November 19, 1967. Is only one day, in the life and times of Bill Thrailkill. This in response to a request for some insight into some of the experiences that have shaped my perspective on surfboards and surfing. Google up the date, and the name, Eddie Aikau. You’ll get some perspective, on the subject of this post. The day started with an early morning call from Buzzy Trent, telling me Val Valentine had called, telling him Sunset was 15 + feet, and to come on over before it closes out. Buzzy picked me up, and we headed for the North Shore, with our boards on his VW Bug. From the crest of old Kunia Road, the first view of the North Shore was jaw dropping. White water to the horizon. Once at Sunset, we rode the rip out, to get to the outside lineup. It really didn’t work all that well. We got steamrollered, not by a 20 foot wave, but by a 20 foot wall of soup, in the rip channel! That resulted in me getting a chin cut, that took 12 stitches to close. Next stop Waimea. Buzzy called it ‘‘The largest that Waimea can be ridden, before it closes out.’’ I was a bit reluctant to paddle out, with my chin laid open, and an injury to my left leg, from the day before, at Sunset. Buzzy described it as ‘‘solid 25 feet, with 30 foot sets.’’ He called the smaller 20 foot waves, ‘‘dribblers.’’ Well, I rode two of the 25 foot waves, before catching a dribbler to come in on. In my condition I was not comfortable going anywhere near the 30 foot set waves. Several days later, I went to a doctor, about my left leg. I had trouble walking, and in the water could not kick my left leg to swim. After getting an X-Ray, I was informed by the doctor that I had been surfing Waimea with a broken knee. This on a 10’ 7’’ x 21.5 ‘’, 38.5 pound gun, with no leash. Waimea was never ‘‘fun’’ for me. Fun for me was 15 foot Sunset, 15 foot Laniakea, or 20 foot Makaha. I just never warmed up to Waimea. Well, that is just one of my numerous adventures in surfing. At the time it seemed normal. In retrospect, I wonder what the hell I was thinking.
write a book. seriously.
and keep the stories coming, if you’re in the mood. i love this stuff.
I’ve seen big Waimea and big Pipe. I never once felt the urge to go out. Maybe if I’d grown up out there maybe not
Great story. You got any more?
All the best
Aloha Greg,
Yes, there are more stories. However, given the low number of views, and even lower number of responses, there seems little interest in hearing them. Disappointing.
Well, I guess guys here flock to your board building threads for a reason, i.e. this is a board building forum.
Often the best part of meeting up is hearing the stories.
I find a lot of relevance for today from the past. I wasn’t there, what better way to hear about it than someone who was?
There are things you will never get from a book or a documentary.
a 49 year old session report…that still radiates stoke between every line…well written
reflecting on these ridiculous good days or documenting them is good for the soul even if no one reads it…
I’ve read much of your board building material and learned a lot however I ENJOYED this post the most…you’ll have an audience for as long as you show joy in the creation…whatever that may be
I enjoyed it and would love another chapter. Best read in awhile
Cheers
Let’s here more. I know those early days were great. I had just got to the point in my surfing where I could stand up, turn, trim and occasionally get to the nose. Took a few years because I still lived at home a couple of hours inland. Finally being able to drive to the point breaks and beaches of Ventura and SB County. Then living in Pacific Beach etc. It’s a bit of a blur from '61. But lots of high points. I’d like to hear some stories about the personalities you’ve encountered. For instance; What was it like to be around Phil and Terry Martin when you were at Hobie?? One of the best times I ever had was sitting under an EZ Up at Queen’s listening to Uncle Rabbit talk story about the old days. Sometimes tradition is Oral as it was for hundreds of years in the Hawaiian Nation. Lowel
The original post just got a +1 from me.
Give us some more Bill.
And do you take requests on a theme? For instance, how about your “Most memorable session ever”…
… tackling that one could take a bit thought.
And it could well end up being a draw between a bunch of different stories who all deserve to be #1, each for a different reason.
So you might just have to kick off by telling em all, one by one.
