Volume 1 No. 3 ‘09 $5.00

Modern Longboard DesignChristian Wach | Wetsuits | Candice Appleby

THIS SPREADWho says the golden age oflongboarding is over? Eric Vallely enjoysa golden moment in contemporarytime. Photo: Chasen Marshall.

ON THE COVERThree views of the modern surf scene:Steve Thomas rips his longboard off thelip. Photo: Danny Franks; Christian Wachgets his fish to fly. Photo: Yazzy Hilal;Candice Appleby digs deep for acutback in the 21st century version of abeachboy tradition. Photo: Ryan Beppu.

FEATU

RES

Evolution and Revolution 16Modern longboard design has deep roots dating back decades.But today’s boards are very different. So how did we get here?By Greg Loehr.

Waterwoman 24Candice Appleby is turning heads for her exploits as a prolongboarder, SUP surfer and open ocean racer.By Betty Depolito.

Staying Power 30Only a handful of surfboard labels can claim 50-plus years incontinuous production. Their shaper-founders talk about their trialsand tribulations during a half century in the board biz.By Paul Holmes.

Defying Odds 42Christian Wach burst on the pro longboard scene as a mid-teenprodigy. But he’s had to be creative to make surfing into a career.By Chasen Marshall.

Surf Cities: San Luis Obispo 50Yes, it’s not on the coast and it’s easy to bypass when you’re onsurfari. But SLO is a surf town well worth dropping in on.By Mike Aguirre.

Wetsuit Buyers Guide 54Winter’s coming, but you’ll be chillin’ in the best kind of way withthese toasty treats from the nabobs of neoprene.

ASP World Longboard Tour 58Australia’s Harley Ingleby and Hawaii’s Duane DeSoto go head-to-head in the finals of the first Oxbow WLT event, and so becomethe new front runners in the men’s world title ratings race.By Sam Bleakley.

Women’s World Title 62Jennifer Smith takes her second world crown as the leading ladylongboarders go back to Biarritz for the annual Roxy Jam ASPchampionship showdown.By Jennifer Flanigan.

Publisher'sNote

Not long ago while surfing one of my home breaks, I wasleaving the water along with one of the women pro longboarders andexchanging small talk.

I’d mentioned that her surfing was looking particularly stylish thatday and I’d heard a number of comments from the usual crew of mensurfers that they too thought she was looking very good.Her comment that followed nearly floored me.

She suggested that if I didn’t have that leash plug and leashattached to the back of my board that I too would get more commentsabout my surfing.

Fortunately for me, my age has taught me to think before blurtingout obscenities, so for the moment I just let it pass.

That evening I began to get annoyed with the thought that havinga leash on my board had anything to do with making me a bettersurfer, so I began making a few calls to friends about the leashdilemma, as I’d heard others make similar remarks about leash users.

Here’s what I found out.There are three very good reasons for using the leash.

Safety issues: Yep, safety. Once I’d spoken to my group of surfbuddies it was clearly the consensus that the ocean and the waveswould certainly be a lot more dangerous with surfboards adrift andflying all over the place. More than once I’ve been seeing the nose ofa board headed for my head only to have it come up short thanks to aleash. And what about the little kids a loose board could clobber onthe inside?

Time management: I can certainly speak for most who are employed.Time in the water is extremely important and if you only have an houror two for a session, half of it can be wasted swimming and gettingback outside especially when the surf has any size. Perhaps somepros never fall off (and have the whole day to go surfing), but I knowit happens to me from time to time (and I don’t).

Damage control: Boards today are expensive and when leftunattached will most certainly find some kind of trouble to get into,many times resulting in dings that result in expensive repairs.Especially where there are rocks, piers and jetties, dings are bound tohappen. Why incur the cost?

So here it is in a nutshell. If you don’t surf with a leash, good onyou (and I hope your loose board never sends someone else to theER), but don’t look down on those who do use a leash. And for thoseof you who do use one, thank you for making my sessions a wholelot better and for being a considerate co-citizen of the surf zone.

Good Waves,

Publisher

Unleashed or Unsafe?A Surf Dog’s Dilemma

www.rickycarrollsurfboards.com

Michael Anthony AguirrePublisher, Editor-in-Chief

Paul HolmesManaging Editor

Chasen MarshallEditor-at-Large

Paul WestContributing Editor

John KerPhoto Editor

John BassArt Director

Nikki Brooks, Chris Grant, Moonwalker,Keith Novosel, John Slavin, Lance SmithContributing Photographers

Jennifer Flanigan, Brian King,Greg Loehr, Ned McMahonContributing Writers

Copyright 2009morSURF Magazine, Oceanside, CAPrinted in the U.S.A.October, 2009, Volume 1, No. 3morSURF Magazine is published six times per year by One LastRun Publications, 3460 Marron Road, suite 103-375, Oceanside,CA 92056. Periodicals Postage paid at Carlsbad, CA, and atadditional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to morSURF Magazine,3460 Marron Road, Suite 103-375, Oceanside, CA 92056

morSURF Magazine’s Coverage and Distribution:Domestic subscriptions are available at $25 for (6 issues),$40 for (18 issues). Call us at (760) 803-2003 or Fax your order to(760) 314-0049. For foreign subscriptions contactinfo@morsurf.com for rates.

Contributions: morSURF Magazine is not responsible forunsolicited contributions of any type. Unless otherwise agreedin writing, morSURF Magazine retains all rights on materialpublished in morSURF Magazine for a period of six months afterpublication and reprint rights after that period expires.

Change of address: We need six to eight weeks to changeyour address. Send your new address along with yoursubscription label to morSURF Magazine, 3460 Marron Road,Suite 103-375, Oceanside, CA 92056 or call (760) 803-2003.

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Volume 1 No.3

9

Great Waves of RecessionIn Bad Economic Times,Surfing Itself Seems to Thrive

Surfspective

It might seem extremely indulgent

to embark on a fantastical search for

silver linings when dark clouds of

foreclosure, plummeting housing values

and unemployment are daily headline

news. And it may rankle in the

boardrooms of surfwear companies

that are seeing share prices plunge,

retail sales in a tailspin and quarterly

decisions to give more pink slips to

wide-eyed workers who thought they

were part of a bro-down without end.

A review of the

corresponding history of

the U.S. economy and

surfing, however, reveals a

strong case that in times of

stress, from the Great

Depression to the Great

Recession, surfing itself

makes progress.

The disastrous

economic effects of Great

Depression extended

throughout most of the

1930s, but this was also the

period when surfing took root in

California and the first seeds of the

“surf lifestyle” were sown. The Pacific

Coast Surfriding Championships, first

held in 1928, continued annually. The

first West Coast surf clubs were formed.

Plus, Tom Blake’s hollow boards were

licensed to various manufacturers, do-

it-yourself board building kits were

made available, and Pacific System

Homes launched its “Swastika” and

“Waikiki” line of ready-made, plank-

style boards. Oh, and Tom Blake put a

fin on a surfboard for the first time in

1935. Yes, the economic times were

certainly awful, but surfing itself was on

the uptick.

The recession of the late 1940s was

in part the aftermath of WWII (no job

for Rosie the Riveter) and the shift from

a war economy to a new era of

whatever was to come next. For those

lucky enough to be surfers in California,

however, it was a great time to be

living on the coast. Lobster and

abalone were still plentiful among the

point break boulders. And balsa

wood—some of it sold super cheap in

the form of de-commissioned Navy life

rafts—was readily available and quickly

adopted as the “new” material for

surfboard blanks. Fiberglass and resin,

developed during the war, made

unvarnished progress possible and

surfboard makers in California, where

the new materials had been used in

aircraft manufacturing, were in the

prime place to take advantage.

Two economic downturns occurred

during the ’50s, separated by some

three years of growth, but the decade

nonetheless was the time when surfing

progressed from being a hobby to

being a lifestyle industry that could

actually support fledgling businesses.

The first commercial custom-made

board makers emerged, wetsuits were

developed, the first surf movies were

made and even specialized surf trunks

and tees became available. By the time

the economy slipped into recession

again in the early ’60s, surfing itself and

the surf industry were booming,

seemingly immune from the general

economic malaise.

The late ’60s to mid-’70s saw several

periods of recession, including a very

dark period that coincided with out-of-

control inflation and notorious gas

shortages. Still, it was a time of

momentous progress in board design

and in surfing performance. From the

mini-guns and radical vee-bottoms of

the late ’60s, to down rails, the first wave

of popularity of twin-fins, and the

introduction of swallow-tails and wing-

flyers, the period stands

alone as time of wild

experiments in the shaping

room and in the waves.

Oh, and it is also when the

surf leash was tried out—an

innovation that had a

major effect in opening up

surf spots in front of board-

destroying rocks. Other

flights of surf fantasy

became reality too—like

the embryonic pro surfing

scene that grew sufficiently

from ’73 to ’75 and led to the first IPS

World Tour being launched in 1976 with

mainstream sponsors like Coca-Cola

and Smirnoff helping fund the fun.

One of the gnarliest downturns, 16

months in duration, occurred in 1981-’82

and was a “double dip” coming on the

heels of a previous brief recession in

1980. In the surf world, however, there

was little sign that the economy was

going backwards. A game-changing

design innovation, the tri-fin Thruster,

moved surfing performance into a

brave new world and spurred a spike in

production among surfboard builders,

as did the emerging spin-off sport of

“windsurfing.” The “surf look” as a

fashion trend was born, leading to an

explosion in the number of surfwear

companies starting up to take on

industry giants like Hang Ten, Op and

By Paul Holmes

Offshore and rising apparel rivals like Quiksilver and

Billabong. By the mid-’80s, surf fashion was the darling of

New York trendies and neon was the shizznit, but where

today can you find early ’80s labels like Hot Moves, Pipeline,

Catchit (sounded like another newbie, Gotcha, but

wasn’t), Sunbreaker and countless others? The new

companies employed hundreds of creative and sales types

eager for a job connected to their emotional involvement

in surfing, and provided sponsorship opportunities to scores

of would-be, can-be and did-be pros.

Largely the residual aftershock of the stock market

plunge of 1987 (Black Monday), the early ’90s recession was

short but brutal in many sectors of an economy that was

becoming increasingly globalized. In surfing, though, the

longboard resurgence and retro revival was a boon to

surfboard makers, creating a knock-on effect that

extended for years, right up to the present in many regards.

Meanwhile, “Grrl power”—the growing trend of young

females to gatecrash what had been almost exclusively

boys’ sports like soccer, and skateboarding—spurred a

huge influx of teenage girls into the lineup, and often their

still youthful mothers too. Since longboards are easier to

learn on than shortboards, the double-whammy cultural

phenomenon represented a major shift in surf

demographics and wonderful marketing opportunities for

the surf industry in general.

By the end of the 20th century recessions were

becoming less frequent—tamed, it’s said, by better

monetary policies and greater understanding of what

causes booms and busts in the economy. But the burst of

the dot-com bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were

enough to send all that into a early ’00s tailspin. For

surfing? Well, not so bad. The tech boom had made surf

reports and forecasts a science and easily accessed on

the Internet, and ASP’s “live webcams” had put millions of

pro-hos instantly in touch with real-time classic contest

showdowns half a world away from where they lived.

Meanwhile, CAD-CAM technology and relatively new,

sophisticated manufacturing methods were making

boards stronger, more accurate and mass-produceable—

a mixed bag of benefits, depending on your point of view.

It’s far too early to say how surfing may have

progressed through this most recent economic meltdown.

The rise of SUP has been a blessing for surfboard makers,

that’s for sure, but the big picture is no bed of roses.

Maybe, years from now, surf pundits will look back and say

stuff like, “Oh, that’s when Kelly Slater’s alternative pro tour

took off and surfing’s TV coverage made it possible for

sponsors to build wave parks in landlocked cities and surf

breaks on the coast got less crowded and that print- and

web-based magazine morSURF got started and everything

was wonderful and global warming changed the coastal

zone and created untold sic waves that never existed

before and we all lived happily ever after and surfing was

never more fun.” We’ll see. Stay tuned.

11

12

AfterHours

Continued on page 14

Of all the many, many colors,

flavors and styles of beer, there are at

the most basic level two kinds: ales and

lagers. The ale category, which often

consists of deep flavors and robust malt

character, best represents the craft

brewing category, as ales are relatively

cheap, easy and quick to make, often

dwelling in the tanks for a week or less

before heading to the bottle.

Lagers are a different creature.

Frequently more estery and more

elegant than ales, lagers are made

using a species of yeast which ferments

at low temperatures and requires a

month or more to complete its work,

making lagers relatively unprofitable for

small beer companies with limited

storage space. During the 1950s as

macrobreweries monopolized the

market, lagers were popular and

became the trademark category of

all the big labels, and thanks to the

doings of these giant corporations—

like cutting corners on recipes by

using less and cheaper ingredients—

lagers have gained a bleak

reputation as bland, thin, almost

flavorless and very simple.

Not all lagers fit this bill, however,

and several craft beer companies

make a lager or two. The Boston Beer

Company, home to Samuel Adams,

even features a lager as its flagship

beer—the Boston Lager. Unlike the

nondescript macro-lagers that rule the

beer industry, the Boston Lager bears

sincere flavor complexity. It glows rich

golden amber, is capped by an

appealing layer of foam and tastes of

nutty malt. Samuel Adams’

Chocolate Bock is another fine lager

and one of the handsomest beers

that bubbles. Capped in a 750-ml

bottle stamped with raised lettering

on the front, the Chocolate Bock is

released each fall. A bock is a style of

lager usually deep in flavor and often

very high in alcohol, but the

Chocolate Bock runs just 5.5% ABV.

