Regrets

Imagine there’s no Boogie
It’s easy if you try…

“Well, if I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t go into
the Boogie business. I would probably just stay with my basic
talent as a jazz drummer.” (Tom Morey)

That was supposed to be a pun on his use of the letter Y as his name. Are you not familiar with that part of his story?

And yes, I remember the DIY kits in the early days. The original boogie came in four versions. Full size and a small size. Plus, either size could be bought in kit form for a lesser price. I own the very first Morey Boogie ever ridden in the county where I live. It was a kit. Purchased in 1976.

The earliest ones also included a poster within the packaging. I have the poster stashed away, somewhere.

We used to play a game of chicken @ 13 yrs old, or  there abouts.

15 to 20 of us would all go out on boogas in the one little area and run each over whilst riding towards shore. soo funny… …But, boogas suck, no room for them anymore… They don’t get waves around me…cause I’m so tough!!! Nar cause they suck and they know it. ha.

They might be nice humans though.

but who cares …They really F#$king piss me off.

I regret selling this board of Cheynes.

[IMG]http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/SURFFOILS/cheyne1.jpg[/IMG]

 It has "McCoy for Cheyne 82' and it was about a 9/10 condition.

 I picked it up in 1990 at Sunshine Surf Shop in Manly for $40 complete with original fin. I kept it and occaissionally rode it until 2000 when I needed the $$ and sold it for $2500.

 I took some templates off it and Ive got another Cheyne Model like lots of people in Bondi used to ride back then, but its not one of his Zap boards.

 

 

    Howzit surffoils, You bought it $40 and sold it for $ 2500, well I must say you made a good profit off of it.Aloha,Kokua

you?

Which raises the eternal question:

“Y”

“Y” ??

 

Because Wham-O reportedly paid something like $10,000,000.00 for the “Boogie Board” name…

 

That’s alot of drums!

 

This is not meant to be in any way derogatory as I have always thought of Morey as one of the most progressive thinkers in this surfing endeavor of ours who has always approached it all - first and formost - as fun.

 

When he first put the Boogie Board on the market, when you bought the kit of two skins and the core and had to get contact cement and glue the skins on yourself, I was living in Santa Barbara and a bodysurfing friend and I each got one and a pair of the old green Churchills and would regularly surf Rincon with, virtually, nobody out when it was deemed too choppy/sloppy for board surfing. We had a blast.

I actually had about 220 collectable surfboards but I had an unfortuneate divorce and I sold all the desireable ones. I had several Slater boards, Mark Richards 1st twin fin with accompanying letter from MR, at least one board from every world champ, short and longboard, about 50 fg longboards, 4X16 ft hollow picks. 2 guys from Western Australia bought 60 boards from me.

Waves magazine (Oz) did a story on the collection about 1995.

 But I loved that Zap.

When I bought it the shop guy and his mates laughed at it and me, but I thought myself so lucky to own the board.

 It rode odd, because it was so wide, when it was up on a rail, the fin (11in) would pop out, so I had to ride it flat and top turns had to be flat pivots off the back foot.

Paddling was odd too with a real corky feel of being 'above the water' and with the no-nose it had little balance at the front so you paddled it carefully while leaning back a bit.

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Because Wham-O reportedly paid something like $10,000,000.00 for the "Boogie Board" name...

[/quote]

 Not even close. Morey sold the MOREY Boogie rights to toy-maker Kransco in 1977; Kransco was bought by Mattel in ‘94; Mattel was bought by Wham-O in ‘98 -- with Morey brought along the whole time as a consultant.

 He came away with significantly less then one million

That and the name brand loss are his real regrets........ 

When the surf isn’t good enough to stand, body, boogie, belly, hand planes…They’re all fun subsitutes. That’s the only criterium for all forms…FUN!!!

My mistake - remembered hearing the 10 mil. figure at some point in the surfing rumor-mill. Do remember the sale to Kransco, not Wham-O.

 

My point though was that Morey’s goal, seemingly, has always been to look for ways to make riding waves more fun…though I doubt he ever imagined the Boogie becoming such a contentious element in so many surfer’s minds.

 

My favorite Morey quote, when talking about surfboard design," When the sun’s out and the surf’s up…who really gives a rat’s ass."

 

Along the lines of the surfer with the biggest smile is the best surfer out at any particular moment.

 

He’s a surfing treasure of the highest order. Look at his accomplishments besides the Boogie…

 

Pete

Morey rose early on July 9th, 1971, and cut and ironed out his planned shape. He left his board as wide as possible and left the nose square so that it would have more structural strength and so he could hold onto it.

“I decided I’d shape the rails like those on a Hot Curl surfboard,” says Morey. “Those were the boards from the 20s and 30s; built before boards had skegs. I cut 45-degree Hot Curl rails into my board. They looked great, but I still wasn’t sure how it would ride.”

Morey grabbed his board, ran across the street to Honols and the sport of bodyboarding was born.

“I had a ball!” recalls Morey. “I could actually feel the wave through the board. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. On a surfboard you’re not feeling every nuance of the wave; you’re feeling how this seven-foot piece of fiberglass is chattering against the wave. But with my creation I could feel everything. I was thinking to myself, “This thing turns, it’s durable, it can be made cheaply, it’s lightweight, it’s impenetrable…

God, this could be a really big thing!’”

Morey called it the Boogie–“there’s no board in it!”

There should be no regrets.  Many a fine surfer started on a Boogie.

Dam dick draggers............run em all over!

 

Bahh Humbug!!  Flog em with a dead seal!!

 I've had the pleasure to speak with the man on a few occasions and have followed his creative exploits since the late '60's.

 Saved a copy of  'er Volume 13 Number 1 from 1972 because of an article "PLANE SURFBOARDS" he wrote and illustrated in which he expounds on flex, finless and air induction boards among other things.

 He's probably responsible for more people being stoked worldwide then anybody else but those religious saviour types......   

   

  

…I understand your point

The point that these crew is a crowd factor is under normal conditions

I've never ridden a boogie but I have an older one that I bought at a garage sale for a buck.

I had a boogie rider hassle me for riding a mat.

I had another boogie rider ask "is that a pillow on top of your sponge?"

Just last saturday I saw two sponges for sale at a garage sale just down the street from my house. The seller was wearing a complete sponger/skater ensemble. I asked him if he had any other surf stuff for sale. Him:"That's not surf stuff, it's bodyboard stuff" Me: "Bodyboards are surf stuff" Him: 'no they're not, it's bodyboarding" Me: "it's still surfing" Him "you don't know shit about surfing"

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There should be no regrets.  Many a fine surfer started on a Boogie.

[/quote]

and many a fine surfer still surfs a boogie...