Fletcher got on the wrong path too, Brendan just vanished off the face of the earth, gary did gallager for a long time, but had to give up that piece of “property” to his x in a divorce, now he runs Carrot Top and still does concert promotions
Saw Fletcher at Surf Expo. He’s retired and moved back to Brevard County.
Gary Propper also is back in the area. I had lunch with him a couple of weeks ago. After Gallagher he managed Carrot Top and then Jon Lovitz. He was the driving force behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
He’s managing several acts and bands including Sybil Gage, a jazz singer (check out her website, fabulous) that I play piano for occasionally.
Re Artie Styers: He was the first G&S dealer in Brevard County (Sea Park Surf Shop Satellite Beach). He sold the shop and traveled around. He landed in San Diego around '69 or '70? on a sailboat just in from Panama. He stopped by G&S and ordered a board from Skip.
We got word not too long after that about the incident that Jim mentioned above. He never did get that board from Skip.
BalsaBill,
If you see Fletcher again tell him Randy Whited said hello. Ask him if he knows where Cherie is.
.
Hi. I just stumbled on this discussion and it brought back some serious memories. I was raised in Belmar NJ surfing there starting in 1964. I still own a Challenger Eastern (7' 4") that was originally owned by Donny Clayton. I also own a Rible (9’ 4”) that I watched Bob Rible make in his “factory” in the chicken coops on the big bend on Belmar Blvd where Colfax Plaza was built (I still live within a stone’s throw). I did not know the guys from Challenger very well as I was a bit younger than they, and they all seemed a bit intimidating, but I did make friends with Ron Sandman who spent one summer working at the Challenger factory. He was a very cool guy, very very blond and white white skin (for a surfer) and I have often wondered what ever became of him. Other guys I surfed with: Eddie Lister, Bobby Sullivan, Gary Newman, Burt Dodge, Bobby Yard, Dennis Lavender, Raul Cordue, Jake Peppers…well, anyway, those are some of the names that come to mind. thnx
Hi Jim; Well they say that Google is your friend .!! From time to time I Google my name to see whats going on and this discusion here has really brought back some crazy memories !! I realize that it’s been 45 yrs. But I don’t remember any
Ernei Vohs sanding for us or Jimmy Dalton glossing I believe he did ding repair but that was about it in SD Grub was our sander . Sad to hear about him last time I saw him was about 66 and he was living with his girlfriend down near Belmont park . He was starting to wig out then and I allways wondered how long he would last… That story about "Seaweed " the dog was an absolute hoot !!! I had a dog recently very much like that , the kind of dog you’d love to take to the Westminster Dog show and just let him tear things up. Not a show dog !!!
Recently in Ocean Magazine Bobby Thomas handed over a made up fantasy which partially delt with our biz deal in which I sold Challenger to him . He discribes me as a wounded animal and that I would take anything for the biz the truth is that I was really wanting to build a 36’ trimaran sailboat and get out of SD , Which I did . he scraped up $5000 and it was his !! I made and sold Paipo boards to surf shops and PB Divers to finance the boat . Sailed to Maui in 70’ and met my wife Sue . Is your shop the one on the north side of “the hill” ? I might have met you one time when I was being shown around by my brother Willy I now live in E. Oregon. Aloha, Frank McCleary
Hi Frank,
Glad to hear all is well with you.
Randy Whited
Hi Hartson,
Say hello to everyone.
Randy Whited
Hey, Randy. If I see anyone, I surly will.
I knew Seaweed very well. He was a gentle giant with a smell about him rivaled only by Bob Rible himself. Rible had a suburban-like auto, might have been a wagoneer or some such that he use to transport Seaweed from home to the surf shop where he would hang out all day doing exactly the sort of things that Jim describes. The widows on the car were so thick with splooge that you couldn’t see in the car. Facing west, Rible’s shop was on the south corner of 12th ave and ocean and Manatee surf shop (a Hobie franchise) was on the right, or north corner. This was a good case of up scale, down scale, with all of us “real” local surfers preferring to do business with Rible, shunning Manatee with its clothing department and high end Hobie boards, leaving that stuff to the “Bennies” that came down from the north. In the meantime, Rible’s was so smelly and dirty no one but us hard core locals would set foot in there anyway! I now live about 200 yards from the house they had to cut into to get Bob out after he passed away, and I know that part of the story is true too.
