does anyone know about Wave Crest Hawaii shapes. i got an old one and would like to know the shaper, date, etc…thanks
Geroge Downing’s shop, Honolulu.
Wave Crest Hawaii was George Downing’s shop in the mid 70s before it became Downing Hawaii. I’m really not too sure who shaped the boards. It could have been George or son Keoni. At one point they had Buttons and Mark Liddel riding stingers for them. If my memory serves me correctly, Wave Crest went bankrupt then re-emerged as Downing Hawaii.
yeah, I should have said "George Downing’s shop in Honolulu, at least back in the early 1970’s. Where does the time do?
That would be the old International Surf Center on the corner of Kapahulu and (?) Palani Streets. An acquaintance (Gary) worked there for a while…
Wave Crest and Downing Hawaii as it is now known is located on Waialae Ave. kinda on the border of the Kaimuki and Kapahulu districts. It was the site of Greg Noll Surfboards in the 60’s, then it was Surfboards Hawaii for a little while then Wave Crest and finally Downing Hawaii. The International Surf Center was located just down the street on Kapahulu Ave. I don’t know what it was called in the 70’s but distinctly remember driving past the shop and seeing one of the first stingers in the window (an Aipa) jamming on my brakes and going inside to check it out. It just looked like something so revolutionary at the time.
Did International Surf Center used to sell some of those Brewers with the tri fins back in '71? If so, I recall that as a pretty good shop too. I wasn’t driving so I don’t recall that place exactly - not thinking about it for decades doesn’t help. Half moon “sidebites”?
Nels, Can’t say if International sold Brewers in '71. I remember them selling a lot of mainland sticks, Bings and Jacobs in the late 60’s. I know Surfline Hawaii had a few. Surfline was THE shop from the mid 60s to the early/mid 70s. On my first visit there, which was during the early days of the shortboard revolution, I still remember seeing Peck Penetrators, Cooper Blue Machines, short 8 foot Hansen Hustlers, Hanapepe Surf Shop (Brewer),ryan Dotson, Jacobs. Quite a bit of Hawaii’s best shapers were affiliated with them at one time or another, Brewer, Lopez, Reno, BK, Ryan Dotson, Rarick, Ron House, Buddy Dumphy, Garduque, Aipa. After other shops like Lightning Bolt, Town and Country, HIC and others opened up, Surfline was left in the dust and closed down near the end of the 80s.
yeah i know just about all...
we wernt left in the dust Fred Died In 1 Mounth and wife closed it
kaonie Is The boom shaper I just got a 8-o it ripps