For Chip - Do things really get better?

General Discussion
1

This is for Chip(Ben)

Out of touch…

My brother and I have out the last 3 weeks preparing for my Dad’s Funeral which we finally got thru on Wed. It was very beautiful and many people from all over came to show their love. We had a very special life around the world and and here growing up right on the beach with family and dear friends. In going through the family albums to prepare for the funeral we ran across these old photos some of which I may have posted before.

But it got me reminicing, that we did all this stuff everyone seems so facinated with today so many years ago as young innocents… Embarassing as these photos are for me to show. it’s all about aloha and the love for the ocean and in honor of my father and our beachhouse clan that I show them.

Especially for Chip/Ben…

Times are very hard for our small family right now and alot of the enthusiasm for all this board building stuff has been taken out of us as we try and put our lives back togethor again.

Times heals

the ocean is our constant

unfortunately I tore my minicus again during the incident and no early morning surf sessions makes this all alot harder to deal with…

The period of these pictures I believe is 1967-1971

Three grems posing before a shark country go out (clear plastic fin in the no rocker Dextra)

A Dextra Popout from Uncle George D, a home made beachboy minitank and a custom Isaac Tanaka hi-performance 5’10". Isaac lived across the dirt road heading to haubush.

Finally gave in on the 25lb Dextra and got my own 6’4" Issac Tanaka egg railed performance model eventhough the Dextra lasted eons…

Even experimented with this concept called tri-fins using these dounble stick tape lexan add-on fins…

Way before the MVGs and Herb’s Superchargers. Hey did Buttons and Dane steal my color setup?

We finally got our own quiver including two gems from Harold Iggy at the Surfboard Shaping Company

You cans see a rebuilt garbage can salvaged squaretail to fish that started with one of those sweird single cutout fish flex fins that let the water pass thru until the fin snapped and board snapped on a 4’-6’ day out at sharkcountry. We patched the board back togethor and smoothed out the joint with bondo and put on the keels. (I still have those fins today) Someone say Daniel Thomson/Richard Kevlin? Where they born yet?

Another experiment with Iggy’s pipe special pin tail and a 24" long 7" high keel fin. Rode this setup in 5’ long big west walls at White Plains(Barbers Point Officer Beach back then) with Alan Panteleon (Inventer of the Allen Wrench)

Memories are nice

reality sometimes is not.

is the future the future?

or is it just another version of the past?

I am my father

my father is me…

Aloha no and A Hui Ho!

2

hi bernie !

so sorry to hear about your dad , mate .

Your brother pm ed me with the news a while back .

I hope things really DO get better soon .

Great that you have those photos and memories , and thanks very much for sharing them

The shots of boards are GREAT mate , and certainly nothing to be embarassed about .

Some interesting boards there .

Aren’t you glad of relatives having the foresight to take pictures as you were growing up . First board shots , surfing shots , skating shots …

as much as anyone else , it’s probably good for the 'cheater5’s , the 'josh’s , the ‘deathfrogs’, the 'rachel’s , and 'rhino’s here to see that yes , [even though it was a WHILE ago now !] we all once were younger grommets …

cheers

Bernie

my thoughts , prayers , and deepest condolences / sympathy to you , and all your family . I hope you are blessed with some great surf[s] very very soon !

3

Oneula,

My sympathies to you, your brother and family. Losing someone close and dear is probably the hardest thing one will face in life. I lost my dad 6 years ago and my mother with whom I was especially close to a year ago this past Tuesday. For me things have gotten better, but it got better very slowly. Food did’nt taste as good, it was hard to get a chuckle out of me, shaping…nahhh. Slowly but surely, things did start to taste better, I started to laugh again and I even shaped a board for my friend. Mom, thanks for always being there. Happy Mother’s Day…

Thanks Bernie for sharing the photos. It kinda mirrors my surfing experience. I wish I had kept photos we took during that era. Those were the days.

FD

4

oneula: i am sorry to hear that you have lost your dad. i have just said a prayer for you & your family. grief’s journey is a long one & i pray for strength & reassurance upon its path.

they are lovely photos, offering a glimpse into a fortunate youth lived with the sea. thanks for sharing them.

yes, you are your father, & he is you, flesh & blood, spirit to spirit, deep to deep. forever & always.

5

the late 20th century,it came to me

at the passing of a friend

on the block,

a great time to live.

to have a father

gets you farther

and until he is gone

you can be the kid

Kid times gone

you the one.

the kids are now watching you

to see how to act.

when we are gone…

their kid times gone too

god, good game.

Aloha daddy.

say hello to my dad and

Teddy…

…ambrose…

cool pictures

hey kid…

6

Hey.

Im also very sorry for your loss.

I love the boards. Its soo interesting to be able to see the actualy boards ridden and shaped in the ol’ days.

Im lucky to have guys like all you to give guidence (spelling??) e.g. keeping old boards and taking many a photo

to keep for years to come. I know that one day like you i will look back on all the photos i have and laugh/smile/cry

on all the memories. Those sngle fins of your really are amazingly cool.

Cheater aka Chris

7

My condolences to you and your family.

I hope your father lived a long and fruitful life.

Regards

8

hey pal – things will get better – time heals everything. those are nice photos.

All the best to you and your family.

rgds,

Jason

9

Oneula,

My sympathies too- it’s never an easy time but I’m glad to hear you have ohana around you- helps a lot. I’ll look forward to your return to sways, but in the meantime those photos are great.

10

Hi Bernie,

I hadn’t wanted to bug you with emails…Dan B let me know about your father. I’m so very sorry. I know your family is quite close. One of the reasons I live where I live is to be near my parents. Let my kids grow up knowing their grandparents. For so many families, grandparents are people you see a few days a year and who sometimes remember to send a card…for me, family is everything. I know you feel the same.

