True. In ‘71, you would have had a hard time finding a board over 7’ on the rack in a shop. I was shopping for a new board that Summer. Settled on a Weber Pig. The biggest one on the rack was a 5’8". I bought it. The last off the rack board I’ve ever owned.
Not from what I recall, unless you’re talking early 70s. I spent most of the Winter in Cocoa Beach from 1975 to 1978. January to April, pretty much.
The majority of the boards I saw were 6’6" to 7’2", more or less. I photographed Claude Codgen in 1978 at a couple of spots for some Sundek and Body Glove ad work and he was riding a 7’2". We met up with Mike Tabeling and Dickie Munson later on and surfed RC’s together. They were all on boards near 7’, + or - a few inches.
Listen, and listen with your ears -not your opinion. Back in Santa Cruz most board’s were over 7’+ around 78’. I’m not saying nobody was riding shorter boards either. Maybe we were behind the times, or have bigger waves then east coast? But everyone I knew had 7’+ board’s. My friend had a 6’used board from early seventies, or late sixties though. No I wasn’t surfing before then, but that doesn’t mean anything anyways. The only board I saw that was short was a knee board. Nobody sold egg shapes, maybe due to trend of lightning bolt board’s and copies… mine had double blue bolts on da rails! Maybe east coast had shorter boards fwiw? So there you have it!
I was in Santa Cruz the entire Winter of 1979 and there were many, many guys ridng boards under 7’. Kevin Reed is just one who comes to mind. Charlie Heitman is another. What I did not see much of was longboards. You could drive from The Lane all the way down to the Hook on a good day and you might see 5 guys with a longboard. They were usually older guys. Though, there was this one mouthy young kid who rode Pleasure Point on an old beat up log.
So, I guess everyone in Santa Cruz decided to collectively drop their board size in the span of less than a year?
And, if you actually read what I wrote previously, you will see that I said most of my friends were riding boards over 7’ ON THE EAST COAST!!!
The San Diego area was really open to a lot of diffrent boards Egg and fish and the basic brew/ bolt. Size also went up a down wide thin It was a time of a lot of experiments. Some good some bad some should be looked at again. I had boards from 5’8’’ to 7’10’ All in just a few years.
SammyA - ty for saying that… I am not disagreeing w you. While I didn’t ever meet - Kevin Reed, I knew who he was, and I have surfed when he was out at the ln…but being I wasn’t a local there, I just surfed “Bone yard”, or the inside peak…he was always doing some spectacular maneuvers! Even locals would yell out in the lineup! For me it was a tough break as I ride backside there…it was slopey and larger
Then I was used to…but I have zero probs surf n it…although one can probably drown in the seaweed! I dont surf there any more by choice. I just dont like the crowds,.knor the wave…the better waves there outside I only surfed twice. It’s good there, but being I’m not a local at that break, I kinda layed low…Stockton ave is what I enjoyed more, but sadly I’ve only surfed there once. It’s awsum! But the localism I heard is kinda a thing to think about…lol
That’s right Artz. And any thing from an 18" spear to a 201/2" Egg. Flat bottom, Down railed spears and bellied, rolled V Eggs. Hank Warner, Skip, Rusty Tony Stapleton, Ron Cunningham and lots of others
I moved to SC from San Diego in 1979. What artz said is true. More board diversity in SD than Santa Cruz. SC boards tended to be shorter and more uniform in design. SC boards were designed with more high performance in mind. The average surfer in SC is also better than the average surfer in SD(with the exception of a couple of SD spots). Still true today. Not counting the Vals. They charge big stuff and rip the small stuff.
I was in SC for three Winters, 79, 80, and 81. We may have shared a lineup at some point or another. I mostly surfed PP and Rivermouth. Stuck mainly to in town spots as I had no car, just a bicycle. Couldn’t really handle the crowd at The Lane. I came from a place with very few surfers and wasn’t used to hassling for waves. Being from the EC, I sometimes surfed The Lane when the local crew deemed it too small. I didn’t mind small waves. It’s my daily fare back home.
SammyA- the lane is still the lane…but I agree as crowds are worse now more than ever… But Mitchell’s cove was actually working! It’s the first time I ever seen it, but ut was good! But a few kooks couldn’t even surf! They missed about twenty good waves -that were peelers…ill take over the middle peak teach them how its done!one guy made it all the way into inside, but he was probably a local…one guy kept kicking out, but didn’t realize he had 60 yards left of that peeler! The loon was probably riding a pinny thruster that could not float a weasel! I was wishing I had a board…Jesus!
Anyway, I been liking beach breaks more bcuz you can find lefts and rights, but less crowds then sc, but not always…
In the 1971 surfboard season, at Surf Systems and Surfboards Hawaii, we were doing a great many boards that were dipping down into the sub six foot range. Smallest board I remember was 5 foot 2 inches. Most of the sub six footers were in the 5’ 6’’ to 5’ 10’’ range. They were about 20% of production. Most of the rest were in the sub seven foot range. Hell, I even had a 6’ 10’’ and a 6’ 3’’ , as my personal boards. Those kind of sizes were ordinary at that time. In a short time my personal boards were back up at 7’ 10’’ long. I was more comfortable with the paddling speed, and handling, in the larger waves that I favored at that time.
Hey Sammy. I lived there from 79 to 86. Went to school (kept that quiet cuz we werent too popular with the local boys) then hung around after grad. because the surf is good. Too crowded at the Lane for me most of the time, too. Summer of 79 I surfed Sewer’s and Stockton until I got the lay of the ‘land’. Winter’s I surfed Mitchell’s or just above it when it got big. Some spots north of town when it wasn’t big. Had some magical surfs with Ward Coffey about 4 miles north of town. We were never buds, just guys taking turns pulling into the tube and laughing. He hung with B. Pierson and his guys. I assume Bob taught him to shape. Bob’s a great surfer. I surfed PP a bunch, too. Everything up there is crowded. More so now as SC seems to be a suburb of San Jose. I still surf up there 3 or 4 times a year during big long interval swells that spread the crowd around and try to line up some 100 yard sprints on my homemade fishes. 5 or 6 is all I need at my age for a shit eatn smile. It’s still a bitchen town. Mike
I haven’t been back since 81. But, I have a couple of good friends who still live there. A few of my friends here in my town went to UCSC in the 90s and they told me how much it had changed since I was there.
Not sure I’d want to go back from what I hear of it. But, for a guy from the Northeast it was a great place to spend the Winter. Much warmer than home and really consistent surf. I lived near the harbor, on 6th.
Only got to surf North of town a couple of times, and same goes for the beaches to the South. As I said, I had just a bicycle, no car. But at the time I was around 30 and between surfing every day and having to bike everywhere I was in the best shape of my life.
Hey Sammy. I lived on 8th for one year. I think it was 81. Stoked because I could walk to the harbor. Unfortunately a drunk swerved into my lane on east cliff between the lagoon and the beach where it dog legs, totaled my vw bus and sent me to the hospital with a compound fracture of my tibia and fibula. Missed that whole winter. Could have been a lot worse, actually. We live in Monterey Co. now. Not the same character as SC, but I didn’t want to raise my kids up there with all the homeless,pan handlen, hippy, drugged, pierced up, tattoo thing going on. The water is colder and the surf is fickle on this side of the Bay. It’s beautiful, tho. Mike
Yup. I used to bike down by the Crow’s Nest first thing in the morning and check the swell from out on the jetty. Then I’d decide whether to go east side or west.
