SHF Contest!

Thank you to all who participated in our Found It In the Archives contest!

We've tallied the votes from our website and from Facebook collectively, and want to congratulate our winner, Craig LeSueur, for his winning entry, “The Blue Machine.” 

For those who didn’t get a chance to read it, now’s your chance!

 

THE BLUE MACHINE

Craig Lesuere

A couple of months ago I went with a large group to the Surfing Heritage Foundation and really enjoyed seeing their collection of vintage surfboards, paddleboards and other surf memorabilia. As I made my way through the exhibit, I was excited to come across several surfboards that were either shaped by or donated by Bob Cooper. Bob is my mom's first cousin, and growing up I always heard about my mom's famous cousin Bob. He moved to Australia many years ago, and I only remember meeting him once when he came here to the States to visit about 25 years ago. It was interesting to see the old surfboards that he collected over the years, that I'm sure would have been considered retro boards back when he got his hands on them. I was most interested in the Blue Machine, which is a 9' 5" big, blue board that was shaped by Bob while he was living in Santa Barbara. When I read the plaque next to the Blue Machine, I noticed it was shaped with an asymmetrical fin set-up, and I was a little tempted to steal it, just to take it out for a few waves. I thought about it, and figured I wouldn't get too far trying to run out the front door with a bright blue long board that weighs 25 pounds. I took several pictures of Bob's boards and showed them off to my brothers who were stoked to see these old boards. I live right here in San Clemente and had no idea this incredible collection of surf history was just a couple of miles away from my house. About a year ago I came into contact with Bob's son who lives in Australia, but travels here to the U.S. for work quite often. Next time he comes out to Southern California, I'll be sure to bring him by the Surfing Heritage Foundation to check out Bob's old boards.

Gone Too Soon

 34 year old Laguna Woods surfer, Frank Quinard, left this world too soon in April of last year. His family felt his surfboards should go to a good home and donated 3 longboards and 1 shortboard to Surfing Heritage last week. We'll have them on display in our showroom for the next week or so along with a poem and photo of Frank with his nephew. Frank loved to surf San Onofre, Newport Beach and other Orange County spots and will be missed.

Friend and neighbor of the Quinards, Frank Van Wickle brought the boards by on Friday, with help from George Stremple. Here Frank is pictured with one of the longboards. You can view more photos on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/surfingheritage

Aloha Lumber Mill Surfboard

Although this surfboard has been on display for several years now at Surfing Heritage, we wanted to share the additional photographs that add to this amazing artifact from the early 1900s. It shows that surfing was taking place on the west coast, concurrent with George Freeth's arrival in southern California around this same period. Thanks again to Gavin Kogan and his family for allowing us to share this historic surfboard with all of you. To view the family photos and read an excerpt from the Surfer's Journal article, please CLICK HERE.