…I sold my Surf mag collection in the early 90s to a collector.I most likely had that issue,but all that you read above was from my photo-memory,like it was an hour ago(nice gift that God gave me).I do remember Tom(of course you remember Tom?)showing it to me on the floor of the Dyno shop,and talking about it.As for the size I’m sure I was correct,but remember, “photo-memory” IT’S GETTING A BIT FADED WITH AGE…did I get the color scheme correct? Red top and bottom w/ lg. yellow eagles? Nice to have a conversation with someone else that was there and knows the sh*"t on the real deal…isn’t it…got that Beatty,(I’M SURE IT WAS THE ONE ACROSS THE STREET IN THE WINDOW,who’d know I’d end up with it some 30 years later in great shape)tell Clyde…oh yeah,CORRECTION, it’s not a Richardson shape…sheesh…it’s an Edwards shape.ALWAYS A PLEASURE TALKING W/ YOU MAGICMAN ,ADDS FLAVOR TO A WOULD BE BLAND BOARD !Herb
…and you’re correct about the shaping,but Ben told me indiscretly that Dennis was the designer,but what the hay were in the right ball park…As I stated in my first post that I patterned my hybrid fish after Larry’s(Thanks for the pics.I haven’t seen one in 20+ years or so)twinnies…If you don’t believe me check #200 in the board archives ,6 foot range of boards.it’s scary how close I got by memory only. (oh yeah I do have a set of killer templates to help me) …Back to MR he capped on a good thing but was far from the originator.Later at T&C EITHER Glenn or Dennis came up with a winged swallow tail twin fin that was more pulled in for faster island type breaks that would set the stage for further tweeking of the legendary fish/twinfin…can you tell me the rider that T&C promoted to carry this new winged swallowtail twin fin?This is a great thread !!!Herb
…I know Stacy,haven’t seen him in a long while,he dated one of my old girl friends back in the day…I still keep in touch with her…I’ll see if she keeps in touch with him.Herb
Maybe Dane K. can you tell me the rider that T&C promoted to carry this new winged swallowtail twin fin?This is a great thread !!!Herb
I remember Dane Kealoha RIPPING backdoor on a 5’8" twinfin
Great thread! I know there were many that produced pointed nose fishes right around the time of Clydes. Tom Overlin was another in Santa Cruz. Just seems Clydes was the one that popularized the thing. Likewise it was MR that popularized the twin in the late 70’s, not LB. Technically Tim Briers won the US Championships on a 3 fin that I designed in 1978, three years before Simon. And Brewer had three fin designs long before that. But it was not me that changed surfboards. It was Simon.
…Greg,Does it really matter now? Not really,But I would like to keep it straight.MR saw a good thing and popularized them.As far as Hawaii and most of the west coast goes, T&C was the first to tweek the fish into a twin,but we all know Simmons was decades ahead of everyone.History.got to love it.Herb
You’re all right…someone needs to make a movie about this design. Doesn’t Warren Bolster have footage from the Sunset Beach era lying around somewhere?Don’t mean to throw any further fuel on the debate but I have a question. This is more for the old time HB guys really. When I left Oahu to attend college on the mainland, I seem to recall another guy named Carl Hayward down on Main Street. Seems that he also carried “rocket fishes”. Where does he play in the fish’s development history?
…Yeah carl was there.Got to go now maybe SB can dial you in or…I’LL BE BACK !!!Herbinator
kboy54, Im currently working on a couple of projects for Warren. When he returns from Tavarua later in February, Ill ask him about this subject. Warrens been a witness to so many things that youd almost suspect he was in two places at the same time…
Used to get boards from Carl Hayward when i was attending OCC…not sure how he plays into history but i remember him being pretty stoked when the whole retro fish thing was coming back. He told me “i get to break out all my old templates”. Hes the warehouse manager at Hurley now.
