i couldn’t agree with you more on that one
Before I talk story about Mike, I just gotta say, thanks for all of you who were here and saw that he had the knowledge and was worthy of being listened to. He had some flaws like most of us do, and that was what made him special. I hope that in the future there will be shapers & glassers that will take the time and search the archives because what Mike posted here is pearls, truley pearls of surfboard wisdom. And anybody that doesn’t use his glossing formula is a kuk!!!
Mike is/was my second cousin. In 1967/68 I decided to make my first board of any kind, it was a velo spoon. Mom soon found out from the stink coming from the shed in the backyard. She was so understanding (as most Williams were) and said; “ Be sure to finish before your dad comes home so you won’t get in trouble. Did you know your cousin does surfboards?” Anyway, long story short, I got a year older, got a car, drove to HB, and there was Mike, glassing a Plastic Fantastic on the sidewalk, Main St., Huntington Beach smoking a cig. Lessons on how to do cut laps. Pin lines. “Get a board shaped, I’ll glass it for you.“ Then he was gone, as many of the guys from that time did. Over the later years in HI we kind of stayed in touch, through family and me here in the LBC, he in HLC, and when his cancer got bad, I had the privilege of visiting him in the AZ. His un-assuming friendship to all and sharing is here on the pages of Sways for anyone that wants to know the man. I am proud to say that I have Williams in my blood. If you want to be a surfboard glasser of the highest level, just search Kokua. Aloha brah, miss you da most… Bri