Sharkcountry and I will be playing tourist next week
we’ll be starting in Newport for a couple of days and working our way back down to San Diego on Wednesday till Sunday the 17th
hope to see Keith and crew along with family and friends
not sure if surfing is in the picture with the WSL crowds and all
but we’d like to visit as many shops, shapers and swaylockers as possible
I have a new board from Barry I need to pickup as well.
Later
Checked out some of the board making places in Costa Mesa, and some of the shops. Headed to San Diego to see how things are there.
Interesting contrast to what we’ve seen back home.
Be sure to contact me, I have a special template for you. A full size, half template, and a spin template.
What was the contrast?
A lot of the businesses listed are shapers rooms or small factories. Those are very similar to what I’ve seen in Hawaii. Went to shaper supply, but was online sales not a store. The guys at Pureglass were nice and cool. Foam Ez was a lot smaller than I expected.
Fiberglass Hawaii in Honolulu has almost everything you could want on display, except blanks. Those are up in Wahiawa.
All the shops and builders off Los malinos in San Clemente used to be super busy and the street was packed some 5 years ago. Now it’s a bit of a ghost town.
Foam ez - 75% blanks haha. Pure glass is pretty skimpy on the retail side.
The futures factory is in HB. Been through it a few times (pretty cool if you like machine shops)
Don’t know if you are into that, but the Taylor Guitar factory is in El Cajon and has tours Mon - Fri. Interesting if you like guitars and/or wood working. I saw this too late, would have liked to meet up with you guys & taken you to a couple of other shops in CM. (Like Dan Taylor, Promers, etc…) Lots of classic west coast spots on the beach to see & surf also. Did you stop by Aloha Glass? Please give George a call and (if he is not too busy) check out Plus One in SD. A guy who is West Coast but really Aloha… Just my 2c…
In San Diego area, check out Surfy Surfy in Leucadia and Moonlight glossing.JP and his Father Peter St Pierre also known as Peter Pinline. Really good People Then Mitches in Solana Beach. Of course a must is Birds Surf shed. Lots has been said about Birds part retail shop part museum. He will let you check out some classic boards to ride… Berry Snyder could be a good contact for visiting the Oceanside manufactures.
while down in Newport we visited…
Pure Glass
FoamEZ
Sakal
but nothing seems to compare to what we have at Fiberglass Hawaii off Waikamilo
my brother went to huntington to look for Chuck Dent’s old shop and Nuuhiwa
all gone
last time we were there was in the 80’s
driving down in my saab 99 le from seattle during mt st helens
picked up my new board from Barry
had a nice chat and saw some nice big guy boards
met his mom (sorry for making you wait Mrs Snyder)
new board is cherry ready for Shark Country and Pakalas
made sure to tip my new shaper, no 6 pack
Stopped at SurfySurfy and talked story with JP
saw some really nice boards manolo’s. his wife’s and gary hanels, christiansen’s, couple of bonzers
including a lightly used maurice cole shiva deep 6 that had us drooling
just too small for old fat guys
bought a shirt
told JP to give Manuel my aloha
still have the custom coke bottle green quad he made for me when he was just starting out
found out DK was running Pyzel’s shop next to Barry’s
the kids grow up fast
went to visit Jim Phillips but he was gone for the day
will try again tomorrow and work our way down the coast visiting as many shops as we can
haven’t seen anything unique in a regular retail shop yet
we may check out the greenroom although I hear Toby is not affiliated with it anymore.
we’re based on shelter island now instead of newport beach
we’ll still need to decide if we want to get wet
water looks cold i hate cold but we have our suits
waves look mushy and onshore everywhere
so spoiled living and surfing in hawaii
and all the shaping options we have within 10-15 miles
thanks for all the offers (john4surf) still have to hook up with surfdog and maybe tanner for a drink/talk story
just found out Keith who we came to visit in pt loma is leaving tomorrow for namotu plus there’s a south back home
he said to surf sunset cliffs anyway. We had a nice dinner with Keith and Judy, the best of the best.
