Weren’t
you shaping in Jersey at one point?
I spent part of the summer of 1980 in Seaside Heights shaping
for Greg "Grog" Mesanko (Grog’s Surf Palace)
and had a great time. All the carny (carnival) stuff down
on the boardwalk was fun to see each day, sort of like out
of a movie. I went up to NYC a few times to see concerts in
small clubs, some Yankee games and Santana on the pier. We
did about 40 custom orders in one month, each board for a
different character from New York, New Jersey, Maryland or
Maine. Getting them custom glassed was also fun; Grog had
his friend Ritchie do a few and we took some down to Dan Heritage
in Maryland before he passed away. Grog thought it’d
only take me two weeks to do 50 but the fun in shaping is
in trying to get them as good as possible, not do them as
fast as possible and there were lots of other things to do
while there.
Grog was an excellent businessman and I found him to be a
pretty funny, good guy. It was strange because we really didn't
know each other and all of a sudden we were living together
in his small apartment for a month. His girlfriend came over
one night and got up on the hood of his nice, new Saab in
her high heels and trashed it in a rage. Discovering it was
surreal; Grog and I were in shock for a while.
While I was there, Nat Young showed up to show his movie Fall
Line and shape a few boards. He made us surf 1 ft. slop and
he ripped it. He was so stoked you would’ve thought
it were 6 ft and perfect.
Speaking of Nat, do you remember doing a board that
wound up with Dr. Mark Renneker?
I read that article with Jeff Clark, hmm pretty interesting.
The 9’6" that Tom Curren apparently rode at Maverick’s
was originally ordered as a maneuverable Sunset board by Nat,
who usually shaped his own. 9'6" and maneuverable hardly
belonged in the same sentence but since he wanted width and
is a big guy, it was worth a try. When I was shaping the board,
Nat got really frustrated with me because I wouldn't just
pump it out. My block plane blades had gotten dull and the
stringer was really tough on the bottom so I didn't want to
keep going and make a bump where the stringer changed grains.
He couldn't believe I would stop there for a few days to take
my planes into Honolulu to have them sharpened. It was funny
because I kept asking him to give it a little time so I could
try to give him something good and he couldn't imagine it.
Then he left Hawaii on an impulse and never got it. I don't
think I saw him again until Grog's. It kind of made me wish
I had done what he wanted and rushed it out lumpy. It later
wound up in the Bolt shop on Kapiolani. Jack (Shipley) was
so stoked to get such a big gun in the shop. The late Otis
Chandler, then owner of the LA Times, somehow got wind of
it and right away it was gone.
I guess that is how Dr. Renekker got it. The board was like
21" wide and 3 3/8" thick or something, which would
be the bigger problem for a slender guy like Curren. That
kind of width and thickness together with the speed and power
of a big thick wave and a light rider would produce too much
drag as the board gains speed no matter what fin is on it.
I think they call that terminal velocity. A bigger guy can
significantly change the equation but it would never have
been the right board for TC.
Will Allison was talking about a thruster he found
in Hawaii that was originally shaped for Tommy Curren. Do
you remember that board?
Yeah, another "never got his board" story. Derek
Hynd was here visiting one time and mentioned that Tom didn't
have any good boards for Hawaii, and I said something like
‘let me give it a try’ and made him a 7'0"
and a 7'10". This was when they were both with Rip Curl.
I thought Derek would pick them up next time by and give them
to Tommy but Derek left Rip Curl and TC was on his way out
too. Not sure if TC ever even knew about them, probably not.
I rode the big one for a year or so and then put it in the
Maui Bolt shop. It was such a loose board, really neutral
between the turn and cutback with that ball bearing feeling.
A little thin for me but back then I could ride it. One day
Will comes paddling up on it and asked me if I knew its history.
He rode it real well that winter. Will is real good at using
the whole board, turning from the tail sometimes carrying
the momentum into a forward trim depending on the section.
Lots of guys are good off the tail now but it’s as if
the nose doesn’t exist. What is that saying, "old
style or no style?" We measured it all over, a bunch
of 7'10"s have been modeled off of that board.
