Recently I had occasion to experience some of the services offered by Mr. Peter Casica, and Casica Engineering. The man is the ''go to guy'' for ANY kind of service related to the Skil 100 planer. I recommend him, without hesitation. I wanted to publicly acknowledge my satisfaction with his excellent service.
Thank you Bill, it was a pleasure to meet with you and learn about the double fin design as well as work on your planer. I’m so glad that I was able to pass along Midget Smith’s Skil short base to you, I know that he would have been honored to have you put it back in use.
Midget was a great guy all the way till the end. The fund raising parties were so cool, yet so painful, at the same time. I think Midget really enjoyed himself at those, and it was great to honor him while he was still alive. The party for Chris Hawk while he was alive was a blast also, and the last time all the Hawk brothers were together. Anyways, Pete does great work, and its good that he’s around. Trippy photo with the shovel in the background, Basham’s isn’t the same.
Thanks for the complement ghetto, I appreciate it. I often feel kinda weird going to Basham’s with so many of our friends now absent, and also the fear of finding out somebody else has passed. Even the guys we only see once every couple of years makes me wonder if this is the last time we’ll meet. But then again, I guess that’s why there’s Terry Senate across the street who will change that whole attitude and remind you what is really important.
As it goes Terry is the best, but reminding me of what’s important he may not be the guy, for he has too many distractions. But maybe, its the distractions that really matter. One of the other guys I miss who shaped at Basham’s was Tommy Lewis, a classy guy who showed Al Merrick the basics, back in the “Surfboards Hawaii” John Price Encinitas days. Ask Scott Bass about Tommy Lewis and he wont stop. Brain cancer killed him. Now Gordie and Russell, you guys who give me crap around here, just don’t know and maybe that’s why I am here.
If anything positive has come from all those guys passing, it’s that those distractions are important, the points we remember most. If you’re get too focused on shaping or glassing and absorbed inside yourself, you’ll miss out. Senate is so distracted that even his work becomes a distraction because when he finally gets around doing it, he probably should be doing something else. When I go there, I never know what I’ll wind up doing, or for how long, or who I’ll run into. But I always leave with something more than I came in with. A pure example of chaos theory with an underlying order to all those seemingly random events. Terry should charge a fee for that experience.
Well said Pete. Maybe the space between the words really matters also. Terry is a great shaper, and a so-so comedian. If you haven’t heard his comedy material more than a thousand times like I have, your probably offended I said that about him. Looking at him now, you wouldn’t think he was much of a surfer, but he was back in the day! David Barr remembers how powerful his cut-backs were, and always talks about them when his name comes up. I always talk about them too. David Freakin ripped, and still does.