Watched the Sperckles 77 movie and Bunker credited Vinny Bryan with his board designs. Short, fat, 100% down rail boards with a funky, clunky single fin that looks like it should have been bolted to the tail of a 50’s Chevy rather than on a surfboard. They look like the go pretty well in heavy conditions. Certainly there are obvious limitations. But what surprised me was the lack of rails digging in. Ahead of its time? Very interesting, very well done movie.
Friend went to college in San Diego in early 70’s and surfed “The Cliffs” frequently. Told me there was a lot done with the basic concept. He had one that was probably 4" thick, extreme domed deck, keel fin. Rode like a crippled dog really except in a straight trim line no turning. He said that folks were riding them with retractable keels, pull handle on the deck. They’d start to out run the tube and pull the handle for extreme side slip then when the time was right, slap it down, reinserting the keel and take off like a rocket. Very specialized it seemed for lined up, hollow waves with juice.
I don’t know about retractable keels, but I saw a lot of sub six footers that were easily 3 1/2” — 4” thick. I think it was Hank Warner that was doing a bunch under the San Diego Surf Shop label. I mentioned the”Watermelon” board on this site once and later saw it on Craigslist. Strange coincidence. San Diego and “The Cliffs were a hotbed of experimentation. We used to see Lis rippin’ it up there. Abs, New Break and offer places along the Cliffs on a good swell we’re good tubes at low tide. As long as extremely shallow reef didn’t freak you. During the 80’s the 3 inch six foot trend made a resurgence up on the Central Coast of Cal. Most of those I saw were “Wahl Boards”.
Where could one view Spreckles 77? Online?
I dont’ think there were many of those. Too far off the map. My friend’s board was I think just about 6 feet but he’s a pretty big guy, over 6 feet tall and just a bit under 200 lbs. Plenty of floatation and then some though with all the foam in the middle!
Good! I’ve always been fascinated by the bad boy heir of a Sugar fortune. No disrespect meant.
I remember the article. What issue was that?
Good article but to my mind, Mr X will always be Glen Winton.
Bunker’s grandfather, Claus Spreckels was responsible for bringing electricity and electric lights to Honolulu. The sugar mills were the first places that had electricity in Hawaii. Spreckels was a friend of King Kalakaua, and showed him the lights he installed in his Maui Sugar Mill. Kalakaua installed the first electric lights in Honolulu at Iolani Palace, and shortly after that Electric Companies were formed to provide electricity on each island.
The sugar barons and other American businessmen were responsible for stealing Hawaii from Queen Liliuokalani. She was in the process of taking back a lot of the power they managed to take from the monarchy. Till today we are a sovereign country held hostage by the US. The annexation was done improperly and is by all accounts illegal. Not sure if can ever be resolved because too much has occurred since then (1893).
I agree wholeheartedly. Sovereign Monarchy. An illegal annexation. Remove McKinley’s statue from Arcata’s town square.
…the modernity and other first world lives that you have there is due to USA; if not all that comfort could not exist and plenty of junkies and thieves is what you could be there; like here.
This transform your daily live; security; not to have rods in your windows; not to have “lumpen” junkies with a 38 trying to kill you for bucks and a long etc.
If you think that some lost islands in the middle of the Ocean can be independent with all the comfort that you have there; well, you are too naive. The economy is ruled in the XXI.
No comment. Other than I’ve got my own .38 and a few other calibers. Let’s not ruin a thread. The book about Bunker Spreckels had some great images. Wasn’t that C.R. Steyk?? My bad Art Brewer images. I had forgotten about that connection. Also forgot about the deal Kalakaua and Claus Spreckles made.
vinny was a genius
what he and tom morey laid out in the 70’s during their stoned out layover on kauai became the blueprint of my surf craft mind.
I have a 9’8" with those style rails from Charlie that parmenter made for carvenalu for lay down paddle that helps me get back into the water that rail design was what parmemter and blane used in their first standup paddle rails. Charlie showed me some of the shaped blanks he skkinned in balsa for dave and blane in the early days of standup.
I also have a couple of boards from kauai the are around and below 6’ that are 3.5-4 inches thick chunky short boards for a big guy around 230lbs
Cool shapes.
Late 67’ - 68’, Dick Keating at Pedro Point (Linda Mar) in Pacifica, Ca, started building thick down railers. Well over 3" thick, flat decks to hard rails. Rode a 7’ of his, the pure speed was eye opening, it was hard not to make a wave on them, got in early and just sizzled down the line. So much rail floatation, never dug in, they had the opposite problem of too much release…make one mistake weighting that thick rail at max turn lean and they would suddenly release and slide out…so required a low, compact driving turn over the rail, not extended past it…and beasts to paddle back out against substantial incoming whitewater…but nothing in the day went faster.
There is a great example of one a Vinny’s futuristic boards in the Ben Marcus book on page 175. Wasn’t able to take a decent picture to post.
let us sing the praises of our real cousin vinney
not a short guy from brooklyn,vinney was well over six foot
his wide stance on a 5’6 super thick was well into the 4’’ range
the super flat detail in the bottom design made the board inspire
all the renditions that followed his lead.
he won the bahai honolua contest
he was in the vanguard of illuminated
to bottom turn at ten foot backdoor pipeline when
the contemporary ‘sponsored surfers’ were still riding
considerably less committed designs,
round rails round bottoms were the norm
mc tavish,hynson and brewer watched bunkie
walk by with the example that set their minds spinning
back to their shaping rooms.
Flat from 1/3 to the tail and rail to rail sanded with a 24’'block
to keep it true flat,
rails vertical to a hard edge
aaccentuated with an augmented poured resin edge
formed with tape and sanded dead flat for a release
so efficient the 15’’ base on the removeable fin was an easy inch thick
with mini apendages like those little very fins on your contemporary
airliners,look out your wing seat windows an say vinny out loud.
Back dooring hanalei’s imposibles at the bottom of the pit making the bowl
with NO CORD …!
These boards chosen line was not skating high on the wall
with the three fin squirling turn -o-matic stall configuration of fins
brought on by the toe and cant design choice
the boards were hard to ride.vinny, tall and big foot leverage
combinded to grind turns with natural rooster tails off the huge
lateral resistance fins.Diff’ conclusion was
that these flat bottoms were so eficient they were riding the fin.
Before the alamoana model embraced the easy ride desired rendition,the
word on the street uttered in the self satisfied north south shore design mavens
was that these "Edge’’ boards were toilet seats.
It didn’t take long before they were eating their words
and claiming the break through for them selves.
Bless their
hearts…
when morey encountered the cadre of savants in seclusion
on the garden island of 1970 he was the journalist
who published the photos of the break through.
Vinny bryan was not in headlines .
Not commercially driven vinney spent his life
doing drywall and playing slack key guitar.
his air flow thru deck vents were his passion.
He produced an offset mast base for windsurfer
sinkers,his son paul ripped a new alternative lline at reefers doing
aerial loops and blowing minds on tiny waves…
a youth technician paul moved to maui to windsurf.
Vinny was A true and respectable underground design wizard.
to see a thread with Vinny Bryan’s name on it digress
into drivel about hand guns has to be rectified.
A True Unsung Benevolent Monarch
rest in peace my friend Vinny Bryan.
and the rest of the pretenders to the throne?
bless their hearts,they sould out to Bic,real estate pimping
and did hard time…
…ambrose…
oh yeah diff shaped the one that cabel rode at Sunset
and won the Duke.
GO VINNY YOUR WAVE.