When we were BOYS

General Discussion
1

As most of you know I come to the surfing community from a roundabout way 1st board given to me by a cousin at Bronte Beach N.S.W. AGE 11, surfed Sydney Harbour Manly ferries wake aged 15 pulled

out by cop’s, when we had storm swell’s on the ocean beaches we

would surf inside Sydney Heads, Also did a lot of reef riding on the South Coast , mollymook,lake conjola,supertubes,churchhills,pretty bch

At age 24 I became a weekend surfer as I had to yes get a job.

To all you guy’s out there how about a little bit of your history?

hope to read it soon/// Regards Rod

                             Finfektion
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Grew up in Los Angles.

Lived by the airport, then E. L.A.

Moved to Honolulu in 1970 from East L.A. 12 yrs. old. (can you say culture shock)

Started paipo boarding at waikiki.

Bought first surfboard, 5’10", from a friend for $10.

Surfed Ala Moana park; concessions, big rights, tennis courts, ibm’s. We’d stash our boards on the roof of the bathrooms, cause we rode the bus everywhere we went. Worked one whole summer in Texas, hauling hay, saved enough to come home and buy a REAL board, a 6’2" round-pin Surfboards Hawaii, shaped by Ben Aipa.

Went one time to N.Shore camping. Surfed log cabins. Ate shit.

Got into too many drugs, too much trouble, quit school, worked at the pineapple cannery, joined the army (big mistake). Got out.

Lived in Texas two years, no surf.

Back to L.A.

Got a board, wetsuit. Got back into it. Moved to S.D. Surfed. Moved to N.Cal, Washington, Oregon (coming in from a solo surf one day, another surfer passes me on the beach. Asks me if I wanna go back out cause he doesn’t wanna surf alone, circa 1975, (surf was good, too). Moved to Utah, Nevada, Georgia (Job). No surf.

Back to Washington. Started surfing again. Entered a little surf contest, “Polar Surf Challenge”, took 1st place, longboarding in the 40yr.old and up division. My 15 minutes of fame.

Here I am, 48 years old, surfing my arse off in S.D… 36 years after trying that first paipo board at Waikiki. What a trip!

3

Funny you should mention going from a paipo to, eventually, longboards…

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.surfing/msg/81d0a7cbf38fdee2?hl=en&

'cos I am too lazy to type it all over again…

doc…

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…where are you living now , Rod ? Are you on the ‘goldie’ ??

I grew up in sydney , I rode a ‘surfoplane’ , then a foamie , [then a fibreglass board in 1971]

I learnt to surf , appropriately enough , at ‘Freshwater’ [harbord] beach

I moved to west australia in 1983.

cheers ,

ben chipper

5

Hey…

I grew up in Pearl City, HI. Started riding waves on surplus army inflatable mats and styrofoam bellyboards at

Ewa Beach in early '67. Got my first board that summer, an 8’6" Bohemian popout. Sold that a few months later and got a 9’8" Wardy. The rest is a blur…lets see, traded that Wardy for a 9’4" G and S. When the shortboard revolution hit the next year, i butchered off 6 inches off of that board. From that I got a backyard mini gun, a 6’4" Lee Hansen. Rode a couple of backyard boards my classmate shaped, some were actually quite good then finally got my first brand new shop board in '71 (a Lightning Bolt) after I got my first job pumping gas. By then we had graduated from Ewa Beach to Ala Moana Park and my first exposure to the North Shore, the first one almost ended up drowning. Went through the whole gamut of designs, longer, shorter, narrow, wide, pintails, diamond, the first fish incarnation, swallowtails, wingers, stingers, twins, thrusters, etc. In the early 80’s, I had a visiting east coast shaper make me a mini tank to use on the smaller days. It ended up being my primary ride due to the fun factor. I rode that board till it broke in the late eighties. That shaper having left, I ended up shaping my first board (the couple of dogs I shaped in high school don’t count) and although it had almost no rocker, and the glass job was just one degree above botched, it acutally rode pretty good. That first board lit a spark to try other different shapes, my favorites being longboards and fishes. At 51, I’ve lately been a little less inspired to shape, but I do have three blanks cut out waiting for me to finish. It’s been a hell of a trip so far and I look forward to see whats lurking around the corner for us in the way we surf and what we ride…

