SHACC will be giving a presentation at the Mingei on September 26, from noon til 1pm. CLICK HERE for more info.
SHACC will be giving a presentation at the Mingei on September 26, from noon til 1pm. CLICK HERE for more info.
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Book Releases
SHACC will be giving a presentation at the Mingei on September 26, from noon til 1pm. CLICK HERE for more info.
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Huh?
Our photo archivist, Steve Wilkings is always on the hunt for unusual photos on ebay and elsewhere. He came across this recently and couldn't resist. You're welcome!
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John Severson Book Signing
An odyssey through painting, photography, film and publishing
Artist, photographer, filmmaker and creator of SURFER magazine, John Severson, will be signing copies of his new book at SHACC on Thursday, September 25, from 6-9pm.
We'll also be displaying some of John's artwork.
beverages provided by
SHACC
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · 92672↧
1960 Makaha International Surfing Championships
Left to right - George Downing, Rabbit Kekai, Conrad Canha, Jamma Kekai (Rabbit's brother), Peter Cole and Wally Froiseth, November 29, 1960. Photo: Clarence Maki
The Makaha International Surfing Championships was an annual surfing competition held at Makaha on the west side of Oahu, Hawaii, from 1954 to 1971, usually in November or December; regarded in the late '50s and early '60s as the unofficial world championships.
Created by Honolulu surfer and restaurant supplier John Lind, and sponsored by the Waianae Lions Club as well as the Lind-founded Waikiki Surf Club, the inaugural Makaha event was a bust: the wave-riding events were cancelled due to lack of surf, leaving just the paddling races. Attendees were all from Hawaii or Southern California. California surfer Flippy Hoffman later recalled that the opening Makaha event was not without drama, as tensions flared between the Makaha surfers and the Waikiki surfers, then between the Hawaiians and the visiting Californians. "They had this luau," Hoffman said, "and a big hassle developed over how to cook the pig. Things got pretty hot. That first contest had a lot of fist-fights and hassles." (Matt Warshaw's Encyclopedia of Surfing)
Created by Honolulu surfer and restaurant supplier John Lind, and sponsored by the Waianae Lions Club as well as the Lind-founded Waikiki Surf Club, the inaugural Makaha event was a bust: the wave-riding events were cancelled due to lack of surf, leaving just the paddling races. Attendees were all from Hawaii or Southern California. California surfer Flippy Hoffman later recalled that the opening Makaha event was not without drama, as tensions flared between the Makaha surfers and the Waikiki surfers, then between the Hawaiians and the visiting Californians. "They had this luau," Hoffman said, "and a big hassle developed over how to cook the pig. Things got pretty hot. That first contest had a lot of fist-fights and hassles." (Matt Warshaw's Encyclopedia of Surfing)
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Pat Curren Surfing Wamea
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COMPLETELY SOLD OUT! Exclusive SoCal Premiere Screening of "Hollywood Don't Surf"
THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT TURNED OUT, IT WAS ANOTHER GREAT EVENT!
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Dick Metz Presentation at the Mingei, Sept 26
SHACC's founder, Dick Metz, will be giving a presentation at the Mingei on September 26, from noon to 1pm. If you haven't checked out this exhibit yet, this is the perfect time to do so, and Metz is one of the most entertaining speakers in the world of surfing!
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"SURF CRAFT - Design and the Culture of Board Riding" opened on the first day of summer, June 21. SURF CRAFT is a unique surfboard exhibition exploring board design from a previously unexamined perspective: in the context of Soetsu Yanagi's mingei philosophy of the importance of craft. Through this lens, the exhibition captures the influences behind American design in board riding, from the alaia boards of ancient Hawaii, to obscure surf bathing boards of England, Japan and Africa, to post-war hydrodynamic planing hulls of Southern California. Innovative board-shapers and surfers of the past and present are highlighted, including legendary surfer Bob Simmons, who died at Windansea in La Jolla in 1954, and renowned San Diegan Carl Ekstrom.
