Greetings, Shredderz! We don’t have much for you today, just a sweet Local Motion ad nabbed from the pages of the April 1983 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 24, No 4). As you can see, the advertisement features none other than Montgomery Ernest Thomas Kaluhiokalani, better known as Buttons (RIP), posing alongside a few friends.
Thanks for reading and please do visit again next Thursday, when we’ll have another vintage surf ad for your reading pleasure.
Greetings, Shredderz! As promised, we have another episode of Sagas of Shred, which features various bits of surf history from over the years. We have written about old Astrodeck ads before, but hey, you gotta keep drawing from the well until it’s dry! Today’s installment is an Astrodeck ad from the 1980s that features another murderer’s row of surfers. Pictured left to right: Willy Morris, Rabbit Bartholomew, Larry Bertlemann, Wes Laine, Gary Elkerton, and Chappy Jennings. The second picture has Hawaiian fixtures Buttons Kaluhiokalani and Rory Russell…because the All Star team assembled in the first one simply wasn’t enough! A lot has changed in surfing over the years, but Herbie Fletcher’s unparalleled ability to gather big name pros has not. Hope you enjoyed this post and tune in next Thursday for more Sagas of Shred!
First, the good news: there is an Aipa sting for sale on eBay, whose pictures I have included here. The board is in decent shape, and right now the current bid is a tidy $82.01.
Before I go get to the bad news, I’d like to give some background on Ben Aipa, who has made more than a few appearances on Shred Sledz. This is the first Shred Sledz post featuring a board that Aipa made under his own name.
The sting is Aipa’s claim to fame. The board pictured above is a classic example. You’ll see the wings extremely high up the board – well above the fin box – with a single fin setup in the back. Aipa’s stings frequently boast swallowtails, as well.
Aipa’s sting design (sometimes referred to as the stinger) is most associated with iconic Hawaiian surfers Buttons Kaluhiokalani and Larry Bertlemann. Here’s a picture of Aipa (on the left) with Buttons, in front of a spread of Aipa-shaped stings that would be worth a pretty penny today.
Photo by Steve Wilkings; courtesy of Surfline
And as a bonus, here’s another Aipa board, this time under the careful stewardship of legendary Aussie surfer / shaper Mark Richards, likely also taken sometime in the 1970s. Look at how far back MR has the fin!
Photo by Jeff Divine; courtesy of The Surfer’s Journal
So, back to what we were saying: there’s an Aipa for sale on eBay, it’s only $80 bucks or so, and it’s Aipa’s signature design. What’s not to like, right?
Well, fellow Shredderz, listen closely, because this is a lesson that I originally learned through a bit of bitter experience myself. If you look at the board for sale on eBay, you’ll notice that there is a small “Surfing’s New Image” script beneath the Aipa logo. I’ve included a close up here:
The sad fact is, the “Surfing’s New Image” boards were NOT shaped by Aipa. Rather, Aipa licensed his name to the “Surfing’s New Image” brand, and these boards were all shaped in California (not Hawaii, where Aipa is based) by a variety of different shapers, including Mike Slingerland, Rick Hamon, and apparently even Donald Takayama. This information was confirmed to me via an email with none other than Randy Rarick, the Don Dada of Hawaiian surfboard design.
I happened to make this rookie mistake, and I now am the proud owner of two VERY weathered SNI / Aipa stings that serve as a cautionary tale. (The caution is two-fold: make sure what you’re buying is legit, and NEVER tell your fiancee how much you spent on the boards.) See below for two examples: the first is unsigned (likely shaped by Slingerland, but who knows), and the second has a clear Hamon signature and serial number.
Photos courtesy of the Shred Sledz Signature Collection ™
You’ll see a lot of stings online with the SNI branding. I won’t tell you to steer clear of these boards completely, as they are still genuine, rad 70s shapes. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that these are on par with real handmade Aipa boards.
Aipa has signed many of his boards, and you can see below for an example of a clearly identifiable Aipa signature, taken from a late 90s thruster he shaped.
However, it’s also worth noting that Aipa seems to have shaped some boards, at least back in the 70s, that didn’t have his signatures. Here’s an example of Larry Bertlemann with an Aipa (note the “Wave Crest Hawaii” branding beneath Aipa’s name) that doesn’t appear to have a visible signature anywhere on the deck. (It also has a pintail instead of the standard swallowtail design, which is an interesting touch.)
Photo by Steve Wilkings; courtesy of Surfline
I won’t get too into the weeds of signatures. Just note that “Surfing’s New Image” boards, even if they bear Aipa’s name and his best-known silhouette, were not shaped by Aipa himself.
Here is a link to the board you can find on eBay, and if you happen to find a genuine 70s sting for cheap, feel free to send it my way!
This board represents a timeless combination of two of the better-known figures in Hawaiian surf history: 70s pro surfer Buttons Kaluhiokalani, and legendary shaper Owl Chapman.
Found on Craigslist in San Diego, this board is a 7′ single fin shaped by Chapman (see his signature on the stringer in the 3rd picture) intended as a tribute to Buttons.
Buttons is one of the most iconic figures to come out of the North Shore of Oahu, which is saying something, considering the island’s place in surfing history. He has been immortalized in a number of pictures from the era, including many of Jeff Divine’s photos.
Photo by Jeff Divine
Owl Chapman still lives and shapes on the North Shore, and he continues to supply boards to some of the best surfers in the area. It was interesting to come across this one, which has Buttons’ distinct logo, and bears Chapman’s signature on the stringer. If I had to guess the board is probably a recent shape, judging from the condition as well as the FCS fin boxes for the side bites.
For $1200 it isn’t cheap, but it’s in immaculate condition, and has a ton of cool Hawaiian surf history involved. You can check it out here.
Here at Shred Sledz HQ, we dream of finding rad vintage boards at equally rad prices. Sadly, not everyone shares in this dream – especially the second part.
It’s a shame, because this board is super rad, but the price is a bit outrageous ($2,500!). It is a Donald Takayama surfboard shaped for Hawaiian legend Buttons Kaluhiokalani (shout out to Google auto-suggest for providing me with the spelling on his last name there), under Buttons’ short-lived label. It’s an interesting combo, as Stoked-N-Board never has Takayama as ever having shaped for Buttons, but the signature certainly looks genuine.
You can check out the board here and it can be found on Craigslist in Santa Barbara.