What it lacks in strength it holds in

charisma. It pours a reddish leathery

tan, lurks beneath a finely bubbled

head, and smells of fudge, warm

grain and coffee. The flavor is subtle

More Sophisticated Suds:Lagers No Longer Mean Boring BeerBy Alastair Bland

Craft brewers have elevated lager to new heights of complexity and taste comparable to what microbrewers have done for ale.

www.oceanminded.com

Continued from page 12

and slightly sweet and suggestive of a bitter dark

chocolate. Velvety in the mouth, the beer is pleasure to sip.

Rogue Ales also brews a beauty: the Morimoto Imperial

Pilsner, first made in 2003 specifically for the use of Iron Chef

star Masaharu Morimoto, who now features the beer in his

restaurants. The Morimoto is 9% ABV, smells of lemon zest,

tastes of thick malt and feels like bitter grapefruit. It’s a

giant, but light in body, and you might be tempted to

guzzle the Morimoto as a thirst-quencher. Watch yourself.

Coney Island—a label of the Schmaltz Brewing

Company—consists entirely of five lagers. The Albino

Python, billed as a “white lager brewed with spices,”

actually runs on the hazy yellow side, carrying a small head

but crisp carbonation. The beer fizzes with scents of

lavender, sage, nutmeg and allspice. Though low in

alcohol, the beer is full and satisfying in the mouth. The

Coney Island Lager, the label’s mainstay beer, is wonderful.

Full, creamy, rich and malty, it smells and tastes of cedar,

pumpkin and apricot. Lastly, a Coney Island seasonal worth

snagging while it’s still here or marking the calendar for next

October is the Freaktoberfest. This beer may give you a

fright as it goes from bottle to glass; for reasons unexplained

it is almost blood red—though it tastes, not of

pomegranate, but heavy brown malt, wood, leather and

dark fruit.

While America’s macrobreweries have bastardized the

lager into an innocuous bore of a beer, creative craft brewers

of the nation have bastardized the lager in the other direction.

Their creations are often rich, full and interesting, and it’s

unlikely that you’ll taste any reason to complain.

Something tall, blond and sparkly? Sounds like a date with lager.

www.stewartsurfboards.com

16

By Greg Loehr

The history of performance longboarding is not a recent phenomenon. Many may

argue, but the genre is full of the same kinds of revolutionary tides that define our

more media saturated shortboard sister sport. Moreover, high performance has been

at the heart of the cutting edge of surfing and surfboard design going all the way

back to Tom Blake. Who would argue that taking 50 percent of the weight out of a

board and adding the first fin wouldn't be a step into high performance? Mr. Blake

was always pushing boundaries.

Evolutionand

RevolutionThe Roots of Modern Longboarding

17

Kai Sallas, outracing the lip with a high-line drive. Moves like this on a longboardwould have been hard, if not impossible, topull off on the heavy, single-fin boards ofyesteryear. Now, we just take them forgranted. Photo: Chasen Marshall.

18

“Spin-out—that age old nemesis of performance—disappeared into the historical rear view mirror.”

19

Blake's influence led in the mid 1930s to the development

of the Hot Curl surfboard, the very first glimmer of real high

performance. While Blake, Duke Kahanamoku and

George Freeth stylishly posed (traditional?), shaper/surfers

Wally Froiseth, John Kelly and Fran Heath soon had surfers

like Rabbit Kekai and Conrad Cahna ripping on these

modern looking, thin, narrow tailed, deep veed, high

performance shooters. Suddenly they were zig-zagging

across faces, pulling cutbacks, getting tubed and

noseriding. "Rabbit really started this style that they call

hot-dogging," said Californian Joe Quigg. "In the summer,

Queen's would get overhead and Rabbit would be inside

of the tube hanging five with no fin and his back arched.

All you would see was this flying green blur visible through

the lip of the wave. He'd do it over and over again, always

with precision." The name Hot Curl referred to the fact that

these boards could be ridden close to and inside the tube.

Hot dogging, high performance, call it what you like, but

this was its birthplace—Waikiki, mid-’30s.

In the ’40s and early ’50s in California there was Bob

Simmons and his implementation of rocker and another

50-percent reduction in weight through the use of wood

and fiberglass composites and polystyrene foam cores—

Simmons was anything but "traditional." And as a result of

his many other advancements, Simmons became widely

known as the father of the modern surfboard. Later one of

Simmons collaborators, Joe Quigg, created the first real

modern longboard, the Malibu Chip, built in the early ’50s.

Arguably, it is the template on which all modern

longboards, high performance and traditional, are based.

Then late in the ’50s hot-dogging produced a new

group of heroes. Phil Edwards (the Guayule Kid), Miki Dora

and of course Dewey Weber. Through their sweeping

The best of today’s high-performance longboarders make a mash-upof classic and progressive styles. (Above) Troy Mothershead sets upfor an off the lip that likely would have been confounded by bothmomentum and water-sucking 50/50 rails had it not been foradvancements in design and materials. (Inset) Lanky Taylor Jensendips a paddle-sized hand for an additional pivot point, but it’s threefins, refined rocker and rails that release which will carry him throughthe roundhouse cutback. Of course, it helps to have Jensen’s talent,too. Photos: Chasen Marshall.

20

power turns and noserides, California was in the midst of a

revolution. This revolution spread, and by the early ’60s

there were proponents worldwide. In California you had

David Nuuhiwa, Corky Carroll, Mike Hynson, Mike Purpus,

Dru Harrison, Dale Dobson, Joyce Hoffman and many

others. On the East Coast was Gary Propper, Claude

Codgen, Mike Tabeling and Mimi Munro. Australia had

Midget Farrelley, Nat Young and Bobby Brown. Before long,

in Hawaii, there was Ben Aipa, Barry Kanaiaupuni and

Eddie Aikau and the Hawaiian brand of power. In that

Golden Age longboard surfing reached a pinnacle; a

beauty and stature from which we still draw inspiration.

Then it evaporated— disappeared for over a decade. So

what's happened since?

In 1967 shortboard surfing took hold and the vast

majority of resources in competition, media attention,

business and athleticism took the focus and never

relinquished it. Longboarding somehow became the little

brother—or stepchild if you will—and as a result most of the

quantum leaps forward since then have honestly come

from the shortboard side.

There are five real changes that make the boards

today different from the boards of the ’60s and they aren't

small ideas although they do come from a smaller genre.

First, down rails. These were first ridden in the late ’60s.

Added to shortboards they gave the smaller equipment

more lift and drive. Drive (or acceleration) was a necessary

component in the smaller world because trim and glide

were not as effective on a six-foot board. It turns out that

for performance they are effective on longboards as well.

Second, three fins. This one’s obvious. Simon Anderson

broke all molds with this design. It’s been copied and

tweaked for every conceivable surfing product in the years

since 1981, and longboards are no different. The addition of

Anderson’s tri-fin concept and later assimilations gave

boards both long and short the ability to plane and drive far

better than earlier designs, and with far greater reliability.

Spin-out—that age old nemesis of performance—

disappeared into the historical rear view mirror and surfers

from all genres enjoyed newfound freedom.

Third, concave bottoms and three fins. About the mid-

’80s a group of young up-and-coming Florida surfers

“The added drive thatconcaves provided gaveperformance yetanother dose ofacceleration.”

began riding concave-bottomed, three-finned

surfboards at an out-of-the-way place named Sebastian

Inlet. Up until that time three fin boards were always

veed, and this was true of short and longboard versions.

While you may not know some of the names involved,

like Bill Hartley, Mike Notary and Mark Puchaty, some of

the younger ones you probably have heard of—Danny

Malhado, Todd Morcom and of course Kelly Slater. The

added drive that concaves provided gave

performance yet another dose of acceleration. Design

was off to the races again. By the early ’90's (thanks in

large part to Mr. Slater) the rest of the surf world was

onto this new design aspect and longboards were

certainly not precluded.

Fourth, the concave was followed shortly by added

21

Design concepts like swingweight play little role in modernlongboard design, largely becausetoday’s foam blanks are alreadyfoiled and much lighter. (Above)That doesn’t mean that a stall andcutback combo can’t be executedwith classic style. Steve Thomasin traditional pose—at least for asplit second. Photo: DannyFranks. (Right) Kai Sallas makes arather radical left hand turn atOceanside Blvd. It’s a good thinghe has two more fins in the water,since one of them is clearlycarving only air and sea spray.Shortboard zealots may bedismissive of a move like this—not enough rail buried—but theycan’t hang ten like Mr. Sallas can.Photo: Kevin Kinnear.

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23

“Added rocker gives the ride a freeand easy motion, and makes highperformance maneuvers much moremakeable than in the past.”

Got air? We’ve resisted some of the more outrageous examples in this roots-related feature. Butthere’s little doubt that Billy Harris (opposite) has caught some lift as he boosts off the top in thisnifty move at D Street, Encinitas. Photo: John Slavin. (Above) Colin McPhillips has long been amaster of the entire gamut of progressive and traditional longboarding. And he has three worldtitle trophies to prove it. Is this high-performance or classic? You decide. Sure, contemporarylongboard design has borrowed from advances in shortboards, but great style is about how youride, not what you’re riding. Photo: Chasen Marshall.

rocker. Sixties’ boards generally had three inches of

rocker in each end. The really cutting edge boards of the

day had four inches in the nose and three in the tail.

There were three primary models built in that era, each

considered radical for their day. They were the Bing

David Nuuhiwa Noserider (designed by David and

Donald Takayama), the Oceanside Spoiler (designed by

Johnny Rice), and the Weber Performer (designed by

Harold Iggy and Dewey). By contrast, it isn't rare today to

find longboard pros riding boards with rockers in excess

of four inches in the tail and six inches in the nose. In part

the concave nose allowed for increased rocker because

it gave the boards more lift to work with and the rocker

added control. In essence this added rocker gives the

ride a very free and easy motion, loosens up the edges

and makes high performance maneuvers much more

makeable than in the past.

Fifth, lighter weights. The search for lighter weights has

gone on since Blake's day and never seems to let up.

Today there are numerous technologies to choose from,

all claiming the high rung on the performance ladder.

Epoxy, polyester, urethane, EPS, carbon fiber, S-cloth,

Kevlar, veneer construction, sandwich construction, etc,

etc, etc. Take your pick as to which is actually at the top,

but one thing’s for sure: without these technological

breakthroughs, today's performance would look a lot

more mid-20th century than 21st century.

Evolution is the work of time and effort. The work and

effort evidence themselves in the performance we see

and enjoy today. The way aspects of the past are

blended with technology and design expertise by today's

master shaper/designers give us all the new freedoms we

experience in our everyday surf sessions at every break in

this blue water world. Evolution continues year in and year

out, and begs us back our local boardsmith again and

again for a new slice of tomorrow.

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25

Candace Appleby Turns Heads withher Stremgth and Skill in

Surfing and SUP

By Betty Depolito with Paul Holmes

In a world where few women are able to

be 24/7 career athletes, Hawaii-based

Candice Appleby is one of an elite group.

She has the looks of a healthy American girl

(Tommy Hilfiger listen up), the power of a

strong German girl (a hot tip for Adidas),

and most importantly the goals of a

champion with an impressive track record

as a competitor in multiple forms of surfing.

A triathlete, a cross channel stand up paddle racer, a pro longboarder andan SUP instructor, Candice Appleby has waterwoman blood coursingthrough her veins. Here, just for fun, she takes her SUP to the waves on asmall day at Pops in Waikiki. Photo: Ryan Beppu.

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27

In July this year, she came second in the women’s SUP

division of the Rainbow Sandals Molokai to Oahu paddle

race with a time of 6:50:39 and also took second place in

the women’s SUP division of the China Uemura

Longboard Classic at Queens, Waikiki, her local surf spot.

In 2008, she won the SUP surfing pro division of the

Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Oceanfest at Queens,

besting top male contestants Noland Martin, Noah

Shimabukuro and Brian Keaulana in the finals. She also

picked up the women’s division trophy in the same

event. And that is all on the heels of numerous titles and

accolades in both longboard and shortboard surfing

going back to her teenage years as a member (and

captain) of the national championship-winning surf team

at San Clemente High School in California.

Appleby, now 24-years-old, was born in California to

a family of athletes. Her grandfather was a pitcher for the

St. Louis Cardinals and her father played in college until

an injury ended his career. Her mom, a longtime surfer,

put Candice on four-wheeler dirt bikes when she was just

a tike, and the Appleby family enjoyed nothing more

than camping out in the desert at Joshua Tree and

roaring around the sand dunes at nearby Glamis. Oh,

except for maybe hitting the beach, bodyboarding and

bodysurfing or just playing in the waves, which Candice

has also been doing ever since she can remember. “I

was always in the water since I was a baby,” she says,

explaining that while the family originally lived inland,

one set of her grandparents had residences on the coast

in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach and her family

were regular visitors to beaches both there and a little

farther south in San Clemente, where the Applebys

moved and settled when Candice was 11 years old. By

then, Candice had already been surfing for two years,

learning under her mom’s coaching and at the same

“I was always in thewater since I was ababy. My wholefamily surfed together.It was great.”

Candice Appleby adapted quickly and thoroughly to Hawaii’s ocean-oriented lifestyle. (Clockwise from top left) A cool cutback at Queens.Photo: Atilla Jobbagyi; An emotional moment as Appleby learned she hadwon the SUP surf contest during the 2008 Duke Kahanamoku OceanFestival. Photo: Uncle Robbie; Powerful and functional style with thepaddle on an outside wave at Canoes with the glittering towers of Waikikias a backdrop. Photo: Ryan Beppo.

