My Surfing Equipment

Here is a chronological list of the surfing equipment I have evolved on over the years.

1963 - 9'1" Greg Noll (with full resin pigment job added by Yount)
- A Pig. It took me straight to the bottom for six months. I sold it.
- I also got a Neptune "beavertail" wetsuit.
1964 - 9'6" O'Neill
- New stock board "off the shelf" for $115. Learned to catch waves and turn on this board. Traded it in.
- Also went to an O'Neill wetsuit "vest" in the winter. It zipped up the front and had no sleeves. We just wore trunks below the waist.
1965 - 9'6" Surfboard's Hawaii Noserider
- Bought it from Tom Hoye's shop at 26th Ave. Learned a lot about noseriding. Exchanged for next board.
1966 - 10' Greek Eliminator
- "Valley Joe" recruited me and a couple of other Rio rats. This was an awesome board. I started discovering my enjoyment in a "power" style as exemplified by Barry "K". Glass job sucked though. Traded it in for a new board when all the stress fractures on the bottom began to look like a washboard.
- Got my first car, "Campwagon". A '53 forest green Dodge stationwagon with a big chrome ram head on the hood. The only customizing I did was to add a chrome "hang-ten" foot for the gas pedal. Got 8-10 surfers and their boards in it on several occassions for the run to the point after school. It was a good thing my neighbor liked working on that car since I blew the head gasket about every 4 months.
1967 - 10' Takayama Noserider
- Still surfed for Joe. Good high performance board. Much lighter and thinner. Pigmented the rails to cover up damage and sold.
- Got a "Farmer John" wetsuit.
1968 - 7'10" Tom Hoye
- Prototype I bought from Tom. Good Board. Discovered my style was much more compatable with shortboarding. Got stolen at Lahaina Harbor when I stayed on Maui.
- 7'8" "Rio Love You" (My own shape)
  - Stripped an old longboard while on Maui and made my own. Pintail with two inch balsa stringer. Sold to a friend who owned a surf shop after I returned to S.C.
- Full leg "Farmer Johns" became the regular attire. Still no sleeves though. Added sleeves later.
1969 - 7'10" "Pickle" (My own shape)
- Mini-Longboard design (full nose). Worked pretty good, but it was really ugly! Sold to a family friend.
- Got a Volkswagon Squareback which got a lot of miles on trips including Baja, Mainland Mexico, and Oregon/Washington.
1970 - 7'2" Mark Angel
- Angel and I collaborated on this. It was my first really sophisticated "modern" shortboard. Kept it for a really long time and eventually sold to some kid who wanted to learn.
- Full suits were happening.
1972 - 6'10" Rick Stiff (Friend)
- Rick and I collaborated but he did most of the work. Because it was pretty thick it floated me for a long time. My sessions were not as frequent because I was working and raising a family. Taught a lot of people to surf on this board, and finally sold it to a kid this fall.
- Broke down, installed a leash plug and used a leash occassionally. Eventually I just left it on.
- Got a Toyota LandCruiser and took it onto the sand on the bay a few times, till we started getting hefty fines.
- Finally gave in and bought booties for the winters.
1988 - 9' GW (Glen Whitehurst using Takayama Noserider template)
- Returning to my roots. This was a single fin and a good noserider. Glen owned the little store at Leo Carillo State Campground and sold his boards out of there. Got the best performances out of this board at Secos. Got hit by a train at trestles. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put it together again.
- Experimented with fins and discovered that shorter "cut-away" fins were a major breakthrough in keeping the board loose. Had to keep it just long enough to keep the tail from sliding when on the nose though.
- Bought a canvas boardbag. It protected the board from minor dings, and helped a lot on those long hikes to Trestles etc.
- Got my present Ford Aerostar "Wavemobile". It's seen some miles too!
1991 - 9' Stewart
- Very good high performance tri-fin longboard. Got the most pleasure out of this board when I surfed Trestles. It was a great high speed down-the-line performance board. Finboxes and tail section began to fall apart and finally sold to an old friend who really wanted a Stewart.
- The new removable side fins added a lot of versatility to the fin setup.
1993 - 9'2" Donald Takayama Noserider (thin, round pintail, tri-fin, with concave nose)
- Bought this board used from a guy who lived at Pt. Dume. Really fun versatile board. Good noserider. It's a keeper, I still have this one.
1996 - 9'6" Doug Haut (custom high performance square tail, tri-fin, step-deck, with a slight concave in the nose)
- Doug shaped this board for me last year. It's been a long time since I collaborated with a shaper. Pretty much let Doug do his thing after we talked a while. This is a very progressive board and I am still exploring its subtleties. I'm absolutely convinced that Doug is one of the best shapers in the business.
- Bought a hood for those really cold windy winter days.
1997 - Lost the hood.
- Pulled out the two side fins, and installed a single Wingnut cutaway fin that is fairly long but thin. I have found that this setup works really well until I get onto surf that is overhead and bigger. I have found that too small a fin on small slow days makes for a loose-turning board, but also a relatively unstable (tippy) board at slower speeds that sideslips too easily when walking the nose. The longer fin stabilizes these effects pretty well without sacrificing the loose turns.
1999 - Bought a used 10'0" Haut. Way too big and awkward to ride. Sold it the same year.
2000 - Bought a 9'6" Epoxy Single fin Takayama "Model T". Great paddler and noserider but a bit too bouyant for big bottom turns or buried rails.
2001 - Having the Old Haut repaired. It had some serious delam problems on the deck last year.

Return to da hulk's Surfpage.

Maintained by da hulk.

Last modified on 10/3/01.