DEEP Surf Magazine—v6, issue 5 September 2013

SPECIAL EDITION Board Buyers’ Guide

White Owl Legacy / Kew DEEPZINE.COM

Tri-County Shapers Symposium / Dubock & Tracht September~October 2011 • Volume 6 / No. 5

Fin-addicts / Tracht FREE

™

800-320-9430 ©2011 Oakley, Inc.

CRAIG ANDERSON

MOONDAK

TIDE WATCH

QUIKSILVER.COM/WATCHES

SURFSHOP

SURF SHOP

pure surf culture WetSand is back as wsurf.com. The original. The classic. The best surf reporting. All what it used to be.

Experience pure surf culture through the best artists, photographers and alternative shapers.

Know when to surf with on the spot long-range surf reports.

surfshop.co

SURFSHOP.COM

Surf Reports Free Email Surf Reports • Long-Range Swell and Wind Charts • Live Buoys • Tide • Built for Mobile Photography Steve Bissel • Chris Burkard • Jeff Johnson • Jim Martin • Jeff Pfost • David Pu’u • Scott Soens Art Wade Koniakowsky • Randy Noborikawa • Jason Frazier • Shannon Menzel • Eric Soderquist Video Greg Huglin • John Paul Taylor • Pierce Flynn Reviews Patagonia • Matuse • GoPro • Thule • Pro-Lite

Q][

VISIT OUR STORE IN DOWNTOWN VENTURA 446 EAST MAIN STREET • 800 750 7501 Photo by Chris Burkard

p.com R: Katherine Carter | P: Myles McGuinness

COM

SEE OUR ENTIRE

VISIT OUR SANTA BARBARA SHOWROOM

1221 STATE STREET SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101 | 805.845.1022

El DirEctor:

Andres Nuño andres@deepzine.com EDitor:

Chuck Graham chuck@deepzine.com Graphic DEsiGn:

Danielle Siano www.daniellesiano.com contributing Designer:

Zack Paul (forestowl.net) salEs: Ventura county

Carrie Bethurem carrie@deepzine.com san luis obispo county

Chris Langley chris.l@deepzine.com

DEEP Surf Magazine

6

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

contributinG WritErs:

Craig Comen Glenn Dubock Chuck Graham Dan Hamlin Tyler Hayden Michael Kew L. Paul Mann Kara Petersen David Pu’u Ryan A. Smith Shawn Tracht

contributinG photoGraphErs:

Ira Amerson Ben Blanchard (Artwork) Andy Bowlin Chris Burkard Glenn Dubock Chuck Graham Lori Graham Twitter@DEEPocho

Richard Hallman Tim Hanson Kelsey Hoult Terry Houston Michael Kew L. Paul Mann Jim Martin Jeff Pfost David Pu’u Jason Rath Jon Shafer Josh Sparrow Shawn Tracht ASP/

coVEr shot Van Curaza, Mysto Reef.

Photo by Ira

Published by RMG Ventures, LLC Mike VanStry, President Gary L. Dobbins, Vice President 4856 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93013 Tel: 805.684.4428 andres@deepzine.com

photos@deepzine.com

supportinG staff:

Lea Boyd Peter Dugré Betty Lloyd Allie Rigonati Kris Whittenton

R

aDVErtisinG inquiriEs:

photo submissions:

story submissions:

story@deepzine.com

Distribution inquiriEs:

andres@deepzine.com

A

N S

photo: Jon Shafer / SantabarbaraSurfer.com

Dubock at the office.

“Hold all my calls.”

“BEST ACAI IN A BOWL!”

Known as a Superfood, Acai is rich in ANTIOXIDANTS, IRON, PROTEIN & Vitamin D

Reef.

Available in 3 Flavors Banana, Natural & Strawberry

Pick yours up today in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Culver City, Huntington Beach or San Diego

Cartons & Ready to Eat Bowls

www.FrootyAcai.com

FE ATU R ES

Golden Heart

42

14

Fin-Addict

Board Buyers’ Guide

46

25

Jeff Pfost Photo Essay

News

10

Board Trachting

12

Tidelines

13

Dropping In On: Charlie Fawcett

18

Tri-County Shapers Symposium

20

Surf Shop Downlow

24

Beer Me!

24

Comen Sense

41

Cooperfish Flex

50

Northern Exposure

52

Green Room

53

Music & Entertainment

54

Final Frames

8

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

56 / 58

LORI GRAHAM

September/October 2011 Volume 6, Issue 5

L E T TER FROM TH E EDITO R

I’ve watched a lot of different boards being ridden in the last year, yet I still stick with a relatively standard C.I. MBM three-fin. It’s been that way for a long while now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I like what’s beneath my feet. It wasn’t always that way though.

In 1976 I began on a relic of a single-fin, moved up to a C.I. pintail and then fell in love with twin-fins for several years. At one point, in 1981 and 1982, I was riding Al Merrick twins with 10 3/4” to 11 - 1/2” wide noses and 15” wide tails with some funky fins.

By then many surfers were digging on Simon Anderson’s thrusters. I was reluctant and opted for Al’s quad-fin, which I liked a lot.

It wasn’t until the summer of 1983 on a NSSA National Team trip to Mexico that I made the conversion to a three-fin. All it took was some surf to myself for a day on a fun right-hander to really get a feel for it. I’ve never looked back. Other than Al introducing me to a SUP three years ago, I haven’t ridden another board since.

This is DEEP’s fourth annual Board Buyers’ Guide, and although I might sound like an old curmudgeon when it comes to board design and new, innovative shapes, I do enjoy this issue a lot. I help with the layout, and seeing all the new shapes is always enjoyable. It’s interesting to me to see what shapers have been up to for a full year. I think it’s safe to say that shapers have to put up with a lot of “what have you done for me lately?”

I guess that is true for most things in life.

Enjoy,

Chuck Graham Editor DEEP Surf Magazine

W HO’S ON B OA R D? IRA AMERSON Photographer Ira Amerson is a photographer living in Cayucos. When he’s not with his kids Ella and Cora, working as waiter and bartender, or hanging out with his smokin’ girlfriend Mattie, you just might find him in the water surfing or shooting photos with his Nikon D300 and SPL water housing. He is available for all types of photography but prefers to scare the piss out of himself taking photos in waves of consequence.

JEFF PFOST Photographer Jeff Pfost grew up surfing in Pismo Beach, and never had a photo of himself. Once he could afford a decent camera and had a little extra time, he honed his photography skills by going out and shooting photos of everyone as much as he could. ‘I love just being in the ocean and looking back at the end of the day at the captured moments. Capturing those moments is truly amazing.”

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

9

News

Connor Coffi n fi nished fourth at the U.S. Open Junior Pro.

Slater dominated the competition at the U.S. Open winning his second U.S. Open title.

Still Holding Court

by Chuck Graham A MAJOR 6-STAR EVENT like the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing can be a great arena for the next wave of high performance, up and coming surfers, and there was plenty of that at the Huntington Beach Pier on August 1 through 7.

However, if there was any doubt who is still

king of the hill, then 10–time world champ Kelly Slater quickly squashed any aspirations by the current youth movement. Combining his usual blend of power surfing and his own arsenal of futuristic wave riding, the 39-year-old Slater worked his magic throughout the week, and then found himself in the semifinals with three surfers 22-years-old and younger. Kolohe Andino, Dusty Payne and Yadin Nichol all wanted a crack at Slater, and in the end it was Nichol who was the last one to fall. Slater not only won $100,000 and his second U.S. Open of Surfing title, but he

continues to solidify his dominance of the sport.

On the women’s side of things, there was a look into the future. Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson not only dominated the field in the Junior Women’s Pro, she also surfed to an eye-opening second place, narrowly losing to winner Sally Fitzgibbons. At just 16-years-old, Peterson showed a maturity in her surfing well beyond her years.

Santa Barbara’s Connor Coffin ripped his way to a respectable fourth place in the U.S. Open Junior Pro.

PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: ASP/ JOE SCARNICI VIA GETTY IMAGES, ASP/ ROWLAND, DUBOCK.COM, HOUSTON

Lakey Peterson blasting to victory at the U.S. Open.

Bobby Martinez to retire from ASP World Tour After five years of competing on the ASP World Championship Tour, Santa Barbara local Bobby Martinez is calling it quits. Arguably the most technically sound goofyfooter on the elite tour, Martinez had slipped in the ratings over the last year. He was a no show at the Billabong Pro in Tahiti in late August, and his last event will be the Quiksilver Pro in New York in September. - C.G. Bobby Martinez, recently signed by FTW Clothing, will walk away from the tour after New York.

THU 01

5:56 1 12:11 5.93

FRI 02

6:35 1.62 12:59 5.81

SAT 03

7:22 1:59

2.23 5.59

SEPTEMBER 2011 Tide Chart Ventura, CA

10

SUN 04

8:30 3:16

2.75 5.39

MON 05

10:20 2.99 4:43 5.34

TUE 06

7:20 5:59

3.83 5.47

WED 07

8:00 1:05

4.18 2.45

THU 08

8:31 1:54

4.47 2.05

FRI 09

8:59 2:34

4.7 1.69

SAT 10

9:22 3:10

4.89 1.39

SUN 11

9:45 3:42

5.05 1.15

MON 12

TUE 13

WED 14

THU 15

10:06 5.17 4:14 0.99

10:28 5.24 4:47 0.91

10:50 5.26 5:21 0.92

11:14 5.22 5:59 1.02

WSURF.COM TIDE CHART

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

11 6:

W

22 02

News

C-Street Longboard Classic celebrates 25 years

Eric Akiskalian surfing South Reef, OR. This shot made it to the finals this year’s Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards.

Eric Akiskalian nominated for Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards On ApRiL 30, Eric Akiskalian was nominated for the “Biggest Wave” at the 11th annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in Anaheim.

Akiskalian was shot dropping in at South Reef, in Oregon, in what some witnesses claim to be a 60 to 65 foot set wave. It was the biggest swell that Akiskalian had surfed in his seven years surfing Oregon. Photographer Richard Hallman was on hand to snap the most famed shot of Akiskalian’s career. “Man, that is a huge personal

accomplishment even though we did not win.

I can honestly say that I’ve earned this nomination after a decade of chasing swells, and that feels really good!” said Akiskalian.

This was Akiskalian’s first nomination for the Big Wave Awards and what made it more impressive was his age. Akiskalian is 51 and trains hard each week to continue chasing big swells.

Akiskalian owns and operates Towserfer.com, a website he created and launched in 2000.

photos clockwise from left: richard hallman, tim hanson

WSurf.com goes live WetSand Surf Shop announced the launch of Wsurf.com this month. “Wsurf.com represents the return to an online website utilizing the original, classic feel of Wetsand. Wsurf.com is WetSand as it was meant to be; a representation of pure surf culture,” said Chuck Menzel, the original founder of Wetsand.

According to a press release, “The Central Coast from Ventura to San Luis Obispo embraces surfing as a culture that is less about the maneuver and more about the experience. That connection carries throughout the site by focusing on the best FRI 16

11:40 5.12 6:43 1.18

SAT 17

12:11 4.96 7:40 1.37

SUN 18

12:51 4.77 9:03 1.48

MON 19

6:00 1:53

2.9 4.59

TUE 20

3:29 4.53 11:54 1

artist, photographers and alternative shapers. They represent the culture in the proper context.”

Wsurf.com will have cultural features, classic surf reports, free email surf reports—also available for iPhones and iPads. They also added product reviews to extend their online store to the content side.

“It was time to get back to the roots of the original online Wetsand website. I had entrusted the site to new owners, only to see it taken farther and farther from its original roots. Wsurf.com represents a return to the original way we presented surf reports and surf culture,” added Menzel.

WED 21

11:04 3.24 5:01 4.74

THU 22

7:27 6:07

3.89 5.08

FRI 23

7:46 1:10

4.32 2.15

SAT 24

8:10 1:55

4.8 1.46

SUN 25

8:36 2:39

5.32 0.76

The California Street Longboard Classic Surf Contest celebrates a quarter century of surf stoke the weekend of September 17 and18 at Surfer’s Point in Ventura. Last year for the first time, the contest featured a short board competition, and this year’s contest includes a youth short board division. “We want to get the kids involved,” said Ventura Surf Club president Michael Mariani.

“Our waters are home to a bunch of hot young surfers. We want to give them a chance to show their stuff too.”

“Over the years, some of the best surfers in California have come to the C-Street contest, and we’ve seen some amazing surfing,” said Mariani.

“But it’s not really about the competition. We’ve always tried to put on a contest where fun and camaraderie come first.”

This year’s event will feature a Saturday night party at Yolie’s Fresh Mexican Grill in Ventura with music by The Soul Surfers.

The C-Street contest traces its roots back to one of the first professional surf contests held in California. Tom Morey’s Nose Riding Contest, held in 1965, drew many of the biggest names in surfing, including legends like Mickey Munoz, Robert August, Donald Takayama and David Nuuhiwa.

To register, or for more information about the contest, visit www.venturasurfclub.org.

Daniel Graham styling.

MON 26

9:06 3:23

5.8 0.15

TUE 27

9:39 4:09

WETSAND SURF SHOP 446 E MAIN ST, VENTURA Not to be used for navigation.

Do not rely on data for decisions that can result in harm to anyone or anything.