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Started body surfing at about 12 in Ocean City, NJ. Loved to sneak way outside on the bathing beach guards on a big day (keep low in between sets, swim like mad when hidden by waves). Used to give 'em the stroke, big time :-> First saw stand-up surfers in Brigantine about a year later - said “I’ve got to do that”. First board rental was ‘65 - a 10’ Keoki pop-out (lotsa rocker, those Keokis - NOT). Rented various (mostly Keoki, Dextra, Hansen) for '65-'66, bought a year-old 9-10 Weber Performer in '67. Kept that board going through the first two years of the short-board “revolution” (thinned down the hatchet fin 'til it broke - I’m stubborn & I was determined to to short board maneuvers on the Weber). Almost ordered a Holmesey Sidewinder. Gave up in '69 - broke down and bought a 7-6 Bahne Standard from George Gerlach (Surfers Supplies). Kept that board for a year, then started shaping my own. Founding member of the OC 7th St. volunteer surf patrol. In '73 I had two full-time (non-surfing, alas) jobs, gave up rolling my own and bought a 7-3 Something Special variplane bottom single-fin (by Bob Lacovara) from George. I started spending more time away from the beach, and my surfing suffered accordingly. In '78 I got married, and in '81 moved to Delaware County, NY and started raising a family. Very little surf on the Pepacton Reservoir. Moved back to NJ in '86, but still raising and supporting a family, did little surfing (the toothpick 7-3 floating me less well all the time). In ‘98. I decided to either reclaim some skill or give it up entirely and stop calling myself a surfer. Bought a 9-6 made by Nolte to Gerlach specs, and forced myself to surf at least 3-4 sessions a week. Eventually recovered something remotely resembling an ability to surf. Moved on to a 8-4 Gerlach hybrid, and a 10’ Nolte GP longboard, both of which I still use. Current home break - Sumner Ave., Strathmere. Current surfing ambition is to explore radically different methods for board construction. See:

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=257464;search_string=HWS;#257464

NTM keeping active in the water - I’ll be 57 in August…

-Samiam

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From an old- old post of mine -rather than re-type… I used the Archives! EJ

Place - Long Beach LI (I think it was Magnolia… but maybe Laurelton…) 1977.

Board. A 6’ something Pure Fun single fin double wing stinger loaned to me by one of the nicest surfers alive, Mr. Bob Landon, who at that time lived in my town on LI.

Two of my skate-rat friends and I went and knocked on his door after seeing boards in his back yard through the fence from the building next door (we ran into the back lot of the building to escape someone who was lawfully chasing us for some stupid thing we did - I can’t even remember the offense now). Landon gave one friend a board, told the other where to get one cheap, and, I guess he took pity on me, since he took me to the beach a few times that summer and taught me to ride soup and then waves.

He had a little Lis (I think) fish and the single. I couldn’t stand on the fish, but the stinger worked OK for me to learn on until I got my own board. It was his board for when there were ‘good’ waves.

I owe the man. I owe the man. I owe the man.

Last I saw him he was smiling after a session at OH Turtle Cove. His kid’s are now mainstays at the LB jetty’s.

Be nice to the grommets.

Eric J

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well my dad started in the 60’s fed up his knee in the seventies and bodyboards now sinve he can’t pop up anymore, but, that comes in later…

So my family has had a house on the jersey shore since 55’ and i have spent a minimum of one month there every summer my entire life, yes i know that qualifies me for kookiest of kooks. My dad had me on a sponge with him before i was one. riding my own in the ankle high dribble by three and under his belly in hurricane surf by five. when i was four my dad and my uncle took me my sister and my cousins out on a board my dad shaped in 66’ to try to teach use to surf, i was the only one who rode on 2 feet, squating ofcourse, the rest of them kneeled. i would stand up going straight to shore on the small days in the summeron his MR. he would push me into waves till i was like 8. then i would paddle in my self but same scenario. in the mean time i was bodyboarding like crazy, i remember getting my first deep iin and out barrel on my own on a sponge when i was 8 in 6-8 foot hurricane surf. when i was 12 i got my first wave going across the face, my dad had the biggest grin across his face, though i bet mine was just as big. i started stand up surfing a big more on his early seventies g+s magic. i was still bodyboarding when it was big or really good.about that time i met JLW and we became friends. but when he had to quit sponging i at first was like w/e i will stil bodyboard and only occasionally surf. so two summers ago i began standup surfing more and more because of him and now i only bodyboard with my dad since he can’t stand up or when it is pretty nasty or when the best waves are in black balled areas. but yea i am surf yea so i am 17 and this is not done yet

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Good grief! How many NJ/NY surfers are there here?

-Samiam

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Grew up in Manhattan Bch, CA. In 1974 my folks took me to Waikiki on vacation. Dad put me on one of those monster, yellow, rental boards and pushed me into a few. Scared the hell out of me and I wouldn’t touch a surfboard for a couple years. In the meantime my friends and I rode paipos and bodysurfed. Later I found an 8’? Rick gun in the neighbors trash. Pops helped me patch it up and I rode it for a couple more years. In 79’ I got my first custom board, 6’ something, double wing, rounded pin, single fin from Dennis Jarvis. It was stolen that summer so I confiscated my friend’s Kanoa Surf twinnie. Went through multiple boards in High School. Joined the Army in 84’ and didn’t surf regularly again until 87’. Bought a used Becker, 8’6" pintail mini-log and a 6’10" semi-gun. That was my whole quiver for many years. In 99’ bought a Jacobs 422 noserider and a 7’8" double ender from Pat Ryan. Bought and sold over a dozen boards, long and short over the next few years. Shaped my first board in 01’ and have made a dozen since then. Currently making a 6’4" eps/epoxy, fun board with Dcell perimeter stringers for myself. Who knows what’s next?

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" From an old- old post of mine -rather than re-type… I used the Archives! EJ "

do you have the link to that thread again , please , Eric ? [I had the feeling this topic ‘may’ have been covered before ?]

cheers !

ben