Dick Pollack absolutley ripped Sebastian Inlet on a Shoe about "72. There are photos ..... I wish I had them to post. The "New Process" was a rotomolded polyethylene with a urethane core. Dick Lippencott put that program together with a few of the Huntington Beach crowd and they did some ads. They all delaminated and the new process was done. They made pretty good speed bumps though.
[/quote]
In 1971/72 I had 2 Shoes. The first one I had installed a Greenough type fin and it slowed the board down too much. I ended up with a small single fin in the center (no twin fins), and used the rails instead of fins. At first the board would just fly out of the water doing bottom turns and cutbacks. But after a while I learned to put more pressure on the inside and just bury the rail. With a small-ish fin, flat bottom, very little rocker for most of the board's length, it was super fast!! For most East Coast waves you need to generate speed either physically or with the board design, because the wave speed is lacking. Guys like Tabeling and Joe Roland had the ability to pump their boards right out of the water to get the necc speed. The shoe was one way to get it without all the work. Then if you worked it.....big speed! I now live in San Diego and a Shoe at Blacks would ROCK big time. I think they were all the same shape, length, width, etc. One size fits all. Oh yea, and it floated awesome too! It wasn't a "Sunken Ship" type kneeboard. Actually, it would probably float TOO good to be used as a kneeboard, but I guess that's what they were intended for. You sure wouldn't need fins to catch waves. I probably weighed 150 lbs at the time, now 185. If they were still being made, I'd be motivated to lose the required el-bees! D.Pollock
My dad is Larry Sheflo. Here are some ads and articles regarding the
Shoe surfboard that he had. I also included a picture of him surfing
in Costa Rica a few years ago. He said the Shoe boards averaged about
5"1’ to 5"9’, and were very fun to ride in small surf up to 8 feet. It
was one of the first boards to do 360’s in the tube. Con Surfboards
used to make the Shoe for Newport Paipo and the artwork was done by
Laura Powers. Ron Romanosky and Mike Ballard also rode the Shoe. It
was at one time permited to ride the Shoe at Huntington after the flag
went up because it was under a certain length. That’s why it was
designed 5"1’, but they soon got wise and changed the law. It seems as
though the Morey Boogie Board has taken over the knee riding world. My
father surfed with Morey up in Ventura once along with many other
famous surfers. He loves surfing and his new passion is snowboarding.
He says it’s like riding big waves with the paddle, especially in
powder. He remembers days with only 8 guys out, Don Hanson, Hap
Jacobs, Dewey Weber, Peter Pope, Mickey Dora, Bob Cooper, etc. His
favorite idols were Donald Takayama and David Nueva and Phil
Edwards(way back in the 50’s). Enjoy the pictures
Thanks for posting the pictures the ads. Interesting to learn that Laura Powers did the art work for one of the ads. She airbrushes here in Hawaii (last I heard anyway) and did work on some of the boards I had sent to the glass shop she was working out of. She did beautiful floral work on a board I shaped for my daughter a few years back. I remember the Shoe when it came out back then and always thought of it as being ahead of its time. I wish I bought one that was in a used board rack on the north shore some years back...they were only asking like $40 bucks for it. This thread really brought back some cool memories from back in the day and I'm glad to hear your dad is doing good.