Hi Randy, I do remember you !! Whatever happened to the company truck that Tinker cherried out and you all drove back east in ?? One story Tinker told about Dale Dobson was that as they were driving on I-5 in SD there was a steam driven pile driver at work and Dale said “Now I know where fog comes from” Tinker just rolled his eyes and let him believe it . He was serious ! What is Jimmy Dalton up to ? I remember Craig Bruha as a sort of geeky looking kid , skinny and white hair but a darn good surfer . Tinker was " Mr. Efficient " How much oatmeal did you guys eat ?? That was his main food . Also we would have one meal a day at the " Chuck wagon " Man we were efficient !!! Hey I’m having fun at this reunion!! Frank
PS Where are you and Jimmy living now ??
Hello again Frank,
You know we have all been through many “lifetimes” since the early 60’s … the states of NJ and CA have, the nation has, and the world has.
I remember when you and Baynes let me be the first east coast rep for Challenger in Florida. I used to watch Apollo flights take off from my house on the beach in Indialantic. As a high school kid I did not sell many boards, but I got the Challenger name out and was pals with those who became good and famous Florida surfers and eventually rode Challenger for awhile (Styres, Fletcher Sharpe, etc).
I lived in Mission Beach before you guys moved the shop there in early '60’s … the days of the Kennedy assasination, Vietnam War, rock music revolution, protests … but mainly good, good surfing and good surfboards.
I don’t know what happened to “the white whale” surf truck. Dale Dobson and Tinker had a personality conflict, like he and Springsteen did.
Dalton is a San Diego guy heavily religious last I heard. Brooke is in Ensinitas, Belinda is in Hollywood, Beverly is in Newport Beach, Norma is in North Hollywood. Craig Bruha dropped off the face of the earth. Steve Dorsey died in Hawaii. I am in Texas now. I lived with Belinda until about three years ago. I was married in Alaska to another woman for 23 years before that. I have kids and grandkids.
I have talked with Wally Schriefels and Tinker in the past few years, Wally recently.
I used to drive thru Oregon where you live every few months 2000-2004 … nice country.
I know some musicians here who are moving to Portland in August.
later Frank, take care.
Randy
Hello again Hartson,
I remember the Rible shop and the Manatee shop.
Art Meinung and I did a comic book called “Elbir the Fat”. It was about the Belmar surf scene as it was when we drove up (from California). “Eetanam Castle” was the Hobie (Manatee) shop.
Jim knows about it.
The atlantic surf magazines were afraid to publish it, even though Tinker leaned on them to do it.
It was true early surf literature … but a bit too strong for their eastern tastes at that time, even though we considered it light hearted and did not hate Rible or Manatee.
We were just riders on the storm.
later Hartson,
Randy
The imfamous “White Whale”, a '51 Chevy former bakery delivery panel, with a '53 GMC bored out to 301 CID, '34 Ford dump truck trannie, straight cut gears, double clutch for each shift. It died inside the factory on 9th Ave in Neptune during the factory fire, my grandmother died the day before and I was in NJ and drove by the factory to try and reconcile with TInker, little did I know all I would see was water soaked remains with a 16" I beam fallen right through the roof of the “Whale” and into the concrete floor. It sat there with only the wire belting of the tires remaining on the rims, a sad sight to see.
Tinker had me drive it to Rhode Island for a contest, he drove his "58 Chevy wagon, snow white like the “Whale”, Tinker ran no fan on the engine, pulled away too much horse power. I stopped at the end of the New York freeway to gas up and check all the engine fluids, the underpaid gas station attendant forgot to screw back on the radiator cap. Off we went, but in a few mile the engine temp was on the rise, Tinker had an extra heater core installed for slow traffic situations for additional cooling, I flipped on the heater fan, but the temp kept climbing.
Connecticutt has a lot of reseviors and ponds, I pulled off an exit and filled up the spare jugs with water, I had turned off the enghine to let it cool down, now I was only about 19 years old and little real automotive expertise.