SHACC has loaned 12 boards for this exhibit, including a Simmon's balsa twin fin, an MR twinnie, an Aipa Sting, and an early Simon Anderson Thruster-all gems and worthy of inclusion in this important exhibit.
CLICK HERE for event info
Mingei International Museum
1439 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101 Tuesday - Sunday 10am-5pm (619) 239-0003
1439 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101 Tuesday - Sunday 10am-5pm (619) 239-0003
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Rare Velzy Wake Board
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SHF Visitors
We get a wide range of visitors on any given day. Local groms, legends, pros, and a fair number from foreign lands.
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Author and historian, Matt Warshaw. He penned the Encyclopedia of Surfing and The History of Surfing and is responsible for the Encyclopedia of Surfing website. Photo: Barry Haun
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Visitors Bill, Leigh and Bob Faerber and Nichole and Shawn Campbell. photo: Linda Michael
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Visitors from Colorado High School on their annual surf/camping trip to Sano. photo: Linda Michael
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Kyuhyan Lee from Seoul, South Korea. Kyuhyan had just finished surfing Sano for the first time and came straight here (she still had her wetsuit on). photo: Linda Michael
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Sonoko and Makoto from Japan. photo: Linda Michael
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Paul Strauch with Malibu legend, Lance Carson and his dog, Bruce. photo: Linda Michael
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Lois Pyanowsla, J. Scott Klossner, Kira Dave, and Terri Tucker, were here from Arizona and Rockaway, NY. photo: Linda Michael
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Paul Strauch, Bob Neely, and Barry Haun, with some the cool XM SurfMore products that Neely carries. We offer your choice of a short or longboard leash with our Family and above Memberships. photo: Linda Michael
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Ted Whitaker and 'Ema Latu from New Zealand. photo: Linda Michael
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Henry Ford, Duncan Wilson, Paul Strauch, and members of the Tiger Cub Scouts.
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Lonnie Argabright, Kara Schrage, Jason Joseph Lusk, and Paul Strauch.
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Rusty Miller and Tricia Shantz check out the Griffin Walls. photo: Linda Michael
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Lisa Peterson and her husband, Joel Knutson came by today. Lisa is legendary waterman, Pete Peterson's daughter and she's holding the rail of one of Pete's hollow boards. A similar one sold at our auction for $32K! Both Pete and Whitey shaped boards at the Pacific System Homes factory in LA.
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Lindsay and Matt Hopgood were over from Kent in the UK.
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Denny Aaberg, Pau lStrauch, and Mike and Catherine Shellman.
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Dennis Shields, Bruce Meade, Paul-Strauch and Mike Salter.
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Melody DeCarlo and Dan Mahoney were visiting from Cocoa Beach Surf Museum in Florida.
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Harry Bold, Paul Naude and Dick Metz.
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Dick Metz and Robert Hendrikson.
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Manuel Arroyo, Paula Armengod, Yago de la Mora from Santander, Spain.
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Asaki, Nemoto, Yamaguchi, Hanzawa, Nishitani, and Miyamoto from Japan.
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Hans Tegebo brought by Dale Webster's board that Dale broke the "13,000 consecutive days surfed" mark with. Dale's now at 36 years of surfing everyday, catching at least 4 waves each session. Who says surfers are obsessed. We'll be displaying the board here while it's on loan.
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Jon and Rosa Wegener came by for a first-time visit, to see the Grain board building class in progress. They were naturally drawn to this hollow Gordon Woods board.
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Jackson and Mark Christy flank Dick Metz at our "Evening with Dick Metz". We'll be putting out a DVD as soon as we're done with editing.
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Tom Morey showing Leo Hetzel something of interest, we're sure.
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Vincent Kemp helped out during the Grain board building class and when it was over, he donated his paipo that he had previously built from a Grain kit that he had sent away for.
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Peter Mel is part of our California Gold Auction Committee. Pete recently won the Mav's contest!