6.2 -0.29

WED 28

6:46 4:57

6.46 -0.52

THU 29

10:53 6.51 5:50 -0.5

FRI 30

11:35 6.35 6:49 -0.28

SEPTEMBER 2011 Tide Chart Ventura, CA

w w w.deepzine.com

11

Tidelines

Seaglassing A chat with Tom Wegener about his finless Seaglass alaia

Column by Michael Kew Carpinteria’s Michael Kew has been published extensively in many surfing and international travel magazines, newspapers, websites and books for 23 years.

Trevor Gordon having fun at Rincon on a 6’2” Seaglass last winter.

Tom Wegener: For only a blip of surfing history has a fin been placed on the bottom of a surfboard. It has been heralded as a huge advancement, but the jury is still out on this. It took 14 years for the fin to catch on in surfing, showing there was resistance to the development. The fin was originally called a “stabilizer,” and that’s what it is. It stabilizes the ride like training wheels on a bicycle. Modern surfing developed rapidly after the late 1950s, with fins and new foams and fiberglass. The old finless boards were quickly forgotten.

The reintroduction of ancient surfing through the alaia has challenged modern surfing. The alaia is a very thin wood surfboard that the ancient Hawaiians rode. The alaia’s popularity has taken off like wildfire around the world with core surfers. The alaia is faster and gives a better ride than a modern finned board, but the thin piece of wood is very difficult to pad-

photo by jeff di

vIne

incon Designs R “SURFBOARDS BY MATT MOORE”

Matt Moore , Rincon

1974.

ter 2012 Get Prepared for Wtin Moore sled now! at

Order your CUSTOM M Custom Boards Since

‘67 • family owned &

operated

ria (805) 684-2413

inte 659 Linden Ave., Carp

Check out our boards on p. 34

12

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

dle. There is minimal flotation, and competing with other surfers on foam boards is nearly impossible. To bring the ancient alaia feeling to more surfers, I mixed hydrodynamic elements of the thin wood alaia with modern surfing materials to make a board that is easy to paddle, catch waves on and ride, while not moving too far from the essence of alaia surfing.

DEEP: How can a Seaglass enhance one’s surfing life?

TW: The best thing about the board is you are a beginner all over again. You learn to see the wave and ride it like the hundreds of generations of surfers before you. You have taken off the training wheels and it’s time to open your wings and fly. The main gift of taking the fins off a surfboard is there is much less drag on the board, and it feels like there is no limit of speed.

DEEP: What’s next?

TW: There’s one more version in production. It’s soft, like a bodyboard, and it’s easier to surf and actually feels more like an alaia than the Seaglass, but it’s not as fast down the line. It’s a super fun board to ride, and for older guys like me, it is better in the tube because when you don’t make it, the board can’t hurt you. In the original plan, I hoped to make two complimentary boards, one glassed and one foam. This way, people can appreciate the flex of the board and how important it is for surfing.

Flex is the basis for alaia/ancient surfing. It actually takes three similar boards for a surfer to calibrate a feel for the boards and what it’s all about. The third board is either the alaia or a board made by a local shaper. I’m a garage shaper and think this major shakeup for surfing is best for the local shaper. Shapers have been making the same thing over and over for too long. Shaping is an art, not a trade governed by the book. It is time to get exciting again, to get back to what surfing was before the thruster appeared.

DEEP: Why doesn’t everybody own an alaia?

TW: The entire movement is still new. After making wooden alaias for six years and getting an enormous amount of press, including Surfing Magazine’s 2009 Shaper of the Year honor, I still get quizzed on the alaia every time I surf. “You can’t surf on that!” is what I hear. It shows that surfing has become very conservative. People are comfortable with what they are doing and don’t want things to change, and they don’t want to stand out in a crowd. This is the polar opposite of what surfing was prior to the 1980s. I look to the kids and say, “Do you really want to be the first generation that wants to be exactly like your parents?” I think most people are afraid of looking like a kook. But the best surfers long for a challenge, and nothing could be better than starting surfing all over again. Tom Carroll said, “It is just like starting over, but this time may even be better.”

Visit www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/seaglass-project for more information.

photo: kew

DEEP: What is the Seaglass significance?

PHOTO ANDY BOWLIN

California Apparel for Men and Women

Team Rider: Clay Johnson Silhouette Roots Fitted Hat

www.WeAreCaliforniaGrown.com

SURF SHOP & SURFBOARDS 43 S. Olive Street, Ventura (805) 641-9428 Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat 10am-6pm | Sun 11am-5pm

(hours subject to change depending on swell)

© 2011 Fletcher Chouinard Designs, Inc.

WWW.FCDSURFBOARDS.COM

Follow us on www.avofest.com •

•

Golden

50 YeARS of WHITe OWL SuRfBOARDS

By Michael Kew

Refugio State Beach, califoRnia, February

t 1 Members of the original White Owl Surf Shop crew. from left, shaper Brian Bradley, Stan “The Birdman” Veith, sander Jesse “the Okie” Davis, Jeff White and laminator Steve Scofield. Not pictured is Tommy Rowland who was also part of the original shop crew. 2 Jeff White was a world champion dory racer in the early 1960s, shown here off Huntington Beach with Paul Hodgert. White and Hodgert were lifeguards together as well. 3 Jeff White hot coating in the infamous “back room” of the White Owl Surf Shop in Summerland in 1962. Gregg Tally remembers being let into the backroom around 1963 to allow him to really learn how to become a craftsman. “It was a really big deal to me for him to let me in the backroom,” said Tally.

26, 2011

he late sun shines and blinds, as it often does, but Stan Veith quakes. His gray hair is damp. The Gaviota Coast is cold today—snow dusts the Santa Ynez range behind us. Sometimes winter can feel like winter in Santa Barbara County.

Wolfing a leftover burrito, lanky Veith sits above the rear bumper of his gray van, parked in the asphalt lot of this cove that blocks northwest wind. He’s just surfed a clean, knee-high swell borne from this wind—wind which shoved last night’s rain south to Los Angeles. This wind corrugates the blue Santa Barbara Channel between here and the hazy horizon stain of Santa Rosa Island, 20 miles out. This wind scatters gulls, rustles palm fronds, shakes the green campground grass. This is a loud wind that drowns the rumble of the occasional Amtrak or freight train that passes behind the empty campground, above this beautiful pocket beach. It’s a winter wind here in the cove. In the refugio.

Daylight fades. Veith looks at the Pacific and chews on cold bean-and-cheese.

Heart

photo: DaviD pu’u

Jeff White, 2008.

“Jeff was my hero,” he says after swallowing, “and that’s what’ll keep me going. Because if the waves are this small and I have to lay down, I’ll do it, because I watched Jeff crawl across the beach to get to the water. He did that every day till a little over a year ago. That was Jeff.”

Veith’s heart weeps. Its wounds are fresh. Tears oil his eyes. Jeff White, his second father, has been dead just three months.

745 Sand Point Road, CaRPinteRia, October

16, 2008

J

eff White’s legs barely work, but he swam in front of his house this morning.

He swam a thousand yards, 500 each way, parallel to the shore, just past the breakers. He’s got a beautiful stroke. Long arms. Big shoulders. The water was cool and clean. He wore boardshorts. Literally, he dragged himself from his bed, bumped

w w w.deepzine.com

15

Golden down 16 wooden stairs, across the living room floor, out the door, down the six concrete steps to the sand.

The water is only 50-feet from here. The sand is cool and hard-packed, usually, after high tide, and it’s footprint-free, since nobody really walks down here from Santa Claus Lane or up from Carpinteria Beach. Those are the two public beach accesses flanking White’s stretch of paradise. The homes along Sand Point Road are exclusive. Financially, Jeff White isn’t rich. But rich he is.

You can get up from Jeff’s chair, walk outside and across the white-sand beach, and go surfing. Jeff cannot. He thinks he got multiple sclerosis from the chemicals in surfboard foam. I don’t want him to think about that right now.

What do you look forward to, Jeff?

“I can’t wait to get into the ocean in the morning. You ever seen a better day than it is right now? This morning was high tide, and I just went out to the beach and went swimming. I’m glad the water’s cooled a little bit. Aw, it felt so good.”

What have you enjoyed most?

“I really liked making surfboards. I really liked working. It wasn’t like going to work, though. It was like playtime. You liked the people you were surrounded by, you liked what you were doing, it’s a thrill to sell a surfboard. I really enjoyed my time. It was amazing what we got away with there in Summerland—the fire department was right down the street from where The Nugget is now.”

What do you see in your future?

“You know what I really want to do? I don’t know if I’ll have the guts to do it, that’s the thing. I want to get myself a 32-foot sloop, very well-built, with a wheel and all the modern stuff. The GPS tells you right where you are, longitude and latitude, right to the second. So what I’d like to do is go get myself this boat, if I could afford it, and I’d really like to solo sail down to the South Pacific.”

What would you like to be remembered for?

“Being a man of his word.”

1 Marc Andreini styling in Santa Cruz, 2011. 2 Tally in front of his Santa Barbara shaping shed. 3 The original White Owl logo circa 1962.

Bel Air Knolls, sAntA BArBArA, March

5, 2011

One of the orignal White Owl Surfboards price sheet.

n 1969, Gregg Tally stopped cutting his hair. Today he’s got a long ponytail and a mustache and often a lighted Marlboro between his fingers, the same fingers that guide a Skil planer across US Blanks in the backyard shed, the same fingers that lay wet fiberglass onto the foam, the same fingers that make fin panels for the fins that are glassed to the bottoms of White Owl Surfboards. Tally’s versions, anyway.

They’re mostly shortboards (though he recently made a 9’2” thruster for Veith) and colorful retros. The boards are still sold from the Beach House, now 10,500 square feet. Roger Nance still owns it.

It’s Saturday, near dusk. We lounge in beach chairs on the cement fronting his suburban garage. Tally’s about to go inside and cook beef steaks for himself and his mother. He takes care of her. Together they bought this small house in April 1997.

It’s become the de facto “southern division” headquarters of White Owl Surfboards.

Up in San Mateo, Marc Andreini mans the “northern division.”

Tally laughs at this and takes a swig of beer. The smoke from his cigarette floats upward in a near-straight line in the windless air. On the sidewalk, a woman and her dog pass. She smiles and waves to us.

“It’s an honor for Marc and me to do it, Mike,” Tally tells me. “It really is. Jeff was

photos by: Michael Kew,

i

Heart

photo: Michael Kew

Small Gaviota Coast windswell works for Gregg Tally.

very, very proud of us, and excited about it, that White Owls were back with two of his little gremmies doing it. It was personal to him.”

Tally taps the ash from his cigarette and takes a drag, the embers a small orange dot in the dim light. Tally’s red White Owl sweatshirt is soiled with white foam dust.

“It’s amazing what Jeff put into Santa Barbara surfing and how it evolved. Reconnecting with a person like him was a joy. He was my second father, big brother and

a real friend. Like Stan said, he was my hero, too. He was the epitome of integrity. A golden heart. I know Stan feels the same way. None of us will ever achieve what Jeff was. He was one-of-a-kind. If I ever become half the man Jeff was, I’ll be satisfied.”

“And it’s nice when people do recognize the White Owl label. They ask me, ‘Hey, where’d you get that old board?’ And I tell them it’s not old. After 50 years, it’s new.”

For more information, visit www.whiteowlsurfboards.blogspot.com.

w w w.deepzine.com

17

Dropping In On Charlie Fawcett

Barrels and Burritos Story and Photos by Glenn Dubock

18

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

Fawcett is putting in his time in the water and looking to excel his surfi ng .

Fawcett knows what to do to win and knows what kind of board will get him there. “ I’ve been riding custom boards made by Roberts. My current favorite is a copy of the board I rode at the Classic. It runs 5’11” by 18 ¼” wide with a thumb-tail for good turns on shoulder high or larger waves, but it will work in anything.” Fawcett loves working with his shaper and says, “He always whips up something excellent!“ Fawcett spends a lot of time in the water, much of it hiding in the tubes he has come to know as his second home. “ I check Surfline once or twice a week just to see what the swell is looking like, but half the time I just show up because I will hear from friends that there are waves coming.”

His friends include rippers like Frank Curren, Liam Pastrella and Evan Caples. His coach is none other than Mike Lamm. “ Mike works with me on heat training, style, technique and the mental part of winning. Sean Hayes is in the background working with us on the physical training.”

Does this kid have any time for school or other activities? Fawcett is a smart and articulate guy who has managed to keep a well-rounded life afloat.

“I go to a year-round charter school where I attend classes one day a week and do independent study the rest of the time. That means I have no summer break, but around here it is like summer every day for me because I am not in the classroom every day.”

When he is not hitting the books or slapping a lip, you can find Fawcett riding his skateboard with friends at some “fun little banks.”

And just how does Fawcett fuel up for all this hyper activity? “Never had a bad meal at Olas in Camarillo. I usually get one of their huge carne asada burritos.” It’s a perfect sponsorship fit; the owner, Carlos, is getting quite a reputation for feeding hungry surfers in the area.

Fawcett’s other sponsors are Hurley, Pro Lite, Arnett, Neff, and Momentum Ride Shop.

They take care of all his equipment needs but when it comes to soul support, Fawcett’s family rides every wave with him. He knows that all the talent and tube time in the world can never replace that.

Schooled by his mentors, powered by his sponsors and cheered on by his family, Fawcett did 30 contests in the 2009-2010 season. He nailed five first-place trophies and made it into 16 finals. He has ridden Pipeline and Sunset Beach and looks forward to someday “exploring the slabs of Western Australia and the reefs of Indo.”

