The first time that I ever saw anyone riding waves on a surfboard was back around 1950 by the pier at Malibu cove. It was a care-free time when only a handful of lifeguards, movie stars and college students were lucky enough to belong to that select, underground group known as ''surfers''. This was before surf shops, foam boards and The Beach Boys. The only way to get a hold of a balsa board at that time was to know one of the guys on the inside of the loop, such as Dale Velzy or Joe Quigg. Or if you could find the wood, you could try shaping your own.


    In my case, my dad used to take me to Malibu on weekends in the summer. At that time, he was an engineer at Northrop Aircraft Company and had been working on the original ''Flying Wing''. After gathering information at the beach, he was able to find some wood at L.A harbor and shape my first board in the garage...That was the way it was done. As far as crowds were concerned...there were none. Some days you would actually hope that more guys would show up so you wouldn't have to surf alone. It was a time when the water was clear and words such as ''ecology'' and ''pollution'' were unheard of. Guys never pushed you out of the way. They would allow you to drop in because it was ''cool'' to ride a wave with a buddy. And you could hone your surfing skills very quickly because surf spots were never crowded. Compared to today's technology, those early wood boards were primitive and heavy. But the long rides into the cove enabled us to spend our summers developing our classic, erect ballet-like styles. If I wasn't in the water, I would sit on the beach and study the surfing styles of the early hot-dog masters such as Matt Kevlin and Mickey Dora. I knew then that surfing was going to be a part of my life forever.


    Then along came ''Gidget'' and ''The Beach Boys''. The 60's commercial boom was here. The lighter foams surfboards had been invented. Surfboard shops appeared on every block. And the surfboard manufacturers and their logos became as famous as the hot surfers. The surf culture as we know it, had arrived. The good surfers were all being sponsored by their local surf shop. Surf Teams were put together by the various shops complete with all the team apparel. Surf competitions were held and it was a real status symbol to find your photo- graph in the new ''Surfer'' magazine. Surfing was no longer just that neat thing that we did on summer weekends. Now, it was business! So, I went with the flow. I got a job at Jacobs Surfboards in the early 60's as a salesman. In the mid 60's, signature models became the rage. Every surfboard manufacturer had his top guy's name on a specially designed board that was a cut above the others. I was fortunate enough to be picked by Hap Jacobs to have my name on that special model that was to be the class of the industry. It was and still is one of the finest longboards that has ever been produced.


    During the 70's, short boards had completely revolutionized surfing. Longboards had all but disappeared. You couldn't find one to ride, let alone have one made. I was still riding my old Jacobs 10 footer that I was smart enough to hold on to. Since style was a major part of what I considered ''good surfing'', I never liked what I saw in short boards. It was a lot of performance, but no style. It was as if guys were trying to show off rather than just have fun. So, refusing to give up longboarding, I still dragged my 10 footer up to Malibu. I felt like a stranger in a foreign land. I probably was the only guy in California who refused to give up my longboard. I used to get a lot of criticism from all the other guys in the water that I wasn't keeping up with the trends. For a long time I actually wondered if I was doing the right thing. But instead of giving in I stuck with it and in 1976 I got a hold of a couple of old paddleboard blanks and shaped a couple of longboards to see if I could sell a few to re-generate an interest in longboards. I can't honestly claim to be responsible for the resurgence in longboarding but by the mid 80's it was back.


    It's been said that if you do something long enough, it can only get better. Today I'm still producing those 60's style longboards along with a line of beach wear. The current hi-tech materials allow us to make millennium style, light-weight, high performance surfboards. I can make these kinds of boards, too but my traditional longboards have been time tested. They reflect a style of surfing that is part of my soul. They are memory inspired and are designed to, not only help improve your surfing, but enhance your style for the type of recreational surfing that is just plain fun.


    So please check out my web site (press the F11 key at the top of the keyboard to fully enjoy the website). And feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I would love to discuss designing a board for you that will help you get back a little bit of an era of surfing that we cherish. Have fun and enjoy...