Hartson,
Yes, I recognize his face … that is Rick … too bad Madoff was not a Jersey dude … Rick would have busted him before he did so much damage.
later,
Randy
Frank,
Yes, that is an epic … very few people have built their own boat and sailed it from the west coast to Hawaii. Good job!
I crossed the Gulf of Alaska in 1970 … left Kodiak Island (I rented a schooner the “Trinity” in Kodiak harbor) in February with one dude, the “captain”, and my dog “pig pen”.Old wooden 32’ boat with twin diesels, auto pilot, radar, depth finder.
We filled the holds with sea water to keep her low.It was pure hell after the Alaska winter storms set in the first day after we cleared the harbor. Then a storm kept on hitting us relentlessly. It knocked out the radar and autopilot eventually. So I had to navigate with only the depth finder and the charts.
The charts were pre 64 and there were no others because the government had not made new charts yet. The 64 quake had changed the entire depth of the gulf 15 or so fathoms, depending on the area. So it was addition and subtraction, get a number, then find it on the charts.
I was at the helm when we hit the Fairweather Banks, a vast undersea plateau where the depth drops from about 1500 fathoms to about 65. Then I knew where we were and headed in to anchor off Cape Fairweather. An absolutely beautiful place with no civilization for hundreds of miles. Valdez is near there where the Exxon Valdez ran aground 19 years later.
Anyway Mt. Fairweather jumps up to 15,000 feet about 5 miles inland, snow capped, a bit like Killimanjaro … awesome place … then giant glaciers dumping into the gulf, on to Glacier Bay and the Cross Sound passage into the Alexander Archipelego … inside passage safe from the gulf storms.
Then down to Anchor Rock and Seymore Narrows … which is where 300 or so ships have gone down … another story for another time.
We made it.
later,
Randy
PS. Here is a link to the Great Garbage Patch, twice the size of Texas. http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm … I did not see that either … we were north of it.
I really enjoyed reading these messages. I was never a part of the Challenger deal but I remember them as being top notch. It blows me away to think that Jim Phillips is still as stoked as ever and shaping boards.Glad to see so many of those guy still kicking. Swaylocks is an amazing place sometimes. Roger Brucker
Hi Roger,
How are the waves down there these days. I remember some good surf on the Georgia coastline. My son and I went thru there with our boards a few years back. And of course Tinker, Dalton, Dobson and I surfed that area in '66 or thereabouts.
Randy
The funny thing about Geogia is that it has the most pristine undeveloped coastline on the East Coast. Look at a map and you will see that only maybe ten percent of the whole coast has roads to it. The rest is all offshore Islands that are proctected but accessable by boat. Our local beach (Tybee Island) has pretty poor waves but a great group of stoked surfers.Most of the beaches that you can drive to have bad waves. Jump in to a boat and it is another world. Numerous offshore sandbars and inlets that break pretty good. The whole deal is still basically untouched. We have a local board builder here who has this ultimate little soul shop-factory that could only exist in a quirky little place like Tybee Island. His name is Jim Stevens. He is a part of the Jim Phillips-Tinker West legacy… I passed on my knowledge to him when I retired from serious board building. He lays his rail bands down just like Jim taught me back in 1968. The legacy continues. Thanks for the memories. R Brucker
Roger,
Yes, I remember … my son and I tried to get to the beach in many places. Reminded me of the Irish joke a preacher told me … This guy and his wife get lost driving in Ireland heading for Dublin. Finally the wife convinced the guy to stop and ask for directions. He sees an Irish dude raking his yard, stops, walks up, and says “say, can you tell me how to get to Dublin from here … ?” The Irish dud looked at him a bit puzzled and seemed to be shocked that anyone would ask that. “No, you canno get 't Dublin from 'ere”.
That is what some guards said when we drove up to some of those Georga gated communities and asked: “How can we get to the beach from here?” They would say “you can’t get to the beach from here”.
Take care.
Randy
Roger,
Did Jim Stevens learn to shape from Tinker in NJ?
There was a young man who Tinker taught to shape in '69 … didn’t talk to him after that year.
later,
Randy
Howzit Randy,
This is a different guy. I met him a few years ago and he was struggling on his own getting all of his info from Swaylocks. We became friends and I basically just showed him what I had learned from Jim Phillips and a huge cast of other characters I worked with on and off for 20 years. Jim Phillips first mentioned earlier in this thread how Tinker had taught him and then Jim taught me and Mike Daniels etc.. So........on and on. The legacy continues. My friend's website is www.undergroundboardworks.com . Have fun everbody. R Brucker (I knew a guy named Keuma who was a glasser at a huge factory in Jax Florida called Glass Research in the late 1960's..now that could be another long story. Maybe later)
Roger,
I checked out the website.If I am in Georgia I will stop by the shop and say hello.
I thought there would be offshore this morning in N. Florida & Georgia … but the webcams and reports show it to be iffy.
Guess everybody is still working on a dream. It is kinda early.
later,
Randy
Here’s a little something that I found on Ebay back in October. Did any of you know this guy Rechner, whose name is on this team jacket?
The Ebay listing had a starting bid of $1000! Seller would not say much as to how and where he got the jacket.
SammyA,
I never heard of him.
