Quivers of Distinction Archives

Chris Frohoff for O’Neill: Sagas of Shred

Greetings, Shredderz! I’m delighted to be back this evening with a fresh scan of an Eighties surf ad. This, of course, is the latest entry in the Sagas of Shred series. I don’t have a lot to say about this particular ad, other than my love for Eighties surf nostalgia is as strong as ever. This O’Neill ad, which originally ran in the September 1988 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 29, No 9), features Chris Frohoff, who I understand is now a surfboard shaper. I get an endless amount of amusement from the less serious aspects of Eighties surf ads — like the “Wave Cult” tagline seen here — but I dig the graphic design that’s happening here. The ad features the work of not one but two great surf photographers. Jeff Divine took the surfing photos, and Aaron Chang shot the portraits of Frohoff. And finally, if you look closely, you’ll see Fro is shredding on a cool looking Rusty stick with a nice gradient airbrush at both ends.

Thanks for checking in and we hope to have you back next Thursday for more Sagas of Shred!

Quivers of Distinction: Mike from Maui

Greetings, Shredderz! Welcome to another edition of Quivers of Distinction. This series features some rad quivers from individual collectors who were kind enough to share pics and info with yours truly. Today quiver belongs to Mike Essner from Maui, who has built up a sweet selection of Bing surfboards over the years. Check out the photos below and click to enlarge. Thanks to Mike for sharing all the photos you see here.

As you can see in the photos above, Mike has a couple of noseriders, and then no less than four Bonzers. Three of the Bonzers are Bing Bonzers, and the fourth is an Eaton Bonzer.

The Bing Bonzer you see above is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a classic example of the initial run of Bing Bonzer surfboards, with the super deep concave in the tail and the branded side bite fins. It looks to have an original Rainbow fin on it, too.

In contrast, the board above, while also a Bing Bonzer, looks like a later edition. I can’t tell who shaped the first Bing Bonzer — the orange board with the red and black Rainbow fin — but the one immediately above this paragraph looks to be a later model, and I’m almost certain it’s a Mike Eaton creation. Check out the small center fin, and the pintail outline is very reminiscent of other Eaton Bonzers I have seen, including this example of an Eaton Bonzer sporting an incredible airbrush.

Thank you to Mike for sharing! If you own a quiver packed to the gills with some heat, shoot me an email because I’d love to see it!

Hawaiian Single Fins: Quivers of Distinction

Greetings, Shredderz! Today we have something short but very, very sweet. We have a new series here on the blog titled Quivers of Distinction. As the title suggests, this series will highlight notable quivers. (Friendly reminder to get in touch if you’ve got some boards you’d like to share!)

This lineup of Hawaiian single fins belongs to an anonymous collector in Southern California. As you can see in the photo above, he’s got impeccable taste in boards. From left to right (based on the top picture; order is reversed in the shot showing the bottom of boards)

4’10” Hawaiian Island Creations channel bottom single fin, shaped by Cino Magallanes;
5’9″ Lightning Bolt single fin shaped by Tom Eberly;
6’4″ Local Motion swallow tail, Kailua laminate, shaper unknown (unclear if the Buttons logo sticker was added afterwards)
5’9″ Local Motion (yellow board), Kaiula laminate, Dane Kealoha-inspired airbrush, shaper also unknown
5’8″ T&C Surf single fin shaped by Glenn Minami

Needless to say, this is a really killer lineup of boards, brought to you by some of the finest Hawaiian craftsmen in recent history. I’m a little blown away by the 4’10” HIC / Cino single fin. Part of me wonders if this wasn’t originally created as a kneeboard. Either way I have never seen anything like it. The two Local Motion boards and the T&C / Minami single fin are incredible, too. I can’t decide between those three as my favorite. And of course, it goes without saying that any Tom Eberly Lightning Bolt board is worth any surfboard enthusiast’s time, too! Overall, this is an insanely deep lineup of vintage sticks. I love that the owner has taken the time to see that all of these single fins have been outfitted with era appropriate fins, too.

Mahalo to the owner for the rad pics! Hopefully we’ll have some more killer quiver shots in the near future as well.

Quivers of Distiction: An Awesome North Shore Owl Chapman Collection

If the surf industry were a high school cafeteria, then Saturdays NYC would definitely be sitting at the cool kids’ table. I imagine the Saturdays founders are hanging out with European models in SoHo right now while I sit here in my apartment, surrounded by empty Kind Bar wrappers and piles of unfolded laundry. But I digress. Saturdays used to publish a killer print magazine filled with beautiful photography and great features. I highly recommend picking up a back issue or two. Nowadays, Saturdays Magazine can be found online, where it continues to publish great content. The most recent blog post details the Owl Chapman quivers of two North Shore fixtures, Andy St. Onge and Rick Williams. Owl Chapman remains one of the pre-eminent builders of big wave boards, and the Saturdays Magazine post is a great opportunity to get a closer look at his shapes. Check out the blog post here, and if you know the Saturdays guys, put in a good word for me so I can come to one of their parties the next time I’m in New York.

Photo above via Saturdays Magazine. Photo taken by Joey Trisolini. jtrisolini on Instagram