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time as her father. “That was really fun, she says of the

unusual situation of beginning alongside her dad at

Dog Patch, San Onofre. “My whole family surfed

together. It was great.”

Candice says she was both proud and impressed

when her grandfather told her she was the most gifted

athlete in the family. As a result, she aspired to make

something of that talent as a lifelong goal. Candice

began competing in surf contests when she was 10,

starting with local events and then in inter-school surf

club and NSSA meets, but she says she’ll never forget the

very first event she took part in. “It was called ‘Kids for

Clean Waves’ and held at Bolsa Chica,” she says, before

adding with a laugh, “But there was a dead whale

floating out there and the water was filthy.” Regardless,

the experience didn’t deter her.

Candice Appleby’s first encounter with Hawaii also

occurred relatively early in life. When she was just 12

years old she went to The Islands with a youth water polo

team competing in a tournament, a trip she was able to

make after saving up money from baby-sitting. She fell in

love with the people and the warm, clear water and

vowed to get back. After graduating from high school at

17, she did just that by enrolling at the University of

Hawaii at Manoa where she earned a degree in Tropical

Plants & Soil Science.“ I liked being in the dirt, planting

taro and learning about the Hawaiian culture,” she says.

But while she applied herself seriously to her studies,

Appleby continued to compete in surf contests. In her

second year in Hawaii, she joined HASA, took first place

in women’s shortboarding and second place in

longboarding, and thereby earned a place on the

Hawaiian team competing in the national

championships where, in 2006, she won the women’s

longboarding title and was a finalist in shortboarding too.

Though Candice says she is looking for the perfect

job in horticultural technology or an allied field in which

she can apply her academic qualifications, in the

meantime she is living the life of a pro surfer and stand-

up paddler. Her sponsors include Tropical Blends, the

Honolulu based surfboard company where she helps out

with design ideas and input for the SUP shapers, Ocean

Minded, a SoCal-based footwear label, Pualani

Swimwear, Chicago Surf Shop, Future Fins, and Da Kine

surf accessories. She is also employed by Paddle Core

Fitness as a surfing instructor and teacher of stand-up

paddling at Ala Moana Beach Park. “It is all about using

my talent to be an example to people,” she says.

Candice longboards, bodysurfs and shortboards but

now she says she has found her forte—SUP surfing and

racing. “I feel like I have found the best sport for me,”

she says. “My genetics are good upper body strength. I

feel like stand-up paddling is what I was meant to do. I

can use all my athletic ability. I hope stand-up will be in

“I feel like stand-uppaddling is what Iwas meant to do. Ihope it will be inthe Olympics—I’llbe ready.”

Being a proven waterwoman allows Appleby to get respect and hang outwith (top) Gerry Lopez and (above) Leleo Kinimaka, to name just two whorecognize her strength and talent.

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the Olympics—I’ll be ready.”

Candice is training constantly. Running,

swimming, biking, pull-ups and push-ups keep

her in top shape—and that’s all in addition to

plenty of water time each day. She eats lots

of fish, poi and spinach, and is as organic as

possible in her diet. She is dedicated,

disciplined and determined and also finds

time to help out as a youth leader at her

church. Veteran ASP surf contest judge Jack

Shipley has written of her: “One of the

biggest honors in the Hawaiian Islands is to

be known as a ‘waterman.’ This tribute

acknowledges a surfer’s all around versatility

in the ocean; shortboard, longboard, canoe

and stand-up paddle. Personally, I can only

think of about five women who would be

recognized in this category. At the top of my

list is Candice Appleby.”

That’s praise indeed, but Appleby is not

one to rest on her laurels. Among her many

goals is to compete in a long list of various

contests in a multitude of surfing disciplines.

Among them are world class pro

longboarding events, the Catalina Classic

Paddle Race, the Pipeline Bodysurfing

Championships and more. Among her

personal objectives are to surf Pipeline on her

SUP, tackle Waimea Bay and paddle around

the island of Oahu.

Appleby’s most immediate goal, she said

earlier this year, was to defend her title at the

Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Oceanfest on

Oahu. Heads turned in 2008, for sure, when

she took top honors in the pro division against

a formidable list of guys, so the pressure will be

on. But she’s been turning heads ever since

then too, especially with her recent runner-up

result in the Molokai-Oahu SUP race. “Dreams

come true for those who wake up and realize

that they have them,” says Appleby. And of

that, she is living proof.

Appleby feels she has found her true calling as an athlete inthe world of SUP, both as a racer and a wave rider. (Right) Sheis constantly pushing the limits of her own endurance andperformance and is not averse to taking risks if she feels itwill lead her to improve her skills. Photos: Mark Klintworth.

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By Paul Holmes

Staying PowerOnly a Small Group of Surfboard Labels CanClaim 50-plus Years in Continuous Production

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Surfing, at least the modern westernized version of the

ancient Hawaiian art, has been around now for a little more

than 100 years. The revival of board riding—it had all but died

out—began in the early 1900s at Waikiki. Back in those days,

of course, surfboards were crude at best and there was no

such thing as a surfboard manufacturer. Boards were hand-

made wooden clunkers, unwieldy and finless, with little in the

way of hydrodynamic sophistication in shape and design. If

you wanted a surfboard you were pretty much forced to

make it yourself using basic hand tools and plenty of sweat

and toil. And that’s largely how things stayed, unchanged for

almost a half century, two world wars, one great depression

and a whole series of giant leaps in human ingenuity that

brought about the polio vaccine, international air travel and

television, to name but a few scientific advances. Sure there

were some significant innovations such as Tom Blake’s hollow

boards (late 1920s), a commercial manufacturing process by

Pacific System Homes (1930s) and design breakthroughs like

the Hawaiian Hot Curl, but surfboards for the most part

remained self-made, heavy and crude until the late 1940s.

And perhaps that’s not so surprising given the relatively small

number of people who surfed in those days. The few hundred

hardy souls who rode waves in Hawaii and on the West Coast

hardly constituted a “market” that would support surfboard

making as a serious business enterprise.

The history of surfing and surfboards accelerated and

then took off like a rocket in the 1950s, however. Lighter

weight balsa wood emerged as a substitute for redwood and

pine in surfboard cores, while fiberglass and resin lent strength

and durability. In Southern California, where surfing had taken

a firm root in the post-war years, board builders began to

create an industry. In Santa Monica Joe Quigg, Matt Kivlin

and Bob Simmons set up workshops in the late 1940s, as did

Dale Velzy down in the Los Angeles South Bay at Manhattan

Beach. By the mid-’50s, they’d been joined by several more

makers—Jack O’Neill in Santa Cruz, Burland in San Diego,

Dave Sweet in Santa Monica, who was also a pioneer using a

new, lighter material, polyurethane foam, for the shaped core

of his boards. As the decade drew to a close, and Gidget hit

the big screen, the number of surfers and would-be surfers on

the coast multiplied exponentially and so did the number of

surfboard makers.

The equivalent of a “big bang” in the cosmos of

surfboard making came in1959—a veritable explosion of

startups—with soon-to-be-well-known names hanging their

shingles out at workshops and showrooms: Greg Noll, Jacobs,

Gordon and Smith, Wardy, Ole, Dewey Weber, Bing and many

more. This stalwart group of industry pioneers, and the dozens

more who followed their lead in the early ’60s, became the

backbone of a relentlessly creative and competitive business

that advanced surfing performance more in the ensuing 15

years than had occurred in the previous 50, or indeed in the

35-plus years since. But ironically, only a few labels among the

original core group have managed to stay in continuous

production into the modern era. This is their story:

(Clockwise from top left) Bing Copeland, Larry Gordon, GordonDuane, Hobie Alter, Rennie Yater, Rich Harbour and theirrespective logos. In the case of Harbour, G&S and Yater, theseare the original versions of the art they used. Many famoussurfboard labels of the ’50s and ’60s ceased operations in thepost-shortboard era of the ’70s and ’80s, although several madecomebacks after the rivival of longboarding starting in the late’80s. The companies featured here, however, can boast neverhaving quit making surfboards during five-plus decades.

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A pioneer among pioneers, Hobie Surfboards dates backto the early 1950s when teenaged surfer Hobie Alter beganmaking balsa and fiberglass boards in the garage of hisfamily’s Laguna Beach home. By 1954, Hobie was establishedin a factory and showroom in nearby Dana Point. At the time,the number of surfboard makers with what might be termedcommercial operations still could be counted on the fingersof one hand. But while commerce was an importantmotivator for the young entrepreneur it was by no means theonly reason he started the company. “There was never anymoney in it,” he said recently with a chuckle. “There wasn’tback then and there still isn’t.” Rather, he says, he alwaysenjoyed making things, figuring out how to make things betterand generally being a creative tinkerer. That has certainlybeen a hallmark of his more than five decades in business. Inthe late ’50s, he and his glasser, Gordon “Grubby” Clark, setabout figuring out how to make polyurethane blanks for theirboards, a move that would ultimately launch Clark Foam as aseparate enterprise under Clark’s sole control. In the mid-1960s, Alter became a major player in skateboardmanufacturing. Later that decade he turned his attention todeveloping lightweight, trailerable catamarans that wouldbecome a worldwide phenomenon in sailing—Hobie Cats—with huge local, national and international regattas. Hedesigned a remote controlled model aircraft, The HobieHawk. Later yet, his company successfully launched andlicensed a line of surf- and beachwear, practical accessorieslike polarized sunglasses and more. At one time, Hobie had anetwork of flagship retail stores on both East and West Coastsand also in Hawaii.

But surfboards always remained at the core of the Hobiebrand through times both good and bad forthat sector of the business. Hobie had made80 balsa and fiberglass boards from his familygarage before opening up his Dana Pointshop when there was no competitionoperating in Orange County. From the newlocation, he made some 1,580 more suchboards before switching to foam. With thatinnovation, of course, production numbersincreased by leaps and bounds and itcertainly helped that Alter assembled astellar team of craftsmen and riders for hislabel, among them Phil Edwards, JoeyCabell, Mickey Muñoz, Joyce Hoffman,Corky Carroll and East Coast star GaryPropper—all of whom featured in Hobie’sextensive advertising campaigns. With themHobie pioneered the “signature model”concept of surfboard sales and marketing.

Alter was also quick to see that the EastCoast would be a huge market for boardsand he launched a lineup of East Coastdealers with a unique promotional push—premiere screenings of a newly-releasedmovie, The Endless Summer.

“It had only shown twice up to thatpoint and I talked Bruce Brown into showinghis movie from Long Island to Miami,”recalled Alter. “We had all the dealers

promoting the movie and getting all the top surfers to showup to see it. It really laid some solid groundwork in buildingup contacts and relationships. It put us at least a full yearahead of the other guys in setting up dealerships backthere. There was a giant response—1,000 people a night atmost shows and 20,000 at Gilgo Beach when we showed itthere. It really got in front of a lot of people. Years later,

when we went back there to launch the Hobie 14[catamaran] and find dealers for that, people were stilltalking about it. It was their first introduction to surfing for somany people.”

The timing could hardly have been better, not only forsurfboard sales, but skateboards too, said Alter: “We’d justcome out with skateboards and nobody knew anythingmuch about them back then. Our team riders tested themon the asphalt at gas stations across the country.”

Alter remembers that road trip as being a high point ofhis 50-plus years in business. “Life was good all the waythrough there,” he says.

Every longstanding business, of course, has to endureup and down cycles. Hobie endured, and managed to

survive the great downturn thataccompanied the shortboard revolution ofthe late ’60s and early ’70s not leastbecause he’d already diversified into thecatamaran business. “I started working onthe Hobie Cats in 1967 and produced thefirst ones in 1968. At the time I didn’t start itbecause I thought the surfboard businesswas going downhill so to speak. In fact, I didit because I thought the surfboard businesswas doing fine and taking care of itself. As ithappened, it turned out to be a good timeto be doing something else.” But it was notthe changes in surfboard design that gaveAlter pause; his craftsmen were more thanable to keep up. Rather, it was a systemicchange sweeping the industry itself. “Irealized that with Grubby selling foam tojust about anybody, there were going tobe a lot of manufacturers starting up and alot more competition than there used tobe, especially on the East Coast where wehad so many dealers who could now getboards cheaper from some guy down thestreet. From about 10 surfboard companiesdoing really well, which there was more orless throughout the ’60s, there were goingto be hundreds. And they were doing agood job.”

“Passion for surfingand fun timeswas the realmotivational force.”

Stylish and poised, Hobie Alter was askilled surfer and created a still-thrivingbusiness from the lifestyle he loved. Photofrom the Hobie Surfboards archive.

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The 1964 East Coast roadshow of The Endless Summer was also a marketing bonanza for Hobie Surfboards. (Left to right) Mike Hynson, Bruce and Pat Brown,Joey Cabell, Corky Carroll, Hobie and Sharon Alter, Heidi and Phil Edwards assembled with Alter’s motor home that would take them all across the country anddown the coast from Asbury Park, NJ, to Miami, Fla. Photo: Courtesy Bruce Brown Films.

