paddleboard appreciation thread- starting with pics and stories of my con lifeguard paddleboard

General Discussion
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12’ something lifeguard paddleboard by Con Surfboards, recently pulled down from the rafters and dusted off.

Circa 1960’s. I purchased this board from Bayhead Beach, NJ about 10 years ago while a lifeguard. I was a high-ranked competitive paddler at the time and wanted a personal board for after-work training.

Tandem surfed this board with a girlfriend or two, as well as a couple girls who were not my girlfriends :slight_smile: . Have had a few groms stand on the nose while I steered from the stern. Have paddled it solo miles up and down the coast just becaused I needed to get wet. I have ridden large waves on it as well as happily cruised on waves that were not catchable even by longboards.

This board also traveled to FL with me while I was at school on the gulf coast. With her I’ve ridden small gulf peelers, paddled her around bays, ridden standing waves in narrow inlets (illegally, so what an adventure!), and yacht wakes grinding over shallow and sharp oyster bars. I’ve had had bull sharks investigate me while crossing channels to shallower waters, have had sea turtles and manatees size me up while cruising over seagrass beds, even got caught out in a nasty lightning storm and had to take refuge on a mangrove island to wait it out.

Coencidently, my father may have also paddled this very board in his teen-late-20’s lifeguarding days while working at Bay Head.

She is now kinda rough around the edges with plenty of patches (some my work, most previous to my ownership) and some light delam on the deck, but water-tight and still plenty usable, but she could use some body-work. She should be dry as a bone now as she has not seen water in a few years (I’ve been busy- free time as a father has become less common, so I seem to always run to the surf with a standard surfboard when I have the chance).

Not really sure what to do with her as I now live in a condo and my father-in-law would like some garage space back. But I’m not too worried as I still have a crawl-space at my disposal, so I could tuck her away for a while longer if need be.

Just offering a few pics (snapped hurriedly as snow began falling, so forgive the quality). Feel free to add your thoughts on paddleboards in general, and some specifics about Con and their work if you know something.

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Those boards were a commom sight up and down the jersey coast. As you may (or may not) know Keller’s in Lavallette sold Cons. If your dad grew up in the 60’s he surely knows Keller’s. If you need a hand fixing her up PM me.

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there were so many of those build by Con and others during the 60’d into the 80’s that it’s the standard board for lifeguard races in north and central jersey----not that it’s the best , just the most common—some patrols have a few that are kept in mint conditions just for racing in those events and the really hot modern boards used in all other races----i would have hated to have one on my beach during the 90’s as an actual rescue board, there are so many newer ones lighter and stronger for use in rescue situations—when i retired as a capt on long beach island i called the folks at surf rescue.com and got myself an aussie epoxy board to use as i crusie about the back bay and ocean front—weight is about half that of the traditional Con or Con clone and the strength is just unreal! almost bullet proof! nothing like a paddleboard for small surf fun

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my lifegaurd captian took our old paddle board when they upgraded to the softop chinese popouts it is hanging in his backyard. my dad remembers them form his days as a gaurd.

Kyle Dexheimer- second generation Spring Lake Lifegaurd

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Great stuff, thanks for all the information! And thank you for the offer to help fix her up too. I do the patchwork bit by bit on this board (only way to stay sane… trying to hit all 50 or so repair areas at once would be maddening).

Good to know some more history. I’ll have to ask around about the shop you mentioned (I live in Lavallette now and have a good reportiore with locals twice my age or more, so it will be nice to be able to start the conversations with some specifics).

I actually always prefered these “Marine Rescue” style boards over the light “raceboards” for their weight and stability. The momentum and glide is fantastic, although I would like to eventually upgrade to something lighter for easier transportation to and from the beach (lots of weight and mass to balance on the soft racks atop my little 2-door car).

Thanks again, and please feel free to add more information if anyone has more to offer!

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Nice…I have the exact same board sitting in my garage in Surf City. Me and my cousin salvaged it for free last summer right before it was about to be tossed. It has some huge delams and is in worse shape than yours. Actually ours may be a bit older as well as it’s a deeper, darker maroon and I don’t think it has a leash plug (not that I can remember). There is some writing on it that tells where its from, but I forget what it says. I’ll snap a few pics when I get a chance.

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I have many great memories of the old CONs going back to the paddleboard races on the Jerz shore in the mid-70’s. I’m on the west coast now but would love to find one to fix up if you know of any beach patrols that have some they want to unload. I know there’s a ton of them out there. My suggestion to you is clean it up and save it for paddling with your kiddies (think of it - the third generation to paddle your board) or get a canoe paddle and try some Ho He’e Nalu in the back bay.

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Keller’s Surp Shop use to be located in the building just south of Lavallette Hardware. I think an architect and a lawyer have the place now. They use to sell Greg Noll, G&S,Con, and Titan pop-outs. Back in the 60’s there use to be two shops in Lavallette, Keller’s and Custom Surf Shop. The old saying of “You should have been here yesterday” was never more appropriate.

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The red boards are still pretty popular in some places. They’re not Con any more, not really sure who makes them now. But everything in this pic except for the two surfboards and the Pang paddleboard came from Marine Rescue Products in RI. Everything there except for the top two and bottom two boards on the rack at the left are there for ding repair. The top two are mine, the bottom two are retired, one of which is a Con.

Here are some pics of the Pang repair. The next summer that town’s guards used it to win the 4 x 400 yard men’s paddle relay at the Cape Cod Lifesaving Championship. It was close with two other teams, but their anchor paddler got by at the end.

Pics of a winter paddle on that Force Field comp board.

Some Town of Dennis, MA lifeguards did a morning paddle a couple days a week when I worked there.

A couple summers ago, near the end of my first summer guarding for Cape Cod National Seashore, on one of my days off I took the Force Field on this day trip between the two most distant beaches guarded by the CCNS lifeguards. I used a bungee net run through the front handles to hold a Camelback full of water and a Tupperware container full of snacks to the deck.

Patrick