Jim,…does great work on all his boards,…not only function but looks…ya got’ta love it.
the boards on ebay now
Spread Aloha, Randy
glad to see Kokua back here in the line-up
Anybody driving from San Diego to the East Coast? I would love to have that board
I believe this was an Alex Villalobos lamination, did a very similar one for a Wo-man, she said the lamination wasn’t wet out completely, she saw the tiny streaks of white in the abstract.
But…Cleanlines and I started out building boards at the Hickam wood hobby shop on O’ahu at Pearl Harbor, that was back in 1961, here it is 2013 and this past Monday I got a call from Bob “The Greek” Bolan, come December 7th at 9AM I am being inducted into the International Board Builders Hall of Fame at Doheny State Park. Cleanline would tell you, all I ever wanted to do is build a good board, not just good but great. If you lose sight of the original plan, you lose the path to your goals. Build 'em like it matters
Jim, the honor is well deserved. Congratulations.
Congrats, Jim!!
Its people like you and Jensen who give me inspiration to pursue this craft, not for the love of money, but for the love of producing a work of art; I feel although we as builders of watercraft are different than most. We are the only ones who can build a craft that enables humans to interact --without added power (engines etc)-- with a wave. Of all the waves in the world (radio, xrays, microwaves, gamma waves etc…)… Ocean waves are the only ones we can physically interact with in such a way. And for me… its a quasy spiritual experience…
So I guess that makes you a Shaman!!!
I look up to all of you ahead of me.
Again, Congrats!!!
Yeah, that kid is pretty good.
Big future ahead of him!
Way to go Jim.
Well deserved.
Ya , and your dad thought you weren’t going to amount to a pile of crap ! Now your a Legend ! Good on ya Jim !!
Congrats Jim! What a day to be inducted. Dec 7th has so many connections to Hawaii, where it all started for you.
Now that Barry is getting the shop running again, are you going to be coming over and making boards?
by the 3rd marking period of my junior year, the Major had enough, I had given him my report card filled with D- and F’s, he looked me in the eye and said “tomorrow you withdraw yourself from school and go the Army recruiter in Honoulu”. The administration was hesitant to let me remove myself from the school rooster, but I did and hopped the bus to Bethel Street in town and saw the recruiters station, but there was also a Marine recruiters office next to it. In the door I went, sidled up the smartly dressed young Marine and said “I want to be a Marine”. I went through a few hours of testing, got college sophomore scores, got the bus back to Hickam with my papers in hand and about that time the Old Man walked in, I shoved them at him and said “sign them”.
He knew a lot more about life than I did, he knew of this place Indo-China, he knew I would have an M-1 in hand and go to Indo-China, he had flown air recon in Korea and 3 tours in “Indo-China”. In my eyes he relented, in his eyes he stopped short of signing a death sentence for his oldest son, he spoke, “I’ll give you one more chance”.
The remainder of my junior year and the full senoir year was a repeat of the same grades, he beat me, took my board to the hanger where his office was, put me of restriction for months on end, denied me getting a drivers license, I was 19 when I finally got one, but I showed him.
In the years after, then only did I realize how badly I had disrespected my father, pissed away a free education, fucked myself royally, but…he did see how addicted to surfing and the science of building boards I had become. He actually started bringing his pals along with him when he would come to my factory in Rhode Island, he passed away at age 73, 5 months before I was inducted in the surfing hall of fame
Barry had me make 4 island pigs from classic photos in the Inter-Island collection, I couldn’t make it this fall, I have been so buried this year, thank goodness for the 9 week flat spell here, I want to go to Maui, see "da boys there, Hilo for Mel and Issac & the rest of the boys, O’ahu for Ewa and recharging my soul
Congratulations, Jim. You’re the one.
A few weeks ago, a guy called me to order a custom five mahogany stringers classic longboard, complete with nose and tail-blocks, volan lamination and so on. I had never heard of him so I asked how and why he had chosen to call me and not another more well-known french shaper. He said he had been following my blog and/or FB page for some time and that I was one of the few doing boards “like Jim Phillips is doing in the States…”
Of course it’s not true (although I try, and I try, and I try but I can’t get no satisfaction) but this comment just made my day. Or year.
When you come to Oahu, let me know. Hopefully I’ll be back in the water. I’d like to go for a surf with you. Maybe on the south side like 3s, or even Courts. Lots of the courts regulars were close friends with Sparky and the gang at Inter-island. Langs Kane used to surf courts everyday in the 80’s and 90’s. He was such a nice guy.
Jim’s a wealth of knowledge at all levels of surfboard craftsmanship, and is a master craftsman…
I can remember in High School Jim and I got in to making 10 inch long boards that we would push over the falls in the 6 inch shorebreak at Clay beach. We made em out of foam scraps from Surfboards Hawaii and put stringers in them. We started just painting them with resin but this was not good enough for jim. The search was on for a material to repilcate fiberglass. One day Jim calls me up all excited and had found our “glass”…Toiletpaper.
Only a real craftsman would get stoked over this. Hell he even made logos to go under the “glass” Thought you might get a kick out of this.
Jim. You probably mentioned this before, but I don’t recall the answer.
How did you wind up in RI, of all places?
Congraulations Jim! An honor indeed. I have had the opportunity to see a few of your boards here and always find them to be impressive to say the least. Done a few board swaps in the water and ridden a few different boards you shaped and can see why my friend is so sold on riding your boards.
Glad to see Barry opening up a Inter Island Shop after all this time. In my small kid days, Inter Island boards were my board of choice. Any idea where Barry will have the new shop open? I may have to incorporate a visit on my next trip to Oahu.
Well deserved ,Congratulations.