Fenton Scholes' Balsa Board

Palos Verdes Surf Club member, Fenton Scholes, shaped this 9'7" solid balsa board with the help of other PVSC members, circa late 1940s-early 1950s. Fenton rode it at the Palos Verdes cove throughout the 1950s. It was glassed with early 2oz marine fiberglass and shows numerous patch jobs, including a small Simmons style skeg that was broken off and re-attatched. The board is a precursor to the Malibu Chip. Fenton Scholes, was the last remaining original member of the PVSC and he passed away on Thursday, October 1, 2015.
 
One of the first and most enduring mainland surfing clubs in the U.S., the Palos Verdes Surfing Club began in the mid-1930s, in either 1934 or 1935 depending on the account, by Hermosa Beach dentist John Heath “Doc” Ball and Adolph “Adie” Bayer. It held its regular meetings in a back room at Ball’s dentist office on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles.

The Palos Verdes Surf Club had its own distinctive green club jackets. Smoking was forbidden during meetings, and the group had its own creed, in which members swore to “at all times strive to conduct myself as a club member and a gentleman.” In addition to its own activities, the PVSC organized and conducted surfing contests and popular paddleboard race events between themselves and other clubs that had begun to spring up along the Southern California coast in Santa Monica, Venice, San Onofre and Del Mar.

The club’s members were part of a a fairly small group of surfers in that era, 25 years before surfing started to become a national phenomenon. Its members say there were so few surfers back then that if a car went by on the highway with a surfboard sticking out, chances were better than good that both parties knew each other.

This board was donated by Fenton's son, Chris Scholes and Paul Diamond.