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Dick Metz and some of his classmates from Redlands College, class of 1954.
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We turned the tables on "Curious" Gabe Sullivan and asked him which was his favorite board from our collection. The AH-Wooooo!
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Founding Partners, Mark and Cindy Fragale were here on a visit from Oahu. Mark runs the Honolulu Surfing Museum.
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Miles, Blake, Dean, Noah, and Sean. Nuff said.
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Jeff and Azure Wolfe, and Karen and Greg Chisolm were here to see our Weber exhibit.
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Early Hobie employee, Dennis Olsen came by with family members for a visit.
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Longtime SHACC supporter, Kathy Pierce with John Severson at his Booksigning event at SHACC. Photo: Linda Michael
Barbara and Charlie Moir from Capetown, South Africa. photo: Linda Michael
Visitors Bill, Leigh and Bob Faerber and Nichole and Shawn Campbell. photo: Linda Michael
Barry Haun, Filippo Calai, Paul Strauch. Filippo was interning for a few weeks while visiting from Italy. photo: Linda Michael
Kyuhyan Lee from Seoul, South Korea. Kyuhyan had just finished surfing Sano for the first time and came straight here (she still had her wetsuit on). photo: Linda Michael
Sancho Rodriguez, Steve Pezman and Angela Zozaya. photo: Linda Michael
Sonoko and Makoto from Japan. photo: Linda Michael
Gretchen and Eden Severson and the Haggars—Sean, Maureen,and Lacy-Lou. Gretchen is married to John's nephew, Benji. photo: Linda Michael
Dale Hope, author and Aloha Shirt historian, with Steve Wilkings. photo: Linda Michael
2 legendary surf photographers, Steve WIlkings and Bernie Baker. photo: Linda Michael
A Mike Hynson sighting in our Endless Summer display. photo: Linda Michael
Bill Vetter, one of the original founders of the San Onofre Surf Club. photo: Linda Michael
2007 Longboard Champ, Phil Rajzman, SHACC founder, Dick Metz, and Von Sol's Sean Matteson. photo: Linda Michael
Chris, Anthony, and Cory. photo: Linda Michael
Auro and Andrea were visiting from Italy. They're currently working on John Severson's next book project. photo: Linda Michael
Travis Trick brought the Nike crew by for a tour. photo: Linda Michael
Bill Winterhalter and Gil Orr (Gil is one half of the Duo Tones and a member of the Chantays). photo: Linda Michael
Johan Dryselius and Jako Ahlstedt came all the way from Sweden. photo: Linda Michael
Bing Copeland checking out the Donald Takayama exhibit and the Bing - Nuuhiwa Noserider model, designed by Donald. photo: Linda Michael
Yusuke Hanai, Hi-dutch, Hide, J.T., visiting from Japan. photo: Linda Michael
Paul Strauch with Mike McIntyre and fellow Members of the Haggerty's Surf Club.
Local "Tiger" Cubscouts with Henry Ford, Dick Metz, and Paul Strauch. Dick is holding his original Boy Scout uniform and Paul is holding a photo of Metz, back when he was a scout. photo:Lori Stephani
Our favorite NorCal longboarder dropped by for a visit with Alysa and Paul Stafford. photo: Linda Michael
Carl Ekstrom and Richard Kenvin are flanked by Paul Strauch and Barry Haun.
Lorrin "Whitey" Harrison's granddaughter, Shelly Coe, and her son Wyatt dropped by. They're standing by one of Whitey's hollow models.
SHACC Creative Director, Barry Haun with Astrodeck's Herbie Fletcher. This hot curl was shaped by Herbie's father-in-law, Walter Hoffman and then reshaped by Renny Yater. Some solid lineage.
Rob Sachse and his daughter Belle. Belle's favorite board was this gun that belonged to the late Mark Foo.
Jack McCoy stopped by in July to screen "A Deeper Shade of Blue" and do a Q&A at the SHACC.
