January 6, 2012 Friday

Son O Sea Wooden Surfboards

Marty rushed up to my car as I was putting on my shoes after my session at the Patch, "Loren come quick and bring your camera, Jeff is putting his board away. Now's your chance to get a picture of it."

He was referring to Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic's wooden surfboard that he made. Now Jeff is a craftsman. Last year he had emailed me 'work in progress' pictures of the hydrophane boat that he built (another sport of his is racing small hydroplanes at 100+ mph). From his photos it was clear that he was a master wood craftsman. A few months ago, he casually mentioned that he was building a wood surfboard and periodically Marty and I would inquire about his progress. Recently someone mentioned that Jeff was out in water with his beautiful new wood board and that it was stunning. Jeff was out at the Patch this morning on his new board. I saw him from a distance. He was way outside with Jacek the tattoo artist at the furthest peak going for the big sets. I was sure it was him that I saw coming down some overhead set waves. Now I had a chance to see his unique board.

"Jeff wait. Let me take a picture of you and your board."

There it was lying in an unzipped board bag. Jeff proudly showed it off: classic longboard shape, wide nose that comes to a point, eight-inch squaretail with a single removable nine-inch bamboo Wingnut fin. That's Jeff with his new board in the above photo. Check out the woodwork - laminated old redwood and Alaskan yellow cedar, formed around an interior wood fame that consists of ribs glued to a central spar and covered with 4 oz fiberglass and epoxy resin with a high gloss finish. Dimensions - length 9' 4", width 22" and 3" thick and weights 20 pounds.

The first detail I zeroed in on was a metal valve flush with the wood near the nose. It looked like a small stem valve of a tire. "What's that? Is that to drain water out of the board?"

"No, that's for air. You know the board is hollow and the air inside can heat up and expand."

"Jeff you told me before that you purchased the wood from that guy in Dogtown."

"That's Robert Buckenmeyer. He collects big pieces the old wood and stores it there in Dogtown." I have heard from other woodworkers, like Jimmy the Stinson Beach wood carver and Doug the carpenter that the grain of old redwood (200 yrs) is very tight, easy to work with and buffs and varnishes to an incredible finish. Jeff traded boat repairs with Robert for the wood. Robert claimed that the redwood was rescued from a demolition of an old building in Novato that was built in the 1920's and that the Alaskan cedar came from a demolition of an old pier in Vallejo that was built in the 1930's. Jeff re-sawed and milled the wood timbers himself at his shop in Dillon Beach.

"Jeff, this board is so beautiful, I would hang this on my living room wall as a work of art. Aren't you afraid that you will put a hole in this, run into a rock or someone else will accidentally clobber you?"

"Already have," he calmly said. "I was out at Dillon on a fairly sizeable day and was ready to come in. So I rode one all the way to the beach, connected with the shore break, thinking I could go right up to the sand and step off. I stayed in the curl, the wave sucked out and I dropped straight down into dry sand and busted the nose of the board." He then explained how he patched the broken nose by laminating new redwood strips on the end of the board, reshaped the nose and glassed over it. Jeff kept pointing at lines to note where the patch went. I swear I could not see anything that suggested that the board had been repair. His patch job was perfect.

"So how does it ride?"

"It rides great. I'm really proud of how well this board performs."

"Do you have a label on this board? A signature, something that says you made it?"

"Yes I have." He rolled the board over and there written in script:

SON O SEA - Wooden Surfboards

Being from Southern California where everything has Spanish names I thought his logo was "San Osea" - you remember Saint Osea - the famous early Californian priest who forced hundreds of Indians into Christianity?

"No. That's Son of Sea. S-E-A are my mother's initials and she's the one that introduced me to the sea."

Later, via email I asked Jeff how he became interested in building a hollow wooden board. As he said in his response, it's a long story but here is a summary:

Several years ago Jeff was searching Craig's List for a good used longboard. Being a fan of the old stuff, an ad for a classic balsa and redwood-chambered board caught his eye. He began researching wood boards and discovered that several old surfers were building classic wood boards. He was blown away by the beauty and varying construction methods. He thought that maybe he could build his own.

More research led him to Brad Tucker and Jack Young of Wood Surfboard Supply who sold wood surfboard kits. Jeff's timing was good. Brad and Jack were just starting their company. Jeff had several phone conversations with Brad, who was impressed and interested in Jeff's wood-framed hydroplane boats. Brad wanted someone to prototype one of their designs and thus he sent Jeff the template for what today is their 9' Cruiser model. Jeff incorporated a couple modifications to the design - added a few inches of length, squared the tail and reduced the concave in the nose - and crafted one beautiful board.

The website for Wood Surfboard Supply (www.woodsurfboardsupply.com) had an interesting historical detail worth noting here - Over 75 years ago Tom Blake patented the first hollow wooden surfboard. With the advent of foam cores the surfing industry took another direction. But with today's modern tools, techniques and materials surfers are going back to their roots. Discover what surfers have found - wood surfboards have beauty, flex, glide and personality that cannot be matched by a foam board.

Jeff certainly agrees with that last statement and would encourage you to build your own. Per Jeff, it's not that difficult. By the way, he is busy building another one; one based on his design.

Click in the link below to see photos taken by Jeff and Marty of Jeff's SON O SEA - Wooden Surfboard.

Jeff's Wooden Surfboard