A NEW BOARD DAY
7-9-08
By Corky Carroll

I remember when I was young and the genuine excitement of getting a new surfboard. Actually the truth is that I had almost forgotten that feeling until today. During the bulk of years from the time when I was about thirteen and started getting sponsorships and free boards I sort of lost that feeling because I got a lot of boards. During the years when we first came out with shortboards it seemed that I was trying out something new almost every week. In 1967 and 68 I kept a log of all the boards I got with details on the designs and how they rode etc. In all I got something like 87 boards during that time frame. And pretty much for most of my life I have been lucky to have the luxury of lots of boards and being able to still experiment with designs and ideas that I have from time to time refined the shapes of the signature models that I have had on the market. Some time ago I started to separate the designing of boards into two groups. Ones for sale that should work for the general surfing population in one group. Ones for me personally in another group. This used to be one group as I always tried to design boards that worked for me as well as everyone else. But somewhere along the lines I got weird and so did my tastes in surfboard shapes.

For about the past dozen years I have been riding retro style twin fins. Almost exactly like our original twin fin designs from 1970. The main difference being that in ’70 I rode a 5’10” and today it is a 7’10”. That is mostly, well actually entirely, because in ’70 I was 22 and weighed 154 pounds and today I am 60 and weigh considerably more. Tonage more. I gotta loose some pounds one of these days. I did it about 4 years ago. Dropped 45 pounds in nine months by surfing a lot of hours everyday, swimming laps and eating good. Then it all came back. Now I am a Gordito again. It’s a sad thing. Anyway, back to the story. I have made these twin fins to be short enough to surf relatively contemporary yet with enough volume to paddle my hog body around fairly well. These things look odd but they surf amazingly well, especially on thick waves with a lot of face on them. Spots such as Trestles or Cotton’s Point in Orange County and also like the spot I surf in front of my casa in Mexico where I am at this moment.

I have written in the past about how the twin fin was actually the original shape that the “fish” design came from. The twinnies have wide square tails on them. One day somebody cut a swallow tail into one and it looked like a fish. So they named that a fish. Through the years they got a bit more streamlined than the original wider thicker ones. I am not really sure that has been an improvement..

I have been riding the same set of boards for many years now. I don’t need new ones because these work great. But about two years ago a dude from Hawaii named Kevin Ho came and visited me and he had a real interesting “Quad” shape. I tried it one day and found some things about it that felt good to me. Not all that different from my twin fins, but a bit more vertical in the turning. Not as powerful though. About the same time I started working with a new surfboard company, SCSI in Lake Forest, and designed both mid sized and longboards for them. The shaper is a dude named Lynn Shell and is excellent. I asked him to make me a “Corkyized” version of a Quad out of epoxy.

Well it took a year and a half but last night it showed up. That is when I got that long lost feeling of the excitement of getting a new board. I spent half the night fiddling around with getting the fins in the right spot and waxing it up. Now it is early in the morning and the waves are looking good in the first rays of daylight. I am downing my morning coffee and ready to see how this puppy works. Totally stoked.

’08 SURFING WALK OF FAME INDUCTIONS
The Wave ~ 7-9-08
By Corky Carroll

It’s that time of year again for the annual inductions into both the coveted SURFERS WALK OF FAME and the HUNTINGTON BEACH SURFING WALK OF FAME. Both of these events take place in conjunction with the big surf and dance show going on at the Huntington Beach Pier during the entire month of July. The HALL OF FAME takes place on Friday, July 25th and I will talk more about that next week.

The HUNTINGTON BEACH SURFING WALK OF FAME will hold its 15th induction ceremony on Thursday, July 24th. This is a very cool event to come out and check out and you are for sure gonna see lots of both local and international surfing legends there for this. It is held in front of Jack’s Surfboards which is located on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street, right across from the pier. The show starts at 10 A.M. and will be followed by the “gala” luncheon to honor the new inductees as well as a select group of previous inductees from over the past 14 years. I always love the term “gala” luncheon. What makes that different than just a normal luncheon? Is it because everybody is all happy and “gala” or somethin’? Not like the normal company luncheon where everyone has on the same blue suits and identical ties?

This year’s inductee as SURFING CHAMPION is Hawaiian Andy Irons. He was raised surfing the rugged waves of the island of Kauai and burst onto the scene in the ‘90’s as a successful amateur. As a pro he has won three ASP World Titles, four Van’s Triple Crown awards, two Pipeline Masters wins and two U.S. Open of Surfing titles.

For SURF PIONEER this year is one of the greatest surfers off all time. Australian wonder-boy Wayne Lynch. Wayne was one of the leaders in the short board revolution of the late 1960’s and has remained a leader in surfboard designs and technology ever since. Wayne is also one of the really cool dudes in this sport. I am stoked he is getting a little bit of the love here.

Also to be inducted for SURF PIONEER is the legendary big wave rider Buzzy Trent. Buzzy was not only fearless in amazingly giant surf but also had the talent to back it up. Where many of the early big wave riders would simply take off and kamikaze it to the max Buzzy had the control to pull into massive barrels and master impossible situations.

This years LOCAL HERO is long time California surfer and lifeguard legend Rich Chew. Rich is a Seal Beach native who later moved to San Clemente as a career lifeguard and pro surfer. He grew up as Rich Harbors, Harbor Surfboards, main team rider during the 1960’s and went to Huntington Beach High School. To this day Rich is an incredible surfer and is in great shape. He is one of those dudes who always get ten times more waves than anybody else out. Another really cool person that I am stoked to see get inducted.

Drew Kampion joins the list as the SURFING CULTURE honoree this year. The official press release calls him the “dean of the surf scribes.” I wish I could come up with that cool kinda wordage. “Surf Scribes.” Wow. Gives a whole nother vibe to surf journalists. And that is also the story with Drew. He came along with the writing was same-o, same-o and put a nice bit of eloquence to it. He was a student of Bob Dylan and definitely put a bit of rock culture edge into the surf speak of the late 1960’s. An extremely talented man and one who has never backed down from a personal opinion. Drew has always had my respect even when he trashed me a few times in ink. But who can blame him for that?

The WOMAN OF THE YEAR is Lynn Boyer. Twice World Champion and fearless pioneer of women’s power surfing on the North Shore of Hawaii. Lynn was the first girl to truly give the legendary Margo Oberg a real go for the buck, so to speak. Also a wonderful artist and beautiful person all the way around. Good call on this one.

The HONOR ROLL features the founding members of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA). Tom Gibbons, Laird Hayes, Holly Allen, Chuck Allen, Rob Hill and John Rothrock. The NSSA turns 30 years old this year.