New to the site. I think i'm posting in the right area..... I guess I'll find out soon.
I am a contractor on Fire Island. Two years ago I came across an old John Hannon longboard on one of the jobsites I was on. It was beat up, bruised, scratched, yellowed, but it was a classic. The owner let me have it because she saw my interest in it. I took it over to Mike Becker at Nature Shapes in Sayville and told him to restore it. No rush, whenever he had time. This was 2 years ago....
I get a call form Mike 2 weeks ago. " Your restoration is done and its siiiick!" I'm thinking what is he talking about. I completely forgot I dropped this thing off. Turns out he gave it to Ed Fawess to restore. Let me tell you, this is now a museum quality work of art. Absolutely beautiful. Ed is an amazing surfboard crafstmen and I have much respect for him. He put so much into this board and it shows. He was able to restore it with original pigments from the 60's, with an original decal, back to its original weight of 34 lbs! He put 88 hours of hard work, dedication, and love into this restoration. In tiny tiny script on the stringer it reads "1962-64 Hannon, restored 2009 for Matt, by Nature Shapes Surfboards, Ed Fawess, 88 Hours."
Thanks Ed! This will be on display in my home as soon as I create a little more room.
Very nice find. Where on the island did you get it. I only ask because I learned to surf on F.I. in the early 60’s. Hannons were quite popular as there were not many shops yet and access to west coast boards was rare. John was very tight with many west coast builders and his quality was on par with most anyway. He was a real pioneer. Had a knot on my head from trekking almost a mile a day down the beach to surf at Oakleyville (by Sunken Forest) with a Hannon. Only 4 or 5 of us had boards so the crowds were not bad - heh, heh. We’d occassionally head over to Gilgo and would be in shock that so many people could fit at one break.
Ed Fawess is a glassing legend in these parts. An unassuming guy who’s guietly gone about his craft for a long time now. Can’t go wrong having him work on your boards.
I'll be - Pete, by any chance did you know a guy called Bill Strakele, later became a NY cop? I happen to recall him talking about Hannons quite a bit.
Don’t know the name but that’s not surprising - Hannon was pretty prolific and, being based on Long Island, a real lot of us had Hannons as our first boards.
He spent years in CA and surfed and worked alongside a lot of the names we associate with the “early icons” of board building - Hobie, Weber, Noll, etc…
From what I recall, local history is he came upon a slab of laid up glass about 1/4"+ thick around 1963/64 - whether he did it himself or was shown it by a materials supplier, I don’t know. But, it’s said he started playing around with it to make fins and saw potential versus the time consuming wood D fins of the time. It’s said, he immediately got in touch with his old buddies in CA and the all glass fin took off…
The man was/is (last I heard, he’s still tearing up the slopes in Colorado - must be pushing 90) a surfing treasure. No wonder he was the first voted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.
The board was found on the roof of Matthews seafood restaurant in Ocean Beach. It had to have been up there for at least 2 decades tucked under an awning behind a roof deck. Where on FI did you learn?
How do I get hold of your restorer?I found an old yellowed Bunger minus skeg about 5 yrs ago and would love to have it worked.What was the bottom line?