I am with Lowel…your dad sounds like quite a guy!
roger
I hear you, brother, I hear you!
Bill
This was standard practice for mid 60s popouts. The mold would have a layer of fiberglass mat placed in the top and bottom shell. The foam mix was then poured into the mold and the mold closed down and clamped. When the foam kicked there would be a layer of mat embedded in the shell of the foam. There’d be a halo of fuzzy glass strands around the rails that had to be ground off. Then, there would typically be one lamination of 10 oz cloth applied, hot coat, sand, gloss, fin, etc.
That’s a great photo of Pa Dextra at the trade show. He’s wearing some sort of medallion. It almost looks like the sun face logo, but I can’t tell for sure. I always liked that logo. I almost made up some t-shirts a few years back for the Dextra Bellyboard Team. I was fixin’ to round up some vintage team riders for occasional beach parties. Then the idea went to the back burner.
When I was about 12 years old, we got some new neighbors next door. The older kid had a Dextra surfboard checked out from Naval Training Center. He really liked it. It was just like the one he rode in Hawaii when his dad was stationed over there. It had the big NTC letters on the nose, followed by a number. I asked him if he was afraid the girls would think he was a swabbie. FYI…that’s not the sort of question to ask a Filipino-Irish kid the first day you meet him.
Ya, so there was this sort of swabbie stigma with the Dextras. You’d often see two or three sailors carrying a board “swabbie style” to and from the beach. They would walk about four miles round trip between NTC and the beach. They were often kooks in the water, but also had a lot of fun doing it.
One day when I was waxing my Hobie Mini-Model in shallow water, I spotted the nose of a Dextra as the rider leaned back to spin the board around. It had big rental numbers on the nose. It was always a good idea to keep an eye out for them in those days before leashes. He started going left, and then pivoted 180 to his right. He did a suicide nose ride until the wave closed out. He was able to bodysurf the same wave and recapture the board. He got back up fin first, and then flipped it around. As he rode past me he said, “time to go to work.” It was Hank the rental guy that rented rafts and Dextra surfboards from a trailer on the beach.
In spite of the various stigmas, both good riders and bad riders had fun on Dextras back in the day.
Dextras were the best quality boards of the so-called “Pop-out” variety. Better than any of the Ventura Plastics stuff. “Ten Toes”, “Sting-Ray”, or “Royal Hawaiian”. Detra had a better glass job and were lighter weight , Yeah I liker the “Sol” face logo. But the Ten Toes logo was pretty cool. Lowel
The Royal Hawaiian was made by Dextra. Note address in this ad. Same as Dextra. Accurate Systems, Inc 1916 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa
Dextra ad from January 1968, International Surfing mag. After taking a good look, I haven’t found a single Dextra ad in Surfer Magazine. Surfing Mag seems to be the only one that carried Dextra ads. Petersen’s and/or International Surfing
Dextra may also have been the only 60s popout with interchangable fins. Never saw one in person, but I wonder how they were configured? The bolt is embedded in the fin and goes up through the deck. I can only guess that the nut was recessed in the deck. This ad is from June of '68
There is a parallel thread about Dextra paipo - http://www.swaylocks.com/comment/481742#comment-481742
Rod Rodgers identified ads in the following magazines:
International Surfing ISM 1966-Apr v02n03 p66 Dextra shows bellyboard pic. Costa Mesa, CA.
International Surfing ISM 1966-Jun v02n04 p73 Dextra bellyboard in full-pg color advert.
International Surfing ISM 1966-Aug/Sep v02n05 p69 Dextra bellyboard in full-pg color advert.
Petersen’s Surfing Mag PSM 1964-Sep v01n07 p52 Dextra Doodl’ Board. Marketed primarily as a towing and wake surfing board; also a body surfing board.
Surfing Illustrated SIL 1966-Jun v04n01 p61 Dextra advert
Surfing East SNE 1966-Jul v02n01 p34 Dextra bellyboard (Accurate Systems, Inc.). Costa Mesa, CA
Surfing East SNE 1967-Jan v02n03 p66 Dextra bellyboard. Costa Mesa, CA
The question that still remains unanswered is - the name of the man behind Dextra
Bob
Thanks Sammy. That must be the infamous psychedelic ad. Four pound foam…now that’s trippy.
It seems Dextra took care of some military R and R facilities and supplied rental boards.
Note the listing about the Marine Corps on this page.
Also note the names of the contributors. One used to post here.
No mention of the owner’s name. Just “Accurate Systems”
A Dextra ad from April, 1969. There is a signature at the bottom right. Appears that the name is “Bill Barner”. My guess is that he was the owner.
Full page ad, plus enlarged sig.
Yeah. Some folks would think I know what I am talking about if you didn’t have your magazines handy to correct me. Had a Royal Hawaiian and a Dextra for awhile until my divorce. They came my way in a lot of boards I bought. Sold 'em to Pancho’s in Pismo. Both were at least an 8 thru 10. But were only worth $300 or $400 Max back then.
Sammy,
Thanks. Great - hope we hear if you are right. In terms of former contributors, no doubt you are referring to the esteemed JF Milliken. I came across this the other week and was going to contact him.
Bob
Well, I just came across another ad. It’s all text and I won’t bother scanning it. But, the Barner guy referenced above is apparently someone brought on board at Dextra in 1968. In his long winded pitch about Dextra he mentions a John Redfield as the apparent founder of Accurate Systems. So I think it’s safe to say that “Pa Dextra” was John Redfield.
Yes. I should get in touch with him. Haven’t seen him in a while.
Sammy,
A week or so ago I came across a reference to John Redfield: “staff designed by john Redfield, manufactured by Accurate Systems”.
http://issuu.com/mrdesigncatalogues/docs/california_design_10__1968_
I didn’t find the specific page in the publication but it seemed Redfield was a designer but I could be wrong.
Bob
Well, instead of scanning the text from the ad, I will quote the relevant parts.
The ad begins by giving a little background on shaping and shapers of the 50s and early 60s.
Then,
“…along comes John Redfield. He gets hung up on surfing and making surfboards. But he’s got a different idea. He wants to build good surfboards… at a cost low enough that anyone could surf and own a couple of shapes”