Still, Hobie kept on going, although not at the level ofthe mid-’60s when annual production exceeded 6,000surfboards: “I never got to the point where I ever thoughtabout getting out of the surfboard business, even thoughwe were losing money on it. By then it was more that wewanted to keep it going because it was an important thingfor our clothing business and we were just starting to getinto licensing that. All the big clothing labels at the timewanted to get in with a surfboard maker, like Op forexample. That was something they wanted to do to helpbuild the brand. We on the other hand already were asurfboard builder trying to get into the clothing business.Also we didn’t want to pull the rug out from under TerryMartin and Danny Brawner because those guys wererunning it, although it was pretty low key there for a while.”Indeed, there was a period in the early 1990s when Hobie

licensed out its surfboard manufacturing to Bill Stewart, withlongtime Hobie shaper Terry Martin and Mark Johnsonmowing the foam and Stewart Surfboards finishing theboards. But as the longboard resurgence continued to buildmomentum—and with Hobie still identified with the classic’60s style of surfing—the surfboard business was soon broughtback “in house.” It’s noteworthy that Martin’s long associationwith Hobie made him quite possibly the most prolific shaper inhistory, with a total of some 70,000 boards to his credit by thetime he finally retired in 2008.

In the end, says Hobie Alter, who is also now retired andhas left operations in the hands of his sons Jeff and Hobie Jr.,it was always about persuing his passion for surfing and funtimes that was the real motivational force that led to almostsix decades in business. “If I could live at the beach andmake a living making surfboards, what could be better in life

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Gordon “Gordie” Duane in 1952 at Waikikiwith the first board he made himself whilestationed in Hawaii in the Navy. On hisreturn to California in the mid-’50s, hebegan making boards commercially. Photo:Courtesy Gordon Duane archive.

35

than that?” he said recently.Hobie’s lack of Orange County competition in the

early and mid-’50s did not last long. Sensing opportunity, forexample, Velzy opened up a shop in San Clemente shortlyafter Hobie got established in Dana Point—a southernoutpost of Venice-based “Surfboards by Velzy and Jacobs”and one of series of satellite shops that by 1959 wouldmake Velzy the self-styled “world’s largest manufacturer.” Bythen, Hap Jacobs had moved on to start his own label andVelzy would not hold his grand title for long—brought downby his fast lifestyle, lax business practices and, mostdisastrously, non-payment of taxes. By the time the ’60sboom time in surfing began, Velzy had already lost hisplace on the totem pole of big players and even lostcontrol of his own name and logo.

But while Velzy and Hobie went head-to-head in themid- and late ’50s, a few others saw the growing niche tobe filled in Orange County too. In 1956, Gordon Duaneopened Gordie Surfboards in rented space under the pierin Huntington Beach. It was the first commercial surfboardshop in a town that would soon become synonymous withsurfing itself and a hub for surf shops and surfboardcompanies, especially after the first U.S. Championship washeld there in 1959. Gordie thus entered the pantheon oflabels that have remained steadily in production to thisday—and became one of the earliest inductees to the“50-plus” club. This summer, his pioneering role wascelebrated with a special display at the Huntington BeachInternational Surf Museum.

When Gordie started, of course, boards were still madeof balsa. Here Gordie found himself an upstart in thepecking order to secure the best wood at General Veneer,the go-to supplier for all the board makers. Competition forthe choice cuts—the longest and lightest strips—was fierceenough between Hobie and Velzy, the biggest buyers, andthe other few established board makers who’d been doingbusiness with the lumber merchant for years. A new guy likeGordie could only expect the leftovers. In one classic talefrom ’56, Gordie arrived early at General Veneer to checkout a newly imported shipment and was busy marking thewood he wanted when Velzy walked in and announcedhe’d buy, outright and for cash, every single stick of theinventory. “Who’s that gremmie marking the wood?” Velzyasked of the manager. Gordie, momentarily put in his placeby the maestro, was relieved when Velzy finally relentedand allowed him to buy just enough balsa for his orders. Thetwo subsequently became the best of friends, as wasalmost always the case among those few early rivals in theboard business. As Hobie once said of Velzy: “At the end ofthe day, we could always get together and have a beerand laugh about it.”

Balsa’s days as a core for surfboards, however, werenumbered. Dave Sweet was already experimenting withpolyurethane foam in Santa Monica and making DaveSweet Surfboards with the relatively new material that hadbeen developed during WWII and was now commerciallyavailable. The following year Hobie and Clark started tryingto figure out its practical application for blanks. Othersurfboard blank suppliers came online during the nextcouple of years, Foss Foam and Walker Foam among them.

Gordie was quick to get on board the trend and iscredited with being the first to realize that by using a centerstringer, he could glue-up a foam blank with “rocker”—nose totail bottom curve—built in. This innovation, as simple as itsounds in retrospect, was a breakthrough because even ifblanks were formed in molds with rocker, the primitive foam ofthe day soon sagged. Gordie’s experiments with stringers ledhim to develop multi-stringered boards that were as muchabout aesthetics as function—s-bands, figure-8s, and othercomplex glue-ups gave his boards a stylish look.

But Gordie was also one of the first (and by no meansonly) surfboard makers to suffer a setback because of thevolatile nature of the new plastic materials of foam, fiberglass,resin, styrene and acetone—building blocks of the modernboard. In 1958 a fire broke out at the Gordie shop. Whilequickly quelled by the Fire Department, it destroyed an almost100-board inventory (some of them being stored there bysurfers who lived out of town) and caused a huge amount ofdamage to the workshop infrastructure. Gordie wasdevastated—he still says it was the lowest point in his entirecareer and that he began to think maybe his wife was rightand he should get out of the surfboard business—until aprospective customer from San Bernardino walked up to himas he surveyed the still smoldering scene and gave him a crsipgreenback as a deposit for a new board. “That brought meback up,” Gordie said, “And I thought, by god, I’m going tohang in there. I walked over to a trash can, pulled out abrown paper bag and wrote down the guy’s name andaddress and took his order. I told the guy, ‘Hey, I don’t knowhow long it’s going to take, but I’ll tell you what, as soon as I’mback in business, yours will be the first board I do.’ And it was.And I replaced every one of those other damn boards too.”

With help from team member John Van Oeffelen, whofound the location, Gordie rented a shop at 13th Street andCoast Highway and got back to work. “That was a highpoint,” he said of the ensuing period. “Being out on CoastHighway was great, because when I was under the Piernobody could see me unless they walked down the stairs. Inthose days after about September 15, when school would

Gordon Duane surfing on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier circa1960. The shot was likely captured by LeRoy Grannis. Photo: CourtesyHuntington Beach International Surf Museum.

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start, you could be down there and look all the way down toNewport and all the way up to Seal Beach and therewouldn’t be a single person on the beach.”

Gordon Duane had shaped his first boards in the early1950s while in the Navy and stationed in Honolulu. There he’dbeen mentored by legendary canoe maker and woodenboard builder Abel Gomes. During the 1960s the Gordie shopin Huntington became something of a shaping academyitself, with a string of now famous names applying their skills asproduction shapers for the label. Among them: Mike Oday,Larry Felker, Del Cannon, Don Stuart, Bruce Jones, Jim Fuller,Randy Lewis and Steve Boehne.

Huntington Beach became a hotbed of surfing talentduring the mid- and late ’60s, and plenty of talented surferscame to Gordie for boards, including 1964 U.S. ChampionJohn Boozer, who also became a noted Pipeline rider of theperiod. Gordie credits Boozer with being the first surfer to ordera 7’ 6” board to take to Hawaii, “long before the shortboardthing got started.” Other notable names who rode Gordieboards back then included Robert Kooken, a little known

name today but so hot in the ’60s that Gordie recalls him“shooting the Pier backwards, hanging heels.”

As the shortboard transition got under way towards theclose of the decade, Gordie changed with the times and itspintail vee-bottom design, The Assassin, was regarded as onthe cutting edge of progress. Thus, Gordie managed to stayafloat into the 1970s, when its surf team, “The Hole in the WallGang,”—so named for the stormwater drain outlet in theseawall at 13th Street—was a major force in progressive surfingand proved it by winning the team title at the 1977 U.S. SurfingChampionships. But the times were still difficult. “I had about30 burglaries when I was out on Coast Highway, averageabout one a year for 30 years. I’d go see my mother, and I’dbe so bummed out. I’d just come back from finding thewindow blown out, glass everywhere, boards stolen and itseemed like another message to get out of this game. Mymother said, ‘You know what? You’re making something thatsome people can’t afford and so they’re going to take it fromyou. That’s just the way humanity is. If they want somethingbad enough, they’re going to take it.’ So I just had to put itdown to ‘shit happens.’”

Gordie was finally forced out of Huntington Beach in1988 when the property at 13th Street was sold to adeveloper. But it was not the end of the label, that keptproducing boards under licenses to various shapers who’dworked for the long-established brand and occasionally byGordie himself until health issues took him out of theshaping room a couple of years ago. Today GordieSurfboards are produced by Steve Boehne from his DanaPoint shop, Infinity Surfboards.

Throughout the entire time, said Gordie, incontemplating a long and distinguished career: “Therewere always some people who were making just crapboards. They were only in it for the money. I didn’t care asmuch about the money as I did about the quality. If I wasgoing to make it, I was going to make it perfect.”

The proliferation of surfboard labels in the late ’50s andearly ’60s did more than just meet the demand of agrowing surf market. It also resulted in more keen surfersfinding a way to make their living doing what they lovedbest. Many of them went on to form their own surfboardcompanies. Greg Noll and Bing Copeland, for example,were inspired and learned some basic skills while watchingand helping out at Velzy’s Manhattan Beach shop whenthey were just early teenage gremmies. By 1959, both ofthem were running their own labels.

So was Renny Yater, who moved north in 1959 andopened the Santa Barbara Surf Shop and Surfboards byYater after working as a glasser for Hobie and as a shaperfor Velzy. Yater too is therefore a member of the elite 50-plusclub. “I took out my first resale tax number in 1959 and I’verenewed it every year since,” said Yater. True, there weretimes when he supplemented slow times in surfboard salesby commercial fishing, mostly for lobster and crab, butYater’s venerable label has remained identified with stateof the art design ever since he set up shop. His Yater Spoonof the mid-’60s was a breakthrough noserider that alsoincreased maneuverability by reducing “swing weight”—the thinned out, stepdeck nose being a totally novelconcept at the time. When the shortboard revolution wasfomenting in the late ’60s, Yater was on its cutting edgeand his “pocket rockets” of the ensuing era—speed shapeswith fast-peeling Rincon point surf for their proving ground—ensured his transition into the brave new world of ’70sdesign. It was one of the most exciting times to be asurfboard maker, said Yater: “We didn’t know what the nextday’s work would be. It was so different from going into theshaping room and basically turning out the same oldlongboard time after time. Every day we’d try somethingnew, do it and try it, do it and try it. With the shortboards wewere really finding out new ways to ride waves.”

When the longboard revival began in the mid-1980sYater was once again in demand, especially by oldersurfers returning to the waves after a long layoff and keento rekindle the passion of their youth, and the familiar feelof the classic Yater boards they’d ridden back in the day.Ultimately Yater passed on his knowledge and his small buthighly respected surfboard business to his son, Lauran, butthe craftsman still keeps his hands busy making exquisitelybeautiful and incredibly intricate art boards in collaborationwith surfer and artist Kevin Ancell. “Today,” Yater said,“What’s really exciting in surfboards is all the advancedmaterials that are available. Unfortunately, in this economy,they’re pretty much too expensive to use because allpeople want are cheap boards, so it’s not really happeningyet.” But at 77, Yater still has his eye on the future and hisfinger on the pulse of what’s new.

Rich Harbour, of Harbour Surfboards, is anothersurfboard builder who has the distinction of remaininghands-on in the shaping room throughout five decades in

“The common threadwas of a garage-based startupsurfboard label.”

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business. Harbour started, like so many others, makingboards in the garage of his family’s Seal Beach home. Now67 years old and recovering from neck surgery to fixdamage inflicted by 50 years of hefting hand tools, Harbourrecently said he’s itching to get back to work shapingboards and expects to turn out serial number 30,000 beforethe year is out. “I’m really proud of the fact that I neverstopped,” he added while noting that several surfboardcompanies can celebrate their golden anniversary this year(and some already have long since done so), but few ofthe names behind those labels can claim to have been

Reynolds Yater in 1972 flying down theline at Rincon on one of his “pocketrocket” speed shapes. Photo: Joe Mickey,courtesy Yater Surfboards’ archive.

continuously active in the shaping room all these years.Harbour got into making boards almost of necessity

rather than choice. At 16, the novice surfer had his boardstolen and, without the funds to buy a new one, he made areplacement. The board came out quite well for a beginner.Soon he was making boards for friends, often simply for funrather than for profit, and hand-drawing his HarbourSurfboards laminate on vellum during classes he was takingas a student of architecture. But Rich Harbour never becamean architect. In 1961, his business took a leap in credibilitywhen Danny Buell, who’d been featured in two photos in thefirst issue of Surfer magazine, ordered a board from thefledgling company. By the next year, though, his parentsfinally tired of the foam dust and resin stink in their garage.“The last straw was when I splashed a drop of resin on theirbrand new Camaro,” said Harbour. Forced to move out,Harbour opened up his first shop at 5th Street and MarinaDrive in Seal Beach and, needing to expand a year later,moved the operation to 329 Main Street, where HarbourSurfboards has been headquartered ever since—anothernoteworthy milestone of longevity in the surfboard business.

Harbour Surfboards quickly built a reputation for qualityboards with high-performance design attributes. In 1964, RichChew became the first USSA Champion based on ratingspoints at several top flight contests while riding a BananaModel. It was just one of many successful Harbour models

Renny Yater’s first Santa Barbara Surf Shop, home of Surfboards by Yater,was in the area known as Summerland. Photo: Yater archive.

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that included the Trestles Special and the Cheater.Several Harbour team members competed in the 1965

world championships in Peru, including Steve Bigler who tooksecond place in the hot dog event. The 1966 worldchampionships in San Diego saw Harbour team members JockSutherland scoring second and Steve Bigler scoring fourth.