Visitors, Rusty Wyly, Monica McCabe and Brett Staska.
Michael Stewart and Kevin Whilden from Sustainable Surf. We're collaborating on an exhibit that will open here in November 2013.
Jim Wade, and Allen and John Faas (of Allen Surfboards).
Joseph Alphabet,Carl Tanner, Harry Bold, Mike Brown, Darryl Homan, Dick Metz and Bruce Little.
Ivo Kemper and Tamar Moorman from Holland.
The February 2013 graduation Grain board building class. As you can see, a wide variety of shapes were worked on. (That's 2 time world longboard champ, Jen Smith, seated with her brand new paipo)
Paul Strauch and Jonathan Jenkins at our evening with Metz. Jonathan has helped us video most of the events and many interviews over the last few years.
Dick Metz giving a tour to his Redlands Classmates.
Legendary surfer, skier, and Chart House restaurant founder, Joey Cabell with Dick Metz.
Local surfer, artist, hot rodder, etc., Brian Bent stopped by to check out our planks and paddleboards. Brian is hard core old school—no wetsuit, wool sweaters and wooden hollow paddleboards.
The annual Coalition of Surf Club Team Captains meeting was held here recently, just prior to their contest at Church. They were blessed with some of the best wave conditions ever.
Legendary surfer, Bill Fury was here as a guest for the Coalition of Surf Club Team Captains meeting.
L-R: Carl Tanner, Marni Larkin, Joe Larkin and Kelly Larkin.
Joe Larkin, Legendary Australian Shaper, and his daughters, Marni and Kelly and Carl Tanner visited Surfing Heritage last month. Joe was inducted into the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame at the Longboard Collectors Club's annual meeting at DoHo.
Joe Larkin, Legendary Australian Shaper, and his daughters, Marni and Kelly and Carl Tanner visited Surfing Heritage last month. Joe was inducted into the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame at the Longboard Collectors Club's annual meeting at DoHo.
Asier Antoma, Alex Aristegieta, Patxi Usubiaga, Ignacio Liria, and Cedric were visiting from the Basque Country, Spain. They all picked up these vintage Aloha print shirts we have for sale here at SHF.
Lisa Newin, Julie Daumes, Cesar Moreira, and Albert and Mindy Elliott.
Nasrin Rahinieh, George Lang, John and Karen Young, and Angie Alford.
Steve West, Kurt Feeter, Kirby Fosgatt came down from Santa Cruz.
Bill Zielinski, and Rena and Tim Passar were here on Oct 18.
Gene Cooper makes some of the most beautiful wave-riding toys around-this one is headed to Japan.
Tim Bessell donated a cherry Bodyglove wetsuit from the early 1970s. He also had one of his "Warhol" surfboards with him.
Jack and Mary Jo Lincke stopped by for a visit and liked this redwood and balsa mini gun Greg Noll made for Dick Metz.
This photo is from last year when Derek Jardine was visiting from South Africa and Doc Paskowitz and he came in for an interview.
SHF Founding Partners, Teresa and Sam Gornto were visiting from Florida.
SHF Founding & Sustaining Partners, Joe and Ellie Dunn brought the extended family by for a visit. Dick Metz was here to give them the grand tour.
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Floyd Smith, Dick Metz, and George Bensen.
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Floyd Smith and George Bensen standing in front of one of George's restored Woodies.
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Colin Foulker and Chris Bugge were visiting from the UK.
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Dan, Nora, and Tom McCarthy were here from Long Beach, New York.
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George Stremple in red is holding one of the boards he donated a few years back and Frank Van Wickle is holding one of 4 boards donated by the Quinard family.
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Glen Thompson is over from South Africa and using our library to do research for his thesis.
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Gracelyn Rezmer was visiting from Wisconsin and looking for material on Tom Blake (also from Wisconsin), for a school project. We highly approve of her choice of subject matter!
