Lis / Pavel, Stussy, Andreini & More

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Greetings, Shredderz! So far 2020 hasn’t been anyone’s idea of a great time, but hopefully everyone has at least found some silver linings in what has been a pretty dark cloud. I hope you and yours are all safe, and that folks have been hitting up some uncrowded lineups to stay sane. Personally I’ve had a bit more time to devote to writing blog posts, and hopefully some of you are enjoying the increased output. In standard Social Media Roundup fashion, here are some vintage surfboard posts I’ve enjoyed from the past month or so:

Marc Andreini needs no introduction. I love Marc’s boards, and in our limited interactions, he has always been kind and generous with his considerable knowledge of surf history. Marc recently shaped me a board out of a vintage Clark Foam blank, which you can read about here. Pictured above is a White Owl single fin Andreini shaped in the Seventies. Roger Nance, who owns Surf N’ Wear Beach House in Santa Barbara, has a few killer vintage Andreini boards, including this one he posted earlier in the year.

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A story of a grom growing up in a surfboard factory. One of the most underrated shapers/ designers and one of the reasons that I shape today, Mike Croteau. Having grown up in a surfboard factory I was kind of blind to what was going on around me, then came Mike. A Big man, making massive boards, coming from far off America and had a shark as his logo!!! He used to grab me and fling me up into the air like a rag doll, do push ups with me sitting on his back and made me laugh.. I would often watch him shape these amazing boards scaled bigger than I'd seen before!! The planer in his hand looked like a small toy rather than this big noisy dangerous thing.. he was the first one that made shaping look like fun, big noisy, dusty fun!! All memories I carry till this day.. I'm lucky enough to own one of his boards that inspired me so much and made me see that not all boards are the same. This board is a 7'9"- 22'1/4"- 3'1/4". Boxy as hell rails, quarter inch deep channels!!! And the gargler!!! Two holes in the deck going all the way through the board coming out under the fibreglass cowl that was ment to suck air through as the board moved across the water and send it to the channels to airate the channels and create turbulence Is how he described it to me. The skill from all involved in making this board (including my dad) Is insane!! I'm so thankful to have been around to see and hear all this stuff, spending so much time in the factory to absorb so much without really knowing it.. shaping boards is fun, riding boards is fun! Forget all the bullshit and make what you want to make, the way you want it make it, for the reasons that you want to make it. Thanks for reading.

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Here is a next level board from cult shaper Mike Croteau that belongs to Aussie board builder Corey Graham. First, make sure you read the entire caption. To me it’s always cool to learn about shapers and their influences, and I particularly enjoy Graham’s story about how Croteau made shaping seem like fun. The board itself is jam packed with insane details. Check out the ultra deep channels (1/4″ thick, according to Graham); the unique fins; and of course, the jet board system designed to funnel air and water along the bottom of the board. Croteau might not be a household name but I am fascinated with his career. I recently wrote up a sweet Seventies Croteau single fin located in Spain, of all places, and here is another channel bottom thruster he shaped.

How’s this for San Diego surf history? From left to right: Joel Tudor, Donald Takayama and Skip Frye.

Shawn Stussy has been posting some great stories from the early days of his surfboard shaping career. It’s also cool to see a photo of Craig Fineman, who is probably best known for his early skateboarding photography, but also collaborated with the Campbell Brothers before his passing. I’ve long maintained that for all the (understandable) excitement about Stussy’s Eighties shapes, I like his Seventies boards just as much.

This one was too pretty to pass up! Here’s a Steve Lis / Rich Pavel twinzer. I’ve never quite been able to get the official story on these Lis / Pavel collaboration boards, but I’ll have to do some research at some point. In the meantime I couldn’t resist writing up a stick with such a killer airbrush. The old school Moonlight Glassing logo is a nice touch, too.

Photo at the top of the page by Michael Kew

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