But you will have to look hard to find Fawcett around here. He is usually neatly tucked in a barrel, just enjoying the view at home.

PHOTOS : GLENN DUBOCK

I

magine growing up in a surf city surrounded by pitching beach breaks and pumping points. Ponder the fun and thrills of learning to surf with guys like Dane Reynolds blowing up at your home break every day.

Throw in a support network of a great family and world-class coaches that just happen to see massive potential in your surfing abilities. Welcome to the world of Charlie Fawcett.

Fawcett knows just how good his life is and it shows in his attitude in and out of the water. “ My favorite place to surf is Emma Wood because I grew up surfing here, it’s close to home and it always seems to have waves.

Rights or Lefts, it doesn’t really matter, if it is good, I want to go out.”

Speaking of growing up, there has been a lot of that going on. At 16-years-old, the family genes have kicked in and Fawcett has sprouted eight inches of height in just six months.

He stands 5-feet, 9.5-inches tall but he still snaps his board around like that little kid that entered his first contest in 2006.

“My first contest was a Volcom event held at the Pipe in Ventura. I think I got fifth in my heat. It was frustrating but it was a good start, and I just kept on doing the contests.”

Fast forward to the 2010 Rincon Classic where all his practice time and raw talent paid off with double wins in both the Boys and Junior divisions.

In the 2011 Classic at Rincon, Fawcett stepped up to the Men’s division semi-finals and also took a hard-fought and well-deserved second place in the Juniors. “Contests play a pretty big role if you want to make it as a pro surfer. You have to do well in the contests in order to achieve anything.

I really like the different events, I have a competitive side.”

authentic mexican food Burritos Chimichangas fajitas nachos Quesadillas Soups Tostadas Tacos Huge Beer Selection weekend Breakfast

team rider.

charlie fawcett PHOTO BY HOUSTON

1860 Ventura Blvd., Camarillo (805) 484-5566 • OlasMexGrill.com ‘Like Us” on Facebook: Olas Mex Grill

TM

CHAD JACkson DAve JoHnson RAy LuCke

From His Father’s Foam Dust

Hot Rods and Rocks

A Destiny and a Destination

By Shawn tracht

Photos and Story by glenn dubock

Photos and Story by glenn dubock

Chad JaCkson is a California-Hawaiian, surfer/shaper, who was born and raised in Cayucos. He started surfing at 12-years-old after enough rousting from his friends to get off the body board. “Stand up!,” they said.

Moving forward, his biggest inspiration has come from his dad, the man whose foam dust was bound to settle all over his son’s future.

His dad made boards through the ‘70s and ‘80s, shaping some of the first twinnies and thrusters during that time. He made Chad his first board in 1992, and the planer began to run the foam tracks for Jackson from there.

For a few years, I made a couple passes with the planer, but was always scared to mess up.

My dad encouraged me to learn and would fix the crooked spots and bumps I put in. Often I would get frustrated when he told me what to do because I wanted to do it on my own, but in time, the boards came into their own and he was so proud.”

Riding the Foam To become a good shaper means to have professional feedback, and what better professional surfer to translate shape and design than the shaper himself—Jackson being a longtime pro. “Surfing my own shapes has helped me to appreciate the wide variety of waves the Central Coast has to offer, and has

20

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

out on the stretCh of Fairview Avenue in Goleta lying near the jet path of the airport, is a small, non-descript building that has been home to more than a few surf-centered businesses. Inside that building is the current location of Progressive Surfboards and the place where Dave Johnson builds custom, quality, low-flying surfcraft. It doesn’t matter what length of board you get from Johnson—they all go fast and maneuver well.

“I’m a shaper who has not focused on a niche. I still shape every kind of board.

There are other shapers like me but most people find a niche and specialize. I’ve always embraced the entire spectrum of wave riding.”

I was a bit nervous to meet with Johnson. I had a story to tell him about a Progressive board I had way back in 1978 that I didn’t think was very good, and I wondered how he would take the news.

I explained to him that even after struggling with the beast for several sessions, I couldn’t make it work. I loaned it to a pro surfer and he ripped on it!

Turns out, it was me that had a mental error. I was trying to make this board do things that I couldn’t do on any board.

Much to my relief, Johnson let out a hearty

the south Bay area of Southern California has spawned quite a few surfboard industry legends. Names like Dewey Weber, Bing Copeland, Rick Stoner and even my personal surf photography hero, Leroy Grannis, all lived and loomed large on the horizon in the Gidget-era that Hollywood tried so hard to push upon the rest of America.

Like a cultural hurricane spinning through the conformity of post WWII blandness, those legendary names influenced and jettisoned other surf craftsman near and far.

One young man, born in the heyday of the South Bay some 55 years ago, was Ray Lucke, which is pronounced Loo-KEY. An only child raised by his parents just off the sand on the northside of Hermosa Beach, he clearly remembers and revels in the fact that greatness was all around him.

Lucke, a late bloomer, didn’t start surfing until he got into high school. But when the bug hit him, it hit hard and never let go. Lucke was drawn to the sound of the board building machinery and the surf talk in the factories where he rode his bike after school. He felt privileged to be part of a small cadre of kids that was allowed to hang just outside the cage door of the Bing and Rick production areas.

Smart young upstart that he was, Lucke would bring a bucket with him and tip the drums of

photos left to right: richard hallman, dubock.com

Tri-County Shapers Symposium

Chad Jackson going big.

Below from top: Ray Lucke working his magic. / Dave Johnson testing one out.

Chad JaCkson of cheeseboards, bacon boards, onion ring boards, etc. Sure, the companies are making money and the consumers are happily gorging themselves on New World Orders to go, but it’s not necessarily good for them or the environment.” As with Jackson’s move toward hemp and agave alternatives, he’s committed to building surfboards from the heart and with an open mind, using intuition and mathematics to guide the shape as he meditates not only on the surfer and the waves he or she rides, but on eco-elements as well.

dave Johnson

motivated me to be affluent in all conditions.

It fostered the relationship trinity of wave, board and surfer. This trinity is so dynamic because slight differences in board design affect the performance in a non-linear way.

The effects of design and volume are compounded by the constant state of flux created by changes in the wave and the approach of the surfer.”

Being such a diversified surfer, Jackson is very cognizant that the same surf spot changes daily with tide, wind and swell. He likes to calculate this into his thought process along with each customer’s different body characteristics and approach to surfing the waves they search out. “It is this dynamic—which when intuitively understood by shapers over time and coupled with experience and ability—that becomes the cornerstone for making someone a magic custom surfboard,” said Jackson.

Fast Food Foam As the surfboard industry moves further away from custom shaped surfboards, there are shapers who are on board, and others who oppose the change. Jackson sees this move away from custom shapes into a standardization where surfers are riding essentially the same boards just packaged in different clever ways to make them feel unique. “This is not to say of all shapers and boards, but there are a lot of McDonalds versus Burger King boards with the classic fancy varieties

22

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

Studying earth science at Cal Poly helped Jackson to become more passionate about ecology, culture and science, and how these parts could be tied together to move into a more sustainable society. “The impact of building surfboards, by nature, makes surfers hypocrites. So I began designing ways to make surfboards more eco-friendly without sacrificing performance. I began using hemp cloth and really got into the hemp movement because fiberglass is nasty, and hemp is just rootsy and good for everyone and everything.

As new foams and resins continue to come out, Jackson has worked like a scientist to find the perfect combination of new materials and proper performance. “In the past, the problem was that the technology was new and durability was sacrificed because the foam and resin hadn’t been developed to its potential yet.

Now the boards are built with green foam or agave stalks, hemp, redwood fins and bio-epoxy. The performance is right there with conventional boards and the durability is solid.”

In particular, agave boards, though a little more costly to build, have become a perfect melding of Jackson’s findings, and he is looking forward to building these boards for many more customers. My goal is to continue to use and promote sustainable components into my designs as our choices and our world need to be thought of in the same decision.”

Coming full circle, this entire movement has led Jackson and his crew to launch their ecoconscious surf company, Local Clothing, which specializes in hemp clothing and accessories.

Check it out at www.localclothes.com.

Chad Jackson, Kaimanu Surfboards (805) 235-6304 www.hempsurfboards.com

Dubock.com

TrachT

shaping into an Eco-Foam Era

laugh, and explained the situation a most clear and succinct way.

“A lot of surfing is psychosomatic. If you say are going to rip today, you will. You have to have confidence in yourself as well as your board. That is a large part of your performance in surfing.”

When I pressed him for a description of how he handles the sometimes delicate interaction between himself and a demanding customer, he said he relishes the experience.

“I love it when customers call back—even when they say they hate to bother me. Bother me some more!” Johnson notes. “I just love the craft of making a board and I enjoy and use the feedback. If it happens to be very positive, well then that is almost better than applause. Everybody likes affirmation.” If response and demand for his incredible talent were any measure of success, I would say that Johnson is getting a standing ovation.

With over 30,000 boards having passed under his planer, you would think he would have reached a personal plateau, a point where his hands and mind reach for the same repetitive motion. “You know how many boards I’ve kept over the years?” He forms an O with his hands and emphatically says, “Zero. With the exception of a few Hall of Fame sticks that I have, I

have decided that the memory is better than the actual board.”

What Johnson does collect are rocks and loyal customers. The rocks are mementos from every good surf session he has. Too many to even begin to count, the stack of rocks on a sagging shelf in his office are a testament to a life well surfed. The customer count, and most importantly, his obvious joy in getting the right board under customers’ feet, is apparent from the minute you get him talking about his latest design—the Hot Rod. “The Speedster, a shape that has been around for about four years, has evolved into the Hot Rod. It got that name because it is so fast. In essence, it was a matter of taking the fishy kind of shape and making it ride like a performance shortboard.”

Johnson pulls out a board that he is working on for a customer and gives me the details.

“It all starts with a round tail with more kick in the nose, more shortboard style rocker, narrowed in the middle by a quarter-inch to make it go rail to rail better. The key is that, in combination with these features, the roundtail makes it loose enough to turn a tight radius so that it doesn’t need the vee anymore. Add in the single deep concave and it just keeps going faster and working better.”

After all these years, what keeps a guy like Johnson at the peak of his performance in the shaping bay and in the water?

“It never fails to entertain me where shapes are going to go next. You get to a point with a surfboard where you think, this thing does everything well. You soon realize it does have limits and ask how do we make it do one more thing. That becomes the evolution of surfboards because you come to recognize that most changes in their design come one little facet at a time.”

So the next time you are in the market for a new board, bring an open-mind and perhaps an old rock to one of the master shapers we are so lucky to have around.

Dave Johnson, Progressive Surfboards (805) 967-1340 286 S. Fairview Ave., Goleta, CA www.progressivesurfboards.com

Dubock.com

Ray Lucke

resin to scoop up the bottom-of-the-barrel leftovers. From those liquid scraps he would make his first attempts at glassing boards. Lucke’s work ethic was notable in an era when most surfers were referred to and depicted in the mass media as beach bums. His first creation, a 7-foot single fin swallowtail board—that had some glassing issues due to a very hot batch of resin—set him on a path that continues today. Word got out in the surrounding neighborhoods that if you dropped off a shaped blank in Lucke’s garage, you could come back a few days later and bear witness to some backyard magic.

Fast-forward to the 1980s, when the bulk and buzz of the maturing surf industry had shifted south to Orange County and so has Lucke. At 25 years old, he had a solid reputation as one of a few talented guys who could transform the carved stark white foam creation of a shaper into a surfable work of art by fine-tuning the glossy exterior that makes a surfboard whole and rideable.

Catering to the almost insatiable demand from a burgeoning surfboard market in Japan, Lucke’s superior glassing skills took a dominant role over his desire to be a shaper. He glassed at South Shore Manufacturing (Surfboards) and worked

on boards made by the likes of Herbie Fletcher, Harbor, Robert August and Dewey Weber.

At one point, he became so valuable that he was shipped off to Toronto for three months by the Windsurfer Company just to work out the kinks in their molding and lamination problems.

Then the unthinkable happened in 1980.

A raging staph infection just about took the left leg of Lucke. Gangrene set in and his big toe had to be amputated. He was happy to be alive but it shook him to his soul.

Lucke dropped out of the surfboard industry and moved on to the telecommunications field in Los Angeles. The work was steady, the pay was good, but the sound of gunfire in the streets sent him packing for the peace and quiet of Camarillo.

He reconnected with his childhood buddy Wayne Rich who had a thriving board building business firmly established in Santa Barbara. Rich knew just how good a glasser Lucke was and started sending him work. He encouraged him to get back into the craft that was his destiny. Lucke wanted back into the fraternity of foam, but he did six months of market research before he jumped in. In the time that he had been away from the industry, the boards had stopped going to Japan and started coming by the boatload from China.

Four years ago Backnine Surfboards was launched. The name is drawn from the ninetoed gentle giant of a man that is at the heart of the operation. It hasn’t been easy in this rough economic climate, but Lucke and his penchant for perfection have found a local following. He is back to shaping and glassing in his new location just off the 101 freeway in Camarillo.

A quick survey of his factory captures the full spectrum of his expertise. On one rack you can see an old Dave Sweet longboard being lovingly restored. In another room you can see an exotic custom carbon racing SUP board. No matter what you ride the waters with, Lucke has the resident skills to build it or fix it.

And that is just our good luck.