Photographer, Tim Hogan is producing a book on the history of surfboard fins and has been shooting many boards and fins from our collection. It's an amazingly elaborate set-up that he utilizes, each fin takes about an hour to photograph.
Troy McElveen is assisting Tim on the surfboard fin project. Here he is operating another piece of the equipment they use.
South Coast Distributor, Rick Arons, and Mike Perch.
San Clemente Mayor, Jim Evert, and San Onofre Foundation and California Surf Museum President, Jim Kempton, posing here in front of Greg Long's Eddie board.
Dick Metz and Steve Wilking's friend, surfer Malcolm McCassy.
Craig Le Seuer, the winner of our Found It In the Archives contest dropped by.
Rick Thompson, our next-door neighbor at ReShape Medical came by to do some shopping.
SHF Photo Archivist, Steve Wilkings and Roger Yates (Forgotten Island of Santosha) pose in front of the Velzy Shaping Shack.
SHF Curator, Barry Haun is pictured here with surfing historian, Bruce Gabrielson, and HB legend, Chuck Linnen. Bruce donated a couple of Dale Velzy's shaping lights and one of Dale's gun templates.
Harlan Patterson and Kevin Julien were visiting from Nova Scotia. Harlan glassed the Todd Chesser, Rusty surfboard back when he owned Pacific Surf Glass. photo: Linda Michael
Legendary Shaper, Rich Harbour and Steve Wilkings check out one of Phil Edwards' shapes.
Brothers Britt and Chris Janusz with a couple boards from their collection.
Paul and Karen Samuelson with a balsa board that was glassed by Danny Brawner.
Fuzzy foto. That's Christian Driggs, Rob Givens, Lindsay Perry, and Pierce Michael Kavanagh stopping by for a visit yesterday.
About a dozen Adventure Guides-Big Sky Circle, Laguna Niguel Nation, came by for a visit and tour. Being second-graders, I was able to hold their attention for about 30 seconds, but their dads seemed to appreciate the info. Barry, SHF Curator, etc.
Our archivist Becki Church's sister Amy, and her family. Husband Bryan, and kids, Katie, Isaac, Mckenzie, and Benny Thulin.
SHF Curator Barry Haun, legendary shaper Terry Martin, David Krause, SHF co-founder Spencer Croul, and SHF Executive Director Bolton Colburn
The Coalition of Surf Clubs' Team Captains and various members, met at SHF on the eve of the annual Church contest, 1/6/12.
SHF Director & docent, Denny Michael, accepts a $1,000 donation from DLSA President Mark Calkins, and DSLA VP Bobby Knox. Thank you Doheny Longboard Surfing Association!
Surfing legend and former Hawaii State Senator, Fred Hemmings dropped by and met our new Executive Director, Bolton Colburn. Fred's daughter, Kaui Hart Hemmings, wrote the novel, "The Descendants”, whose film version with George Clooney, is nominated for 5 Oscars.
Kemp Aaberg and Richard Yelland working on 12 Miles North: the Nick Gabeldon Story.
Stoked Groms, Noah Cordoza, Dean Michael, and Ben Cordoza.
Mark Weiner, San Diego charger Richard Kenvin, and designer/shaper Carl Ekstrom.
Scott Bass, Wade Koniakowsky and Barry Haun hold up a piece of fiberglass and resin taken from a Matt Kivlin Malibu Chip that is being restored. Wade will be painting the artwork for the Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction directly on the fiberglass.
Michael "Salt" Labita with the Jed Noll, Steven Thomas model that he created the artwork for.
Charlie Fernandez (Jimmy Buffett's manager), and Russ Kunkle (long time drummer for Jackson Browne) came by for a visit. Charlie is now the proud owner of the JP St Pierre (Surfy Surfy) customized Enjoy handplane.