With demand growing, Harbour from time to time took onadditional shapers to help with production, among them top-ranked talent like Mike Marshall, Dale Velzy and Dick Brewer.But despite being one of the most successful board builders,Harbour had its share of ups and downs. In 1963, the glassingshop went up in flames—the result of a suspected arson. RichHarbour said that taught him the hard way that “you’re neveras insured as you think you are when time comes to make aclaim.” The most difficult period, he says in common withmany of the early players, was when “the mid-’70s crunch waskilling off the core of the major manufacturers that I beganmaking surfboards next to. I stuck to making surfboards andeven opened a skateboard factory for a couple of years. Thishelped supplement my surfboard income but it never madeany real money. I dumped the skateboards before the 1980sand began building the complete board from shape to polish,a total one man operation. This lasted for almost a decadeand those late ’70s to mid-’80s boards carry the label ‘shapedand glassed by Rich Harbour.’ At five to 10 boards a weekthere was enough money to pay the bills, and there is not onepart of the operation that I feel that I can’t do as least as wellas any employee I ever had working for me.”

Also, he added: “When Clark Foam closed [in 2005] it wasa very trying period. We were fortunate to have over 100blanks in inventory. Clark decided to unload his inventorybut in a valued customer system. The way I heard it, yearlyblank volume, those who paid their bills on time, and thosethat gave him the least problems would get a proportionalamount. I got way over 100 blanks. I heard of companiesthat got nothing. But it was still a trying time until some realfoam companies emerged.”

But, said Harbour, he is proud of the work he’s doneover the years and continues to do today. “I am acompletely self-taught surfboard maker. This was a lot offun, and it continues to be a lot of fun. In fact, I have beenworking on five very elaborate 21-piece balsa and curlyredwood boards that are chambered. This has been themost fun that I have had in 50 years. There are so few of usthat truly stayed in the shaping room through that period.”

The familiar story and common thread of a garage-based startup surfboard label is one with a twist in the caseof Gordon & Smith. Larry Gordon’s father was a plasticsengineer and chemist, expert in all the materials that bythe late 1950s were being applied to surfboard making. Sowhile it’s true that Larry Gordon and his high school surfbuddy Floyd Smith made their first boards in Smith’s familygarage, the unique surprise was that they did so withpolyurethane foam blanks they had made themselves atLarry Gordon’s dad’s San Diego plastics factory. “We madethe molds for the blanks and we got our foaming

The Banana Model from 1964 was just one of a series of successful surfboard designs from Harbour Surfboards. Note the change-up in the logo on this boardcompared to the original artwork that Harbour hand drew on vellum during class, as shown on the opening page. Photo: Courtesy Harbour Surfboards archive.

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chemicals in July 1959,” recalled Gordon recently, “And wesold our first boards on August 21st. We felt like if we goingto do it, we wanted to be progressive. Hobie was alreadymaking foam boards, so that’s what we did. Plus, some ofour friends were telling us that was the way to go.” And sobegan the internationally renowned surfboard label that isstill going strong today. Gordon estimates that starting withthe 10 boards a month they made at first, over the courseof 50 years the label has produced some 100,000 in total.

The timing of the G&S startup was fortuitous. There wasonly one surfboard shop operating in San Diego at thetime, Burland, and in fact it was Larry Gordon’s frustrationwith how long it took to get a board from the company—partly because the availability of balsa was inconsistent atbest and quickly snapped up—that was the initialinspiration to make his own. When Burland went out ofbusiness a few months later, Gordon & Smith’s success wasvirtually assured. With a growing list of orders on their books,the two young entrepreneurs moved into a productionfacility and showroom at 753 Turquoise Street in PacificBeach. With no real competitors in the entire San Diegoarea, they soon needed hired help to deal with thedemand. Among the first hot young surfers they took onwere soon-to-be surf stars (and innovative shapers) SkipFrye and Mike Hynson who became the initial mainstays ofa great G&S team rider program that continued during thenext four decades.

Larry Gordon proved to be a savvy businessman, acreative marketer and, above all, he maintained apassionate personal interest in surfing and surfboards. Whilehe logged thousands of hours in the shaping room, he wasalways fast to see opportunities to expand the scope of theG&S operation. He quickly established the requisite EastCoast dealership network that was so crucial to Californiamanufacturers in the 1960s. When skateboards becamepopular in the mid-’60s, G&S was on it immediately and thecompany remained a huge force in skateboarding into the’70s and ’80s. Gordon estimated the company sold $6million in skateboards during its peak year. In surfboards, thecompany was equally successful. Its Mike Hynson “Red Fin”

model is regarded as one of the all-time great designs of the1960s. The company’s association with 1964 world championMidget Farrelly and his late ’60s “Stringerless Model” gave thecompany international cachet when the Aussies werebecoming a major force on surfing’s world stage. In the ’70s,the company established an outpost in the Sydney suburb ofCronulla where 1976 world champion Peter Townend was aG&S team rider and designer-shaper. A little later, back onthe West Coast, the company made Mark RichardsSurfboards under a separate label just as the popularAustralian embarked on his then record-breaking run of fourpro surfing world titles.

Although G&S made the transition to shortboardsrelatively smoothly compared to some surfboards labels,Gordon said it was still, “by the grace of God, I really believethat. But we were really tuned in and we had a good teamand we did good ads. Skip Frye, Hank Warner, RustyPriesendorfer were some of the shapers who were workingwith us and we had great team riders like Gary Keating, Joeland Reid Mayne who surfed La Jolla Shores and JeffCrawford.” The latter, of course, was the East Coast star whomade history by winning the 1974 Pipeline Masters. Even so,G&S’s surfboard business took a hit during the ’70s that itmight not have survived had it not been such a dominantname in skateboarding. That, and making boards for otherlabels, one of which was Bing Surfboards, a fact that alsoplaces Bing on the list of 50-year survivors.

When owner Bing Copeland decided to move his familyout of Southern California in 1974, he licensed his brand toLarry Gordon. The boards were shaped by longtime Bingfoam-mower Mike Eaton, and several other Bing workersmade the move to San Diego to keep that label going at theG&S factory. Today, Bing Surfboards are made by MattCalvani, a shaper Copeland anointed as his heir apparentwhen the G&S license expired in 1989. Copeland himself stillgets in the shaping room from time to time to make a specialreplica board—rare gems much sought after by collectors.

By the 1980s though, G&S was once again on a roll.Gordon established the brand as a successful maker ofsurfwear and accessories, even launched a “juniors” line foryoung women. And the surfboards were being ridden by ateam of rising stars in the ranks of pro surfing, CalifornianJimmy Hogan and Floridian Charlie Kuhn among them. Plus,G&S skateboards were riding a boom cycle once again

Rich Harbour on a small day at Ray Bay. He is currently working on aseries of balsa and redwood boards that will take his label’s serialnumbers into the 30,000s. Photo: Courstesy Harbour Surfboards archive.

Larry Gordon surfing at South Bird, Pacific Beach, at the zenith of the classicstyle of ’60s longboarding. Photo: Courtesy Gordon & Smith archive.

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too—it was like the ’60s all over again, only more so exceptfor the fact that Larry Gordon wasn’t able to spend as muchtime surfing as he used to. That changed in the early ’90swhen he licensed out the clothing side of the brand anddownsized the surfboard and skateboard business. “Then Icould relax a bit,” he said, “And that’s when I started surfingregularly again.”

He was not the only old school surfer finding the timeand inclination to get back in the waves either. Plenty ofthose who’d dropped out of the sport after the shortboardrevolution were heading back to the lineup and thelongboarding revival was in full spate. Gordon says dozens ofold customers returned to G&S to order new boards. But thebest of it, he said, was that “guys I’d surfed with in my youthall started surfing again, and I’d meet up with them out in thewater; it was cool.”

Today, Larry Gordon still gets out in the water regularly. Amorning call to him for the phone interview for this story was

Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith, founders of the world-renowned surfboard label, share a joke at work. It was Smith who started up G&S in Australia but he andGordon parted ways in the late 1970s as Smith sold his interest in the company and went into the construction and restaurant business. Photo: Courtesy G&S.

fielded by his daughter Debbie (who now runs the day-to-day operations for G&S) saying, “Oh, he’s at the beach.He’ll return the call when he gets back in an hour or two.”

Said Gordon himself about his contemporary surfingexperience: “I still enjoy getting out in the water. Skip Fryeinspired me to get onto a really long board, an 11-footer,even though I can’t get up too quick anymore.” But, headded, he’s lost none of his interest and passion for

“Finding a way tomake their livingdoing what theyloved best.”

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surfboards and surfing, nor for the industry and the business hecreated a half century ago.

“I’m not as entrepreneurial as I used to be,” he reflected.“These days an opportunity may come along and I’ll just say,oh, that sounds like too much work. But I still really appreciatethe product: surfboards, shortboards, longboards, boogieboards, even stand-up paddle boards; whatever peoplewant to surf with. They’re all great and they all work.”

As surfing continues to develop and mature no doubtthere’ll be more surfboard labels celebrating 50thanniversaries, including a few on the East Coast and inHawaii. And of course it has to be acknowledged that thereare key individuals who’ve been plying the board-buildingtrade for five-plus decades as journeymen, even if theircraftsmanship is under several different logos. Without thesmall group of pioneering brands already in the 50-plus club,however, surfboards and surfing very likely never would haveevolved to where they are today.

(Left) Bing Copeland at Waimea Bay in the mid-’60s and (below) shaping aswallowtail board at his Hermosa Beach factory in the early 1970s. Duringthe mid-’70s and throughout the next decade Bing Surfboards were made atthe G&S factory in San Diego. Photos from the book “Bing Surfboards—50years of craftsmanship and innovation.”

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The Christian Wach

By Chasen Marshall • Photos by Yazzy Hilal

Success doesn’t come easily in longboarding. World titles, board sponsors, the

occasional photo trip, sure, they're there. But the limelight, compared with what the

shortboarders experience, just doesn’t tend to shine the way of the log.

In the case of Christian Wach—the closest thing to a child prodigy the sport has seen

since Joel Tudor—success seemed imminent, regardless of the board he came in on. With

his talent, gregarious personality, and classic California good looks, he was destined to

cross the marketing divide.

While longboarding teeters on the cusp of irrelevance, Wach has nonchalantly

experienced his most successful year to date and seemingly arrived: five magazine

covers, a starring role in a highly-touted surf flick (along with appearances in numerous

others), becoming the poster boy for a major clothing company, an Arctic surf journey

with a big-time out-of-industry publication, a third consecutive Noosa Festival noseride

title, a fledgling business and more airline miles than most people endure in a lifetime.

With so much going his way and because he’s just an interesting guy to talk to, we

caught up with CWach in hopes that he’d share his secrets of ascension toward stardom.

Wach embodies the adventurer's spirit (opposite), which is key in the life of a freesurfer. His boundaries aresimply a bit more extreme (above) than most.

Interview

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CM: Seems like things have really taken off for you inthe past six months to a year, what gives?

CW: Just a lot of opportunity came in the last year. My

sponsorship grew this year in travel budget and stuff. I

did a lot of traveling for Picaresque. Also, just photo trips.

I went on a trip for Outside Magazine, and in the midst of

all that, I did a couple contests, like the Noosa Festival

and just got lucky and won that. Just been having a

good year, I guess.

How important, personally and career-wise, iscompetition for you in surfing?

I think it helps, it’s cool, and it’s fun to win money in the

events, but for my career, if I was Longboard World

Champion I don’t think it’d change much for me. I’d

rather be getting run in Surfer Magazine and Surfing

Magazine, as opposed to winning longboard contests.

Beyond the contests and travels, what else do youhave going on?

I’m actually starting a surfboard company right now. I’m

not shaping, but I’m doing artwork on the boards and

having my friends who are artists do artwork on the

boards. We’re going to sell a lot to Japan and a few over

here. It’s going to be small and limited, but it’s going to

be artist based and should be a pretty fun project.

Do you have a company name?

Yeah, it’s called Canvas Surfboards.

Where’d this idea come from?

I was talking with Naki—he distributes Aviso surfboards in

Japan—about distributing a new surfboard line, and he

just said, ‘If you find a good shaper, let’s do it, let’s work

together and make something.’ That’s kind of where it

came from. Ryan Engle is shaping the surfboards.

I see your name linked to so many different surfboardbrands: Aviso, Herbie Fletcher, City Fog, Almond,among others. How have you managed to do thatand not burn anyone?

A lot of shortboarders do that, they ride all types of

boards, but they put their sponsors logo on there too. It’s

not that I’m trying to do that; I just like to ride

everybody’s boards. I don’t want to be exclusive to one

person anymore because it’s just too limited. If I ride

everybody’s boards I get to test way more boards and

I’ll get to have way more boards [laughs], you know

what I mean. I think it’s cool because I give everybody a

chance, and nobody really pays me to ride their boards

exclusively, so why should I limit myself to that?

You’ve managed to acquire some solid sponsors andget a good amount of play in different magazines. Isthat you being personable and friendly with everyoneor do you have a manager?

I don’t have a manager. I used to be managed by Peter

Townend with Active Empire when I was about 14 to 17

years old. He got me my deal with Redsand, which

eventually blossomed into Gotcha. He was a great

manager, but for longboarding, it’s so hard out there,

unless you’re going out there and getting it yourself. I’m

actually looking into a manager right now, but I don’t

know yet if I’m going to for sure do it. We’ll see what

happens, because I don’t really necessarily need one, but

the right guy could help me out with a lot of stuff.

Do you have any particular goals in mind, or is it justwhere you can take things if you have professional help?

