Rare Velzy Wake Board

A very rare, one-of-a-kind Velzy "Bump" wake board from the 80s, custom made by Velzy for Jeff Alter (Hobie's son). It's probably the only board of any kind in existence that has both the Velzy and Hobie labels glassed onto it.

Pat Curren Surfing Wamea

Pat Curren successfully surfing what was one of the largest waves to be ridden at the time. Wamea Bay, North Shore of Oahu, 1960. You can just see Pat being chased by the mountain of white water on the left side of the photo. What you don't see are the 2 others surfers who didn't make the drop and got gobbled up—Pat was known for sitting outside of everyone else, patiently waiting for the set waves and notoriously making more than not. He was also known for shaping big wave guns suited perfectly to accomplish this task. This gem was donated to us by John Elwell along with his photo collection.

1960 Makaha International Surfing Championships

Left to right - George Downing, Rabbit Kekai, Conrad Canha, Jamma Kekai (Rabbit's brother), Peter Cole and Wally Froiseth, November 29, 1960. Photo: Clarence Maki

The Makaha International Surfing Championships was an annual surfing competition held at Makaha on the west side of Oahu, Hawaii, from 1954 to 1971, usually in November or December; regarded in the late '50s and early '60s as the unofficial world championships.
Created by Honolulu surfer and restaurant supplier John Lind, and sponsored by the Waianae Lions Club as well as the Lind-founded Waikiki Surf Club, the inaugural Makaha event was a bust: the wave-riding events were cancelled due to lack of surf, leaving just the paddling races. Attendees were all from Hawaii or Southern California. California surfer Flippy Hoffman later recalled that the opening Makaha event was not without drama, as tensions flared between the Makaha surfers and the Waikiki surfers, then between the Hawaiians and the visiting Californians. "They had this luau," Hoffman said, "and a big hassle developed over how to cook the pig. Things got pretty hot. That first contest had a lot of fist-fights and hassles." (Matt Warshaw's Encyclopedia of Surfing)

Huh?

Our photo archivist, Steve Wilkings is always on the hunt for unusual photos on ebay and elsewhere. He came across this recently and couldn't resist. You're welcome!

Another Endless Summer Gem

Another shot taken on the same day the photo that became the iconic Endless Summer image was taken. Bruce Brown, Mike Hynson, and Robert August at Salt Creek, California, 1963. Click on the photo to see how young they all look, especially Robert! Photo: Bob Bagley

Dyno Single Fin

Valerie Johnson donated this Dyno kneeboard. It's unusual in that it's a single fin, most boards with this template are twins, so we're not sure if this would be considered a "fish" or not. Valerie purchased the board a few years back from Graham Day, at the Shelter Surf Shop in Long Beach. Shelter was a really cool, core shop that hosted art openings, live music and movie nights, all in this area of Long Beach that was being renovated at the time. Unfortunately Shelter closed its doors a couple years later. Here's a story written by Corky Carroll in August last year about his experiences on the Dyno team: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dyno-280072-time-surfboard.html

Malibu Back Then

Malibu, 1947.  Six of us jump in the Cole brothers’ 1930’s Packard convertible to go surf Malibu and have a girl on the beach take our photo together on a wave. Kit Horn, Buzzy Trent, Peter Cole, Cal Porter, Don McMahon, Corny Cole, and Joe Schecter carrying the balsa redwood (“Old Joe’s” surf break in The Colony was named after him). – Cal Porter

BEN AIPA EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

Co-produced by

Come see Ben Aipa's 50th Anniversary of Shaping the World of Surfing, "IN THE MOMENT", now on display through July.

Featuring boards from the

Kalani Robb and Taylor Knox. Photo: Sharon Marshall

CLICK HERE for photos from the opening event.

Thanks to our sponsors

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Transition Era Jacobs

 

San Clemente local, dave Sturgill, brought by this transition era Jacobs. He salvaged it from a worker who had gotten it from a job site where it was destined for the dump. Although in rough shape, it ties in perfectly with the next show we're putting together for sometime in September, on Hap Jacobs. Henry Ford is hot on this one and will be spearheading the project. We'll keep you posted.

A Taste of Late Spring in California

I thought we'd treat you all to something a little different this time around, a "new" gem, so to speak. This shot was taken by Ventura based photographer, David Puu and it just seems to speak to us on so many levels. Here's what he has to say about this photo:

Refugio point on a late Spring Day with a combo SW and WNW swell making for some brilliant blue shoulder high waves. Air temp was 74. A mild Santa Ana made for a low humidity stellar day.

This is where I was taught to surf by my Father. It is also where my wife Donna and I were married  in a joint Hawaiian-Chumash ceremony performed by Tom Stone, Blue Wolf and some of our brothers from both Nations two years ago. 
Aloha!

David

If you'd like to see more of David's work, or would like to purchase a copy for yourself (and please remember, this is a watermarked, copyright protected image)

David Pu'u  Photography/Cinematography

http://www.davidpuu.com/blog/ 
805 794-0123
https://www.facebook.com/david.puu
Co-Founder: Ocean Lovers Collective http://oceanloverscollective.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OceanLoversCollective?fref=ts
Commercial licensing: Corbis Images http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#pg=david+pu+u

Rick Griffin Surfboard

Tom and Anastasia Bernardy with the Griffin Board

As with almost any grom growing up in the 60's in the Southern California, I knew Rick Griffin from Murphy and the iconic surf movie posters like 5 Summer Stories and Pacific Vibrations. And there he was at a party at a friend's house in the early 80's. After working up the nerve to approach this real live artist, I went up and introduced myself, expecting a condescending nod and a so what "sure". But I was totally taken aback by Rick when he treated me as a long lost buddy. When the conversation turned to where he was surfing these days, the answer surprised me, he hadn't surfed for a while and didn't even have a wetsuit anymore. Having a brother that was the O'Neill wetsuit rep solved that issue and soon we were surfing 3 to 4 days a week down at Church and Trestles. After the surf sessions, we would hang out at his laboratory, he would also take me to different rock and artsy events. This continued for about 3 years and then as quickly as it started, poof, he was gone—he had moved to San Francisco.

I didn't hear from him for a year or more and then one day after surfing I came home to find Rick waiting for me. He said he wanted to thank me for getting him back out in the water and he had decided that he wanted to draw something that I could put on my board the next time I got one made. As fate would have it, I was having a custom board made by Jeff Timpone which was going to be glassed that day. I called Jeff and I told him a friend wanted to paint something on the board before it was glassed. Jeff said, "not cool, the board already has my name, Timpone on it". But when I told him it was Rick Griffin, he thought I was kidding. I said we'd be right over to get the board and when we got there, the hallway leading into Jeff's shop was lined with guys he must have called, all on their knees bowing to Rick as we walked in. I had no idea who I was hanging with.

For the next 3 days, Rick worked on a little 3 x 5 inch drawing which he drew over and over on a piece of tracing paper until he got it perfect. Then he taped off the nose of the board with Masking tape and transferred the drawing onto the board. Using a razor blade, he cut the masking tape along the lines he drew and airbrushed the lines. The next day he came back and hand painted the detail and then the board was sent back to Timpone for glassing. 

Before Rick would give me the board—he made me take it out and catch at least one wave while he watched—a Baptism. After I caught the wave, poof, he was gone and that would be the last time I saw Rick...

Tom Bernardy