The “Magic Man” must be Max! Are you out there Max? I have about 10 CB Jr. Rocket fishes you shaped, including a very rare round nose 5’8". It’s about 8 years old by now, and was nicknamed Chris’ Cremator. Still in damned good shape, but had the glass on’s replacd by Red-X 2 years ago by Clyde, and added Tiger teeth. Super fun board, so loose and smooth.
You guys are on a roll.Keep the stories comin for all of us that weren’t around.Thanks Herbinator!
Tell Carl hello for me. We were pretty good freinds back in those days. In the final Dyno year or two, Carl was working at the Main Street store in Huntington Beach, with a fella nick-named Mouse. The were both great salesmen for Dyno. Carl was-is a great surfer! At that time, as I remember it, he was dabbling in some shaping for some close friends and whatever else came his way as far as shaping projects went. Board builders of every faze of the process were coming and going through Dyno’s factory in those final Nuuhiwa glory days, and Carl got a chance to pick up some early shaping experience in the stall next to mine. We were shaping everything in those days, and he came on the crew as the gun-fish emerged. I developed this style of fish for myself more so than David, but David would be able to showcase this design and springboard it as Dyno’s latest new model. It was not ment to be, as David soon left the company. I loved surfing all of my own fish, but production shaping five days a week, week after week, after week took it’s toll on my surfing time and energy level. The extra length gave me what I needed for paddling, especially at Huntington. The added bonuses were that longer more positive feeling projected lines were achieved, with the pulled in and slightly straightened curve in the tail area, and of course the incredible fish style speed. Since Dyno was the only company that was making the board at that moment, everybody that was working there was pretty excited about the way it was working. Carl was really putting this shape through it’s paces then and found time to experiment with variations, such as alternative fin locations and trailer fins as well. Carl continued on in Huntington, as a great shaper and board builder, and even took over the Dyno Main Street shop location, when Dyno dissolved. It put a big smile on my face to see his large red reverse swoosh, and his full name crowning the showroom window, on one of the most famous, and colorful of all surfboard manufacturing company’s flagship storefront locations. Hope all is well with you and yours Carl, Steve Brom
Yes, I remember those days Steve. Remember, I too was at Dyno for a time. Worked with Terry Martin on boards there. Damn was Lip a son a bitch… I had to travel with him. David and I would just hide in our hotel room. Mike Armstrong was there too. David pretty much gave up after the '72 World Championship in SD. He should have won …
Summer of '73 or '74 was my first Fish sighting. I was surfing one afternoon with one other surfer at a noted right point break in Nayarit Mexico. The swell was rapidly building and the “little” inside point off the main (Stoner’s!) point was firing. This guy was on a very short, flat, stubby twin keeled board that seemed to have enough H.P. to make even the deepest barrels that afternoon. We talked later and he introduced himself as Jeff Ching. Some 4-5 weeks later on the return trip home I bought my first Fish off the used rack in Pacific Beach for $65.00, a 5’8" Dyno model. Good thread! Tom S.
The best fish riding or surfing I have ever seen was in the sept 75 swell in la jolla.It was 8-10 plus for ten days straight with 72 degree water and offshores.The big rock guys were freefalling into double-triple overhead perfect giant tubes then doing full rail bottom turns ,backdooring the tube all the way to the inside --unbelievable drops and tuberides!Blacks looked like perfect indo at the low tide afternoons.I have never seen it that big and perfect since.I remember seeing Rusty standing in giant tubes with his hands over his head-and he’s tall!But the fish riding of that period was unbelievableand it was almost 30 yrs ago!
