I just was given via a trade, a 5’4" fish kneeboard built by CME (Cere Muscarella Enterprises). I’ll post some pictures when I can. It’s in pretty good shape. Two-tone green with glassed-on, single-foiled fins that are toed in slightly. Just curious if anyone knows anything about these boards or the shaper. The vintage is supposedly mid to late-'70s. Rails are down and pretty sharp. Looking forward to trying it out.
Yes - The cobwebs are clearing… some of my high school alumni rode his boards. His shop was deep in the heart of Vallejo de San Fernando. A few specific boards come to mind, i.e. square nosed twin fins, some with reversed tail rocker, balsa railed guns along with conventional single fins. Don’t know if he was still around for the thruster revolution. A magazine ad with him in a white suit wielding a planer comes to mind(?)
I had a few friends that rode his boards back then. That is a kneeboard for sure. If it is Bill Boyle’s he lives at the colony now and is worth about 50 million now so he won’t need it. I recently got him a Toby fish. Muzzy use to ride his boards too. Cere was really into the heavy Jesus freak stuff back then as alot were after all the acid…
Yeah, I googled him and found that he runs some church down in a Houston suburb. Sounds like he’s been some sort of pastor for the past 25 years or so. No info on his surfboard building career other than “he used to build surfboards”.
This is an old post but I saw the thread and thought I would comment. I bought a CME "rocket fish" back in the early 70s from Cere. I was initially disappointed with the basic shape. It looked more like a twin fin swallow tail than a fish. But after I surfed it, I loved it and rode it many years in big and small surf. It handled large surf very well. It had the same hard rails with good vee in the tail, a gentle rocker with not much lift in the nose. The following link gives some history on Cere's shaping/manufacturing/retail career: http://www.surfcrazy.com/stanleys/html/CME.html . Enjoy!
Hey Guys... it's me... Cere...found Jim's comment's while searching for any of the old boards for sale. Jim... I'd love to see some pic's of your kneeboard... it may be one of the surfboards we used back then... Micro boards were a big deal for us. Road some 8-10 Hollywood by the Sea on the 5'-er's! If you come across any old boards still intact, I'd like to know. No white suit John. And Liquid, I still am a Jesus freak... though it wasn't the acid! Bahahaha! Thanks Neho for posting the link!
Hey Neil... As much as I would love to shape a few more boards... I am not set up in any way to do it! It was a great time of life, we built a lot of really nice boards... and all I can tell you was that is was my privilege to do it! If you ever see any of our old stuff... snap a pic and send it to me at cere@life4square.com I would really love it!
Hey John... those were some crazy fun days! Muzzy and Kirk... Boyle, Briskin and Ferris... some wild guns and odd shapes... Kirk called the inverted tail, the Galleon... as in Spanish Boat... but it really was a great board to ride... coiuldn't get him off the pin tails though! So when you said you were in basic training did you mean as a surfer of as someone in the armed forces? Did you ride our stuff? Or were you set up with another shop? Hey... if you come across any old CME's snap a pic... and if its for sale, let me know! Thanks! Cere!