Morgan Just dropped by the canyon offices yesterday to talk about his 2011 pro model skimboard and discuss some art options. Of course we are not going to spoil any of his secrets before they are put into production but trust us, you will like what you see!
Author: Nicolas Rottier
Evolution is daily.
8-3-10 Summer has finally arrived here in California. At last we are getting some clear skies in the mornings. It has been a particularly hard year for our business beyond whatever trama has come from the economic depression. The East Coast was snowed in, literally, for a large part of the early season out there. The West Coast hasn’t seen a summer with this little real sunshine since Lynn Haines’s recollection of a summer back in her youth that had only two weeks of heat in the last part of August. And BP has caused the largest environmental disaster ever for the United States, and shut down the entire Gulf Coast to tourism. We are waiting for a plague or the big earthquake here in California as the next hurdle. Yes, I am knocking on wood as I type. Difficult times calls for lots of change. An aquaintance once referred to his difficult divorce as too much evolution at once. “Humans,” he said “can only handle so much evolution at a time.” Amen brother.
Tex
Roots, Victoria Cove
Here’s a note from an old friend who grew up with us in the sands of Victoria Cove. Our shack, a shared rental, is at the 2 o’clock position, dark wood shingles with white trim under the big tree, half way up the stairs at the N. end of the beach. The Prietto house is at the bottom of the ramp, next to the lifeguard tower.
Our time there as kids was the mid 60’s. The Victoria Tribe is still going strong, and V-ball is the glue that holds them together. Tex
Peter Haines going aaaaahhheeee! circa 1978
Launching. Why not? What’s wrong with today’s young skimmer’s? Don’t they read the ancient texts? Getting air! That’s it! And if you got too high, or the water was too shallow, or you over-rotated you were toast, taco’d, bent, numb, twisted, torqued, out, crying, slapped silly, stinging back blackouts, yes you were hurt.
So, why isn’t this typically youthful exhuberance practiced any longer, except by old farts like me, desparate to win a heat? IT’S STILL FUN, for crying out loud! Are today’s youth are too inhibited by what their peers think, to indulge themselves in one of the truely great feelings in skimming? Is this possible? Launching! Jay Williams could do triples back in my days at Vic. Dave Crowley took it to insane risk levels in the East Coast Championships, doing triples into a foot of continental shelf. Conley Ware is my favorite of all time. A trained (how do you teach psycho big balls?) diver with the Laguna High School swim team, he could mix up variations of tight tucks and twists into perfect jackknife entries. On a diving board he carried the team to win meets. On a skimboard it was just plain awesome. He could also do handstands on the rail of the Aliso Pier about 50’ up, and do an invert, double back flip into the ocean, at night! So, no big deal, bring a little wildness back into the sport.
2010 World Wakesurfing Championships
The 2010 World Wakesurfing Championships took place last week/weekend (July 22 – 25, 2010) in Minneapolis, MN. Victoria Skimboards team rider, Bri Chmel took home top honors in the Women’s Skim category and was the overall Women’s Champion.
Congratulations Bri on a fantastic performance!
The more things change.
One of our most ancient brochures circa 1979. Ever try cranking a turn with an 11 lb. board? It required a full arm plant to bring it around. That’s me in the top photo, Peter Prietto, aka “La Habs”, with the line up at Old Ladies Cove at Vic, and either Dirk Pratley, or Kurt Westgaard in the big spray. Dirk fled the Orange County development tragedy for the Colorado River river guide life about this time and has never needed to come back. Kurt is still skimming, last seen at the Vic this year in the Legends/Stiff Old Farts Division. The prices are amazing. $5.00 for a deposit, but only if you were a mail order. Design! Tex
Art is fun
Circa: 1990 Dave Leight, Garth Wyckoff, Amber Cottle, and Rick Jurado. Rick was in yesterday with his son Jake and wife Lisa. They are opening up their KupKakeKitchen.com next week. Jake picked up his new board. Amber was in town recently to announce for the Innagural Women’ Pro event at the Vic. She was inspirational to say the least, and the gals were stoked to be competing for some serious money. Amber could drive into barrels 20 years ago, and she is truely the first lady of skimming. Garth, still going strong, Wyckoff is still working for COX, doing sports announcing. His title is the “Voice of Skimboarding” at the Vic each year, and he is still schralping the faces of waves. Dave was our resident airbrusher way back then, and an avid fisherman. His parents own a rock and crystal shop in town. Looks like he is creating a custom sign for the contest that year. Roots! Vic! Signing off …..Tex
Pros organize!
Congratulations to the First Women’ Pro event participants at the Vic. The gals have organized, acquired an agent, are pursuing TV deals, and generally going into hyperdrive as far as getting sponsors and raising prize money for future events. The women inspired the men to do the same, meeting in the sand for one hour at Aliso, before the Vic weekend, they blazed thru the process of choosing a name, electing officers, choosing the meeting dates, discussing membership dues, defining professional contest behavior, and generally getting the ball rolling. (Sponsors are not very interested in supporting contests where the contestants are free to act out in public and potentially create bad publicity for the sponsor.)
Paulo Prietto is president, Steve Taylor is V.P. and Patrick Mack is the secretary. In a short time, as other contest organizers come on board, membership in the pro association will be mandatory for participation in the contests. Dues will be collected and funneled toward hiring someone to help the association bring in more revenue. The door is opening into a whole new era for the sport. I urge all the pros to join and to volunteer to help out. Remember the little Red Hen fable. If you don’t help in the gathering, grinding and baking, you are not entitled to eat the bread.
Tex
Domburg Skimboard Championships – Netherlands
Through our distributor in the Netherlands (Fox Sports), Victoria Skimboards was proud to be part of the Domburg Skimboard Championships this year.
Victory!
For more pictures check out the Facebook link:
Domburg Skimboard Championship Facebook image gallery
The Daily Blog. 1 down 249 to go!
A photo is a time capsule. The first official Victoria shop about 1980, the year we began making our first foam core boards. None are visible in this photo, so it is probably pre 1980. Rent is extremely expensive in Laguna, so the shop is a study in maximizing space. The Tour: (clockwise from 9 pm.) Sliding door to shaping room with brooms etc. Middle slot with brushes on wall is the resin storage bay. Furthest back is sliding door to the office/showroom, a spacious 8′ x 9′ space. Main room, old Rainmaker skimboard on back wall, glassed while at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon in 1971. Finished boards storage all around wall on hanging racks, ventilation ducting (a huge expense for us), back wall a mysto wood warper, at the time our best invention. Outboard motor hanging from ceiling by ladder for voyages in the Makana, “The Gift”, my grandfathers 14′ outboard motorboat circa 1950, modified by David Kahanamoku and myself to have a cabin, and reinforced deck and stringers, for wild forays to the Hollister Ranch for surfing nirvana. Oh! the stories I could tell. Overhead surfboard storage racks, David Kahanamoku shaped yellow surfboard in final glassing stages is below. Resin/tarpaper covered floor, usually the racks to the right, on sawhorses were pulled into the room for glassing 20 skimboards at a time, Note the milk cartons for mixing resins. We still recycle everything we can at Vic and many of the wood structures in the shop are still in use today, though they are incorporated into completely different forms. I gave up that ladder only this year when we sold our house, as it was more useful to the new owner, than to me. Co-founder, Peter Prietto was probably still my business partner. The back door out of the office gave us great fresh air. In 1982, when our landlord, George Burkhardt built a new complex just around the bend, we moved there and expanded into two units. Now we are up to 5 units here and a separate glassing facility down in San Clemente. Click on picture to make it larger. Tex Haines