 Speaking
of Derek Hynd, There’s an interview with him in the
Surfer’s Journal (Volume 11 Number 1, 2002) where he
mentions a remark that Terry Fitzgerald made about your boards
being "too forgiving." Do you know it?
Don't know Fitz and hadn't heard that comment. Know Derek
pretty well, he's been supportive for a long time. Not offended
by Fitz’s statement. In a way there is some truth to
that. And if you put it that way, I guess the straighter,
hard railed boards seemed kind of unforgiving and one dimensional
to me. Fast and....well ... fast. It amazed me how they could
ride them so well without digging rail. Reno’s and Gerry’s
were like that too: Low rockers, hard rails, really fast,
lots of momentum and beautifully crafted. And yet their guru
Brewer put lots of forgiveness into his boards. The curvier
nose and tail rockers gave more relief to begin with and Brewer
often put contour in the nose on the bottom, which transitioned
to flat before and around center and then into a pocket of
straighter rocker right in front of the fin. Around that time
Brewer also started digging out the rocker on the deck to
coordinate better with his bottom rockers while everyone else
was still leaving the deck rocker real straight or with that
ugly slight camel hump. This evolution freed up his boards
even more. Brewer’s design had it all, speed and looseness,
just real all-around boards. Fitz’s upbringing may have
been in cleaner conditions where you could use more edge and
needed less absorption. One thing for sure, his brilliant
surfing was great testament to his boards’ performance.
Personal preference is a good thing.
Derek Hynd elaborates on Fitzy’s ‘too forgiving’
remark:
Derek Hynd: The Fitzy 'too forgiving'
statement, originally struck me like a thunderbolt. How could
a shaper's equipment built for the heaviest situations be
deemed too forgiving? I mean, there can never be anything
too forgiving about not having to face massive hold- downs,
right?
Terry's boards though, upon reflection, were an extension
of his personality. As with Tom Parrish and his prime period
designs, TF would smash through a brick wall, if not the first
time, then the third, fifth, eighth, as long as it took. I
was TF's protégé I guess and ran the same lines
in many ways. TF's whole thing was Speed Thrills, and the
razor edge added pure wildness to the surfing experience.
Catch an edge, pay the price...so learn how not to catch an
edge. Amaze yourself.
I rode an old 8'8" Parrish single in the Litmus video.
Its hold and controlled drift in intense situations stunned
me. Immediately I reflected upon TF's Too Forgiving theory
back in the mid-late 70's. At 8ft JBay I reckon I got two
of the best three barrels I've ever; and they were on that
Parrish...20 years old but as fresh as a daisy. Learning to
break the fin out on the bottom turn with the lip firing over,
so as to do a controlled drifting stall, was one of the surfing
moments of my life...I mean, knowing that the fin would regain
its hold as the lip passed overhead then rocket me to the
light - I've never had a freakier thrill. And it comes back
to the super forgiveness. Tom's comments about TF and the
edge crew are succinct. Indeed, one would expect nothing less
from such a man.
Interesting comments on Brewer's board design. What
was your relationship with him like?
Brewer and I never had much of any relationship and I don't
really blame him. The first time we met I was sharing a room
in the shop above Kam Highway on Hakuola Road near Ke Iki.
Lots of good guys were in there; Brewer, Jim Turner and Don
Koplien shaped upstairs, and Danny Calohan had the room downstairs
which he, Sammy Hawk, Owl and I shared. Dave Garner glassed
upstairs, and I think Jock Sutherland and Gary Chapman lived
in the house on the property.
Lots of Brewer followers were always around trying to get
boards and Brewer was mentoring Sammy and Owl while Danny
Calohan was helping me learn. One day I went up to work and
I think either Owl or Sammy was working in our room so they
said just go work in Brewer's room. I was afraid to do it
but went ahead after being assured it would be ok. Of course
Brewer showed up and he was enraged that someone was in his
room. He didn't want any explanation or apology, just get
out now. Shaping rooms are kind of personal and even though
I hadn't ripped any templates or touched his stuff, it was
not good.