He was “Lippo” to us,(Dick Lipincott), yep, he was a real Mo Fo at times!! But he also had a real rare soft spot and sense of humor. I traveled with him as well. We flew to San Diego togeather once. I had no idea what I had just got myself into when I said “sure I’ll go with you” This guy had coke bottle thick lenses for glasses and kind of pointy bald shaped head. He was really bright though, some said that he was ex-CIA. You would sit in his office across from him while he was grilling you about how to maintain shaping ten boards everyday, his chair was against the wall in front of the venitian blinds, that were just cracked open enough to allow this blazing sunlight to play havoc with his outline and there was just enough clarity on his face to see the light refracting off of those glasses. He looked like he was vibrating and you would feel like you were about to get a migraine headache. After a short time you were ready to say or do anything to get the hell out of there and back into the shaping bay. He knew that I was flying a hang glider regularly then, and I was eager to see his plane. It was a blue and white four seater Beechcraft Bonanza with a split tail rudder design. The concentration on the take-off out of John Wayne was impressive, to me. As we got about half way a fog bank type of inversion layer covered the San Diego Airport, and the surrounding area for miles. There I was, sitting side by side, with this guy in this small cock-pit. I was really starting to get nervous when we started to drop down through that shit and couldn’t see anything but grey against the window. I didn’t know how to read those instruments. Just me and him, it felt like some kind of Clock Work Orange mind fuck, and now, it seemed like we had been losing altitude for forever, and then, bingo there’s the runway right in front of us. I felt like walking all of the way back. He let me fly the plane all of the way back, though. Unforgettable. I kind of miss him. Rest in Peace Dick… Army, (Mike Armstrong, great surfer too) would get a kick out of all this old Dyno jabber. He pops in here, once every couple of months on his way up or down the coast from or to his avacado ranch. There was lots of crazy shit going on in those days. After all, it was Surf City. SB
…Dick was cool to me and keep me fed with equipment and even a job thru Tom/Rick McHale.Herb
I still own two Dyno Fish designs a Terry Martin David Nuuhiwa Signature model it’s yellow and about 5.10 1/2" and the other is a 5.10" Dyno Fish shaped by Steve B. it’s a little narrower all the way around and can take some steep drops and it doesn’t spin out! I.ve had it on triple over head waves and been way back in da pit only to pull it into da tube and do rollercoasters in da tube to get out!!! I had a Lis Fish that was pink with stright twin fins it was 5.5" it was a kneeboard really wide. All three boards have glue up stringers I had my brother Herb shape me a 6.8" rocketfish that has 2 fish fins and a box for a third and his supercharger fins, this board is lighter than my others and it flys in 6’ and over waves. I also have a 6.1" Quad Fish for 0-7’ faces it’s 23 1/2" wide and this board is also lighter glass than most it’s a ball in small surf ask Jim about this one…Hi Jim, playing in Catalina Is. this superbowl weekend…Anyways I also have a 6.5 Spitzer Fish that is really fun in 4-10’ surf I…Also have a 1980 Herb Spitzer “Rainbow Bridge” 5.3 1/2 Fish that I rode in WSA contest and actually got a fifth place finish in a inventational Carlsbad…My brother Herb got me into surfing in 1973 and after watching the movie " Liquid Space" film by Dale Davis feature David Nuuhiwa which I watched at the same time I saw A Film About Jimi Henrdix hooked me on what I wanted to do in life…Play a guitar like Jimi and surf like David…Well at the age of 43 I have rode my Fish boards and played my Strats, I have met David enough times to call him my friend and have played music with the Band Of Gypsys Buddy Miles/Billy Cox and now all the shops are stocking fish designs again boy I can remember years ago nobody had a fish in their shop or anyone riding one cept for a few that I knew Mark Perry being one local in Huntington Beach if anyone wants to check out my Dyno’s let me know and come by an take your templetes…I see alot of fish designs on the market today and the only true in mass production being a Steve B. looks alot my Dyno Steve! But nobody and repeat nobody making the David Nuuhiwa Terry Martin Design, I could be wrong but I got the Original Dyno and like my 1957 Fender Stratocaster it may look like it but it don’t play like it…Oh by the Way the first long fish that I saw was shaped by Rick Mchale glassed by Kurt Augsburger on a Christen Bros. Label Long Beach ca. it was 6.4" circa 1974 for Bob Loos. “nuff said” Go Carolina!!!