Ray Lucke, Backnine Surfboards (805) 732-4694 270 N. Aviador, Suite N, Camarillo www.backninesurf.com

w w w.deepzine.com

23

Surf Shop Downlow & Beer Me

Surf Country

Beer Me!

by Shawn Tracht

Shawn TrachT

With a wide variety of microbreweries along the Central Coast and surfers inspiring many of the flavors that are crafted in them, DEEP decided to see where they surf and what they drink after a good session.

We asked them; “What’s your favorite surf spot and favorite beer?”

Doug Yartz, far left, talks shop with some locals.

Cool flows, and the planer Br ands Carried: blows years of surfboard foam in Boards: Progressive and out of this local family surf shop Surfboards, Doug Roth Surfbards, Max in Goleta. Set on the countryside Macdonald, Monarch of town in the greater Santa Surfboards Barbara area, the name of this surf Clothing: Rip Curl, First Light, Body shop represents both the open Glove, DC, OAM, hillsides and easy breathing of the X-trak, Ocean and surf culture in Goleta. Locked Earth, Gravity, Powell, smack dab in the middle of rightKoastal, Plan B hand point break heaven, this shop represents its name—Surf Country—entirely, and is a breath of stoke that left me amping and planning the next board I would shape for the upcoming season.

Opened originally by Jeff Jasiorkowski, Surf Country was purchased in 1999 by new owner Doug Yartz, who hasn’t looked back since. “What makes Surf Country unique is the local crowd that are happily welcomed to loiter about day after day. In fact, two-thirds of our crowd comes in at least once a month or more,” said Yartz.

However, don’t let that fool you, this shop welcomes surfers from all over Southern and Central California.

Surfers are coming from miles away to what Yartz considers the most unique part of his surf shop: the in-house shaping bay that’s open to the public.

Said Yartz, “Just recently, we had a guy drive all the way from L.A. for the chance to shape his own board at our shop, use our tools, and have a professional walk around the board throughout the one-day session to discuss design ideas, give suggestions and slap this new shaper one of the biggest high-fives of his life as he was able to finally realize his dream board ... more or less, for the first time.”

All in all, this shop is worth the drive as it represents unique, hometown, surf culture.

Surf Country 109 S. Fairview, Goleta (805) 683-4450 www.surfcountry.net Open Mon – Sat, 10AM – 7PM • Sun, 10AM – 5PM

24

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

AnACAPA BrEWing ComPAny (Ventura) Jason Coudray, Head Brewer

CEntrAl CoASt BrEWing (San luis obispo) Jim Aaron, Manager

“Big Drake’s when i can get in there … but if not, C-Street. As for my favorite beer … i am a huge fan of big hoppy West Coast iPA’s as well as Belgian Saison’s (sort of a spicy farmhouse style ale).”

“my favorite surf spot is Shell Beach when it’s big and my favorite beer would be our golden glow Pale Ale.”

FiguEroA mountAin BrEWing Co (Buellton) Jaime Dietenhofer, Founder and co-owner

HolliStEr BrEWing ComPAny (goleta) Sean Sliger, Busser

“my favorite surf spot is little Drake’s at Hollister ranch and my favorite beer is our Davy Brown Ale.”

“i like surfing Sands and my favorite beer is the Hip-Hop Double iPA.”

iSlAnD BrEWing ComPAny (Carpinteria) Shawn Crowley, Brewer

PiSmo BrEWing ComPAny (Pismo Beach) Matt Gallagher

“my favorite surf spot is rincon and my favorite beer is island Brewing Company’s Black mamba (india Black Ale).

“my favorite surf spots are Sewers and Pismo Beach Pier, and my favorite beer is the Pismo Pale Ale.”

Slo BrEWing (San luis obispo) Steve Courier, Brewer

tAP it BrEWing Co. (San luis obispo) Westin Joy, Brewer

“my favorite surf break is St. Anne’s at Spyglass Park and my favorite beer is iPA of course! Always an iPA.”

“my favorite spot is Sewers in Shell Beach and my favorite beer is the tap it APA.”

tElEgrAPH BrEWing ComPAny (Santa Barbara) Brian Thompson, Brewer

VEnturA SurF BrEWEry (Ventura) Chas Cloud, Head Brewer

“my favorite surf spot is Devereux … it’s always fun, and it can get big at the point. As for an after-surf beer, telegraph Stock Porter is the best. it’s dark, rich and smooth, but still light enough to be refreshing after paddling in.”

“growing up in the water on the East Coast, it was a natural progression to surf after moving to Ventura in 2003. liking more of a mellow wave. i usually haunt the Cove or mondo’s. my favorite beer is our South Swell Double iPA.”

*must be over age 21 to drink alcohol. Enjoy your alcoholic beverages responsibly.

PHOTO: JIM MARTIN

All boards available at 24 E. Mason Street, Santa Barbara (805) 845-5605 • www.bluelinepaddlesurf.com

10’2” Hull Paddler

11’1” All-Arounder

10’2” All-Arounder

$899 with paddle

8’6” All-Arounder

26

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

8’9” Hull Ripper

9’11” Ripper

All (80

All boards available at 36 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara (805) 966-7213 • www.cisurfboards .com

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

27

Shape your own board in our In-House Shaping Bay. Starting at $400. Blank, glassing and fins included.

All boards available at 109 S. Fairview Ave., Goleta (805) 683-4450 • www.surfcountry.net

Progressive Surfboards Hot Rod

Max McDonald Surfboards Maxi Flyer

Eclipse Surfboards The Ulua Quad

Dimensions : 6’6” x 13 x 20 1/4 x 15 3/8 x 2 7/8 x 1 3/8”

Dimensions : 6’7” x 11 3/8” x 19 5/8” x 17 3/4” x 2 1/2”

Dimensions : 5’10” x 21 3/4” x 2 5/8”

The Hot Rod is the best All around So Cal board I’ve ever designed. Wide roundtail excels in small waves, yet handles size with quad or five fin convertible. Super fast, super loose, super paddler, super fun! Customs done in one to three weeks.

Medium to small surf, head-high and under.

Speed box into a flat panel V. Lower entry rocker.

Demos available at Surf Country..

Low entry rocker, single to double concave off the tail with the fin placement near the rail for more bite and generating speed. Turns on a dime and gives you nine cents change.

Shaped by Max McDonald

Shaped by Greg Iler

Shaped by Dave Johnson

Doug Roth Surfboards

Doug Roth Surfboards

“The Classic”

Dimensions : 9’4” x 18 3/4” (nose) x 22 3/4” x 15” (tail) x 3 1/4”

Dimensions : 9’6” x 17” (nose) x 22 1/2” x 15 1/2” (tail) x 3 1/8” Single fin box, 50/50 rail Classic ‘60s shape.

Shaped by John Lessing

2+1 fin box, hard rails Shaped by John Lessing

Eclipse Surfboards Missing Link Dimensions : 7’6” x 21” x 2 3/4” Convex bottom with vee off the nose & tail, fluid rail to rail transitions. Great for all skill levels, tried and true off the Coast Highway, Hawaii, Mexico and beyond. Don’t leave home without one.

Shaped by Greg Iler

28

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

All boards available at 10 State St., Santa Barbara (805) 963-1281 • www.surfnwear.com

White Owl Surfboards Poor Boy

Andreini Surfboards Vaquero

Dimensions:

Dimensions :

9’6”

7’4”

This board authentically replicates Jeff White’s most popular rarest model.

A versatile displacement hull experience that covers all wave types except “slabs” from 2’ to 8’ waves.

Excellent glide, paddle, trim, and stoke!

Shaped by Marc Andreini

Yater Surfboards Nose Specializer Dimensions : 9’ to108’ A good nose rider should have less overall rocker, a wide concave nose, soft, forgiving rails, with a little added weight. I have incorporated all these specs in my version, The Nose Specializer, with additional v in the tail, which allows the board to turn more easily due to the heavier nose weight. Single fin (square or round tails). Volan cloth, color resin tints and textured decks are the option.

Hang ten!?

Shaped by Marc Andreini

Shaped by Renny Yater

White Owl Surfboards Collector Series Retro

White Owl Surfboards Da Skate

Yater Surfboards Versal – 234

Dimensions:

Dimensions:

7’4”

6’2” x 11” x 19” x 14 1/2” x 2 1/2”

Dimensions:

Double volan top and bottom.

Custom pigment and custom fin.

Shaped by Gregg Tally

Single to double concave.

4 oz. glass top and bottom.

Made for all types of surf.

Custom made glassed on fins.

Shaped by Gregg Tally

6’ to 8’ This is a design shape that I have been working in to accommodate those who have chosen to stay with short board style surfing as they put on more weight and grow older. It is wider, thicker with less nose kick, that puts more board on the surface of the water. Slightly concave fading to v in the tail, with 5 fin foxes that allows you to choose for twin, tri or quad fin setups. Very versatile. I shape any length.

Shaped by Renny Yater

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

29

All boards available at 1656 Walter St., Suite F, Ventura (805) 642-SURF (7873) • www.homegrownsurfshop.com

Resist Surfboards The Bandit

Resist Surfboards The Producer

A. Wright Surfboards

A. Wright Surfboards

The Producer: When Chad Eastman asked me to design this board I named it the “thick, wide, and ugly” but after immediate positive feedback, we had to rename it. The Producer produces excellent results in typical Southern California summer waves. The board is ordered a little thicker, a little wider, and a little uglier than your standard shortboard. Personally, as a shaper, I’ve never been a fan of boards that have thicker rail volume at the nose twelve inch mark, but after seeing what this board has been producing this summer, I’m a believer that these modern 80’s style boards definitely have a place in todays quiver.

When summer is over and Ventura County lights up, the Bandit is your go to board. Slight single to double concave bottom contours have been fine tuned for the waves we’re known for. It’s the model I designed for Taylor Curran to be ridden daily at Strand when its pumping in the winter time. Since making this model we’ve done stretched out variations of step up boards to mini guns and have received excellent feedback from surf trips around the world. The board can be ordered in your standard shortboard size on up to a foot bigger for mini guns. When the conditions turn epic, this is the board you wish you had.

Dimensions : 5’7’’ x 17 3/4” x 1 3/4”

Dimensions : 6’1’’ x 19 x 2 1/4”

Designed for Nate Smithson, 14, as a high performance shred-sled for Ventura County conditions.

Epoxy construction gives a lightweight feel for a bigger, high-performance riders.

Shaped by Aaron Wright

Shaped by Aaron Wright

Shaped by Jeff Hull

Shaped by Jeff Hull

Parole Surfboards E.T. HP Model

Dimensions : 9’0” x 18” x 22” x 14 1/4” x 2 1/2” EPS/Epoxy

Great all-around longboard. Single to double concave flat “v” out the tail. Available as 2+1 PR quad fin set up.

Shaped by John Birges

30

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

Parole Surfboards Pancho Fish

Thor Surfboards S.S. Fish

Dimensions : 5’3” x 17 1/2” x 19 1/2” x 16” x 2 1/4”

Thor Surfboards The Fishy Fish

Dimensions : 5’10” x 19 3/4” x 2 3/8”

Dimensions:

The SS Fish is a fun summer board for all wave conditions. This model should be ridden 4” to 6” shorter and 1” wider then a standard shortboard.

The Fishy Fish will make even the smallest waves fun. This model should be ridden 6” to 8” shorter and 2” wider then a standard shortboard.

Shaped by Thor

Shaped by Thor

Retro 70’s style Super fast, super fun, great small wave board with very low rocker. It will spiral you out the back.

Shaped by John Birges

5’8” x 20” x 2 1/2”

All boards available at 121 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara (805) 962-SUPS (7877) • www.SUPSB.com

Wardog Stoke

Wardog Mahalo

Wardog One World

Amundson Hawaii

Dimensions: 9’6” x 30 1/2” 150 liters

Dimensions : 10’3” x 29 1/2” 165 liters

Dimensions : 11’1” x 30” 180 liters

Dimensions : 10’6” x 30” 158 liters

2 plus 1

2 plus 1

Quad plus 1

2 plus 1

Classic bread and butter SUP for progressive paddle surfing. Great travel board.

Mid length wave-riding SUP designed for more paddle power and glide.

One SUP. One World.

Designed with the perfect blend of glide and longboard wave performance.

The 10’6” is a true crossover design. Paddlers will enjoy this board for flat-water cruising, but it is also suited to paddlers up to 220 pounds who want to use it in the surf. This board is very stable, making it easy to get out through the shore-break and paddle into waves. Perfect for choppy water in the line-up. The narrow tail and three-fin set-up make it fun and maneuverable, while retaining good tracking in flat-water.

Wardog Jammer

Wardog Wide Point

Starboard Pocket Rocket

Starboard Fisherman

Dimensions:

Dimensions : 8’10” x 32” 150 liters 10’5” x 32” 186 liters

Dimensions : 8’5 x 30” 125 liters

Dimensions : 11’2” x 37” 250 liters

8’5” x 31” 140 liters Quad plus 1 High performance shortboard style SUP. Fast and maneuverable with blistering speed on cutbacks.

Quad plus 1 Influenced by the short and wide high performance wave riding SUP’s from the collaboration of designer WARDOG and master shaper, Art Colyer, the design progression of the Wide Point series shape has been further tested and refined by STARBOARD’S Scott McKercher in the wave conditions of Western Australia, and Svein Rasmussen in Hawaii.

“Mono concave nose and middle section merging V concave”

The short stable and fast shape that changed the perception of SUP short-boarding is still our benchmark in onshore and more mushy conditions.