I haven’t got my Dr.s approval yet to surf but i may.
Thursday
Stopped by sunset cliffs watched the waves but it looked crowded for the wave count, nice looking water though
Went to the ocean beach pier and saw all the homeless went to check out the surf and the old greenroom shop which we found gone but bird opened a bigger and better shop in its place. We met and talked story with a fellow old fart Steevo who used to live at Makakilo when he managed Glen Minami’s Blue Hawaii factory in waipahu. He surfed Officer Beach and Swabbie land back in the say when it was military only. He knew all our friends and family who surfed there like CyrIL Huddy… We exchanged board design and shark stories (mostly my brother), saw some really interesting stuff like and old keel fin and brewer from the 70’s that brought back memories. He and Steve Lis have a neat 5-fin design they made decades a ago. Also sat down and played ukulele together singing “hele on to kauai” which he said uncle Carlos Andrade taught it to him. Had a really interesting KALA uke we played. I told him about my kamaka’s (trnor and lili’u) hand picked by uncle Freddy and dad’s martin tenor from the 30’s. The kid at the counter was real nice (also was into making boards) and told us to check out Bird’s shed. Steevo said his bud Steve Lis was coming up to SD to visit and shape. Super nice people. Such a small world.
On the way to the shed the traffic stopped completely on hwy 8 due to a sink hole right on the freeway. Never saw so many a-hole drivers in my life people doing sht that would cause a brudda back home to jump out and punch them in the face. This caused a 30-40 delay to our trip to the shed so after checking out the shed for and hour (the had some neat stuff including some of Jim Phillip’s boards and a gemini) we headed north to see Jim Phillips and missed checking out Skip Frye’s place. Spent a couple hours up north talking story about board, health and his time in hawaii with Jim and by chance met Terry Martin’'s grandson (a BIG but super nice guy) who was cutting blanks for bing. Jim had a couple Japanese guys looking for boards so we left so he could take care of business. It’s a shame he’s not getting more work while all the chinese boards from the name brands stock all the shelves in the shops.
. We headed south to Icons of Surf to see way overpriced and weird but neat shapes. saw a used 5-fin bonzer I wanted (my brother says i have a sickness) and a unique takayama longboard as well as a used Horan single from Solosurfer’s company Revolution Surf, looked like a baby version of the one I have with the red and black motif. l think the boards at The Chocolate brand board from christienson’s brother were noce butthe boards we saw at JP’s were more interesting like the edge boards and more inline price wise. Listening to people walking in and talking to the people in the shop I relaized how bad its all become for the makers.
We visited downtown or tourist part of san clemente and visited the Hobie shop and a discount outlet for Jacks. picked up a neon lime green rash top for Ewa Beach and kauai with matching waterproofed shorts. Must be the filopino influence of my home break where all the cool guys wear and surf neon. picked up a quad set the Nathan Fletcher quads from 3D to try. San Clemente just felt weird especially the tourist place and beach kind of like lanikai/kailua back home.
We then then booked down to the cardiff patagonia to check out and feel up some Maurice Cole big guy boards especially his shiva and dingo models. The guy who was stocking boards was real nice and showed us the xps foam fcd is using and it’s real good stuff compared to blue dow. Just wish it was available on the market. My brother said he picked up some from Petey who used to make boards fro XTR in Hawaii when he split to bali. I told him my experience with the earlier point blanks like the Mako, Rocket Sled and Munoz which I loved but they yellowed up fast.We saw some of the wood boards from nine lights and danny hess and jon wegener’s boards. Still like fletcher’s FCD shape stuff. Wish they had that bonzer versions of the huevo
Heading south we stopped at Surfside since Mitch’s was closed and met Sean Mattison’s wife. We saw some of his boards Working out way back to San Diego via coastal hwy. It was getting dark so we grabbed dinner at CPK down he street. Saw the cardiff kook he looked frail and lonely and no way near Duke’s magnificent statue in waikiki or King Kamehameha’s across the palace.
