When did you become involved in shaping?
I returned to California in late 1966. Bob Haakenson started up the Spindrift surfboard company in 1967 and then I joined up with him as a shaper in 1968.

How did you become involved with creating the board blanks?
Around 1968, I joined my father-n-law, Lloyd Gist, and we started a company called California Foam in which we began “blowing” blanks. We were doing well, selling them from Santa Monica up to Santa Cruz. I continued with shaping while making the blanks until I decided to return to Hawaii.

Hawaii beckoned?
I returned with Corky Carrol to O’ahu equipped with two twin fins, a 6’6” and a 6’2”. They worked fine in four foot surf, but for larger surf I used my 7’2” and 8’ guns. Bear Miranden of La Jolla Surfboards was making long board twin fins during the late 60’s. They worked ok, but I preferred short boards for small waves and just took it upon myself to evolve the long board twin down to a short board twin. Upon my return, I was hired as a shaper by Surfline Hawaii shaping alongside Ben Aipa, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Ryan Dodson, Buddy Dumphy and Jerry Lopez for the next four years.

Times were changing, no?
The long boards were becoming shorter and thicker and having more rocker in the nose and tail making them that much more responsive in critical areas of the waves. The narrow, S Decks (7’6”-7’8” single fins) were representative of that time. With the big wave guns, the widest portion of the boards moved towards the nose thus enabling the surfer to control the board in front of the board’s midpoint, Shaun Tomson’s “S” turns in the tube at Backdoor and Lopez at Pipeline exemplified this.

Shaping with these Hawaiian legends must have been such an exciting and humbling experience?
Yeah! Shaping and riding the waves of the North Shore with these guys gave me such invaluable experience as a surfer and as a shaper learning all about the different templates that worked well in the Hawaiian surf.

What happened with Bob Haakenson and Spindrift Surfboards?
Bob came over to the islands to join me and we set up shop on the grounds of the church overlooking Waimea Bay. My shaping room was inside the church, schoolhouse. By 1975, I was back on the mainland. Bob eventually came back, and we continued with Spindrift Surfboards in Goleta until 1988.

Who was helping you to promote your board designs?
Around the early 80’s, I hooked up with a couple of New Jersey standouts by the name of Steve Dwyer and Bill Mellett. I also had Craig Comen and a young, fifteen year old girl by the name of Lisa Andersen.

Are you still shaping and surfing? How do you see the future of the surfboard design?
Yeah, I have been shaping some of my own boards, but I have been employed by Al Merrick since 1989. Polyurethane boards will remain popular due to their heavier weight, but the lighter epoxy boards will make some headway even though they are a bit too light and corky.