Seamlessly smooth acceleration and lightning top-end speed allow you to make fast sections and fit into small pockets. A slight tweak of the nose this year complements a proven performer. The stinger provides mid-section width while bringing in the tail, which adds up to a board that is just a whole lot of fun.

So easy to use you might as well bring your fishing gear and surfboard and head for those secret spots. The Fisherman’s extra-wide hull with high stabilizing rails and dug out mid-deck section offers an ultra-stable platform for paddling. Features like drain channels, multiple tie-down positions, and Tallon rod mounting options make the Fisherman a revolutionary multipurpose Stand Up Paddleboard ready for adventure.

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

31

M.d.s. Surfboards, Ventura County, CA Call (805) 231-6116 for appointment • www.mdssurfboards.com

Mds Surfboards The Wa “SUP” Dimensions : 9’6” x 31” x 4 1/4”

Mds Surfboards The Nickel

Mds Surfboards The Broker

Mds Surfboards The Protocol

Dimensions:

Dimensions : 5’8” x 19 1/8 x 2 1/8

Dimensions : 5’10 x 18 1/2 x 2 1/8 Team Board

2 + 1 fin set up

5’6” x 19 3/4 x 2 1/8

There are several Wa”SUP” designs availible, anything is possible. The key to finding the right board is by discussing your options with a knowledgeable and experienced designer / shaper.

2 + 1 (8” box) fin set up.

Can be riden as a single fin, single and side bites, small box regular tri, twin fin ... Too many options to list. This fin set up gives you fin options most will only dream of.

Shaped by Matt Sparks

Shaped by Matt Sparks

Tri, Quad, 5 fin set ups.

One of the most versatile boards for any quiver, designed to handle anything the South Pacific and North Pacific throws our way.

Order this board 2-3” shorter and 1 - 1.5”s wider than your normal shortboard.

Shaped by Matt Sparks

Backnine Surfboards Knee Board

Backnine Surfboards Tri-Fish

Dimensions :

Dimensions:

5’7” x 22”

6’1” x 21”

4 fin quad setup for the person who wants to stay in the water when they get older and don’t have a chance to go surfing all the time. This board will let you catch 3’ to 6’ all day long.

This board is for 2’ to 4’ surf, beach break.

Shaped by Ray Lucke

Shaped by Ray Lucke

Backnine Surfboards Touring Board Dimensions : 12’6” x 29 1/2” x 6” This board is for working out and practicing for racing and timing.

Shaped by Ray Lucke

Backnine boards available at 270 N Aviador St # N, Camarillo (805) 732-4694 www.backninesurf.com

32

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

This board is designed for speed, maneuverability and control through all maneuvers above the lip and in the pocket.

Shaped by Matt Sparks

A m

J7 Designs Redline

J7 Designs Pill

Dimensions:

Dimensions :

Available 5’6” -

6’4”

Available 5’2” – 6’6”

Tri or Quad fin/ Swallow, Wide Squash or Wide Round Tail

Pin Tail Designed as tool to increase performance in small surf, The Pill has proven to be an excellent shape to make small days turn into all time sessions. Boasting a wider shorter outline and a fuller rail profile, this board excels over flat sections while still being maneuverable in critical sections of the wave. The design and theory on this board is very similar to our “Firefly” series, but is about an inch narrower and geared a little more towards high performance.

Part of our small wave series, the “redline” is designed to generate speed and power in subpar surf. A shorter fuller outline with lower entry and exit rockers, combined with high performance bottom contours allow for getting out of the gates fast as well as gliding over flat sections with ease. With feedback from both our team and loyal customers alike this has proven to be the go to design to make small surf fun.

Best in knee- to head-high surf.

Best in knee- to head-high surf.

Shaped by Jason Feist Available at J7 Surf Shop 24 E. Mason St., Santa Barbara (805) 290-4129

J7 Designs Whatever Dimensions:

Available 5’2” – 6’4” Squash, swallow or Diamond Tail As our newest addition to the small wave series, “The Whatever” is the ultimate board for obtaining glide and speed in waves that lack size and energy.

The outline is significantly wider in the nose and tail area for projection and is combined with a moderate-to-low rocker profile. This formula produces a responsive board that does not sacrifice any of the paddle or performance when ridden 4 to 6 inches shorter than your average shortboard.

Best in knee- to head-high surf.

Shaped by Jason Feist Available at J7 Surf Shop 24 E. Mason St., Santa Barbara (805) 290-4129

Shaped by Jason Feist Available at J7 Surf Shop 24 E. Mason St., Santa Barbara (805) 290-4129

Roberts Surfboards Modern 80’s Dimensions:

5’8” x 19 3/8” x 2 1/4” The Modern 80’s is based off an 80’s outline with a modern rocker and bottom. This board works well in a variety of surf.

It features a hip at 15 inches up from the tail which allows it to do tight turns in the pocket and hold through high speed turns. Rider feedback has been amazing and will be one of our more versatile boards. Order this board 4” shorter than your standard short board.

Shaped by Robert Weiner Available at Revolution Surf Co. (Camarillo) Momentum Surf Shop (Port Hueneme) Ventura Surf Shop (Ventura) Esteem Surf Co. (Pismo Beach) Val Surf

Matt Moore Sufboards Blaster Dimensions: 6’2” x 19” x 21/2” This is your day-in, day-out, high performance short board.

Available with FCS, Future or glass on fins.

Normally shaped with a round pin or squash tail.

Shaped by Matt Moore Available at Rincon Designs Surf Shop 659 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria (805) 684-2413

Shane Stoneman Surfboards Stoney’s Rally Racer Dimensions : 5’6” x 18 3/4” x 2 5/16” Available in US Blanks or EPS/epoxy construction. These boards are about attaining high speeds and turning with comfort and ease. With slightly more volume than your normal short board, Rally racers are meant to be ordered shorter than your usual board and ridden in anything you want to ride. Life is short... so surf fast!

Shaped by Shane Stoneman Available at Wavelengths Surf Shop (Morro Bay) Moondoggies (Pismo, San Luis Obispo) www.shanestoneman.com shane@shanestoneman.com

Matt Moore Sufboards Center Divider Dimensions: 9’4” x 23 1/4” x 3”

34

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

Matt Moore Sufboards The Claw Dimensions: 5’6” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/2”

This is one of three longbords we build. Its not a RETRO, its not a HYPERFORMER. It’s taken from both of these designs for the individual who cant make up his mind and wants a little of both. It has a toned down rocker and slightly more traditional outline than our high performance model. We kept the rails less 50/50 than the RETRO for better, more forgiving turning and maneuverability. Still a board you can nose ride and execute a nice turn.

This is our version of the Dumpy Diaper or what ever you want to call it. It works very well in the waist- to head-high range. This is a board you will want to ride a few inches shorter than your short board. It has become a great board for the groms to get rolling on and have room to progress their surfing as they’re figuring it all out. It’s a very high performance board for those who are there with their surfing, otherwise a very forgiving surfboard in a wide range of sizes for everyone else.

Fin set up works well as a single or 2 + 1.

Thruster or quad set ups work best.

Shaped by Matt Moore Available at Rincon Designs Surf Shop 659 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria (805) 684-2413

Shaped by Matt Moore Available at Rincon Designs Surf Shop 659 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria (805) 684-2413

4TH ANNUAL

BOARD BUYER’S

FCD Designs DM3

Loyd Surfboards Shack Attracter

Dimensions:

Dimensions:

6’3” x 18 7/8” x 2 5/16”

6’1” x 18 1/2” x 2 1/4”

With less entry rocker than the average shortboard and more volume under the chest, the DM3 paddles faster and gets into waves without pushing water. This design makes it fast down the line when your weight is forward. The tail rocker, volume, and rails are built for turning under pressure. We make DM3s in these lengths: 5’11”, 6’1”, 6’3”, and 6’6”.

The “Shack Attracter” is my line of round pin/pintail performance boards and step up guns. The waves intended to be ridden will determine size and dimensions. Single to double concave, V out the tail and added tail flip in the last four inches make these boards very fast and responsive.

Dimensions: 5’9” x 20 1/8” x 2 7/16” This bigger model has been popular with the old guys rule crowd who find this board’s speed and wave catching ability to their liking. Of course, groms will love a 5’8” version of this.

Shaped by Fletcher Chouinard Available at FCD 43 S. Olive St., Ventura (805) 641-9428 www.FCDSurfboards

2011

Shaped by Gabriel Loyd Available at Panchos Surf Shop (Pismo Beach) www.loydsurf.com (805) 441-5103

Shaped by Fletcher Chouinard Available at FCD 43 S. Olive St., Ventura (805) 641-9428 www.FCDSurfboards.com

FCD Designs Fark Surfboards

Guide

Ryan Lovelace Surfcraft v.Bowls Dimensions : 8’ x 22 1/2” x 2 7/8” A widepoint-back, transition-era template that lays down some beautifully natural carves; by playing with the foil and placement of the curves you can build a more intuitive board that hooks up in the pocket and draws very smooth lines; this is the most fun and interesting design I’ve surfed in a really long time.

Shaped by Ryan Lovelace Available at www.rlovelace.com ryankentlovelace@gmail.com

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

35

Randal Stoker & Deadshaper Stoker V Machine

Third World Surf Co. Spudnut

Dimensions:

6’4” x 23” x 2 7/8”

6’1”x 20 x 2 1/2”

Can’t fit a longboard in your car?

Current size range: 4’6” to 8’6”

Take this.

Paddles like a longboard, but surfs like a shortboard. The Stoker V Machine goes Mach 4 in gutless one-foot slop and comes unglued in overhead surf. Far superior to any fish, the design surfs fully 3 dimensional with effortless S-turns and roundhouse cutbacks. A fantastic board for beginners, intermediates and the perfect secret weapon for any pro surfer’s quiver. Worldwide distribution is now available.

Dimensions:

Shaped by Jason Kline Available at www.thirdworldsurfboards.com (805) 459-5834

Shaped by Deadshaper Available at Anacapa Surf ‘n’ Sport (Oxnard) deadshaper@gmail.com (805) 570-8659

Kaimanu Sufboards Gemini Twin

Third World Surf Co. Barrel Flute

Dimensions:

Dimensions:

5’6” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/4” The Gemini Twin is my special design for ultimate eco friendly connected surfing The shape has a flow to it that allows for quick smooth transitions and incredible speed in small waves. It releases off the top incredibly and I found myself blasting airs and blowing the tail out as well as carving top turns that felt new school with ols school style. The blank is built with native agave and the fins are California recycled redwood. It is grassed with hemp and fiberglass and eco epoxy.

Shaped by Chad Jackson Available at www.hempsurfboards.com www.localclothes.com (805) 365-7011

36

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

5’11” x 18” x 2” Cross an Alia with a twin fin and this is what you’ll get. The idea behind this board is not to carve, but to stay in the barrell. Learn to play the barrel flute by sticking your fist in the wave, then just let go and accelerate without the need to pump. This came from a desire to ride racy lined up barrels on smaller days, and stay pitted the whole way. If you like the speed an Alia gives you, but don’t like sliding all over the place, give this a try!

Shaped by Jason Kline Available at www.thirdworldsurfboards.com (805) 459-5834

Vitruvian Surfboards Super Fish

Wayne Rich Surfboards Classic Pin

Dimensions: 6’2” x 21 3/4” x 2 7/8”

Dimensions: 18 1/2 ” x 22 3/4” x15 1/4”x 3” Single Fin box or Glass-on

The Super Fish is a great paddler, and perfect for 2- to 5-foot surf. Retro with fish wood fins. Versatile.

Clean flowing, ‘60s style surfing, with excellent nose riding is the mind set behind this model.

Shaped by Pat Flecky Available at (805) 903-3364

Shaped by Wayne Rich Available at Ventura Surf Shop (Ventura) A-Frame Surf Shop (Carpinteria) Blueline Paddle Surf (Santa Barbara) www.waynerich.com

Cooperfish Cooperfish Flexpig

Timblerline Sugarglider

Dimensions:

Dimensions:

9’5” x 22 1/2” x 3 1/8” The Flexpig uses a unique blend of materials to enhance its classic design. Built with “tow weight” foam, glassed with double 6oz flat weave volan, and laminated with isophalic resin.

The weight of the example shown is approx. 25lbs. Available by special order from 8’6” to 9’7” Shaped by Gene Cooper Available at www.cooperfishsurfboards.com (805) 216-8232 gene.cooper@gmail.com

9’6” 19 lbs.

Sugarglider with custom artwork. EPS foam core with 1/8” Paulownia wood skins and Solid Paulownia rails.

A classic trimming longboard shapes for long waves and smooth carving turns between noserides.

The Timberline method consists of a recycled EPS core, 1/8 “ Paulownia skins, solid wood rails, and they are glassed with bamboo cloth and eco-resin. Paulownia wood is actually lighter, stronger and more renewable than Balsa. So a Timberline surfboard can be the same weight or lighter than a Polyester board of the same shape, and it can last a lifetime.

Shaped by Raphael Wolfe Available at www.timberlinesurf.blogspot.com www.timberlinesurf.com (805) 426-9353

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

37

Takashi Yaman（TTYYworks）

Meet Your Central Coast Shapers...

Marc Andreini

John Birges

Blane Chambers

Gene Cooper

Fletcher Chouinard

Amundson Hawaii

Marc Andreini Surfboards

Parole Surfboards

Paddle Surf Hawaii

Cooperfish Surfboards

FCD Designs

Amundson has been designing surfboards since 1984. He worked with many different levels of surfers and feels the design, test, feedback and redesign approach has led to the success of his custom surfboards. He worked with shapers like Mike Diffenderffer, Barry Kaniapuni, Dick Brewer, Larry McElheny, Chris Lundy, Jeff Bushman, and Zen Del Rio.