I’m also sorry to hear about your knee. Try go for a bodywhomp, flipper on the good leg. Take along a cafeteria tray, just for hoots. Be that kid again, just happy & laughing in the water, salt in your eyes & sand in your ears. It works every time.

Time - its all about time. Aloha, Gustav.

Ben

11

Oneula,

So sorry to hear about your Dad… I know the feeling well… I wish I didn’t… Things do get better… Aloha to you and your family…

12

Mahalo for the kind thoughts everyone.

Life goes on

I know that…

For you Chippy…

same shots 30+ years later just to show we haven’t been letting down on production.

here’s half of the latest batch of cookies out of the oven that we still need to taste when we have the time and I can walk again. CMP’s helping us with the rest.

Again…

The question to ponder

Is today just another version of yesterday?

These are all from $15 Lowes .75lb foam

My brothers laughing at all here facinated with the pinched rail and hull shape coolness as here’s his 6th version in EPS a 6’10" no rocker full concave hull with greenough paddle

Mark’s red MVG mounted and ready for a good shark country south swell and a repaired knee.

ripped out the second probox hawaii box from the nose on the right ridingthis as a quad with FCS H2s up front and MR twin keels in the secong slot. Too much fin I guess for the .75lb foam. Second time this happened to me with probox’s.

Board was alot of fun up till then. Even rode it as a five fin with the blue MR’s up front the little trailer in the back and a couple small GR side bites in the back. I had to go in and switch to my 6’9" Surflight and had a blast on that board for the first time… Very fast that Richardson softy design very smooth too…(comment for you craftee)

Aloha no…

13

Onuela,

Oshaa. That’s what they would say in Sierra Leone, West Africa. It means, “I share your pain.”

When my Dad died I went to the hospital and as I stood there a soft breeze was rustling the privacy curtains around his bed. Only much later I thought it strange that there should be a breeze inside a hospital.

Later that day I went to spot on the cliffs above my favorite surf spot. And I felt the same soft breeze. That soft breeze, for me, is my father.

Your father has entered the great mystery. You can feel him there, in your heart, stronger than ever.

Jeff

14

Man, that’s the coolest quiver.

15

Oneula,

so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. My deepest sympathy to you and your family.

They say time and nature are the great healers - let both of them gently do their work.

Thanks for sharing your photos with us all at this time also.

Best Wishes

Rohan

16

well , yes …

your BOARDS certainly seem to have got better , over the years !

still in the same house from all those years ago ?

That’s great ! (I wonder how many other Hawaiians could claim the same thing ?)

Those boards …

they look really interesting , and varied , Bernie !

…Thanks heaps for posting them !

I hope your knee heals well , for you to be able to go surfing soon as you feel up to it .

cheers again ,

…thinking of you all at this difficult time …

with kind regards ,

“chip”

17

Hey Bernie… sorry to hear about your dad. I lost my dad a year ago so I can relate… yes, things do get better, that’s for sure. Just takes a while. Much aloha,

K

18
Quote:

your BOARDS certainly seem to have got better , over the years !

Well unfortunately, we’re dissapointed to say the least with our little venture into this board making escapade…

Wait till you see what Griffin’s making for us in the near future…

A couple of state of the art Sunsetpoint Surfboards 5-fins and quads just in time for summer.

I was supposed to bring one up to the fish fry to show the Cali’s how Northshore does a full throttle Backyards smoker fish…

All I can say is you can’t beat experience and years and years of knowledge.

Pay homage to the sensei I say…

That bamboo 5 fin was going up with me as well and end up at Keith’s house for all you Swayers to play with until something else came up. I also have CMP finishing a Futures 5-fin bamboo fish for Keith’s sways-loaner quiver.

I’m glad I found out out the probox weakness beforehand though, I’ll need to beef up the area around the box to prevent these blowpouts… They’ll always be here for Keith to pick up if he comes out here again this summer or any one else wishing to serve as a gathering place for swaylockers…

Quote:

still in the same house from all those years ago ?

Yup… At least my dad since 1959

10,000 square feet paid for and we own the land we’re on.

I did a 20+ year stint on Seattle though before realizing I needed to be here instead of “living the fast life” in the big city.

Although now we’re thinking of moving closer to town now where I work since my mom’s alone and the neighborhood isn’t what it was 50+ years ago. Like anywhere else in the country, Ewa Beach was an awesome place to grow up especially with a beach house fronting an unreal secret surfspot 5 minutes away. Unlike my cousins, when the mosquitos got too bad, we’d just jump in the car and go home to a nice buzzing free bed.

I still do wonder if its better now though, cause we surfed some unreal waves with some really terrible equipment which is why we experimented all the time. I just don’t see that attitude in the water today as everyone seems to want to stay within some sort of invisible boundry line of peer acceptance. From our new quiver you can tell we still don’t care what the others think. We’re out to find out for ourselves…

When we were young, we just didn’t care.

Was our equipment that junk?

Or were we doing it for the right reasons…

Maybe cause we lived it all versus pretended like we were(surfing today).

That’s why core sways is so attractive to us…

I once even paddled out and planted a balloon with a rope and anchor to mark my take off spot.

Perhaps we invented the priority buoy(sp?) that day…

The circle of life…

It’s so true…

19

Hi Oneula,

Very very sorry about the loss of your pops. We moved here to be close to family as well. Saw my mom and grandmother(96 years old) today for Mother’s Day. I’m glad my kids got to know their great grandmother. Family’s the most important thing. Cool boards. All of them. mike