The original team as I remember at this moment, before we left San Diego for NJ, was Jimmy Dalton, Jimmy Gordon, Craig Bruha, Dale Dobson, me, Barry Gordon (no relation to Jimmy) …
On the east coast it changed … Atlantic City guys … Jim Phillips … and Fletcher Sharpe eventually came on board for some time … but I do not remember that dude …and I wouldn’t pay a grand for my own jacket if it ever showed up … it is in Alaska somewhere 
…
perhaps some of the local dealers did their own thing … and started a team … but Tinker nor any of the team would approve of wearing the jacket without seeing the guy ride …
Randy
W,
My name made it into the old timer glasser records: 1960’s Glassers
Damn, I wanted to be known as a good surfer (photo attached surfing near malibu circa 2005), not a glasser.
Oh well, at least I was one of the last to use the famous Challenger double wrap on the rails, nose, and tail.
Randy W
Hi all. I am looking for information on a NJ old timer named Russell Lamb. Rick Barry tells me he may have been a partner in the surf shop in Belmar on Ocean Ave between 4th and 5th Ave. that was a Challenger Eastern dealer. I also have it on pretty good authority that he had something to do with the short lived board rental "tent" on the surfing beach in Belmar in the mid sixties. I am specifically looking for information on boards that Russ may have made himself under the brand Ram Surfboards....this would have been during or before 1964, before he opened the Challenger shop. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. thnx
Hartson,
I think Rick is correct.
I think Russell and Jim had a shop on the ocean front there in Belmar. They rented boards and beach things and sold boards of various sorts.
I don’t recall seeing any “Ram” surfboards.
One of the two had a bobcat or similar wild type cat as a pet. Don’t remember much more about them.
later,
Randy W
Since this is turning in to an old time East Coast reunion I wan’t to ask a question… Back in the late 1960’s there was a huge factory in Jacksonville Fla. called “Glass Research”. This was a HUGE factory that came and went in the blink of an eye. They blew foam blanks,made popouts and custom boards. A couple of the names were Allen Surfboards (Allen Total Performer) and Land and Miller.The popouts were Tiki and Ten Toes ( I think) The custom boards were shaped by West coast legend Wayne Land and a guy named George Miller. It was amazing actually. There was a glasser from hawaii named Wilton Keuma (Frank) and a glosser from Australia and a West Coast sander named “Nick”. I was working as a wannabe sander-flunky-gofer. Anyone remember this??? If there are any old time Jax beach guys around I would like to hear from you. ( I could tell some stories about Wayne Land . He was a classic. Maybe later) R Brucker
Thanks, Randy. My mom (now 81) actually worked with Russ at his day job being a service tech for jersey Central Power and Light. From everything she tells me he was a bit of a wildman and the story about the cat rings true. Rick tells me that one Easter Russell, Jim and Billy Conklin tied him to a drftwood cross just to freak out the nuns from St Rose. I am still trying to get evidence as to whether Russell actually made surfboards very early on or simply stuck Ram stickers on pop outs for the rental trade.
Cleanlines:
As to the big factory in Jax, my sister Lynda Poland went to jacksonville University from 1966 to 1971 and, in fact, knew Frank Keuma (who, if it was the same guy, was seen in Belmar NJ one summer). She also had a custom board made for her with a big TH on it (for her nick name, Tiny Hiny) but she cannot remember who made it. I have given her the names you mention, and she will report if she knows anything. She still has a substantial Jax network, so we will see. thnx
cleanlines (R. Brucker),
I had never heard of “Glass Research” until you brought it up. Nor any of the people you mentioned.
But it got me to thinking and asking “why not?” … really … Jacksonville is a big town. The have an NFL team.
It mystifies me.
later,
Randy W
Howzit Randy…yep it was strange deal for sure.They built around 75 boards per week. Glass Research was discussed on Swaylocks many years ago. If you know hot to use the archives you may find more info. It has also been discussed on the local Jax beach website called “fluidgroove.com” Some of the local Jax guys names involved in it were Bruce Clelland, Tim new, Jim Opper and a few others. I became Wayne Land’s flunkie and gave him a ride to Cocoa beach when he quit glass research. I dropped him off at Oceanside Surfboards where he shaped a few and later went home to California. I wanted to work at Oceanside as a sander but was shown the door when I burned through the glass on a custom “Oceanside Spoiler” with a paisley cloth inlay. Thanks for the memories R Brucker
Wayne Land showed back up in Florida in the later 70’s, he gravitated to where his old pal Johnny Rice was shaping, Wayne had made a plug for a really nice looking spa, but unfortunately was far too ahead of his time with that one. Dick let his shape a few boards here and there, but he had been out of touch with where surfing was going and the boards were not very up to date. He was living off Busch beer and had sores all over his arms, one day while looking through a pawn shop in Cocoa, there were about 20 new boards, but they all had a small routed out oval on the bottom filled with white pigment, strange I thought, until I noticed my name rapidiograghed on the stringer, the boards were all Catri’s, Wayne had stolen them from the factory and pawned them 25 miles away. Dick didn’t do anything about it, Wayne was one of the first Americans to go to Okinawa and become a shorin-ryu black belt master.
Wayne’s health went down hill over the next few years and he eventually had a fatal heart attack
Jim,
I still have the PIG ‘‘spin template’’ that Wayne gave me in Sept. 1958, when he closed Burland Surfboards to go to the Islands that winter. He is one of those fellows who was truely a legend during his lifetime. Sad the way his life ended. Let me know if you would like a tracing of that template. It is a timeless design.