Born in San Mateo, raised from 6-years-old to 30 in Santa Barbara, Marc built his first board at age 14 and never stopped. He surfed for Owl Surfboards since 1962 and took up making the Owls in 1974 shortly after Jeff White went from boards to retail only. He started making his own label “Andreini Surfboards” in 1971. “I still shape every week. No machined blanks!”

Birges has been shaping in the Santa Barbara / Ventura area for 12 years.

He has glassed for several local shapers. “My boards are custom for the individual surfer along with stock shapes. I glass all my boards, making a big difference in the product. I’ll do my best to get you on the best board for you.”

Designer/shaper Chambers SUP surfs all the time. In the last five years a paddle was in his hand every session.

He does all stand up. Committed and stoked, he likes to design better boards and surf them daily. Being able to design for PSH allows him to make boards that rip for others. Chambers is stoked to be on the cutting edge of SUP surfing design.

Gene, of Oxnard, started Cooperfish Surfboards in 1991. Concentrateing strictly on traditional equipment. Gene is known for finely tuned logs and beautiful color work. He produces projects & shows that display surfboards as fine art, but limits custom orders to only the a few shapes that he is passionate about. He’s constantly keeps it fresh and offers a unique product.

We began in 1996 with a goal of making the strongest, lightest, hand shaped boards possible. “Causing no unnecessary harm” is our guiding principle, so by default each board minimizes the use of toxic and nonrenewable materials, and we build each board one at a time as if it were our own.

Deadshaper

Jason Feist

Pat Flecky

Jeff Hull

Greg Iler

Jason Kline

J7 Surfboards

Flecky Surfboards

Resist Surfboards

Eclipse Surfboards

Third World Surf Co.

My first surfboard was a freebie! A near demolished 10’2” Greg Noll that had flown off a car in sundowner winds.

Fifty dings, two feet of missing nose, and no fin. Little did I know, I was about to become a shaper. It was 1959, and I was 8. The rest is history.

Jason Feist began shaping surfboards in 1998. After about a year of carving out foam for himself and a few close friends, Feist started the J7 Surfboards label. It has been well over a decade now and through feedback from team riders and loyal customers alike, Jason strives to create the most progressive and high quality surfboards available.

Pat Flecky custom shapes your favorite designs with years of Central Coast and North Shore experience.

Eight years ago Jeff Hull began building boards in Ventura as a hobby in his parent’s garage. Slowly growing a business, and three factories later, making surfboards has developed into a career. He has had the pleasure of working closely with local shapers providing them with quality glasswork and enjoying a firm sense of surf community.

Greg Iler started working weekends at Shapes & Hulls with Tim Bowler around 1976 to pay off his first custom board.

Bowler’s shop was around the corner from Yater’s. The hook was set while learning fiberglass repair, cleaning out the shaping bay and watching local craftsmen build boats, fabricate wetsuits and shape blanks.

Jason Kline has been making custom surfboards for Third World Surf Co. on the Central Coast since 1999.

Taylored to fit your style and local surf, pick anything from performance shortboards, to longboards, retros, and experimentals. “We encourage surfers to try something new and to enjoy all corners of the surfing envelope!”

Chad Jackson

Dave Johnson

John Lesssing

Ryan Lovelace

Gabriel Loyd

Ray Lucke

Kaimanu Surfboards

Progressive Surfboards

Doug Roth Surfboards

Ryan Lovelace Surfcraft

Loyd Surfboards

Backnine Surfboards

Chad Kaimanu Jackson has been shaping glassing and riding his own boards since he was 16 after his dad and he started Kaimanu Surfboards out of Cayucos in the early 90’s.

After learning the trade from his dad, Kaimanu took over the board building and soon began innovating new materials to produce more eco conscious surfboards.

Dave Johnson is the most accessible full time master shaper in the Santa Barbara area today. “Whether they are high performance contest surfers, recreational, or beginners I love talking to the customers to arrive at a perfect fit.” Custom boards are usually done in two weeks or less.

Doug Roth Surfboards began in Goleta, California in 1963 and were prevalent in local lineups throughout the 1960’s.

The legacy is reborn with a new line of boards shaped by John Lessing that honor the Doug Roth name, his legend and the rich history of Goleta surfing.

Lessing has been shaping since 1965.

Lovelace is 25 and has been building boards in Santa Barbara since 2006 under the name Point Concept, but recently he moved on with his curiosities. “I am beyond blessed to do this for a living and to have my unreal friends that surf my boards so beautifully. I hand shape my boards because they work better that way and are what craft and surfing is about for me.”

Born and raised on the Central Coast and rode my first wave in Maui when I was four. I have been surfing ever since and have watched my dad make surfboards all my life. Building boards is now MY passion and I take pride in the quality and performance of “Loyd Surfboards.”

Lucke shaped his first board his sophomore year in Hermosa Beach. He earned money by glassing boards out of his garage and got his first job at Rick’s Surfboards foiling fins in 1973.

Lucke went on to shape and glass for Fibercraft, Southshore, Dewey Weber, and Jacobs. He now runs Backnine Surfboards in Camarillo.

Andrew Schoener

Shawn Tracht/ BrokenClockMedia.com

John Amundson

38

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE July/August 2011

Meet Your Central Coast Shapers...

Max McDonald

Scott McKercher

Al Merrick

Matt Moore

Wayne Rich

Shane Stoneman

McDonald Surfboards

Starboard SUP

Channel Islands Surfboards

Matt Moore Surfboards

Wayne Rich Surfboards

Shane Stoneman Surfboards

With over 44 years of shaping experience with brands like Infinity and Bruce Jones, McDonald is most known for the Bonzer 5-fin design. He left his home in San Clemente for the long, right-hand point breaks of Santa Barbara and has been here ever since.

McKercher is a former PWA Wave World Champion who grew up surfing and wavesailing in Western Australia. He’s been in the board shaping business since 1994. He’s head of wave board development at Starboard. McKercher has contributed design work on some of the most innovative board designs and has help to create a line of over 40

C.I. was built from humble beginnings in 1969. Influenced by Dick Brewer, John Price and Bob McTavish. Shaun Tomson, Kim Mearig, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater, Lisa Andersen and Sofia Mulanovich rode his designs to multiple world titles. “Our mission is to make the best boards using feedback from the best surfers… leading us into the future.”

Moore is a surfboard shaper who grew up in Carpinteria and started surfing in 1959. Construction, flex, fins, fiberglass and foam are all phase’s that have formed the Matt Moore logo. “I started taking custom orders in the late 60’s and have never stopped helping people make their surfing dreams come true.”

Taking surfboard shaping and design to the highest possible level is something I take very seriously. To take the art and craft of creating real wave-riding foils with specific purpose and feel is a life goal. Working to formulate concepts, then develop and apply them to diverse styles of surfers and wave conditions is a great challenge and never ending learning experience.

Shane grew up on competitive surfing and made his first board at 14.

Nowadays, he surfs when its decent, shapes in a converted barn in Cayucos, has a fairly useless English degree from Cal Poly, and plays in his garden with his two daughters. After shaping every day for a dozen years he still absolutely loves making surfboards for folks that like to have fun in the ocean.

Matt Sparks

Gregg Tally

Thor

Wardog

Robert Weiner

Raphael Wolfe

M.d.s. Surfboards

White Owl Surfboards

Thor Surfboards

Stand Up Paddle Sports

Roberts Surfboards

Timberline Surfboards

Matt Sparks is a lifelong surfer with over a decade of surfboard shaping experience under his belt. Matt has put in his time, gaining experience from custom orders as well as shaping for respected local companies. Whether it’s a high performance thruster, noserider, SUP, or anything in between, Mds Surfboards will take care of you.

Gregg Tally has been shaping the “old fashioned” way for 44 years. He hand shapes, glasses and builds his own fins. “I do all boards in house, start to finish, the way Jeff White taught me.”

White, of White Owl Surfboards, taught him “quality and integrity” and so Tally continues the White Owl label today.

Thor started shaping in 1998 when a friend gave him most of his shaping tools and some surfboard blanks.

Another friend asked him to make a board for him and afterwards he decided to start shaping and call his company Thor Surfboards.

Wardog has over three decades of surfing product design experience since graduating with a degree in Oceanography. After collaborating with Sean Ordonez on Maui in 2005 to manufacture the world’s first production SUP’s , he then opened the first dedicated SUP retail store in North America near the beach in Santa Barbara.

Robert Weiner started Roberts Surfboards in 1996 with his main goal being to create high caliber, high quality surfboards that will push the envelope of our spots. Roberts has grown from its roots in Ventura to become one of the most popular labels in Southern California. He won the 2010 Surfer Magazine Shaper of the Year award.

Growing up in both Sydney and Santa Barbara, Raphael Wolfe is more of a woodworker than a shaper. He started Timberline Surfboards to make a wood board that is eco-friendly and as light as foam boards. Wolfe works with well-respected shapers to make custom boards with their shapes in the Timberline method.

Aaron Wright

Renny Yater

A. WRIGHT Surfboards

Yater Surfboards

Aaron Wright, founder of “A.WRIGHT Surfboards”, has been making surfboards for over 10 years learning from Ventura local icons. Besides being a waterman, Wright is an artist at heart. Each board is custom designed and hand shaped for each surfer’s style with one of a kind resin designs.

Growing up in the surf in Laguna Beach the 1940’swas the greatest. I made my first surfboard with fiberglass in the early 50’s and moved to Santa Barbara in 1959 and opened up shop on Anacapa Street. I never stopped making boards since then.

All the boards that grace the pages of DEEP’s 2011 Board Buyer’s Guide represent growth in the surfing industry extending beyond the Central and South Coasts. It’s a talented bunch that’s formulated concepts and brought them to fruition. There’s much to choose from here solidifying the needs of any quiver. We at DEEP Surf Magazine would like to thank all the 32 board builders and surf shops for their support in helping us make this year’s Board Buyer’s Guide a great one.

- Chuck Graham, editor DEEP surf mag

W W W.DEEPZINE.COM

39

www.sexwax.com

Zog_Deep_3DBars_08_17_10.indd 1

8/17/10 8:45:43 AM

Comen Sense

Clay Johnson tucks into a dredger for some shade.

Just Buy One Column by

ChuCk GrAhAm

Craig Comen Long time central and north coast surfer Craig Comen leads kayak tours in Mendocino and lives with his family in the redwoods.

We really need surfboards!

With the world teetering around us, what we really need is to support the sport we love, slow down and enjoy ourselves. What a great way of expressing who we are and what we need. Surfboards are the very craft that support this act, allowing us to escape and get away from work, bills, troubles and the very things that society and big corporations want us to be trapped by.

We have always been escapists and now more than ever we need to keep on doing just that, showing those around us what a great thing the ocean can offer. We are complicated beings, and letting it go into the blissful state of wave riding is healthy. So far I have really found no other way of expressing this need, and at times I have felt guilty that this is so.

My boards offer me the chance to

stand up for myself, to fly, to be an artist, poet, creator and wizard. It is the golden age of surf craft and the proof is in how waves are being ridden on every corner of the globe and the state of the art in which they are being ridden.

What a better time to go out and try some of these magical sleds, and keep things in the positive.

Sounds like I am up on a pedestal, and in fact I am. What else is there besides food, shelter and water that we need? Surfing, obviously.

Whether we are diagnosed as addicts, ADD sufferers, or recluses, this is the very thing that says, “We are different, and we will not accept the norm.” So go out to your window and open it up, and shout at the top of your lungs, “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore,” and then go get yourself a new board and catch a wave for me on it.

K IT

L OCAL C LOTH ES . COM

Andy Bowlin

CHEC

V IDEO

P HOTO

RE B IO S TO

T EAM P ROFILES

w w w.deepzine.com

41

s t c i d d a Fi n

Transcendental soul.

jpfost

t h c a r T n w a h S y B

T

here’s a long history that goes along with fins, starting

without a fin at all. All in all, fins do make a huge difference, changing not only the way a board rides, but sometimes whether or not you like a board at all. As an anecdote to finding my favorite template, it was important to try out different fins on my home break. This gave me a point of reference wherein if I knew my wave, then I could really assess the differences happening beneath my feet.

Showcasing the control surfaces of a thruster as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean.

Rath

Rath

David “Ditty” Dittmar, throwing “three” out the back.

jpfost

Girls all around the world appreciate a good thruster; just make sure

you can show it off.

Photos by BrokenClockMedia: Jeff Pfost & Jason Rath

So What’s it Feel Like?

Finless: Edgy. From the ancient Hawaiian olo finless, 16-foot surfboards, to the alaias, to recent progressions in foam and fiberglass finless surfboards, one thing remains the key element of design in finless boards: the rail edge. Yes, the bottom contours play a major role in the variation of the feel of each finless board, but the board’s most integral part is the edge design.