Our next encounter was just about as good. As the rookie of
that shop I was in charge of the trash and back then we would
burn the foam rails in a big steel ring. The first time I
did a burn, it got going a little too much and the fire guys
came rumbling up the dirt road after seeing the smoke. Brewer
was in his room working and luckily so because he knew all
the firemen. They were cool and didn't make a thing out of
it but after they left, another lashing from Brewer about
me having exposed the shop to possible closure. I learned
fast from then on and years later when I got better at shaping
he was distantly cordial. Not many people know this but the
years when I got a lot of notice were right after his son
had died in a car crash Brewer had while driving on Maui.
Before that Brewer was so far ahead, nobody was even close.
And although I became very, very busy over the next couple
of years, I couldn't help feel that without his son's passing
I might not have been in that position and Brewer would have
gotten the credit for those years.
Lately I have heard some positive comments he has made about
my boards, which is nice. His contributions are still more
than all the considerable credit he has received. Brewer's
design sense is so multi-dimensional and his willingness to
be extreme with designs to really try them marked a style
all his own. Strangely he didn't seem to like finishing them
very well. He would get the fundamentals in better and more
radical than anyone but in a rough kind of way. If I added
anything to that period it was perhaps by interpreting the
middle ground of his experimentation and by taking the time
to get them a little more refined in the finish.
How would you describe your own boards, back then
and now?
It’s
kind of hard to talk about your own work, feels like blowing
your own horn. I Guess what I have always tried to do is make
the board as good as I can without regard to how long it takes
or how much I make off of it. Try not to feel any compulsion
to finish it at the end of a session, because there is always
another session and my eye is fresher at the beginning of
a session. So I keep coming back to them and finding little
things to make them more custom or fit what the person wants.
That approach was true then, and the same now. There are so
many designs now, it’s really amazing. People are riding
a wider range of designs than ever before and thankfully the
fin systems are continuing to evolve.
 Charlie
Smith has been letting me share his room so we work together
a lot on design and ways to improve the process. We collaborate
on some shapes, which is something that really interests me.
I tried that once with Reno and we did a board by each working
on it for about 15 minutes. Each person was free to change
what the other had done in their 15 minutes. The board came
out so unique and it showed me that this method allowed something
different to come about. Instead of using the computer which
ends up making the boards look all the same or the pop outs
which are all exactly the same, when Charlie and I both work
on one board they come out with something extra distinctive.
Charlie is a great surfer and shaper so between the 2 of us
I think we have come up with boards that are better than I
would be able to do on my own.
Do you listen to music when shaping?
Shaping to music is the only way, it helps inspire. Usually
I listen to something pretty up-tempo so it helps you keep
going as the hours add up. My favorite music is probably blues-rock
and preferably something live. Hearing the spontaneous moments
and the integration required in a live setting is especially
nice.
Where are the boards glassed?
Custom work is very challenging from finding the right blank
to making sure the glass job comes out right. That means at
least 4 or 5 people working on the board through the various
stages. It takes coordination and commitment by all of us.
We use Gott Glassing and Moonshine Distributions right now.
Each has a 4 or 5 person team, one of which is Dave Peterson,
Craig Peterson's (70’s pioneer surf-travel journalist
w/Kevin Naughton) brother. Dave does incredible airbrushing;
he worked with Gerry Lopez for quite a while and always seemed
to come up with the best interpretation of Gerry's camouflage
look. Each board Petey works on shows so much creativity and
originality. His sense of color and ability to tape off complimenting
the outline makes the boards he works on really stand out.
All the guys are excellent at their positions but working
with Petey while he was up at Gerry's and continuing now is
a real luxury.
Who
did the logo?
