It has taken me years and many fakes to finally acquire the REAL DEAL!. Someones loss was Buggs gain.

If one were asked to explain Jamie O’Brien in a word, they might choose “explosive.” Whether being spit out of a seething Pipeline barrel, launching an air reverse six feet above the lip, or blowing up in front of a camera, Jamie’s surfing is a full frontal assault on the senses. There is a saying that “the person having the most fun in the water is the best surfer on any given day.”

O’Brien was born on June 9, 1983 in Hawaii and currently lives in Haleiwa. He has said that he was fortunate as a child to grow up near the Banzai Pipeline. He is one of the youngest surfers ever to win a Pipe Masters challenge.

Jamie’s father was a life guard and Jamie has said that one of the things that … Read More »

Known by many as the “Father of the Modern Longboard,” Steve Walden shaped his first surfboard in 1961, at age 13, and never looked back.

Eight years later, the native Southern Californian opened his first board factory and store in Huntington Beach, then moved to the North Shore of Oahu in 1972, where he made a name for himself as a prolific longboard shaper. While the rest of the surfing world was fixated on short single-fins, Walden continued to faithfully hone his longboard designs. Over the years he shaped for prestigious labels like Lightning Bolt, Local Motion, HIC, and Channel Islands, but it was always his own boards that set him apart. By the early 80s, Walden returned to California where he unveiled his wildly successful Magic Model with its radical rocker, down-turned rails, and super-fast Turbo … Read More »

Pick a surfing stereotype from smuggler to savior and you’ll find a piece of Dick Catri. Widely considered “the godfather of East Coast surfing,” this Floridian has influenced the sport for more than 40 years. Competing, coaching, repping, retailing, shaping — some would even say, shystering — Catri never missed an opportunity to promote the surfing lifestyle at home and abroad, crossing paths with renowned watermen from the venerable Duke Kahanamoku to modern wonder Kelly Slater.

Born in New Jersey, Catri [pronounced CAH-tri] moved to Miami as a boy. Upon graduating from high school in 1957, he began working as a beach attendant where he met a stunt diver named Jack “Murph the Surf” Murphy, who later achieved infamy for stealing the Star of India, the world’s largest sapphire. The California native introduced Catri to surfing … Read More »

Thomas Victor “Tom” Carroll (born 26 November 1961 in Newport, New South Wales) is a former professional surfer from Sydney, Australia. He won the Australian Junior Title in 1978, the Pro Juniors in 1977 and 1980, the 1983 and 1984 ASP World Tour, and the 1987 Pipe Masters. He became the first surfing millionaire after signing a contract with Quiksilver in 1989.

Carroll made the finals of the 1979 Pipe Masters as a world tour rookie, finishing 24th in the world that same year. He continued to ascend from 17th to 10th to 3rd before taking the world title in 1983 (winning 6 of 13 events) and distinguishing himself as the first goofy foot world champion.

The following year he … Read More »

Surf Line Hawaii was a shop in Honolulu that during the 60’s was a dealer for most popular mainland brands.  With the move to the shortboard revolution, they shifted to production and had many of the top island shapers working for them.  Dick Brewer, Reno Abellira, Gerry Lopez all pre-Bolt.  After the start of Lightning Bolt, a number of shapers left Surf Line Hawaii for Bolt, leaving the main shapers as: Dennis Pang, Rick Irons, Ryan Dotson, Randy Rarick, Buddy Dumphy among others.  They stayed in business until the early 80’s.

KEY: O= Original, R= Repaired, RF= Refurbished. Condition of board rated: 1(worst)-10(best)

Length: 8’0″
Width: 18 3/4″
Thickness: 3″
Condition: (O) 10

Sparky was a staple shaper for SH during their peak. This beauty has been totally restored by Randy Rarick and was slated for his … Read More »

Video may have killed the radio star, but for Chris Ward, it made the surf star. In another time, Ward would have been another hot kid from Southern California. As it is, his legend has followed — and perhaps even surpassed — that of his San Clemente neighbor, Matt Archbold, another worldwide sensation who never seemed to fit in a contest jersey.

The Wards moved to San Clemente from Galveston, Texas, when Chris was nine. Martin Potter had clocked some hours at T Street in the mid-’80s and ignited a freesurfing frenzy that began with Archbold and Christian Fletcher, filtered through international stars like Shane Beschen and rubbed off on kids like Ward. As Ward entered his formative years, the area was already synonymous with radical, outside-the-lines surfing. Rumors started circulating in the mid-’90s about … Read More »

Hap opened Jacobs surfboards in Hermosa Beach on Pacific Coast Highway in 1959, and came up with the Diamond logo: Surfboards by Jacobs. Business was good, and then it was great, and then it was ridiculous.

“We were there at the beginning during I guess what they call the Golden Years of Surfing between the 60s and 70s,” Jacobs said. “As I look back on those days there was a lot of stuff I could have done. It got busier and busier and busier until we had five shapers and people in the front room. Lance Carson and Robert August and Rick Irons all worked in the front room until they wanted to learn to shape. There were a lot of people who shaped for us and at our peak we were up to … Read More »

Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith were the co-founders of Gordon and Smith Surfboards in 1961. Gordon and Smith Surfboards, commonly referred to as G&S Surfboards, were based out of San Diego, California and had a large local following.

It wasn’t long before the Gordon and Smith label was well known and surfed throughout the surfing world. In large part, Gordon and Smith Surfboards gained popularity among surfers because of the major talent and influential surfers on the Gordon and Smith Surfboards team.

Team members like Skip Frye, Hawaii’s Barry Kanaiaupuni, Mike Hynson, of Endless Summer Fame, Dale Dobson and Butch Van Artsdalen – the original “Mr. Pipeline” and many others, contributed to G&S’ popularity.

Throughout the 60s, 70s and even well into the 80s, Gordon and Smith Surfboards continued to be a sucessful surfboard, surf accessories … Read More »

Another cool find in the OC. Storage War’s. Another Man’s Fall is another Man’s Gain. What can I say, but another great example of a 1970’s Mini-Hawaiian Sunset Gun. Made and surfed in Hawaii is this Donald Bennett. I do not have much history on DRB, but all you viewers, please partake and advise. – Buggs