I heard about this…From the “story” I heard that He did something like a drop knee turn and the crowd boo-ed him.
This was something like the early to mid 80’s something like that.
On that move alone I give him credit.
His writings might be a little cranky, however if your partner passed anyone could get a little stoic and pessimistic.
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The best statement D.P. made was paddling out in a pro contest with a longboard. The rest always seemed like posturing to me.
Yes…I think thats the one. He recognizes as some of the rest of us do…that the pro tour is fixed and nothing but a tool for the rag manufacturing companies and magazines. There was then and no longer is any creativity to it. I gave him credit then, but that was before he began postering as some others have for the title of deep guru board builder.
arrogant? ahh whatever. don’t know the guy myself… i’ve read some of his stuff, and some is perhaps a bit long-winded as they say.
however, even though Geoff McCoy and whomever may have been ‘saying it’ and ‘doing it’ longer, DP had a way of putting it down on paper for the community to read.
i remember some article he did in a surfer mag sometime about 96 or so – about kids doing something like “psychotic nervous twitch” surfing on their potato chips and how we’ve lost a realistic approach to the equipment we choose to ride, and he really turned the light on in my head. Actually for a few years i was unhappy on the thin thruster i was riding, but was locked into GROUPTHINK. Then in the same mag, there was a piece on him surfing the west coast of south africa ( atlantic side), Elaands Bay and all that. and there were some great pics of him riding a stubbie, just so different from ALL the boards you were seeing at the time. It just opened my mind up to the possibilities. ( and that means a lot when yr weight is 220lbs - and most of the waves you ride are chest-high faces)
I can see Anatomy of a Surfboard being useful to someone who’s not so tuned into board design, and what all the features are meant to do. I’m sure all of you know oodles of people who surf, and well, but who don’t know what rocker does and doesnt’ do for a board.
I know Dave and he is a very SIMPLE, COMPLEX person that will give you the shirt off his back. He is an individual alright. He’s not perfect but neither am I or you. What stands out the most for me is his willingness to go to extreme measures past what’s comfortable for himself for his friends even if it will make him appear to be a “Hypocrite”. He fits right in at Makaha because he is a caring individual about his community, friends and family. We don’t work together anymore because he is with the “other” company but his decision to go there was an admirable one. I like Dave as a friend and that’s what counts most for me. He doesn’t give a sh*t what people think of him so this whole thread is really for jibber jabber like all the other non-building threads. Yes, I do understand jibber jabbering can be fun so jib-jab on boys…
"i remember some article he did in a surfer mag sometime about 96 or so – about kids doing something like “psychotic nervous twitch” surfing on their potato chips and how we’ve lost a realistic approach to the equipment we choose to ride, and he really turned the light on in my head. "
One of my favorite articles of all time, probably my favorite issue ever. Must have read it a hundred times. Whenever I saw his name in the heading, it was the first thing I would read.
Fantastic writer in my very humble opinion. As a person, I have no idea what he’s like. I’ll leave the judgements to someone else.
Our industry is lucky to have a gifted craftsman, journalist, and character like Dave. The industry is full of hypocrites, scammers, egos, and characters imagine how boring it would be without them or should I say us? I can see it now hawaiian shirts with plastic pin holders in the pockets and everyone drives a woody!
arrogant? ahh whatever. don’t know the guy myself… i’ve read some of his stuff, and some is perhaps a bit long-winded as they say.
however, even though Geoff McCoy and whomever may have been ‘saying it’ and ‘doing it’ longer, DP had a way of putting it down on paper for the community to read.
i remember some article he did in a surfer mag sometime about 96 or so – about kids doing something like “psychotic nervous twitch” surfing on their potato chips and how we’ve lost a realistic approach to the equipment we choose to ride, and he really turned the light on in my head. Actually for a few years i was unhappy on the thin thruster i was riding, but was locked into GROUPTHINK. Then in the same mag, there was a piece on him surfing the west coast of south africa ( atlantic side), Elaands Bay and all that. and there were some great pics of him riding a stubbie, just so different from ALL the boards you were seeing at the time. It just opened my mind up to the possibilities. ( and that means a lot when yr weight is 220lbs - and most of the waves you ride are chest-high faces)
I can see Anatomy of a Surfboard being useful to someone who’s not so tuned into board design, and what all the features are meant to do. I’m sure all of you know oodles of people who surf, and well, but who don’t know what rocker does and doesnt’ do for a board.
Good post. For the record…I didn’t say he was arrogant. I was just agreeing with the other guy who said long winded. I am guilty of the same thing myself from time to time. D.P. is closeminded on rounder bottoms so I have always disagreed with him on that. Also…you only saw the stub…( which I like fine ) there were many other shapers doing more funcational designs with the same philsophy. D.P. had the connections was able to articulate his point of view and thats a good thing.