With the radiator cap off and the jugs off water filling it up, it started making all kinds if groans and squeaks as it sat there, when the temp gauge said cold I tried to start it, but it was like the battery was low, we were on a down slope, so the rest of the team started pushing the truck and I popped the clutch and the “Whale” roared to life. With the crew back on board, off we went, but in just a few miles the temp stated going back up again. We got to another pond and loaded up with water again, this time the starter wouldn’t turn over the engine at all, we were on a really steep off ramp and started coasting for the clutch pop again, I got up to about 25 MPH and when I let the cluth out the rears tire squeeled before the engine turned over but did not start, I still had enough speed to coast up the on ramp quite a ways. I rolled it backwards down the ramp and popped it again, this time it did not start and a deluge of water shot out the tail pipe. I knew there was no direct route of water to combustion chambers, this was an era of no cell phones and no way to contact Tinker. It was getting very late in the night by then, so myself and Bob Bernokeitz started hitching for Rhode Island, we got there in 2 rides, but it was near midnight by then.
We found and old abandoned hotel in Narragansett, crawled through and unlocked window and tried to sleep the rest of the night. At first light we were up and waiting for Tinker at the contest site, he found us soon enough and blew off the contest to rescue the rest of the boys and retrieve the “Whale”.
This is when Tinker goes into overdive, we get to the truck and he tries to start it with jumper cables, before long he see the solder around the radiator brackets is melted, "do you know what temperature solder melts at, 750 fucking degrees. " He starts to partialy dissassemble the motor on the side of the road, but stops and goes for a towbar to take the “Whale” back to NJ.
Scared shitless, I tell him I will pay for the repairs, but he backs off, the engine got sooooo hot, how hot was it?, it was so hot the valve seats came out of the head and were sitting around the neck of the valves, the head had to be machined. Tinker put it back together good as new until its untimely death.
Now Dale Dobson, whew!
Tinker had Dale in Rockaway, NY for a demo, Dales teeth were in terrible shape and he had a throbbing tooth ache, Dale gets Tinkers ammo can of tools and finds channel lock pliers inside, soon he has the offending tooth out and in short notice has a bag of jelly doughnuts, munching away on them. Bill Bahne eventually springs for a set of dentures for Dale.
While riding for Donald Takayama, Dale sits in on his new shape, only those of you that have EVER shaped a board for Dale can really appreciate this, Donald in done and Dale asks if Donald can make it any thicker, Donald bends down and scoops the foam dust off the floor and tosses it back on the board.
I shape Dale a Surfboards Hawaii, Dale has ridden for EVERY southern California lable, he come back ranting on this is the best board yet, the next day he comes to me and says, "you know I rode the board at low tide and it ripped, but when i took it out at high tide it did NOT float me as well with all that extra water under it. There was ABSOLUTELY no point of any explaination that he may have been wrong.
Dale hated the nose rider I shaped for him, only at the insistance of others who rode it also, did he relent and get back on the board. He won the Oceanside longboard Club noseriding contest on it and $3,000.00
Daled loved his boards until the 28th or 29th of the month, then they went on the auction block to pay the next months bills.
Dale does not surf anymore, he had nerve damage in his neck and has been sober of a long while, but the alcohol was a self medicating haven for him, he suffers from sever depression, from what I have seen of his childhood, I would be seriously emotionally depressed too.
God love him and watch over him
Randy; I don't recall me and Bahnes having anything to do with any East coast desisions , that was Tinkers bag , but hey that was 45 yrs ago . Thats kind of scary !! I like your discription of "lifetimes" Was Steve Dorsey kind of a tall lanky sort of kid ? I;m trying to place him . Does anyone remember Lieberman ? Just before you guys left for the East he borrowed $10 bucks from me and I never heard from him again . Funny how things like that are remembered . My brother says that Tinker is now a stockbroker, that sounds about right!! Is there any way I can get in touch with Dalton ? My mother is 95 and is failing fast and I've been going to SD more and more now . I just hop in my little Geo metro and do a non stop 1200 mile down there I listen to Fleetwood Mac it's better than coffee !! This lasr Feb. I went down and when I got to the Cajon pass out on the desert the the rain and snow closed the pass . It was a real mess When you drove thru E. oregon were you on I-84? We are 40 miles E. of Baker city, if you're ever in the area let me know. I don't remember any of those girls you mention. Our son lives in Portland . Hey good chatting with you. Frank PS I don't know how this post changed to bold .