My brother just commented that outside of moonlight and waterman’s guild most of the gassing we saw in the shops sucked. Lots of burn thrus and stuff us amateurs do.
Three more days of discovery ahead of us
Seems like the water stinks and everything is a close out at the beaches easiest to get to
We’ll see if we get wet
Just wanted to say everyone we met hear was first class
but the drivers not so much
hopefully skip, the museum, bill, and others while we are here.
the more I travel though
the more lucky we live hawaii rings more and more true
must be getting old
but there’s nothing like home
and sleeping in your own bed
the taylor factory tour sounds neat
BTW
we f’d up big time
when we got home around 9 last night we found out and could hear that Stevie Winwood was playing a concert next door everywhere people were sitting around in the marina listening.
we should have bought tickets and gone
Wish I knew when I booked the hotel,
my brother wanted to kill me
Thanks gor the Taylor guitars tip. I have a Koa baby Taylor. I love it. If I wasn’t a cheapskate, I would own a full size Taylor, like the 6 series. But, I have a Martin, metal dobro, and an Ibanez semi hollow electric, and I don’t play them now. Fingers need to learn all over.
The people we’ve met have been very nice and we’re having a chance to see boards we never see back home. I have a lot of ideas for a new board when I get home.
Are you staying at Humprys on Shealter Island? They have has some great concerts there. I had my Yacht repair and Pinting business there. Stop in at Point Loma seafood for Lunch. If Miguel’s is still there they are Really good Mexican Place try the calamari enchiladas. While in that area you should look up Ace. He is right in OB. I miss my old home in Encinitas. What aI miss more in the old Encinitas. The surf town vibe.
Have fun Keep posting on your your travels.
…may be you can go to icons of surf.
I wonder how do you manage to have a tour in a factory without buying anything…seems strange to me.
The smoked Wahoo, (Ono) at Point Loma Seafood, is as good as it gets. Miguel’s is outstanding. Excellent food.
A friend said he just saw Maurice picking up blanks and bashams in San Clemente. He’s here shaping. If you’re still here, you could try to contact him.
When I had my business on Shelter Island. Had lunch at Point Loma seafood once a week. Glad to hear Miguel’s is still there.
went to try and catch skip but he was out surfing
met Mitsven and his fin maker great people I like his stoke
saw his custom keel fish skip made him
went to Taylor Guitars and had a woodgasm…
wood is good especially, koa, cocobolo, figured maple, ebony, sapele wnd others stacked to the heavens
thanks for the tip
brought a bunch of coaster cutouts home for projects as inserts
almost had a woodgasm at JIm Phillips shop looking at all his balsa and balsa blanks
went to the oceanside surf museum
small but interesting
we’re staying next to that concert site on shelter island
the day before it was Stevie Winwood last night it was Devo
Jake shimabukuro and Kelii Reichel play here too
not a great spot to stay unless you are going to a concert
since they rent the parking spaces out at night for the concerts
probably hang just in SD this last day
been driving what seem like cross country these past few days
drivers here are obnoxious especially the women
Met with Bernie and Harry. Had a nice lunch at Pt. Loma Seafood. Enjoyed some good conversation about Hawaii, family histories, and some surfboard stuff. Just a real quality experience, with some nice people. Thanks guys, for bringing your Hawaiian Aloha, to the mainland. Makes me want to go back to Hawaii, and take you guys to lunch.
Aloha Nui,
sorry I missed this.
I was just re-organizing the garage and came across
that japanese rice paper you brought to plaskett 100
years ago…like, cosmic, man.
safe travels
No worries Bill. If you do come here again, you’re our guest again.
Thanks for the template. Bernie had it in his board bag, so I won’t be seeing it again until next Saturday.
I have a board I need to finish for him and another for his friend, so I don’t think that shape will be getting done soon.
While waiting for our flight home, a guy that was at the Taylor Guitar tour sat down next to us with a new Taylor soft bag. He was wearing a Byrne Surfboards shirt, and after talking to him, we learned that he was Phil Byrne. Had a nice chat with him until we boarded the plane.