I’d like to get into commercials, and get some help with

sponsorships. I feel like there is so much more that I can do,

but it’s a matter of just doing it.

It’s seems like you’re doing a lot on your own. Aren’t youand your buddy, Kameron Brown, doing surf lessons?

Yeah, we started a surf lesson business this summer. Just for

fun. It’s been going great actually. We’ve done plenty of

lessons this summer, with a bunch of people we don’t know

and a bunch we do know. All we did was make these little

bright, neon orange flyers and we were taking them to the

shops, the Marriott, and a couple other places. We actually

went to the Marriott and put the flyers all over the cars in

the parking lot and then we got a call the next day around

2 o’clock: ‘Is this Christian Wach? We found about 35 little

orange flyers on our customers’ cars this morning. That is

really illegal, we don’t tolerate soliciting. However, we do

want to set up a meeting with you next Tuesday if you’d

like to come in and talk about working for us.’ So, it totally

worked out.

You’ve got quite the creative side: the artwork you do onyour boards, painting, music. Where’d it all come from?

I’ve been into artwork since I was about 12, when my dad

and I spray-painted a board in the garage together. I was

really surprised by that and was like, ‘I can just paint all my

boards!’ So I’d just get clear boards and paint them myself

because it cost less for [the shaper] and I ended up liking it

better in the long run. Now I like my boards to stand out

and look nice and be different from everyone else’s. My

dad is really artistic and my older brother was always really

artistic, so I was probably always inspired by them to try it

out and see where it went.A distinct style and personality in his surfing has enabled Christianto stand out in whatever lineup he paddles out into.

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Staying on the topic of family, I know you had a hugeloss a few years back with your mom. You wrote atouching entry on your blog about her and abouthow she was such a big part of your life.

Yeah, she was huge; she was ‘Coach Mom’. She was

the one who drove us to the beach every day. When

we didn’t want to go to school anymore she took us out

of school and had us home-schooled and basically

gave us A’s in all of our classes and let us surf the whole

year in fifth grade. She just wanted us to have fun and

grow up with a really nice childhood and do what we

wanted to do, and we wanted to surf. She was always

really supportive of us and filmed us, was just stoked on

everything. She was the type of mom who told Devon

Howard at Longboard Magazine that he was jealous of

me, that’s why he wouldn’t run photos of me in the

magazine. I mean, come on, that’s funny. I was always

so mad at her for doing that, I never really forgave her

for that, but those are the type of things you remember. I

was probably only 10 years old when she said that, but

it’s just classic. She was an awesome mom, and I love

her and I know she’s in a better place. She just had

some rough years and couldn’t handle it anymore.

You recently returned from an epic trip with Outside.How’d you stumble into that opportunity?

Basically, I got a call from Yassine Hilal, known as Yazzy—

he’s a freelance photographer who works a lot for

Surfer’s Journal, Surfer, and Surfing—and he said, ‘Hey,

I’m doing this trip with Outside Magazine and Eddie

Bauer, would you like to go?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah man,

for sure.’ It was a long process, a lot of things had to be

accomplished before we went because we were going

to Norway and we were going to try to surf in Russia. I

had to get this gnarly visa for Russia that cost like $400.

Plus, there was just a lot of preparation for the trip, with

snow gear and sleeping bags, and all these things we

needed to bring to camp. I get to the airport and I had

to pay $450 for my board bag because there were so

many boards in there. We landed in Norway first. We

went to this place called Unstad and surfed in the most

beautiful area you’ve ever seen. It was freezing but it

was really nice, really cool, crisp water and really clear.

There were actually surfers there too, which was funny.

We were basically surfing in the Arctic Circle. Next we

flew to Denmark for a night and stayed in Copenhagen.

We rode bikes in Copenhagen and almost got hit by

about five cars. It was fun. Then we went to Russia, and

in Russia we didn’t end up being able to surf because

you need some sort of crazy military permit to get to the

coast. The whole coastline is like Camp Pendleton, it’s all

military, from the coastline to a few miles in and then

cities start. So, Russia was really freaky, just everything

that I thought it would be. I didn’t like it that much, I

wouldn’t recommend it. Then we went to the Faeroe

Islands after that, this small chain of islands between

Scotland and Iceland. The waves were mediocre. We

got a couple fun days, but nothing insane. It was just

cool to surf there, such a pretty place. These huge green

mountains and waterfalls every kilometer or half-

kilometer. It’s probably got the most hot chicks per

capita that I’ve ever seen in the world, like every girl

there is beautiful. They’re just a really beautiful culture. It

was a rad trip though. It’s an interesting concept to go

up into the Artic Circle and surf and go on snowmobiles

and take 25 airplane rides and just do a bunch of crazy

shit, climb mountains. We were gone for a month and a

half. I think the article is going to be in Outside Magazine

in December. Not too many surfers get to be in Outside

Magazine either, so that’s kind of why I jumped on the

opportunity right away.

You’ve circled the globe a few times over. You musthave filled a passport by now.

Yeah, I have to get a new one. I keep forgetting I need

to order it. For my next trip I’m going to have a rude

awakening because I’m going to be scrambling to get a

new one. My old one is expired now, and it’s pretty full.

I’ve probably done like five trips to Australia now, three

trips to Canada, been to Morocco, New Zealand, Japan

three times, Norway, Denmark, the Faeroe Islands, Russia,

Costa Rica twice, Mexico multiple times, Hawaii probably

four or five times, Newfoundland.

I’m sure you’ve scored some pretty good surf over thecourse of those travels, but in terms of the culture andan eye-opening experience, what are some of thelocations that have really stood out?

I thought Morocco stood out a lot because it was totally

different from anywhere else I’d ever been. It was kind of

freaky, you feel like a target there, because you totally

stand out. With my blonde hair, I felt like a target. I had to

take a taxi ride at 4 o’clock in the morning by myself, five

hours across the desert, with a taxi driver and me and my

boards on the roof. I fell asleep in the taxi and woke up

at the airport, luckily. I just hoped for the best. That was

pretty cool. Also, Japan is really insane.

It's not that he likes embarrassing those around him with everything hedoes (OK, maybe subconsciously), he just has a knack for learningquickly, be it an alaia or a paintbrush. Photos: Chasen Marshall.

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I would imagine you’re like a god over there. You’re agood-looking kid with blonde hair and you’vereceived a lot of publicity in their surf mags.

Yeah, Japan is rad. I love it. It’s kind of like being a rock

star over there. For once in your life, you feel like you get

recognition for what you’ve done, as far as

longboarding. You don’t get that type of recognition

anywhere else besides there. Everybody there is so nice

too. Such a different culture than here. I find myself

doing the wrong thing so much because I’m not used to

their etiquette.

So is it refreshing for you when you come home toSan Clemente or are you just antsy to get back ona plane?

Yeah, I love coming home. Sometimes I feel like I’m

going on vacation when I come home because I love it

here so much. I appreciate where I live so much. I can’t

wait to come back and see my friends and surf down at

Sano (San Onofre) and hang out. Sometimes when I’m

here for a while, I feel like I start to lose my appreciation

for it, but then when I go on a trip I’m just like so happy

to come home and sleep in my own bed and be in my

room, make breakfast at my house or go get Bagel

Shack, or whatever. They don’t have Bagel Shack in

Russia, I’ll tell you that.

You’ve become quite the wordsmith as of late. I’vecome across quite a few features on the trips you’vedone in magazines from around the world.

Writing is just kind of a fun way for me to remember stuff.

When I get back from a trip I can write something and

pretty much say everything that I want to say, and then

when I come back to it a year later or in 40 years I can

relive all those memories. I don’t know if I’m that great of

a writer, but I’ve had some things published recently. My

first article that I ever got published was in Surfer’s

Journal. I felt like I did an okay job with that and I was

really stoked that they gave me that opportunity.

You’re also a presence on the web. You have a fewblogs going right now, correct?

Yeah, I have my personal blog

(christianwach.blogspot.com), which is the one that I

focus on. That’s the one I really put all my recent stuff

that I want people to see. The one on Gotcha

(christianwachs-gotchablog.blogspot.com) they asked

me to do for them and it’s updated regularly, but not

often, not as much as my personal one. And then I also

have a blog on Surfingmag.com. That’s recent.

So you’re 20 this year. Does it ever strike you as surrealto be run in advertisements in Surfer Magazine, getting

to travel around the world, having people give youboards and product, and be seen as somewhat ofa celebrity?

I do, I think about it all the time. I’m so grateful. Seeing

my peers, my friends from high school and what they’re

doing with their lives and what I’m doing, I feel really

fortunate. I don’t know, I just kind of went for it my whole

life. I didn’t step back and wait for things to happen for

me, I tried to make things happen instead of waiting for

a miracle. I have always wanted to be successful and I

wanted to go to the top, I think that’s where I’m trying to

head, still. I’m always worried about it, thinking ‘Crap,

what can I be doing?’ or ‘What do I want to do? What

should I be?’ I have all these talents that I could use to

my advantage, but I just don’t know exactly what I want

to do yet. I’ve tried pretty much everything that I’m

interested in, making movies or painting or shaping

boards, surfing, traveling the world. They’re all awesome

things, like I love doing everything. I want to be

everything, but I can’t be. So I think I just need to focus

on one thing and go for it.

[Interview interrupted by friends coming over for a party.

Growing up in Orange County, surfing status quomeans a 3/2 and a 10 minute walk at worst.Christian Wach outside his comfort zone inCanada, but free to improvise.

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Girls voices.]

Sorry about that, I’m having a few people over.

No worries. It seems you ride whatever shows up onyour doorstep, whatever is out there, and you ridethem well. What are the boards you’re really enjoyingright now?

I’ve been riding a board that Jeff Wagner shaped, he

shapes for Lost Surfboards and also shapes the Herbie

Fletcher boards. It’s just a single-fin noserider. I’ve also

been having a lot of fun on my Aviso’s. I love Aviso

boards. I have the CJ 10-foot board, that’s what I ride

mostly. Then I ride the 5’0” Cole Black Diamond, and that

board is insane too. Any board that Cole makes is insane.

You still big on alaia’s or is that a fading interest?

Yeah, I still ride those, but they’re such a hassle to

paddle, so I don’t ride them all the time. They’re still really

fun, I love them. I have a couple now.A recent honor bestowed on you was being

handpicked by Joel Tudor to complete in theNoseride Invitational at the U.S. Open of Surfing.How’d you feel about that? Or was the main thoughton having to ride a log in 10-foot surf?

I was really stoked ever since Joel invited me to do it. I

was like, ‘Wow, thanks a lot. Stoked man.’ When we

heard it was going to be like double overhead, then we

were like, ‘Ah, crap.’ But then it ended up being really

fun, the waves were not that gnarly at all. It was really

fun, or, well, I had fun in my heat. Some people opted

not to do it.

Last thing: what’s coming next? What should weexpect in the next month, 6 months, year, 2 years?Anything fun and exciting on the horizon?

Um, I’ll probably keep doing the same stuff. Be creative

and try to come up with something bigger and better,

but I just don’t know what it is yet. I can’t really answer

that question. [Laughs]

Well, we’ll just leave it as a hanger then.

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For surfers living in densely packed Southern

California, like me, there are really only two choices for a

surf-stoked road trip. Go south into Baja—100 or 1,000

miles, take your pick—or north to the also easily

accessible Central Coast of the home State. In many

ways, both trips are almost essential experiences for the

California surfer, but they are definitely very different.

The week before my most recent trip—in which I

opted for the northbound trail—I was chatting on the

phone with a buddy, Ted Rich, owner of Last Wave

Originals (www.lastwaveoriginals.com), located in San

Luis Obispo, when we realized that the beer we’d been

planning on having for over two years was now possible,

not just long overdue, so a stop by SLO was imminent

and impossible to ignore.

Once you’ve left Hwy 101, pulling into San Luis

Obispo feels like you’ve taken a step back in time. The

downtown area just has a warm feeling about it, with

wood and brick buildings of all shapes, sizes and

architectural styles. Once you’ve strolled the tree-lined

streets under the soft glow of the evening’s lights, you’ll

realize that SLO has the familiar vibe that most all-

American towns used to feel like. There’s no mega mall or

strip center dominating the

downtown here, and you’re

not really conscious of being

in a college town either.

“Americana” is the word that

spings to mind; kind of like a

Norman Rockwell painting.

It was now Beer-30 and

after a quick call to Ted his

directions pointed me to the

post office parking lot, where

all you need to get free

parking is a receipt from a

nearby local proprietor—and

the SLO Brewery was

definitely where my receipt

would come from. Beer is

By Mike Aguirre

Bubblegum Alley (inset) has been attracting the curious for years,albeit with a strange fascination. (Right) San Luis Obispo technicallymay be landlocked, but surf spots and waves are only a few minutesdrive away. Unidentified rider at “A” beach. Photo: Mike Jones.

51

Population: 250,000

Best breaks: South County, Pismo Beach, St. Anne’s; North County, The Sand Spit and Cables.

When to come: Fall is best, but winter isn’t bad

Ideal swell direction: North or northwest

Surf shops: Central Coast Surf Shop, San Luis Surf Company, Moondoggies

Random factoid: Dating from sometime in the 1950s, Bubblegum Alley in downtown San Luis Obispohas been a source of weird wonder. Feel free to add your own piece of chewing gum tothe wall, or just stand back and admire the unique scene. How did people get their contributions sohigh on the walls? How many pieces are there? What were people trying to spell out with their gumused like graffiti? One thing is for sure: you can look, but it’s better not to touch.

San Luis Obispo, CaThe Most Stoked Town Without a Beach

52

plentiful in SLO, but the crew that my host brought along with

him said that this was “the watering hole for the local crowd”

and once upstairs that was evident.