The logo was done by Boscoe Burns, Ronnie Burn's dad. Boscoe's
only rule if you were lucky enough to get him to glass your
boards was that there were no orders. That didn't mean we
got all clears. He wanted free reign to put designs on them
as he felt accented the board. Each week was something different
and one week it was that logo. He liked it and it started
showing up on more and more of them. People have called it
the “moon bolt” but it was never intended to be
that, it was just Boscoe's flavor of the week and it stuck.
Any closing thoughts on the current state of surfing?
Since the proliferation of surf contests we have been getting
further and further away from the original spirit of surfing.
At first we were a bunch of misfits who wanted to be away
from all the crap going on in society and just lead a simple
life away from the landlubbers. It used to be that in order
to be a real surfer you had to live a life of ‘less
is better,’ one that didn't intrude on the environment.
It wasn't about competition but rather sharing and trying
to stay away from crowds and simply enjoy the beauty of creation.
With contests came the idea of trying to bring crowds to the
beach. With contests came the advent of dog-eat-dog positioning
and the notion that it is alright to exploit the beaches and
surf lifestyle for money.
Once it
became acceptable to sell out for money and act like a rat
in the lineup, the sportswear companies got involved and the
money got bigger. Now nobody even remembers the kind of commitment
and values it took to be a surfer. The kids are only learning
to be as greedy as possible. The old philosophy of how to
be a surfer was something credible and we could have been
a strong force against those set on destroying the environment.
Instead now we have these lazy wannabes buzzing the lineups
in their jet skis and the media portrays this as cool. The
guys who want to ride Jaws or Cortes Bank on skis have their
place but the problem is too many guys are using them in 6-foot
surf and polluting the line up with their fumes, wakes and
greed.
 And
since it has become fashionable to be as greedy as possible,
the pop out guys are back, trying to take over the world again
with their mass-merchandising schemes. It sort of bugs me
that they don't even touch the boards during production and
yet they try to portray themselves as real grass roots. There
are so many better ways to make big money if that is all they
care about. If they don't like working on boards or are incapable
of doing so, then they shouldn't do it and instead should
become money grabbers in some other context. But to hold themselves
out as surfers and to be promoting this crass mass market
stuff as if they are doing surfing a favor, they add to the
feeling I have about the dilution of the real spirit of surfing.
Between them and the contests it’s become quite a different
deal and I see no positive benefit. We have lost our souls
and respectibility. We have become what we were trying to
get away from.
Another
example which illustrates the current state of surfing: Have
you noticed how now when people paddle out into a line up
of other surfers who’ve been out in the water before
the new person, the new surfer inevitably paddles right by
everyone to take the inside pole position? That used to get
you a big slap and sent packing back to the beach with a lecture
on having manners in the line up. Since in contests the biggest
snake gets the prize, the new school feels justified in their
rude, nonsensical approach. If they are so far back that they
don't even make one wave, no matter, do the same thing again
and again. It’s just an example of what would have been
completely taboo before is now the only thing the kids are
learning.
Also,
have you noticed how often now kids come to the beach with
a car load of buddies? How rare it is to see someone come
to the beach by themselves? Used to be special to go surfing
alone and try to find moments to commune with nature. Or at
least if you entered the line up alone, guys in the line up
might accept you as somebody who had a clue. Now its like
if they go in a gang they can all be rude together so nobody
can do much about it.
Anyway
enough of the negative side of what now passes for surfers
and surfing. In some ways things are better for the custom
guys and there will always be a demand for a nice custom board.
I have more orders than ever, however, after spending your
whole life devoted to what was originally a beautiful, different
style of life, it's kind of hard to see the sell out mentality
completely diminish the foundation it continues to reap from.
Well time to stop talking about it and paddle out.
For more information about Tom Parrish, please visit www.tpsurf.com.
All photos courtesy of Tom Parrish except where noted.
Special
thanks to Derek Hynd, Will Allison, and Andrew Kidman for
their insightful contributions. For more information on "Litmus",
please visit www.litmus.com.au.
Michael
Machemer is a New York surfer, writer, photographer, curator
and a frequent contributor to Newyorksurf.com. Michael can
be reached at eataknish@newyorksurf.com
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