Single-Fins: The Rudder. Where a quad-fin set-up is built to help the surfer generate his/her own speed, the single-fin is just the opposite. It’s rather, more of a rudder for directional turning than a motor. When you try to pump down the line on a single-fin, nothing happens. This fin is best suited for pocket surfing, and correspondingly, surfing a single-fin can make you a better surfer because it will teach you to surf closer to the curl, enabling you to realize the sweet spot/speed pocket of a wave.

w w w.deepzine.com

43

Keel Fins/Twin-Fins: Full Rail Sail. Smooth, long, carving, drawn-out turns along your entire rail describe the twin-fin set up. Twin-fins are stiff down the line, creating great drive. Compared to their step-brother, the quad-fin, these fins do not release with small, quick, choppy tweaks of the ankles. Rather, these fins make a surfer flow deep through turns with classic style. But don’t be fooled, the twin-fin is built for speed. If a quad were the first gear on a car, a twin-fin could be the fifth.

Tri-fin/Thruster: The Performer. More or less, today’s pros at the highest level of surfing are riding the thruster. Fast, nimble and full of a plethora of options, the tri-fin is king. You have the drive of three fins, the hold of a center fin and the release of smaller outside fins compared to a big twin-fin.

Quads: The Motor. As far as I’ve found, adding a fourth fin is like adding a nitrous booster to your rig. Speed is the number one key in surfing, which is why I personally push surfers who are serious about improving, but have problems generating speed, to get a quad under their feet as soon as possible. I’ve seen this fin set-up propel pretty good surfers to a whole new level in just one season because having more speed has enabled them better surfing potential.

What the Manufacturers are Saying Deep: Why are there so many different fins?

Tyler Callaway of FCS: When you think about the amount of surface area of the board that’s actually in the water when you are turning, and then you think about three or four fins protruding downwards at a right angle, you can quickly understand how much the shape, foil and flex pattern of a

44

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

Deville keel fin, twin fin.

jpfost

Full rail car ve on Coop

fin affects the performance of the board. Slight variations are quite noticeable in performance.

Chuck Ames of True Ames: You could say there are so many fins today because there are so many different kinds of boards. It comes down to the feel. Pick a board/fin combination for the “mood” of the session.

Jeff James of Future Fins: There are three dimensions to a fin: template, flex and foil. As you start to pair these dimensions together, you start to get a different attitude and feel on different boards and in different conditions.

This means that a 140-pound surfer might actually have three different favorite sets of fins. For example, he might like the F4 Blackstix in small surf, the F4 Techflex in hollow surf and the AM1 glass in big surf. The Futures Fin Tree (which is a demo rack in stores), is absolutely the best way to find the perfect fins for you. Take the info we give in the catalog and online and then go test, try and enjoy.

Deep: How have your fins evolved?

TC (FCS): Over the years we’ve learned a lot about foil, and especially the leading edge of the fin. Different combinations of materials create flex where you want it (at the tip) and stiffness where you want that (at the base). We have learned a lot about how to engineer a fin to specifically affect certain aspects of performance. We have found ways to make them partially from recycled carpet without compromising performance, and you will see our green flex fins coming standard on many boards later this year.

CA (True Ames): Our fins have evolved in so many ways. Design, technology and experience are the drivers of evolution. Our mission from the beginning (1979) was to build a better fin. By working with the best people,

Ben Blanchard

“Fraggle,� perched with soul on his single fin log.

Fin designs.

we have delivered the best fins. Way too many names to give credit here.

I must say the Central Coast has been a hot bed of evolution, no lack of talent around here.

JJ (Future Fins): The Solus is a really good example of learning from the different things we have tried over the years. The Solus’ 3D shape and refined construction build on what we learned from the V2 and Scimitar as well as what we have learned from the materials that we used over the years. The result is a balanced fin that is capable of producing a lot of drive along with a flex that is vibrant and lively. We have the ability to dream up a fin, shape it and produce a prototype to surf all in a matter of hours under one roof in Huntington Beach. With this ability, it gives us the freedom to do a lot of designs, some bad and some good, so that we can constantly evolve our designs.

Deep: What is the future of fins? Your fins?

TC (FCS): It’s hard to predict what the next big performance breakthrough will be. Certainly using more and more space-age materials allows us to engineer fins that perform better.

CA (True Ames): Lately we have been involved with kite racing in the San Francisco Bay and have made some spectacular advances through fin design. I like to make fins that travel at higher speeds. All of the elements of design are more critical.

JJ (Future Fins): We have been developing better and better ways of quantifying flex and designing ways to take advantage of flex. Another key is determining how the foils of the fin work while the fin flexes and twists. I am confident that the future of fins is headed right where Futures is pointed.

jpfost

21 7$3 ,VODQG %ORQGH ,VODQG 3DOH $OH -XELOHH $OH 3DUDGLVH 3DOH $OH %HOJLDQ $PEHU $QQLYHUVDU\ $OH 7URSLFDO /DJHU %ODFN 0DPED %ODFNELUG 3RUWHU 1(: $YRFDGR +RQH\ $OH

2SHQ SP :HHNGD\V DP :HHNHQGV ‡ /,1'(1 $9( DW 55 7UDFNV ‡

:\O`OX^SYX S] 3WZY\^KX^

:<9>/-> C9?< 297/ +8. :<9:/<>C ASVNVKXN :\YZO\^c +]]O]]WOX^ 0S\O :\Y^OM^SYX 1OV] 0YKW] :KSX^] 0S\O :_WZ] 2Y]O] 8YddVO] 0S\O =_ZZ\O]]SYX =c]^OW] 0S\O =Z\SXUVO\] /b^SXQ_S]RO\] 5S^MROX 2YYN =c]^OW] CY_\ 0S\O :\Y^OM^SYX -YXXOM^SYX ]SXMO #!"Â&#x20AC; " " " ĂŁ -K\ZSX^O\SK -+ w w w.deepzine.com

45

Photo Essay

Every Waking Moment

Frankie Soares getting a better view of the scenery.

Jeff Pfost There’s a growing contingent of surf photographers firing frames along the Central Coast, Chris Burkard, Andy Bowlin and Ira (this issue’s cover) to name a few. With only two-and-a-half years of experience in surf photography, Jeff Pfost is quickly making a name for himself in the frosty waters of SLO County.

“I always dabbled in photography off and on growing up, but seriously got into it when I bought

46

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

my first DSLR when my son was born five years ago,” said Pfost. “That naturally grew into combining two of my passions: surfing and photography.”

Currently working with a Canon 7D, a SPL waterhousing and an assortment of lenses ranging from 24mm to 400mm, Pfost’s equipment has matured along with his talent.

I asked Pfost what makes the Central Coast such a great place to shoot. “It’s the location which offers relatively uncrowded surf spots,” he said. “Another is the quality of talent. It’s amazing to see how fast surfing is progressing these days.”

Pfost’s day job is as a licensed engineering geologist, and he spends much of his free time shooting.

His wife and three kids fully understanding his love for surfing and documenting the Central Coast wave riding scene. Juggling work, family and surf photography can be a challenge, but Pfost admits the most challenging aspect of the Central Coast involves its surfing culture.

“It’s finding a balance between showing off the quality of waves and the beauty of the area,” he said, “while still respecting the surf spots and the locals.”

To see more of Pfost’s work go to – Chuck Graham www.jeffpfostphoto.com.

Casey Whitaker throwing the fins out.

Christian Ramirez finding another ramp.

The anticipation of another paddle out.

Photo Essay

Jonah Pierce enjoying the view on the Golden Coast.

Just another day on the Central Coast.

48

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

Matt Gallagher showing off his many talents.

A view through the pier.

Sometimes the journey to the waves can be half the fun.

Micah Nelson throws it off the top in Pismo.

From left: A curvaceous, stringerless Cooperfish Flex Pig, at the end of its production. / ‘50s-style D-fin detail.

The Flex Pig’s engine, up close. / Gene Cooper shapes the Black Board Pig prototype as Mike Black looks on.

Cooperfish F lex Interview and Photos by Ryan A. Smith DEEP: You became well-known a decade ago for abstract color work and shaping various models.

Gene Cooperfish: I had maybe 12 models, four and five of them were pretty popular. I didn’t start Cooperfish until 1990, and that label was just to only do old-style stuff and really stick to it. The color kind of came in around ‘92. I started doing the abstract stuff because the only place you ever saw it was on the old boards.

DEEP: Now, abstract color work is prevalent in the industry, saturated even.

GC: The way I’ve always been is, if everyone’s doing it, then I don’t want to do it. I want to do something different. It’s hard to be different nowadays.

But I just lose my taste when something gets really popular.

DEEP: So now you are focusing on a few models and doing no colors?

GC: I’ve gone back to basics. I grew up riding clear, fine-sanded boards, Liddles, a lot of hulls, longboards, stuff that wasn’t flashy. Personally, although I had a few flashy boards, and I would make them, I usually had a clear one or something very simple. It’s what I like. I’ve gone full circle on that.

DEEP: You’ve taken board designs from your youth and put your future focus there?

GC: I make the (stringerless) Flex Pig, a late-‘50s Pig design. That particular model, I don’t really want to have an updated version of it. I don’t want to put a concave in it and put tail rocker and do all the stuff to it; I want to make it pretty true to the era. I grew up surfing on those. It’s a legitimate design with a great feeling.

DEEP: You’ve been very integral in that design resurgence.

GC: Yes and no. When I started making the Black Board (for Mike Black), there were a lot of new Pigs floating around, so it’s not like I brought them back in any way; but what I did do, I think, is plug into the original design a little more and, in my case, brought back a feeling that was pretty much lost.

If you use new materials on that style of board, it’s kind of corky, so I was looking for something that rode like an old balsa board and had that springy feeling and felt alive. So I played around with some really heavy foam and old-school glass jobs that are light, and I came up with the Flex Pig. DEEP: How did you find the right stringerless blank?

GC: I had an old Velzy/Jacobs balsa Pig, and it had a certain feeling. I was in Fiberglass Hawaii looking at their tow (board) foam and a lightbulb came on.

I thought, ‘Shoot, this is kind of the same density, and how about no stringer so it flexes. Maybe it will be strong enough to make a longboard?’ So I used that and went with a double, six-ounce flat weave, like the Liddles are glassed with, and Isophtalic resin, which I’ve used a lot. Iso is just super strong stuff; it’s ugly as can be and a pain to work with, but I know it’s strong.

DEEP: So at that point, was anyone making 10-foot tow-in board blanks?

GC: No! (Laughs.) I went with my hat in my hand to U.S. Blanks asking for them to make that for me. The first Flex Pig we made was out of an 11’3” blank, to make a 9’7” board, because I didn’t want to bend it and then shape it and then bend it back. I didn’t want to ever bend it; I wanted it natural, because I believe if you bend it when you glass it, then it will want to find

2MORROSURF.COM

The way I’ve always been is, if everyone’s doing it, then I don’t want to do it. I want to do something different. its old rocker again at some point. To keep it true, I had to take my rocker out of a longer blank in the middle of it.

DEEP: Have Flex Pigs changed much since the prototype?

GC: Well, I went down to a 10’8” blank. I make those pigs up to 9’7”. I think if I make it too big, it’ll be a big, heavy boat. I want them to be kind of nimble. A pig, originally, was a performance board of the 1950s. They came off Malibu Chips with the real straight back, and when Velzy put the hip back there it was like, ‘Hey, here’s a performance board.’ And if you saw the old ones surf, there were some guys that were really performing. They were the hot-dog boards. The Flex Pigs should be sort of like big, clunky racecars!

(Laughs.)

DEEP: The Cooperfish Flex Pig is less than two-years-old.

GC: I made the first one in December of ‘09. People are riding them and getting hooked. I’ve found that the Flex Pig is like a day off, it’s just a lot of fun.

model. Melissa Catalli

photo. Neil St. John

2MORROSURF.COM

DEEP: Working on the Flex Pig seems to have lent itself to adding flex into some of your other designs.

GC: Yes, I want to see what happens. It’s kind of in process now. Now, I’m working with my Malibu foil with these materials, making a flex foil, but we have to test it. We just finished the first one and it looks really good. And another guy wants a noserider fex, after he really liked his Flex Pig. And I’m a little bit reluctant about the noserider part because you have the flex with the concave and have a dynamic there that may be too much slow down.

Or it may just be insane and super fun.

SANTA BARBARA SURFER 6DQWD %DUEDUD¶V 3UHPLHU /RFDO 6XU¿QJ :HEVLWH

DEEP: You grew up riding Liddle hulls and now make the Speed Hull.

GC: I didn’t want to make hulls. People were bugging me for hulls. I made the Comet back in the ‘90s, which was a mini-log. And people wanted it to be hull, which was really funny ‘cause you can see that it was not. That was one of my most successful models, but people wanted it to be a hull, and it wasn’t. I didn’t want to make hulls. Liddle makes hulls, I feel he is ‘The Man.’ I didn’t want to get into his territory at all. I’d just buy one from him. I was playing with guns, and old-style guns are basically hulls. We made the C2 Gun, which had a certain configuration with concave in the back and a little bevel, hard edge in the tail, and I started making the C2s into hulls, where it’s short and had more of a hull template. They worked really well because they could handle waves, bigger waves than a conventional hull.

GC: Not yet, but I think I am just going to take my rocker off and start playing with that a little bit. I’m going to drop the glassing schedule. It’s going to be weightier than you’re used to on those boards, but it could be a cool little board that is half alaia half hull, something that gets down in the water and just does some crazy stuff, gets on the rail. It’s something I have to try.

Cooperfish Surfboards can be reached at (805) 216-8232 or visit www. cooperfishsurfboards.com.

Jon Shafer

DEEP: Have you been playing with Speed Hull flex?

www.SantaBarbaraSurfer.com w w w.deepzine.com

51

Northern exposure

Shaping With Shea Somma Column by

Dan Hamlin

I

’ve always been inspired by people who don’t let societal norms dictate their thought process. Shea Somma is one of those people.