We snuggled up to the loaded bar and near instantly our

beermeisteress was front and center—tall, long dark hair and

tatts up to her ... well bunches of places, apparently. When

she suggested the IPA, we echoed in unison, “set ’em up!” It

was an evening to remember and our meistress was with us all

the way with great beer, great food and great service.

I believe it’s safe to say that San Luis Obispo may not be

at the top of your list when considering a surf trip, but that

may be a mistake. SLO is without doubt a surf town. Oh, I

know, there isn’t an ocean attached, but believe me it’s a surf

town. I had three boards strapped to the top of my rig and on

every turn while in town I wasn’t a standout—there were

plenty of boards in evidence everywhere.

Downtown SLO has three notable surf shops:

Moondoggies, just newly remodeled, two stores into one;

Central Coast Surf Shop and San Luis Surf Company, and I

visited them all. If you need surf gear, and you can’t find it

between these three shops, it may not be made.

While talking with one of the sales guys at

Moondoggies, I asked who was the local talent with regard

to board manufacturing. His instant response: Shane

Stoneman. Originally, shaping was a hobby for Stoneman,

but it wasn’t long before competitive surfing and his close

relationship with a shaping guru taught him about the

sensitive relationship between a surfer and his boards. So

much so, that he landed a spot on the U.S team and scored

third place in the 1990 World Amateur Contest in Japan.

Pismo Beach is just one of the surf zones close toSan Luis Obispo. Central Coast resident Tom Craigfinds the sweet spot on this Pismo peeler. Photo:Mike Jones.

53

and once the north and

northwest swells start hitting,

there are waves a-plenty.

North of SLO in the Montana

De Oro State Park there are a

couple of other reef breaks,

The Sand Spit and Cables.

Both are highly regarded

breaks and again work best

on a north or northwest pulse.

San Luis Obispo can

boast of so many things to

do—hiking, biking, festivals for

wine, beer, art, cars, food—

you name it. Taking some of

the wine country tours is said

be “like a trip back to

Tuscany.” Nearly every night in

the town itself there’s a

concert in the Plaza, and on

Thursday evenings there’s a Farmers’ Market. For a full

rundown on SLO and the surrounding area and activities

check the local website:www.sanluisobispo.com

Personally I can’t wait for a return trip. On my way out of

town the locals suggested McClintocks for breakfast. Yep,

bring your cowboy boots, because it’s a western theme,

which suits me just fine. And they’ll roll you out of the

restaurant stuffed. I definitely will be back again.

The weekly Farmers' Market is just one feature of a vibrant downtown scenein SLO, especially at the colorful peak of the summer season.

Soon after that, he won

his first pro event on the

PSAA tour.

During the years

since, Stoneman has

honed his skill to

produce boards for any

surfer’s persuasion—long, short and most anything in

between. Each creation is carefully produced under his

personal watchful eye, making certain that each craft

meets his standard of excellence.

The surf around the San Luis Obispo area is plentiful and

within 15 to 20 minutes drive in either direction. In South

County there’s Pismo Beach with its limitless sandbar breaks.

Just up the road there’s St. Anne’s, a right hand reef break

Picturesque vineyards in the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside produce thegrapes for a thriving wine industry—well worth a tasting tour.

54

As you load your boards for a dawn patrol surf, the crisp chill of Fall is definitely in the

air, and once you’re at waters edge, standing knee deep in mother ocean, contemplating

that first duck dive, your 3/2 full feels pretty good.

Like the season, wetsuits are changing. The rubber is getting thinner but still just as

warm, is less absorbent, far more elastic and yes even “greener” in both the materials

and production process.

Today’s wetsuit designers are all about function, ease of entry and exit, and

they’ve even thrown in some color. It’s giving us all a reason to head to our local surf

shop, check out the new wetsuits and some of the latest technology being applied

to keeping us cozy in the winter waves. —MA

55

Body Glove Wetsuits2860 California St., Torrance, CA 90503 • Tel: 310.320.7873 Fax: 310.320.7889 • www.bodyglove.com

CT SLANT ZIP MEN’S FULLSUITSurfer: Luke StedmanDensity: 3/2mmWater Temp: 55-65 degreesFeatures: Brand new for 2009, the CT wetsuit wasinspired by our athletes competing on the worldtour. The CT is constructed using Body Glove’snewest super soft and stretchy Magna Flexneoprene and comes with an easy slant zip entryfor maximum flexibility. The CT was designed forthe surfer that is looking for the maximumperformance and comfort. Limited 1 year warrantyon materials and workmanship.Sugg. Retail: $239.99

VAPOR SLANT ZIPMEN’S FULLSUITSurfer: Dusty PayneDensity: 3/2mm & 4/3mmWater Temp: 45 – 65 degreesFeatures: The Vapor is now available in a sleekSlant Zip. The Vapor is constructed of 100%water repellent Vapor Flex, 100% heat reflectiveThermofiber interior, and 100% Fluidseal tapedseams. If you’re looking for the warmest,lightest, most flexible suit, the Vapor is for you.Limited 1 year warranty on materials andworkmanship.Sugg. Retail: $399.99 - $409.99

ECO 2.0 MEN’S FULLSUITSurfer: Alex GrayDensity: 3/2mm & 4/3mmWater Temp: 50-65 degreesFeatures: New for 2009, Body Glove’s Eco 2.0wetsuit. It is more flexible and even moreenvironmentally friendly than the original Eco. TheEco 2.0 is an incredibly stretchy environmentallyconscious high performance wetsuit. It is theperfect suit for the person that demands highperformance stretch but does not want to sacrificethe environment to get it. Limited 1 year warrantyon materials and workmanship.Sugg. Retail: $379.99 – $389.99

MAGNUMMEN’S FULLSUITSurfer: Cheyne MagnussonDensity: 3/2mm & 4/3mmWater Temp: 50-65 degreesFeatures: When your main concern is flexibilityand stretch, the Magnum is the suit you arelooking for. The Magnum is made of 100%Magna Flex, 100% Fluid Seal Seams, and aThermofiber chest panel. The Magnum allowsfor maximum movement while maintaining thewarmth needed for that extended surf session.Limited 1 year warranty on materials andworkmanship.Sugg. Retail: $299.99-$319.99

Aleeda Wetsuits18241 Gothard St., Huntington beach, CA 92648 • Tel: 714-274-8000 Fax: 714-274-8010 • Email: wetsuitinfo@aleeda.com • www.aleeda.com

Advantage FullBuilt with our exclusive water resistant half-zipper andwater barrier to help prevent water from flushing in.Adjustable neck closure for entry ease, 3 year warranty onmaterial; lifetime on seams.

Advantage JacketSuperstretch throughout the ENTIRE jacket. 100%superstretch allows for maximum comfort, fit and flexibility.Now with glued and blindstitched seams! Adjustable neck.Seal around waist to prevent sliding up.

AEX SpringsuitHigh-quality Sheico superstretch neoprene and a shortzipper. Quality materials and manufacturing are our highestpriority. Seams are flatlock stitched. Neck closure isadjustable. Custom sizing available. Best warranty in thebusiness- 3 years materials; lifetime on seams.

56

Hotline Wetsuits719 Swift Street, #56, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 • Tel: 831-425-5920 Fax: 888-507-7565 • www.hotlineonline.com

The Reflex Hooded 5/4The Reflex Hooded 5/4 has been tailoredfor a custom fit off the rack using 95%super stretch. Our signature “fly-zip” entryhas been modified to allow more ease ofentry without compromising performance.

The ReflexThe Reflex is also available in 3mm and4mm. Some new features include ourSynergy Seal, Japanese Welded SeamTechnology and use of special fabrics toseal both wrists and ankles.Feel the Fire Within.

The ElementThe Element, is our front zip/top entry”wetsuit that’s “easier to use than a backzip.“ The Element is entirely Feather-Lyteultrastretch with smooth skin chest/back.100% PowerLyte tape sealed seams. Theultimate in comfort.

The Cold Climate UnitThe Cold Climate Unit. This classicshoulder to shoulder front zip design hasbeen proven throughout the years. Thewarmth and durability factor along withnew technology makes this suit extremelypopular in frigid regions.

Boz Wetsuits4584 Mt. Laplatta Place, San Diego, CA 92117 • Tel: 858-569-6788 • Email: bozwetsuits@hotmail.com • www.bozwetsuits.com

WOMEN’S THERMO BOSSSurfer: Brissa MalagaDensity: 3/2, 3/2.5, 4/2.5, 4/3, 5/4 HoodedFeatures: 100% Mega stretch materials,ultra light water repellent neoprene, Gluedand double thread blindstitch construction,100% hand taped for a nice feeling anddurability, with a big panel under the zipperand water repellent collar, Also availablewith single lined chest and back panels.Sugg. Retail: US$ 279-349

THERMO BOSSSurfer: Salvador VoysestDensity: 3/2, 3/2.5, 3.5/2.5, 4/3/2.5, 4/3, Hooded5/4, Hooded 6/4Features: Warm and Flexible 100% Ultra stretchmaterials, Super Light - Water Repellent neoprene,Glued and double thread blindstitch construction, Alsoavailable single lined chest and back panels, 100%hand taped for a nice feeling and durability, with a bigpanel under the zipper and water repellent collar.Sugg. Retail: US$ 279-349

COMPETITIONSurfer: Sebastian de RomañaDensity: 3/2, 3/2.5, 3.5/2.5, 4/2.5, 4/3/2.5, 4/3.Features: 100% Ultra and Mega stretchspecial materials, Biggest paddling panel: onepiece shoulders, arms, arm pits and sides,Glued and double thread blindstitchconstruction, 100% hand taped for a nicefeeling and durability, with a big panel underthe zipper and water repellent collar.Sugg. Retail: US$ 289.00 - 299.00

MAXUMSurfer: Gonzalo VelascoDensity: 3/2, 3.5/2.5, 4/2.5, 4/3Features: Megastretch materials from the waist up thatincrease flexibility and comfort. Water repellentSuperstretch materials on rest of the suit, Greatcombination of price and performance, Glued and doublethread blindstitch construction, 100% hand taped for anice feeling and durability, with a big panel under thezipper and water repellent collar, Also available withsingle lined chest and back panels.Sugg. Retail: US$ 219-239

57

OXBOW3102-A Kaohinani Drive, Honolulu, HI 96817 • Tel: 808-358-0784 • Email: tdaupin@oxbow.fr • www.oxboworld.com

32FLEXFullsuit steamer Flex 3/2mm, Level 3neoprene, Glue seam construction, DFC2Collar, Durapad knee, keypocket.

LAFTERLongjohn 2mm Laird, Allover inside, Level3 neoprene, Glue seam construction,Finemesh panel, Durapad knee

32WMNFullsuit steamer 3/2mm, Level2 neoprene,Glue seam construction, DFC2 collar,Durapad knee, keypocket

SPRINGWShorty 2mm, Level2 neoprene, Flatlockseam construction

Patagonia259 West Santa Clara St., Ventura, CA 93001 • Tel: 805-667-4526 Fax: 805-643-2367 • Email: maile_schulbach@patagonia.com • www.patagonia.com

M’S R2® and R3® Back-ZipFeatures high-quality, Japanese neoprene;patented, chlorine-free merino wool grid interior;Smooth skin on the torso, back and hips to reduceevaporative cooling; PVC-free kneepads fordurability and less environment harm. For watertemps 55-65° (R2) 48-55° (R3)

M’S R2® and R3® Front-ZipFeatures high-quality, Japanese neoprene;patented, chlorine-free merino wool grid interiorwith recycled polyester liner; recycled polyesterjersey inside eat and legs to increase durability;internal neck gasket to prevent flushing. For watertemps 55-65° (R2) 48-55° (R3)

M’S R4® Hooded Front-ZipFeatures high-quality Japanese 5mm(Chest/back), 4mm (legs/arms) and 3mm (Hood)neoprene: ; patented, chlorine-free merino woolgrid interior with recycled polyester liner; internalneck gasket to prevent flushing. Seams Triple-glued and blinded stitched for 38-48° xxx water

W’S R2® and R3® Front-ZipFeatures high-quality, Japanese 2mm (R2) or3mm (R3) neoprene; Smooth skin on the torso,back and hips to reduce evaporative cooling;critically reinforced seams; PVC-free kneepadsfor durability and less environment harm. Forwater temps 55-65° (R2) 48-55° (R3)

58

The Japanese have a great belief in

the transience of the world, in

impermanence and renewal. Surfing sits

beautifully in a place that values the

importance of both nature and

innovation, of the given forces of life

and of cultural change in dialogue. As

a result, there are two million surfers in

Japan blending tradition and

experimentation. Akabane Beach,

Tahara, was an excellent location for

the first event of the Oxbow ASP World

Longboard Tour, presented by

Yumeya. The WLT rules changed this

year to include just 32 surfers and a

knockout format from the outset, in

Olympian style. But with no Pacific

typhoons forecast for the week, the

event had to make the most of one

day of fickle conditions to harness a

whole day of excellent surf to

complete it.

Ten of the first round of 16 man-on-

man heats were run as the sky hung

like a dripping cloth over sodden two

foot onshore waves. Hawaiian all-stars

Duane DeSoto, Ned Snow, Keegan

Edwards and reigning Oxbow WLT

champion Bonga Perkins created

rhythm from the chop, running the

small waves ragged with top-drawer

brilliance to advance straight into the

top 16. France’s Oxbow WLT number

two, Antoine Delpero, signalled his

intent by racking up big scores on

greasy green sections. He slid all over

Oxbow ASP - WLT Event OneAkabane Beach, Tahara, Aichi, Japan July 27 – August 2, 2009

Australian Harley Ingleby is now the leader of the Oxbow ASP WLT points race for the worldchampionship. (Above) Ingleby’s combination of big moves and solid noseriding proved to beunbeatable and (left) to the victor went the spoils.

