?

I hope this finds you well and happy.

Regards Sammy S.

18

Aloha Sammy A,

Thank you so much for the photos.  Wow, I wish I were that age again.  Maybe I could catch many more waves.

Thanks for the memories.

Aloha, Tak

19

Aloha Sammy S,

If you spend time with in Ichinomiya, I'm sure that was a wonderful experience.  Thank you for your kind words, I try to respect everybody and appreciate the respect in return.  After all, we're all in the same surfer's brotherhood, right?

Please send me your personal email, I have other news I would like to let you know about. 

Mahalo,

Tak

20

Alright Tak, Extremely nice to see you post on Sways my friend, Welcome. Great to hear some of the history stories, brings back some great memories. Stay in touch and thanks for sharing, it's a honor to have you. Mahalo,Larry