Good heavens. Thanks for the great story. I knew Bob Bernokeitz and his sister Kathy. Local Wall NJ family. Surfed with another kid named Ron Jennings who eventually became a Wall Township police officer. He and his childhood sweetheart, Roxie had kids about the same time I did and I would see them at all of the open house type events at the kids’ schools. I also knew Rick Barry well, St Rose High School kid who grew up to work for the NJ securities and exchange commission, clinking the likes of Bob Brennan, who was selling junk bond to little old ladies out of savings and loans.
Jim, I find it hard to believe we never crossed paths in the late sixties as I spent almost 100% of my summer time either on the Belmar surfing beach (at that time stretching from about 7thth to 9th ave) at Jans in the 5th Ave pavilion, or in Rible’s surf shop. As I mentioned before, the only CA guy I knew who worked for Challenger was a short-timer named Ron Sandman. I did know another Hawaiian guy who came east about that time named Frank Kayuma, but I don’t remember if he was a Challenger guy or not. I do remember the Challenger guys use to refer to Belmar as The Land of Bummer. I was certain this was totally original at the time.
Frank,
The east coast board thingy I was talking about was before Tinker ever showed up. You, Jim, and Grub did the boards. I remember being stoked the first day the Challenger sign was put on the little shop on Mission Blvd. Dorsey, Bruha, and I were the local surfers there then.The Challenger shop you first opened then was further south, near the sandal shop. Remember the guy and his hot chick that made sandals? Anyway you guys sent me a board in Florida and I used it to sell some other boards in Florida. It was a Challenger, not Challenger Eastern. That was before Tinker. I know, I know 45 years ago.
I don’t know how to get in touch with anyone in San Diego anymore. I got in trouble talking with Brooke down in Ensinitas when I lived in Hollywood with Belinda. There were several Dalton Brothers. Some of them must still be around.
I did go down there with Belinda once and noticed that about 3 feet or so of the sand on the beach had disappeared. That was about ten years ago. To top that off they moved the board walk several feet into the front yard of the houses, including Belinda’s house there.
Yep, Dorsey was about 6’4" and thin. He was a landscaper in Hawaii. Fell out of a tree. Went to the hospital, they said everything seems ok. He dropped dead just after walking out of the hospital door on their front steps. Wierd.
I don’t remember Lieberman. So Tinker is the one that screwed up the stock market 
… ??
I drove the I-5 on the way to Spokane, WA. Had some property there for awhile. Build a lot of houses there.
Yeah Frank, take care.
Randy
Hartson,
See, I told you, Jim has some great stories. Wally told me not to tell all mine … “they may still be listening” … 
How is Rick Barry doing? He was the shop salesman at the “shop on the curve” … I lived in the apartment in the back … Tinker gave me a car, a credit card for gas, surfboards to ride, and an apartment since I was sales manager.
See Jim, when you behave you get stuff …
I wish Frank would tell us about wrapping the rails and sanding before putting on the top layers … like we did til '69 … you know you sand the rail edges, then put the cloth on the top side … old style glassing … but STRONG …
later,
Randy
Frank,
I also wish you would tell us about the sailboat you build and sailed to Hawaii … when was that?
How there is a large “garbage sea” between the mainland and Hawaii … was it there then?
later bro,
Randy
this link will tell you how Rick Barry is doing. I wish I could say i stayed in touch with him but i did not. That boy done good. real good.
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/12/justice_in_his_wake_top_invest.html
cheers
Frank,
Not sure if this is “our” Jim Dalton:
http://www.surfshot.com/Surf+Report/_Del+Mar/James+Dalton-62358.html
later,
Randy
Randy; I’ve never been to the east coast. And I’ve never met Jim as far as I know. I started building my 36’ Tri shortly after selling the biz to Bobby “Challenger” Thomas even made the sails , now thats an epic!! Me and 2 other mission bay guys sailed Aug of 1970 took 20 days to Maui . These 2 charicters used the trip to stop smoking !! They soon turned thier attension to our good food and ate all that up . I had made the boats water tanks out resin and wood and put bleach in the SD water so our water was really bleachy. All we to eat by the end the trip was pasta type stuff and it became bleachy!! These guys wanted to drop acid on the last day of our trip as soon as we could see Maui so they were completely worthless . The thing about the sanding of the lap was to get an invisable lap or joint. When we sailed to Maui we did not see any garbage pile . Hope this helps . This chat is really helping me to put this early 60’s thingy into perspective . Thanks, Frank