Despite the fact that the majority of surfers ride roughly the same designs made by the same shapers (including myself), Somma has veered away from the status quo and ventured into the do-it-yourself realm of board building.

Though he’s been surfing since he was young, shaping is a more recent endeavor for Somma. But the appeal for Somma goes beyond simply making boards to surf. “Shaping always had allure for me,” said Somma. “I think it has to do with the way my generation was brought up. We’ve always been able to purchase whatever we want or need. I grew tired with this way of doing things and became very interested in skill sets that involved a great deal of effort for little return outside of my own personal satisfaction. There is something extremely rewarding to me when you can put not just money, but hours and hours of time and concentration and effort into a project, and after much work, reach the end and embrace that piece of your work, in-

Serving the Greater Santa Barbara Area Since 1993

T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Juniors Next Day Service Available

(805) 637-9993 • www.STPCarp.com AFTER SCHOOL SURF LESSONS & COMPETITION SKILLS, COACHING! $25 for 1 hour group lessons $50 for private lessons Schedule lessons between 4-7p Monday - Friday

(805) 312-0713

jblongboard@yahoo.com

www.venturasurfcamp.com 52

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

cluding all of its flaws and imperfections.”

Somma’s shop is evidence of his ethos.

Shea Somma He has basically mowing foam. hand-built everything in it, from the vacuum system to the racks; he even makes his own templates as well as his own fins. He finds enjoyment not only in riding waves, but in the entire process that makes the act possible. “One of the best parts about it (shaping) is that no matter how poorly a board turns out, you can still ride waves on it. When I was buying boards, if I had a bad session I would often write off the board and say to myself ‘Oh that board is crap,’ and then I’d be on the lookout for something new.

“When I ride one of my own boards I am much more motivated to figure out all the nuances and quirks of the board. Ultimately, getting a really good session on equipment I have built is just a much more involved, deeply satisfying experience for me. There has been so much build-up and forethought that has occurred; from designing the board, to building it, to glassing it and making the fins. By the time you actually get to the water, you already have a relationship with the board and you go into that first session with an open-mind as to what the board actually has to offer.”

This attitude of Somma’s is refreshing. With such a high demand placed on performance these days, the simple joys that originally attracted Duke and the rest of our wave-riding ancestors to surfing are often lost in today’s lineups. Whether he’s riding a longboard, shortboard, single fin, paipo, or whatever else he decides to build, one thing is very evident when surfing with Somma—he really appreciates what he’s doing. And he’s eager to pass this along.

I asked him what advice he would give someone who is trying to shape their first board and he said, “Just go out there and do it! The worst case scenario is that you build a board that doesn’t work that great, but you gain a great appreciation for all that goes into making one. Whatever board you’re shaping, just go into it with a vision of what you want to make and do your best, but don’t expect perfection. It’s the process itself that is super rewarding and enjoyable.”

To follow Somma and his creative endeavors visit him on the web at www.sommaspecialdesigns.blogspot.com.

photos: Josh sparrow

Dan Hamlin was born and raised on the Central Coast. Having traveled extensively, he’s come to cherish his home coastline and the places of solitude it holds.

Green Room

The Air Out There Column by

Kara Petersen

A graduate of UCSB, Petersen is a regular contributor to DEEP Surf Magazine and has written for Coastal View News and Santa Barbara Magazine.

photos :ChuCk Graham

T

he blue ocean waters aren’t the only thing in our channel that needs protection. The blue skies above those waters are just as important to the balance of our local environment. In fact, the largest portion of air pollution in Santa Barbara County, 41 percent, comes from emissions of vessels traveling the shipping lanes through our channel.

In addition to these vessels, oil and gas drilling and processing contribute another large chunk of our air pollution, the majority of it coming from offshore drilling. Of the pollution from stationary sources, oil and gas development, both on and offshore, is the largest contributor.

In the last week of June, as the summer heated up, the United States House of Representatives passed bill HR2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act. The bill, originally intended to address oil-drilling issues in Alaska, could have dangerous consequences for our coast.

Since 1990, when an amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1970 created local Air Pollution Control Districts, the air quality in the county has dramatically improved; long gone are the days of orange ozone nestling up against the horizon. Ozone, better known as smog, is a combination of nitrogen oxides—the byproducts of combustion and reactive organic compounds also know as hydrocarbons. In the heat and the sun, the chemicals turn the air orange. Until the APCD began to monitor local pollution, smog was responsible for giving Santa Barbara County sunsets an apocalyptical hue.

“We are very concerned about any change to our authority to regulate emissions,” said Terry Dressler, Air Pollution Control Officer for the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District. The SBCAPCD is one of 35 districts in California created by the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act with authority to monitor and regulate local air quality.

The SBCAPCD is responsible for regulating all stationary pollution sources in the county. This includes mines, oil and gas production, and smaller sources like gas stations and dry cleaners. Included under the agency’s jurisdiction are the offshore oil platforms and the service vessels that carry crews and supplies to and from shore.

These vessels produce 130 tons of nitrogen oxide each year. The EPA considers any source that creates over 100 tons a major source of pollution. In Santa Barbara County we have 16 offshore platforms and five onshore processing plants. Of the eight largest pollution sources in the county, four are offshore oil development, three are onshore oil development and one is a mine.

Before 1990, there was no local authority to regulate air quality, that task was left to the federal government. Now, local air quality regulations often go beyond the federal requirements due to the unique nature of local pollution from oil and gas development and production on our coast.

If HR2021 is passed into law, the SBCAPCD will lose the power to regulate the emissions from service vessels traveling between shore and the 16 offshore oil platforms. This

Skirting by Gina from the Channel Islands to the mainland.

Chumash tomol dodging cargo ships in the channel.

accounts for 25 percent of the total emissions from the platforms.

Congresswoman Lois Capps vehemently opposes the bill. Her amendment to the bill was defeated 180-242. In a press release, she stated, “The so-called Jobs and Energy Permitting Act is a real disaster for California’s air quality. We know the passage of this legislation will take away the ability of our state and local air district to continue implementing common sense rules governing the amount of pollution arising from offshore drilling. This will result in dirtier air and increased hazards to the well-being of our community.”

Because the bill is designed to change the permitting process for offshore platforms in Alaska, it will also change the process for the local offshore platforms on the Central and South Coast. While this bill was introduced to address a very specific

issue in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, it will also affect 20 coastal states nationwide, including California. If the bill passes, it will effectively undermine the last 20 years of air quality improvments in our county.

Dresser said that even though the local air district does not yet have authority to regulate the vessels that travel through our channel and contribute the largest amount of pollution to our air, his office has the influence to lobby for change.

They are working for new fuel rules and a vessel speed reduction rule.

“If these vessels reduce their speed from 25 to 12 knots, it will cause a 60 percent reduction in air pollution,” said Dressler.

Conservationists have fought long and hard to prevent dumping that will drain into our ocean waters. The same must be done to prevent polluting emissions from being pumped into the air, too.

w w w.DEEPZINE.coM

53

Music & Entertainment

Columns by

L. Paul Mann

L. Paul Mann has been a pro surfing photographer since having his first photo published in Surfing 1975. A Brooks Graduate, he has had images appear in over 500 publications, worldwide, including nearly every major surfing magazine in the world.

Vans Warped Tour

Day at the Beach at Ventura Seaside Park

O

n the beautiful Sunday of this summer’s Fourth of July weekend, the rock and roll circus that is Vans Warped Tour, rolled into the Ventura Seaside Park. Paired with the packed local beaches, the concert contributed to a chronic parking shortage throughout the city. Latecomers scrambled to find parking miles from the venue. That didn’t deter a record crowd of young music fans from finding their way into the fairgrounds.

After enduring a week of touring in the relentless summer heat of California’s inland cities, the 1,000 plus army of musicians and support staff on the Warped Tour relished the cool sea breezes and the relatively cool summer day that just reached the low 80s in late afternoon. In fact, some of them borrowed surfboards and took advantage of a rare winter-like west swell sending head-high waves across Surfers Point, located directly in front of the venue.

The army of young music fans focused their attention on the seven stages and their nearly 10 hours of non-stop music. The festival, which is traveling the country in its 16th year, has long been a rite of passage for scantily clad young music fans. In fact for many young teens, the Warped Tour is their first foray into the world of live music concerts. The low ticket prices combined with a line up of aggressive new music stars, lots

of corporate giveaways, and a chance to meet and greet many of their favorite artists, is an irresistible recipe for young music lovers.

Taking axdvantage of the warm summer day, the young Californians bared most of their bronzed skin in a creative array of skimpy beach attire that should make the cutting edge fashion moguls take heed. The young fans crammed to the front of the stages for their favorite performers and were packed in a sweaty sea of red smiling faces.

Crowd surfing, which is banned at most every other live event, created a non-stop wave of bodies moving towards the main stages, like a sea of rag dolls. Looked on as another rite of passage the risky activity has become a sort of extreme sport. With the event taking place mostly on asphalt, there were more than a few bruises and bumps caused by the occasional dropped crowd surfer.

But for the most part, fans enjoyed a euphoric exposure to one of the most diverse lineups of music that the festival has ever presented. The Warped Tour may not be every music fan’s cup of tea, but as long as there is a new generation of young American music fans, there will be a need for this frenzied fan free for all.

Check out our website, www.deepzine.com, to read band reviews.

From left: Eminem setting the crowd on fire. / Raging at Bonnaroo. / Bootsy Collins doing his thang.

Bonnaroo X Recap The Agony and The Ecstasy

T

he 10th annual Bonnaroo Music Festival is now in the history books after presenting one of the most ambitious musical lineups ever attempted. Most of the 85,000 in the sold out crowd—plus tens of thousands of support crew and musicians—seemed to have a love/hate relationship with this year’s festival.

As Charles Dickens once eloquently said, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

On one hand, the phenomenal music lineup on multiple stages provided a unique opportunity to see one of the most diverse and rare mash ups of musical talent ever assembled in one location. An endless variety of added activities, a vast array of affordable cuisine and alcoholic beverages and a virtual water park also were winning elements in the four-day mega festival.

But oppressive weather— withering heat, no rain, large dust clouds—plus long lines for portable toilets and showers, and other logistical problems related to overcrowding created conditions similar to a refugee camp.

Some of the highlights included a late night set by Dr. John, with Allen Toussaint and the original Meters playing together for the first time in 40 years. A massive show

by Eminem was the highlight for many people, but headline sets by Widespread Panic, Arcade Fire, and a reunited Buffalo Springfield were also top draws.

But what makes Bonnaroo unique is impromptu moments like a hoedown in the beer tent at 3:30 a.m.

Random musicians taught festivalgoers how to square dance.

Bonnaroo will not be forgotten.

Again.

From left: Crowd surfing. Lee Ving of Fear. / DEEP interviewee Scott Russo of Unwritten Law.

54

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

The Shack Doug Roth Surfboards

Healthy! Yummy! Refreshing!

50% OFF

Available at Surf Country

YOGURT

Buy 1 Yogurt, Get the 2nd of equal or lesser value 50% off

www.uyogurt.com

Hand Shaped

Email: DougRothSurfboards@cox.net

Low Calories • Non-Fat Open Daily, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Fri. & Sat., 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

(805) 644-2020

SELF SERVE GOURMET FROZEN YOGURT

5722 Telephone Road, Ventura Corner of Telephone & Ventura • Vons Shopping Center

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Gy & No Gy) Kickboxing Classes • MMA Classes Men, Women & Kids Classes

SPECIAL: 1 Month FREE 805.850.8801 • www.ParagonBJJ.com Ventura | Santa Barbara | San Luis Obispo

Santa Barbara Beer Festival

Saturday, October 15 Noon-4 pm at Elings Park

Over 25 Brewers in 2010 Tickets available at

www.SBBeerFestival.com Tickets also available at Elings Park, Telegraph Brewery & Island Brewing Co. Free Bill’s bus rides to & from Downtown. 21 and older only.

$2 OFF

ANY PIZZA! ANY SIZE!

NOW SERVING Spaghetti • Antipasta Calzones • Hot Sandwiches Pastas • Fresh Beer on Tap

3 CENTRAL COAST LOCATIONS Carpinteria: 5003 Carpinteria Ave. , 684-8288 Montecito: 1187 Coast Village Rd. #3C, 969-1277 Ventura: 1780 S. Victoria Ave. #D, 650-6080 FREE LOCAL DELIVERY

Visit our tasting room 355 Pomeroy ave.

(805) 295-6200 • www.PismoBrew.com 6 rotating beers on tap daily

UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS! Wendy Liebman, Sept. 16 & 17 As scene on Comedy Central

Doug Benson, Sept. 28

From the movie “Super High Me”

Comedy Shows EVERY Wed. - Sun.

In the Ventura Harbor Call (805) 644-1500 for reservations www.VenturaHarborComedyClub.com

JIM MARTIN

Final Frame I

Keith Malloy going deep in Ventura.

56

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

SUBMIT VIDEOS BY FEBRUARY 22, 2012

FOR RULES & APPLICATION VISIT

SundanceBeach.com

Final Frame II

CHRIS BURKARD

Just another Caribbean mirage.

58

DEEP SURF MAGAZINE September / October 2011

Genelle Ives in Sri Lanka

24 East Mason Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 / 805-845-5606 / www.bluelinepaddlesurf.com

Photo - Jim Brewer

See the video from Sri Lanka...