http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1019956
Here’s the entire thread that I started several years back. The above reference was from Stoked-n-Board that iam2sam had found.
There’s even info from Doc about how to potentially make new fins for the system, which should be helpful if you were to bust that one out.
I read that thread, and the info from Stoked-n-board is wrong. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Just think, when we get through with this Sunshine and fin systems, secret inlets, and baggies, we can move on to the Aipa and have even more fun!
I have at least one pair. Maybe two. I won’t wear them anymore, though. They still fit, they’re just too short. I went back to Birdwells around 1988. Not too short, not too long. Made in USA.
An 80s vintage pair of Sundeks.
Do surfifty and I share the bonus points? I was hopin' Bill would check here and claim it.
And another thing…
Getting back to the Aipa (OK, Mike?)
Ya see that bolt what’s holdin the Fins Unlimited style fin in the box? That is what was/is known as a “Wonderbolt”. Back in the 60s, Dewey Weber used a system called “Wonderbolt” around the time the Performer was popular. Those are the ONLY two fin bolts to ever use that name. So, when someone tells you they have a mid 60s Hansen, Bing, Hobie, Con, Noll, etc,etc… with a ‘wonderbolt’, well, they are mistaken.
That bolt in the Aipa was designed as means to attach a leash. Bad idea. Real bad. Many boards had the tail ripped open or the fin box destroyed because the owner tied their leash to that bolt.
But, I will say that I love 'em, and use them on all my single fins to this day. Why? Not for the leash (oh no!) They are the easiest way to install/remove/adjust a fin. You don’t have to hunt for a screwdriver or hex key. Anything metal that’s thin enough to fit through the eye will work. There’s been times when I’ve come out of the water and fished a nail out of a piece of driftwood on the beach, adjusted or changed a fin, and gone back out. Those things are great. Just don’t tie your leash to it. K?
OK.
I was hopin Bill would reply before anyone else.
Ok Ok here I am. Just read this thread and as I’m scrolling down I’m thinking wow woudn’t it be nice if Bing would jump in here and straighten everyone out and about that time I see Bing’s post. Thank you Bing for being here and adding what in my opinion is priceless information.
Good seeing you at the G&S party and then at Duke’s deal the next day. What a great weekend.
Yeah. The trunks. I hated making them that short but that was the market. That’s all anyone wanted and that’s what we had to make.
You think those are short? I’ve still got the pair of Take’s that I bought in 1972 at her shop on Kalakaua. Custom made from a real rice bag with real coconut buttons. Now those were short.Still have a shirt I bought the same day.
Claudie stops in the store every once in a while and yes he’s still making Sunshines. He should have a forty year party.
This is just an educated guess but the AIPA looks something that would have been produced between '74-'78. The Surfings New Image logo may indicate it was produced in CA. I saw somewhere that Rick Hammon was shaping AIPA stings at one point. Like I said, it's just an educated guess, so hopefully someone will come along and confirm or correct this post.
top for aipa info!
Maybe you should post more pics of the Aipa?
What more do you need to know? Pretty safe to say it’s a mid 70s Aipa that needs major work on the tail. I know that SNI had a shop in Solana Beach around 1978. Might try speaking to some folks from that area?
I worked at the SNI factory during 77-78. The guys shaping there then where Mike Slingerland, Rick Hamon, the late Mike Vasquez, Donald Takayama and Randy Wong. Steve Williams and Gary Mumm did the glassing. Gary Brummett was the glosser/ pinliner. Mike Hagstrom and his wife Monica did the airbrushing. I can’t remember who was sanding back then. The eccentric John Wagner managed the place. I was a lowly polisher gettting paid $3.50 an hour. It was my first industry job.
Ran into Aipa at the Bowls parking lot this morning. During the course of our conversation I mentioned your board and he said, like the previous post mentioned, that Mike Slingerland and Rick Hamon among others were shaping his boards on the mainland, Mike doing the longer more drawn out boards like yours and Rick doing the shorter, wider, stinger types. Cool to have someone like atomized who was actually there to document the era.
Was the mainland SNI factory in North County? I ask because back in 78 I bought an egg from T Staples, and it was shipped East in a batch from SNI. A local (RI) shop was an SNI dealer and they hooked me up even though they had no connection to Staples.
The SNI factory was on Cedros Ave in Solana Beach a few door north of the Belly Up Tavern in the row of quonset buildings on the west side of the street. Before then it was a bit north across the street in what I’ve been told was the old Hansens factory. That whole street is now gentrified with a bunch of yuppie designer furniture shops, galleries and restaurants. If I remember correctly Tony Staples had his shop within sight from the back of the SNI factory on the Coast Hwy.
Shwuz,
Did you get those boards from the guy down by Six Points?
Yep, totally. Good call! he had some interesting stuff in his garage.
I got the “sunshine” all patched up and ready to ride, took a template off of it for future reference and took a mold off the finbase so can pot a modern glass fin into a base which will fit the “guidance systems” finbox. That one will get ridden! Next project is fixing up the Aipa.
I called him , and was going to go have a look, but our schedules didnt meet up, and then it was Christmas time and I couldnt make it. Nice find!
So I repaired the Sunshine. Note I say repair, not restore. Dings were filled with cabosil and patched with epoxy, so you can see the white of the patches.
Anyway, I rode it once and it was kind of cool but not like ride everyday kind of cool. I took a template off it so I can make my own version when I’m ready to shape another.
My friend is seriously hassling me to sell it to him and I have no idea what to ask for it. I’m only into it about $100 including repair material and about 4 hours of work. What do you think I should ask for it? On the one hand, it’s a “piece of surfing history” which is priceless. On the other hand I’m not into it for that much.