And please, take your time at it in writing the post for each story for a couple of reasons; first of all, to tell 'em right. And secondly to give us something to look forward to; I’ll often log on to Swaylocks of a morning, check to see if a favourite thread has new posts in it (and especially by whom), or perhaps there might be a new thread popped up that is about something I’m particularly interested in…
… and then I’ll log off without reading any of them, and instead I’ll go to work for the day…
… because it gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day. Something to work for; if I get such and such done during the day, at the end of it I’ll knock off, and when I get home, put my feet up, perhaps grab a little refreshment, log back on again and savour those things I’d spotted in the morning and made myself “earn” through my day’s labour.
A little “delayed gratification” if you will.
And don’t feel too bad if the “Views” in the short-term aren’t huge (especially at the beginning of a new thread’s life) - it takes a little time for the word to get around. For people to catch on to what’s happening; for instance I’ll often go a week or two without logging on to Sways (believe it or not, there are still places on this earth where Internet access is largely non-existent). And plenty of old-time Sways users only drop by every 6 months or so. Sometimes they’ll be years between visits.
And don’t forget Bill; Sways is not your local community newspaper. Whatever appears in it today doesn’t get thrown into the recycling bin, turned into pulp and remade into a new sheet of blank newspaper to be filled with tomorrows written thoughts, and with today’s musings permanently erased.
Whatever you post here is going to be around for the long term and what’s more, it’s something easily accessible by people years, maybe even hundreds of years down the track. So while the “Views” might not rack up to much in the short-term, in the long term, well, who knows what it could end up racking up to? Most of the biggest fans of what you’ve got to tell, may not even be born yet. 'Be a shame to deny them that enjoyment just because the initial amount of “Views” weren’t as much as you were hoping for.
Anyway, I for one would like to hear about it.
So on that note, 'guess I’ll log off, keep my fingers crossed and see what appears when I log on again tomorrow morning.
Thanks Bill for the “Waimea with a busted knee” story, and hope to hear from you again soon.
Cheers all 
Bumping this up, to provide a little perspective, about a particular day of surfing. There are some photo’s, taken by Tex Wilson, of me that day. I’ll root around the garage, and see if I can find them. When I do, I will post them.
Hello Bill -
It would be great to experience more first hand accounts. I’m pretty sure many of us would like to see historical photos and certainly of a board making session in progress.
Here are a couple of photos I snagged someplace - taken several years back at a Cerritos College program. The craftsmanship is self evident - the boards are beautiful and check out that chambered stringer!
(Apologies to photographer and lack of credits - I honestly don’t know…)
Aloha John,
I believe those photo’s were taken in 2004, or 2005. The balsa board pictured, was a remake/copy of my 1959 pintail, 9’ 10’’ by 21 inch WindanSea gun. That board was later sold to a serious collector for $ 9,700 dollars. I wish I still had that one. The origional board was sold to Tom Barber, a WindanSea regular, who later took the board to the North Shore. I was only 18 yrs old, when I made the original board, in the fall of 1959. At that point I had been shaping surfboards for about 18 months. The original board was number 10 or 11 in my shaping ‘‘career.’’ Not a bad design, for a kid just beginning to shape surfboards. About 6 months after I made that board, in May of 1960, I was hired as a shaper for Velzy. Heady stuff, for such a young fellow.
GNARLY!!!
Loving these Stories. More pls.
Allbthe best
Aloha Greg, if you go over to the Memorium page, there is a further comment in the Buzzy Bent tribute. When Trent and I were getting closed out in the rip channel, we caught a wave together, to get in. Buzzy went right, and I went left. When I came up on the beach, I was greeted by Buzzy Bent, asking who was on the wave with me. I told him it was Trent. He asked: ‘‘Do you know how big that wave was?’’ I told him no. He said: ‘‘You guys caught a 20 foot wave!’’ I had blood running out of my chin, down into my trunks, so Buzzy took me to his house, and patched my chin with a butterfly bandage. Then Trent and I headed for Waimea. That’s the condition that I was in, when I paddled out into 25 foot Waimea, on a day the Aikau family later called 40 feet. The sets were 30 feet, according to Buzzy. (Mr. Trent)