The 70's and 80's:

The 70's and 80's were both very influential times in surfboard history. I was very lucky to experience the amazing developments of these both of these decades surfing, working, studying and living on the North Shore of Oahu. In surfing history, the 70's were about the further development of the single fin short board, and continuing refinement of the "mini-gun" which came about via Bob MacTavish and Dick Brewer in 1967~68. In those early 70's years, I had the privilege of learning directly from Dick Brewer, and others as I put their pin lines, Lightning Bolts, and gloss coats on all of their boards built on the North Shore and Honolulu. You can see much of Brewer's influence in all my boards and my blank designs. My most noticeable personality trait is PASSION, and back in those earlier years of 1971-72, I really embraced living in Hawaii on the North Shore and continuing my surfing, shaping and musical pursuits. In those days I was still building a few boards a week in their entirety (shape/glass/sand/gloss-polish) and the finish work I did for many shapers paid my bills while I surfed, played and studied music and business at UH. While I shaped for Lightning Bolt and George Downing at Wave Crest Hawaii, my biggest break came for working with Rob Burns in late '77 to start Local Motion. Working with Mark Liddell and Buttons Kaluhiokalani during those fast-moving years really helped me build a strong presence and Hawaiian team. The 80's were truly about the then radical concepts of the thruster design, and starting in 1981-82, I had a head start in developing the thruster design in Hawaiian and large wave surfboards, as well as designing blanks for them with Gordon Clark of Clark Foam. Team riders Steve Massefeller, Charlie Walker, Tony Moniz Darrick Doerner, Bobby Owens, Richard Schmidt and many others really helped me push that limit in the first 2- 3 years of the Thruster design in Hawaiian surf. Later in 1985, Mark Richards started riding my guns in Hawaii. Mark was amazing to work with, and he was exceptional in influencing others like Tom Carroll, and others to try my boards. The result was over 10 strong years of working with all the best surfers when they visited Hawaii, and these guys made my career grow in many ways, including much travel to Japan, and later in 1991 to California, Europe, Australia, Brazil and other places.