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Hap Jacobs "Celebrating 60 Years of Shaping" Opens November 15, 5-8pm
Hap Jacobs
"Celebrating 60 Years of Shaping"
In 1960, Jacobs opened the Jacobs Surfboards shop at 422 Pacific Coast Highway during the "golden years" of surfing, when the Beach Boys music hit the bandstand and Bud Browne, John Severson and Grant Rohloff movies were screened at local theaters. Surfer magazine was also becoming a must-have for every surfer. Jacobs was regarded as one of surfing's finest craftsmen.SHACC
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · 92672
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Longboard Collector's Club Annual SHACC Meet
SATURDAY OCTOBER 25!
Dawn to 1pm
We're going to pull some photos, vintage mags, and other collectible items and have them for sale.
CLICK HERE to visit the LBCC website
CLICK HERE to visit the LBCC website
SHACC
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · CA 92672
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · CA 92672
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The Endless Summer 50th Anniversary Contest
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Jacobs Exhibit Items
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Aloha Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz
Here are some insights into Doc on The Inertia and also a nice piece on Matt Warshaw's Encyclopedia of Surfing.
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Whitey Harrison Surfboard
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Coming in February 2015...
Featuring work by Carl Ekstrom, Tom Morey, Donald Brink and Ryan Burch.
This exhibit is made possible through the generous support of
Details and exact dates to be announced.
SHACC
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · 92672
110 Calle Iglesia · San Clemente · 92672
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Just in Time for the Holidays, the Special Editions Release of "The Surf Riders of Hawaii"
After 15 years of dedication to this project, we are proud to announce the publication of two (2) Limited Edition Publications to honor the 100 year anniversary of "The Surf Riders of Hawaii"
The "The Surf Riders of Hawaii" Edition
• Done in co-operation with the Gurrey/Bayer/Murray families.
• Includes the restored "The Surf Riders of Hawaii".
• Hand made to the original specifications.• All text restored to match the original craftsman style lettering.
• All photos restored and printed using the "silver halide" method, as used by A.R. Gurrey Jr. in 1914.
• Comes inside the "The Surf Riders of Hawaii" slip case, to protect your collectable.
• A limited and individually numbered edition of 100 Hand Made books from Hawaiʻi with special SHACC Certificate.
The Centennial Edition
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• Done in co-operation with the Gurrey/Bayer/Murray families.
• Includes 2 books: The restored "The Surf Riders of Hawaii" and "The Life & Times of A. R. Gurrey Jr." by Joel T. Smith & Sandra K. Hall, with new information on Gurrey. Including five restored photos by A. R. Gurrey Jr., including "The Duke Diving, shown above."
• Hand made to the original specifications.• All text restored to match the original craftsman style lettering.
• All photos restored and printed using the "silver halide" method, as used by A.R. Gurrey Jr. in 1914.• Comes inside the "Centennial Edition" presentation box, to protect your collectable.
• Limited and individually numbered edition of 50 Hand Made books from Hawaiʻi with special SHACC Certificate.
In this photo, you can compare an original 1912 "Gray" version of the book with the new the restored version.
"Hana Hou" the magazine of Hawaiian Airlines featured an article on A. R. Gurrey Jr. and the "The Surf Riders of Hawaii, Centennial Edition".
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A Swizzle!
In honor of our upcoming exhibit, "What Box? Thinking Outside traditional Lines of Surfboard Design", featuring work by Tom Morey, Carl Ekstrom, Donald Brink and Ryan Burch, we decided to feature this recently donated Morey "Swizzle" from Don Bishop.
A whole new wave
Tom Morey wants surfers to try the Swizzle Stick, a soft board that's designed to shred
Tom Morey wants surfers to try the Swizzle Stick, a soft board that's designed to shred
By Rachel Laing
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
April 24, 2005
OCEANSIDE – People who spent their youth in coastal Southern California since the 1970s probably had their summer memories touched by Tom Morey.
Morey, who whiled away his own youth on local beaches, invented the Boogie board, the spongy bodyboard that has become a fixture on garage-wall hooks throughout the region.
