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A little about myself
I grew up in California and at the age of fourteen I began one of my many hitch hiking trips to Malibu. Here I would desperately try to borrow a surfboard.
If the surf god was with me some guy would part with his precious stick for awhile. Sadly enough more times than I wanted to hear was “no way dude.”
Sixteen was freedom. With a license, a Ford Fairlane (the only car in Fairfax High School with no back seat, but a great bed in its place for my surfboard) I was able to explore most of the West Coast.
Beginning at Malibu, my surfing buddies and I would travel up to Ventura County Line, Rincon and Hope Ranch. We also surfed some not so well known spots like the Cage at the P.O.P Pier.
Heading down the coast to the San Diego we even met Joyce Hoffman checking out the surf at the same spot, hot stuff.
Further down into Mexico we could catch some smoking little waves at 3Ms, Canneries (filled with sand sharks, that would slither around your feet if you touched bottom) K 38 and other surf spots without names.
After a righteous day of surfing, evading sharks and Federales, we devoured the best chicken tacos, hot buttered tortillas and Las Ballenas Beer; Ensenada was Heavenly.
As time went on, my buddies and I needed new boards. Often we would visit Dave Sweet in Santa Monica. He owned a well known surf shop and you could sometimes meet and talk with some members of the Dave Sweet Competition Team. These surfers were the like the local Kelly Slater’s of today. We looked at the new boards and talked about the best fins, and colors. My friend Tony could afford a new board and the rest of us were envious. We would have to wait.
Back at Malibu, a group of us (Tony Hinkle, Robbie Smith and myself) saw a surfer ( I think it was Jamie Budge) who was walking down the beach towards the point with a radical board. It was really short and wide: he called it the Shoe, because it worked on the waves without him having to even look at it. We were all excited and decided to create are own designs, cutting down our old pigs to short boards: creating pocket rockets. There were some pretty interesting shapes, not all of them with clean lines. Some of our nose rider models had an extremely thick nose, which could not be sunk.
I went off to Hawaii in 1964 to attend Kalani High School. I lived in Waimanalo and body surfed Makapu’u most of the time. This was in the days of Paipo boards. If there was no surf we would go spear fishing in Haunama Bay.
One day at school some of the guys said we should cut school and go to Portlock and check the big waves. That day Eddie or Clyde Aikau was out surfing.
I surfed mostly Waikiki since we would sleep between the big hotels by the Reef Hotel or stay at my best friends house Lloyd Nolan.
The years passed quickly. Selective Service then off to Viet Nam for some world cruising and becoming a member of that famous Tonkin Yacht Club…after completing my tours of duty, I headed back to California and continued to surf and attend University.
Through the years I had lost track of some of my friends Steve Hanna, Bing Miller, Steve Dunn, Kenny and Melvin Barker and others. If you read this please email me, I would like to hear from you guys.
In 2006 I moved back to Canada as my son wanted to get set up at the University of Toronto.
In order to keep my sanity during the long winter months, I listened to Hawaiian radio stations and decided to start making wooden surfboards again.
These are hollow boards/with brass vent screw, based on the light weight Paul Jensen construction design, which is a sublime refinement of the Tom Blake paddle boards. Paul was nice enough to give me information on his technique, which he spent considerable time developing and perfecting.
I am now making three styles. All are made of wood. I like working with for two reasons; one it is good for the environment and leaves a smaller foot print on the eco system and two, these boards are more durable, pleasant to look at and safer to make, since there is little toxic material contact.
Having made and ridden several types of boards through the years, I believe there are certain design features that are core and fundamental and are found in all good boards. An example of this is found in some of the newer boards stating they are “Retro” that is another way of saying it way good then and is good now.
I have seen some excellent Kammaina surfers at Makaha surfing boards that are not “New” but are classic. These surfers were able to do fin release 360.s on a 10 foot boards on a head high day, with ease.
One concept that is overlooked is the basic physics of edge contact with the wave: this is probably the most important consideration in board design.
The fin system I use on the Heritage Boards is the Keel design (which was a Tom Blake concept (originally using a discarded metal keel from a small boat and attaching it to his board).
The other system is the Proteck Fin from Surfco, this I consider the best because it has a flexible core and the edge has a protective edge to reduce injuries or cuts in wetsuits. Proteck uses a high tech/low tech design patterned on the fins of sea life.
The boards I build:
The Duke |
This is a traditional style wooden long board design from the 1920’s inspired by Duke Kahanamoku’s board. The first is the long board (7'8") Hot Curl style which has the Hui Nalu design on it. This board is made of red cedar, white pine and mahogany. This is a hollow, rib and stringer construction. These boards are shorter but have the floatation of longer board. |
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Full Body Performance |
Another design is the full body 7 - 8 foot semi narrow, hard rail design for easy paddling which was popular for quite awhile in the 70s it might be called an early performance style: This design has resurfaced several times under different names. This board has straighter lines and is good for longer faster wave. |
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Hawaiian Style Fun Board |
The third board is a Hawaiian style fun board, not to be confused with thin, short, clone boards which are common in some areas. This board is sometimes called a big guy board and has a full nose and tail section. With straight lines and twin or tri fin this can be surfed in a variety of wave sizes and power. |  |
One thing I have taken into consideration for the Canadian board is the freshwater negative buoyancy of about 3%; that is a board designed for the salt water will not float as well in freshwater. The great lakes require a buoyant and easy to paddle board because the waves have a shorter interval between waves and there is not usually a consistent take off point; so quick positioning is important.
Whether you are on a lake on in the ocean enjoy one of my boards for a unique experience.
Guelph, Ontario 2008
Built with lots of Aloha, eh.
me at Sauble Beach, Ontario, Canada