Proscene

Story: Sam BleakleyPhotos: ©ASP/Shadley

New ContendersTake Center Stage

them, creating instant artworks, adopting great posture

through hang tens and flexing low into outlandish re-

entries. His reward was the first day’s top wave scores—

8.25 and 9.5.

A fresh four foot swell was on tap for the next day. A

winner would be sealed in the long raking lefts. Back-to-

back action offered a gruelling day for surfers,

organizers and judges alike. Phil Rajzman, Taylor Jensen,

Harley Ingleby, Bryce Young and Colin McPhillips surfed

to victory in the closing heats of round one. Sunlight

pierced through the gray sky for round two, and an

offshore wind organized the loose threads of sets.

Eduardo Bage, Duane DeSoto, Keegan Edwards, Bonga

Perkins, Antoine Delpero, Harley Ingleby and Colin

McPhillips hit the right notes to join the band in the

quarter finals. Competing against Brazilian Phil Rajzman,

Californian Taylor Jensen performed crisp and long hang

tens, followed by rifling turns all the way to the shoreline,

everything linked and coordinated. But Rajzman’s

explosive lip-smacks were rewarded with 9-pointers, and

despite bagging an 8.0, contest favourite Jensen went

down early.

The audience was wringing out sweat for the quarters

and semis under a heron-blue sky as the day turned

sultry and the wind died. The long, sinuous waves picked

up in size with the tide and the beat intensified. DeSoto

and Perkins drummed out Bage and Edwards to meet in

a killer semi final. A solid opening pennant-shaped wall

swept in, pulled up, split at its ridge, and DeSoto took off

to savor the wave’s raw meat. He landed two huge off-

the-lips as if at the eye of a storm in a still patch of

ocean, and advanced to the final in spectacular form.

Despite their excellence, Delpero and McPhillips lost in

the quarters, as Rajzman and Ingleby progressed to the

The contest site at Akabane Beach, Japan, under gloomy skies andwaiting for waves to bring the crowds out to watch the action.

60

Very close, but no big cigar for Duane DeSoto and he hadº to be contentwith the runner-up spot. Still, he’s a front-runner for the world crown.

Results1. Harley Ingleby (Aus)

2. Duane DeSoto (HI)

3. Bonga Perkins (HI)

Phil Rajzman (Bra)

5. Eduardo Bage (Bra)

Keegan Edwards (HI)

Antoine Delpero (Fra)

Colin McPhillips (USA)

second semi. Ingleby’s long rides were filled by snappy

moves that left the faces with watermarks. His cat-like

agility, showing exquisite timing and torque, would reach

perfect pitch in the final.

The sea was veined with greens and pale blues for

the deciding final. Ingleby smacked rim-shots as the lip

cracked down the line, like a drummer suddenly

moving into double time. DeSoto charged back to

center stage, racing up the faces in honking solos,

cutting back and hitting the nose with poise. Ingleby

unpacked his cymbals once more, splashing them with

rapid footwork, a hang ten, clips to fraying lips,

hooking back and finally hitting the sand with a final

flourish on the snare drum and first place. The solos

were over. Both Ingleby and DeSoto played the waves

rail to rail, footstep to footstep, and pulled off

explosive, committed surfing and improvised brilliant

music against the Japanese sea-score. As the

countdown begins for the final event scheduled for the

Maldives in October, they are the new number one

and two contenders in the 2009 Oxbow World

Championship race.

61

62

In the early days of the summer the

question on every professional woman

longboarder’s lips seemed to be an

anxious, “Are you going?” Going to

France, they meant, to compete in the

Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboarding

Championship, better known as the

Roxy Jam, the contest which crowns the

queen longboarder of the planet at the

luxurious, seaside resort town of Biarritz.

Founded as an Atlantic fishing outpost

by Vikings in the year 840, and made

famous in 1854 by Empress Eugenie, wife

of Napoleon III, who built a still-standing

gilded palace overlooking the main

beach, Biarritz has long been a vacation

destination of European royalty. It was

also the birthplace of surfing in Europe

and is the beating heart of France’s

longboard surfing scene. Equal parts

opulence, antiquity, cosmopolitan

ambience and authentic surf culture,

Biarritz is the perfect place for a

women’s surf competition, and has

been home to the Roxy Jam for four

years and counting.

Months before the contest start

date a palpable nervous excitement

electrified the global coastal pockets

where the top lady longboarders tend

to circulate—Waikiki, San Diego,

Noosa, Shonan—as they speculated

which women would qualify for the

Jam. In order to economize the

contest, the playing field had shrunk

from 48 competitors in years past to

32, and slots were hard to come by.

The top 16 women from the 2008 Roxy

Jam received invites; the remaining

slots were filled through regional

qualifying events, plus the requisite

handful of wildcards. It’s a tough

equation to decipher—who gets an

invite, who doesn’t, and what the

seeding is—and the women waited

anxiously for the ASP to sort it out and

take roll call. What emerged was

perhaps the most startling first round

match-up in the history of women’s

longboarding—Joy Monahan vs.

2009 Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboarding ChampionshipLa Côte des Basques, Biarritz, France July 10-14, 2009

Jennifer Smith Takes HerSecond Crown

Jennifer Smith won her first longboarding world title in 2007. This year she was back at Cotes des Basques to take yet another one. With style like this, it’seasy to see why she has long since transcended her former nickname as “Grom.”

Summer Romero, and Chelsea

Williams vs. Cori Schumacher—with a

single elimination format, and no

second-chance repecharge.

This was gonna be a good one: of

three former world champions

(Monahan being the defending

champ), plus 2008’s runner-up to the

title (Williams), only two would

advance to further their challenge for

the crown. What wouldn’t appear fair

to a casual onlooker is actually the

result of a complex numeric ordering

by which the ASP assigns surfers’

seeding based upon their rankings,

then matches them accordingly,

highest to lowest. The coupling is

meant to pair surfers based on track

record, and therefore ability, but

sometimes it takes an uncanny twist as

surfers exit and re-enter the game, like

Romero and Schumacher—both

previous world champions

(Schumacher is twice the world

champ)—who let their rankings slide

Proscene

Story by Jennifer FlaniganPhotos: © Roxy/ASP/Aquashot

63

by not competing for a year or more. With this as a

precursor, some of the best action of the Jam took place

in the first round as spectators gathered on the storied

seawall of Biarritz’s Côte des Basques beach to watch

these historic heats go down.

The first day of the four-day waiting period was a bust,

with wave heights tallying in at a whopping six inches.

Day two dawned with a little more action on the Atlantic

horizon, and contest director Philippe Malvaux deemed it

contestable. In one of the most highly anticipated heats

of the event, it became apparent that intense

expectation is truly a hindrance to competitive

performance. Defending champ Monahan succumbed

to the pressure and lost out to über-talented San Diegan,

Romero, in what may have been the biggest upset of

the event.

Though the first day’s waves were the smallest of the

contest, heat nine of the first round, Williams vs.

Schumacher, posted the highest combination of two-wave

scores of the event: 16.5 and 15.10 respectively, out of a

possible 20. The crowd watched keenly as seasoned

competitor Schumacher, with her authoritative, technical

and power-driven surfing, led the charge against event

favorite Williams. But as that heat neared its dramatic end,

Williams sealed the deal with a highly cooperative wave

that provided the perfect canvas for her palette of ideally

executed lip smacks, roundhouse cutties and a seemingly

never-ending noseride that pushed her beyond the reach

of Schumacher in the dying minutes of the heat.

Schumacher was down for the count, and a hush of

awe swept over her fellow competitors as they realized the

gravity of the situation: two-time world champ, fresh off a

win at the 2009 Women’s Pipeline Pro, and everyone’s

heat draw worst-case-scenario, was out. But to a true

champion like Schumacher, an upset like this was no more

than a hiccup in her long professional career and she

vowed to return next year to pick up the pieces.

It must have boosted the confidence of Williams,

though, as the tiny towhead from Tweed Heads, Australia,

Another piece of glittering hardware for the trophy case and areputation now as burnished as the silver cup for a smiling Smith.

fought her way to the forefront before suffering a

disappointing loss in the semifinals to Jennifer Smith, who

would go on to win the event and clinch her second ASP

world title. Surfing characteristically strong throughout,

Smith demonstrated impeccable style and technical

know-how with well-timed, powerful maneuvers and

steadfast noseriding, posting the top single wave score of

the event (9.25) and further consolidating her position at

the pinnacle of women’s longboarding.

But Smith didn’t have an easy run by any means; hot on

her trail was dark horse Coline Menard, the virtually

unknown 21-year-old from Reunion Island who emerged

from obscurity to beat fellow countrywoman and 2007

Roxy Jam runner-up, Justine Dupont, in an unlikely

semifinal. Quietly rising through the ranks with lightning-like,

feather-footed surfing and mental clarity beyond her years

and experience, Menard secured her best career result

and the respect of her fellow competitors with a prestigious

second place finish after losing to Smith in the final.

For an event to be interesting and entertaining, there

must be action, rivalries, upsets, unlikely finishes,

disappointments and shining victories. The 2009 Roxy Jam

had all of the above, set against the craggy

coastal backdrop of historic Côte des Basques, the

famous French beach bordered by aged, towering stone

walls and La Villa Belza, the small yet stately castle

perched on a cliff overlooking the contest area, which

kept a watchful eye as another Women’s World

Longboarding Championship went down in the annals of

surfing history.

Results1.Jennifer Smith (USA)

2.Coline Menard (Reu)

3.Justine Dupont (Fra)

Chelsea Williams (Aus)

5.Kelia Moniz (HI)

Geodee Clark (HI)

Kassia Meador (USA)

Julie Cox (USA)

A newcomer to the top ranks of women’s pro longboarding, ColineMenard surfed all the way to second place in the world.

NextIssue

WOW, It’s already October, time’s flying and you’re

holding is our latest issue of morSURF. So what are we up

to next issue?—read on.

For three years we’ve been talking with our travel

guide about this special trip and finally we’re headed to

the Mexican Riviera. On this trip though, we’re not flyin’

nor drivin’, we’ll be aboard The Mariner of the Seas, a

138,000-ton, 1,020-foot long cruise ship, and hangin’ with

the likes of Robert August, Mary Osborne, Kira Sheppard,

the band “Pepper” and a host of other surf cruise crazies

for a week of sun, surf, cervezas and a Halloween party

second to none.

Mat surfing’s next: Ken McKnight takes us on a

“magic carpet” ride and likely one you’ll never forget.

These vehicles reach incredible speeds, easily fit in the

trunk and there are no dings to worry over. Size here

matters; wave size that is.

On the Eastern Seaboard, few would disagree that

Ricky Carroll is a force, north or south, so we stop by for a

chat with a shaper who has an eye for perfection, not

only for his own brand but for Donald Takayama, The

Greek, Surfboards Hawaii, Surfline Hawaii and a group of

others as well.

Loggers, what is it that this underground movement is

all about? Our roving reporter Chasen Marshall get inside

the loop with some of the best soul sliders from both sides

of the country.

Art today on surfboards is limitless, and we don’t

mean going out and hiring a painter or airbrusher. Now

all you need is a “file” whether it be a shot of Fido, your

best girl, personal sketches or that sunset shot from a killer

vacation. We’re even going to give you a look at an

$18,000 inlayed wood surfboard. Whatever you want, it’s

all possible.

Throw in a Fall/Winter Gear guide, a Lensman and

Artisan profile, an overview of Duke’s OceanFest in

Hawaii plus a full report of the ASP Longboard World

Championships in the Maldives and what you have is

Vol1 #3 … we’re stoked.

Review

Zen and TheArt of Surfing:A Collection of Short Stories by Greg Gutierrez$14.95, www.greggutierrez.com or www.amazon.com

These autobiographical fictional

and non fictional short stories are an

amazing snapshot into the mystical,

mythical and metaphysical spirituality

that every adult can relate to,

including those who are non surfers.

This literary slideshow perfectly

captures how and why generations of

people grew up in the church of the

sea. Amazing story lines and poignant messages can be

found in each of the 20 tales.

Rod Serling was said to have been television’s most

talented writer of all time for spending few words to tell great

stories. Greg Gutierrez must have that same writer’s sense.

Zen and the Art of Surfing easily might be the

handbook that any adult surfer could use for rearing young

surfers in the “karmic etiquette” required in the water

globally. A great read and a must have for every

waterman’s library. —Trebor Recnarc

PicaresqueDVD, by Mikey DeTemple and Dustin Miller$29.95, available at highseasfilm.com

There's something poetic in

simplicity. Maybe it’s in knowing that

the product isn't overdone or feeling

that the artist knew exactly what they

had in mind. With that, the first

endeavor by the East Coast duo of

Mikey DeTemple and Dustin Miller

found that simple symmetry.

Picaresque is 40-plus minutes of well-executed

elegance and beauty. It’s not a watercolor gallery and

there are no ballerina slippers, but it is a demonstration of

artistic talent, both behind and in front of the camera.

Shot on three continents, featuring 15 surfers riding a

plethora of boards, the flick is a gallery showing. It’s a look

at the unexplainables: smiles after a good wave, post surf

coffee talk, pensive looks in new places, and film canisters

full of good waves.

Picaresque is the sort of piece that makes you feel

good about your decision to start surfing. Take a look and

rediscover that warm and fuzzy first wave feeling. —CM

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