Now, nearly 35 years after the Boogie's debut, Morey is ready to launch another innovation in wave-riding: the soft-performance surfboard.
To hard-core surfers, it might seem Morey is dreaming the impossible dream."Soft" and "performance" are mutually exclusive, they'll tell you. Soft boards are for beginners and vacationers from the corn-producing states. If you want to shred, you shell out the bucks for a board with a fiberglass shell.
But Morey, who's been surfing since the days of wooden boards, sees plenty of room for improvement to today's hard surfboard. He's spent the past decade working on a board he believes does a better job of preserving the fun of surfing while removing some of the peril hard boards pose to surfers' heads and faces.
"In my view, surfing isn't about constantly being in jeopardy," he said.
Dubbed the Swizzle Stick, Morey's board is shaped of polypropylene foam, the same lightweight, shock-absorbent material that's inside modern car bumpers. The foam core is covered with a vibrantly colored skin of polyethylene, an inexpensive, waxy plastic, that is heat-seared onto the shape. The only hard surface on the board is the wooden spine, called a stringer, that runs up the middle of all surfboards to give them stability.
While it's hardly pillow-soft, the board's slight give makes the threat of being nailed in the head less menacing.
"You need to get bumped a little to get the idea," Morey said. "But you won't get maimed."
Morey has spent about a decade designing the Swizzle, trying out various materials, shapes and manufacturing processes. He was assisted by Chuck Herpick, an old surfing buddy he's known since the 1940s, with input from Jimmy Linville of J.L. Designs, a well-known local custom bodyboard maker thatshares workshop space in Oceanside with Morey's Y Surfboards.
The Swizzle Stick went through hundreds of iterations before the fine-tuning process started a few years ago. For this phase, Morey relied on a small network of serious surfers who bought early versions of the board to help work out the final kinks. Anyone who had a problem could exchange the board for a newer version, so Morey was always aware of design flaws.
One early user was Richard Ruiz, who works from his beachfront condo in Oceanside and surfs daily. Ruiz has witnessed the evolution of the Swizzle Stick through experimentation with various materials, problems with leaks and stringers that break.
Recently, he said, he wrote to Morey and Herpick to tell them they'd done it at last: They made a soft board that performed as well as a hard board while offering several advantages hard boards can't match.
Ruiz said the board is extremely buoyant without being bouncy. Its softness makes it comfortable to lie on and to kneel on for paddling. Best of all, he said, the board inspires a confidence hard boards don't.
"I take off on waves on the Swizzle that I otherwise wouldn't take off on because I'd be measuring the consequences," Ruiz said. "If I know I'm going to hit something, with fiberglass, I just pass on it."
Paul Mears, who discovered the Swizzle Stick at an Encinitas surf shop, said another advantage of the board is its resistance to "dings," nicks in the shell of hard boards that will cause them to leak.
"It's completely ding-resistant," Mears said. "It doesn't absorb water, no matter what happens to it."
That quality makes it a good traveling board, Mears said. He has taken his to Hawaii and surfed in contests with it.
The Swizzle is sold over the Internet and from Y Surfboard's production facility on South Cleveland Avenue in Oceanside, as well as a few surf shops in California and Hawaii.
Now that the board is ready for consumer sales, the company is anticipating a swell in demand and plans to license the board out to a manufacturer for an upfront fee and royalties.
With all that the Swizzle has going for it, the biggest challenge for Y Surfboards might be overcoming surfers' dismissive attitude toward soft boards.
Mears recalls a story of a fellow surfer's initial disdain upon paddling over to him in the water to check out his Swizzle Stick.
"He grabs it and says, 'Aw, a sponger,'" Mears said. "Then I took off and did really well on the wave, and the guy couldn't believe how I could surf."
The Swizzle Stick, while less expensive than hard boards, is an investment. A 9-foot board retails for about $600.
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Hobie Sailboard
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Original Jams
Click on the letter above to view at a legible size.
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