I have agreed with an enjoyed as many of his articles as I have disagreed with. I have no comment on him as a person because I don’t know him.
no probls, Solosurfer. i didn’t mean to give rebuttle in that way. But in general … in my world … in my head … he’s the guy that, through his article(s), turned me on to looking for more functional designs. In 96 it was just so different… i have to respect him for that.
he may not like convex bottoms… which i love … and which i know you love… but just seeing him on a very ‘rippable’ SAF wave riding a fuller-nosed, WP-forward board was an epiphany to me. one of those things that i remember, and actually changed my life in a positive way. ( my surfing at the time was getting stagnant i felt)
for some of those HI boys to recognize and accept him within their world – that too speaks volumes, coz usually those kind of people, wherever you find them in the world, would see through any BS and warm to genuine people.
for all I really know about him, and in general… to me DP is a positive contributor to the surfing world.
no probls, Solosurfer. i didn’t mean to give rebuttle in that way. But in general … in my world … in my head … he’s the guy that, through his article(s), turned me on to looking for more functional designs. In 96 it was just so different… i have to respect him for that.
he may not like convex bottoms… which i love … and which i know you love… but just seeing him on a very ‘rippable’ SAF wave riding a fuller-nosed, WP-forward board was an epiphany to me. one of those things that i remember, and actually changed my life in a positive way. ( my surfing at the time was getting stagnant i felt)
for some of those HI boys to recognize and accept him within their world – that too speaks volumes, coz usually those kind of people, wherever you find them in the world, would see through any BS and warm to genuine people.
for all I really know about him, and in general… to me DP is a positive contributor to the surfing world.
Don’t disagree with a thing you just wrote and I am glad he was your eye opener like others have been for me. The creativity and audacity are two elements in surfing and surfboard design I admire most.
after all this talk about DP, i poked around the web and came across a site dedicated to Rell Sunn – man how many different kinds of beautiful can one woman be?
Never met him and (probably) never will, but his article for Surfer back in the early 90 on his first surftrip to Alaska is one of the best surftravel articles i’ve ever read.
i am really glad the mood of this thread changed,i read into it the other day and for some reason it was really getting to me tonight as i layed down a few hot coats,to think that us surfers would hate on someone we don’t know is baffleing to me and the first thing i thought was how could it be that the most beautiful woman in surfing and all the boys at makaha that befriended this man,be wrong.highly unlikely and yes the hawaiians have an amazing gift at seeing thru the B.S.right on guys this man rules and the people of this earth lost an amazing woman when Rell passed,her spirit lives on!
i am really glad the mood of this thread changed,i read into it the other day and for some reason it was really getting to me tonight as i layed down a few hot coats,to think that us surfers would hate on someone we don’t know is baffleing to me and the first thing i thought was how could it be that the most beautiful woman in surfing and all the boys at makaha that befriended this man,be wrong.highly unlikely and yes the hawaiians have an amazing gift at seeing thru the B.S.right on guys this man rules and the people of this earth lost an amazing woman when Rell passed,her spirit lives on!
This man rules?
I don’t see anyone hating on D.P. Folks have a right to have an opinion on what he writes down and claims. I appreciate that he made his stands whether I agree or disagree, but his take on popouts was pretty harsh and then he had some made. It’s a free country and I am not saying it’s right or wrong…but it sends a mixed message to some.
Also…what the one guy said is also right…it is just jibber jabber.
I’m not sayin’ the guy is a bad guy, bad shaper or surfer. But, I am sayin’ that the effort he has made in various media to be the consumate shaper, surfer, journalist is more than the average shaper/surfer can usually endure. His best years were; the years he spent on the Central Coast(establishing himself as one of the best surfers on the West Coast), his years with Rusty (learning the shaping craft), his years with Rell ( learning Aloha).
i am really glad the mood of this thread changed,i read into it the other day and for some reason it was really getting to me tonight as i layed down a few hot coats,to think that us surfers would hate on someone we don’t know is baffleing to me and the first thing i thought was how could it be that the most beautiful woman in surfing and all the boys at makaha that befriended this man,be wrong.highly unlikely and yes the hawaiians have an amazing gift at seeing thru the B.S.right on guys this man rules and the people of this earth lost an amazing woman when Rell passed,her spirit lives on!
I injected the word arrogant for a reason.
I said arrogant/angry because I watched the guy burn people at Rincon on a mellow head high day and then get pissed when someone stuffed him back.
He then paddled back out muttering about flapping kooks.
Again this was twenty five years ago!
It was reinforced once again in some of his writings.
He had something of a reputation in Ventura.
With that said I have grown to agree with some of his writings but for different reasons.
Don’t know DP, but I knew Rell, and I surfed at Makaha a lot in my younger days. I know a lot of the Makaha locals. An arrogant jerk caucasian wouldn’t be able to live in Makaha and have the kind of respect he has from the locals.
Maybe Rell and the west side boys mellowed the man. I think she could mellow out anyone. Age and marriage have their way of making people mellower. Even I’ve become a wimp compared to what I was like 25 years ago.
I know that a lot of people like his boards. My brother has had many of them, and likes them. I don’t.
If you want to learn about boards, just go to any surf shop and spend time looking at boards. Look at it from across the room so you can appreciate the outline, and the rocker. Hold the board in your hands, under your arm. Check how the rails are and how the top and bottom is. Notice how the rail changes as it goes from nose to tail, and how the thickness is distributed. All these things make a difference on how a board rides.
When you get on a board you really like, burn those images into your mind. Everyone is a little different, and what works really well for one person may not work for others.
The beauty of Swaylocks is that we can learn to make our own boards, and overtime we may end up being the best builder for our own boards. Or if you’re blessed like Blaine, you may be making bords that everyone wants.
DP’s article gives good general info. I like the videos he has online on shaping. The combination of those resources would be more than enough to get started. When I was a kid, you’d have to sweep floors or do other menial jobs just to get a chance to learn this stuff.