Shea Weber and The Performer Staying Close to the Soul

9.6 Performer - Dewey Weber

 “The Performer was, and will always be, the very best traditional single fin longboard on the market. Period!”
That conviction and pride is part of what motivates Shea Weber to go to work each day, where he is carrying on a legacy bestowed by his dad, surf legend Dewey Weber.    

Shea Weber

Shea and his siblings, who were born in the late 60s and early 70s, “didn’t really know how big a deal our dad was in the 50s and 60s. We just knew our mom and dad owned a surf shop and that they made surfboards.” He describes his dad as being “like a kid trapped in a grown-up’s body. He got you excited about whatever he wanted to teach you. Our family had so many great adventures, including trips to Mexico, Catalina and Hawaii, but even a day at the beach was an adventure. When everyone from our neighborhood would go to the beach, my dad was the one that went body surfing with the kids, and then we’d all get out, lie down on the beach, and listen to him tell us the most amazing stories.”
Growing up, Shea recalls “we spent a lot of time at the shop. My brother and I terrorized that place. The factory was attached to the retail store, so we grew up seeing the whole thing. The employees were like our big brothers. We had some great times going to contests and watching the team.”
Dewey is most often associated with longboards, but Shea reminds us “my dad was one of the first big manufacturers to push shortboards. He was blown away by what he saw the Australians doing” and “was insightful enough to put Nat Young and Mike Tabeling on the team. The team we grew up with in the 70s and 80s was a shortboard team.”
Although surfing was the family business, Dewey let Shea forge his own path. “The coolest gift my dad gave us was that he never pushed us into surfing. He just let it happen organically, but he was hell-bent on teaching us his love for the ocean. He taught us to body surf and boogie board, and how to read the waves, currents and tides. My dad loved surfing, started a surf business, and helped to create an industry, but when things changed in the early 70s, I think he realized that there was more to life than ‘just surfing.’ Maybe it was having kids. It wasn’t like our whole lives were consumed by surf. He wanted us to enjoy the ocean and surfing, but he also wanted us to learn about and appreciate so much more. My dad encouraged us to play any and all individual and team sports. He thought there were great lessons in each. I am very much the same way with my kids today.”
The family also fished often, and Dewey “loved fishing so much that he eventually became a commercial swordfisherman.” Shea “got to go on a couple of five day trips with him through the Channel Islands” and “will never forget those trips. They were absolutely magical.”
Shea helped out in the surf shop when he was young, but didn’t continue straight into the family business. In 1989, when Shea was 18, “my dad had closed his shop, gone fishing and licensed someone to build the boards. I was surfing a ton and riding a longboard pretty much all the time. I was asked about Dewey Weber tees pretty often, but you couldn’t get them anywhere. I called up my dad and asked him, but he said he didn’t know of anywhere, so I asked him what he thought about me getting some printed and trying to sell them. I think he must have dropped the phone or fallen out of his chair, but when he finally spoke, he was so friggin’ excited that I wanted to do that. He gave me the name of the last screen printer he had used, and I ordered six dozen shirts. I had about two dozen pre-sold. I threw the rest in my car, drove from Carlsbad to Solana Beach hitting all the surf shops, and the rest of the shirts were gone! It seemed pretty easy. By the end of the summer, I had a steady little business going. I had a booth at the Oceanside Longboard Contest and my dad came down. He was so jazzed that he went home and opened a new store in Hermosa, named ‘Surfboards by Dewey Weber & Sons.’ Shortly after, I went to college in San Luis Obispo. He ran the store and I hustled up new wholesale business.”

Dewey Contest

Dewey passed away in 1993. The brand and shops have undergone several transformations since he opened the original in 1960, but the Performer longboard, designed and initially produced by Dewey and Harold “Iggy” Ige, has transcended the years. Shea describes Harold, who died in January 2012, as “an awesome human being and arguably the greatest shaper ever. He was my dad’s best friend, partner and accomplice.” Shea is keeping their creation in production, and provides these insights.
The Performer “was the first surfboard given a model name, and it is the most popular single surfboard model in history.” Shea believes the reason “the Performer is so popular is this: my dad and Harold had a goal, to design one board that would work for a variety of people in a variety of conditions, and they nailed it! If someone walks in looking for a good board to learn on, the Performer is perfect, because it’s wide, stable, forgiving, easily catches waves and is easy to turn. But it is not a beginner board. If an experienced surfer is looking for a good traditional single fin, the Performer is perfect. The Performer is my board of choice, and I’ve been riding waves for over 30 years.”
“People think the Performer was designed as a noserider, but that’s not true! It’s a great noserider, but my dad was a hot-dogger, a high performance turn style surfer. There is no way that he would have designed a surfboard that didn’t turn on a dime.” Several design innovations, including an asymmetrical rail cross section, contributed to maneuverability. “The pinched 60/40 rail was pretty progressive. Prior to the Performer, every manufacturer was making their version of the Velzy pig shape, with wide hips getting narrower at the nose, really thick 50/50 rails, and a big ‘D’ fin slammed right on the tail. The Weber Hatchet Fin was designed by my dad, specifically to go with the Performer. Again, most assume it’s a noseriding fin and difficult to turn, but it was originally called the ‘Turn Fin.’ Function came first, but the outline had ‘Dewey the promoter’ written all over it. He wanted people to immediately think of the Weber Performer when they saw it, even if it was on top of a car.”

Shea doesn’t know how many variations Dewey tried before arriving at the final design, but says “he wasn’t afraid to keep trying if they didn’t get it right. The Performer as we know it launched in 1966, and the response was staggering.” Dewey’s marketing and sales programs for The Performer changed the way companies approached selling surfboards.

Shea estimates that over 10,000 Performers were produced from 1966-68, and he has built over 5,000 more since 1994. He’s seen many vintage Performers priced from $1,000 to $10,000 but they hold a different value for him, “because of what that board means to the history of our company and the history of surfboard design. The fact that I get to run a company that has over 50 years of storied tradition is pretty special. My dad would be so stoked that the brand is still around, still family owned, and that the Performer is still our best selling board.”

Dewey Weber Surfboards
San Clemente California
www.deweyweber.com

© Tom Fucigna Jr.
TomFucignaJr@hotmail.com
www.SeventyFivePercent.com

A footnote from Shea Weber:

"A book about Dewey Weber titled The Little Man on Wheels will be out in August and it is incredible. My dad was an amazing person in and out of the world of surfing, but he did so much for the industry. His hot-dogging style, marketing and promotion approach, surf team, board design and manufacturing process, and 1981-87 Longboard Contests changed surfing. I honestly feel that he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves because he died so young. Too many people focus on how he died, but our family chooses to focus on how he lived: balls to the wall, full of life, energy, ideas, and the ability to tackle the unknown with a childlike fearlessness. The book is great because it captures his essence, but also paints a pretty rad picture of a really magical time in surfing’s history."

EXTRAIDO DE: http://surfmuseum.org/shea-weber-and-the-performer-staying-close-to-the-soul/

Behind The Tide - Official Trailer

Henry Ford

Henry Ford rode his first wave in Hermosa Beach in 1948.  His mentors were Hoppy Swarts, Leroy Grannis, the Meistrell brothers of Body Glove wetsuit fame, Hap Jacobs, and Dale Velzy.  All of these surfing and surf industry legends were his neighbors in Hermosa Beach.  His Mira Costa High School graduating class included Greg Noll, Bing Copeland, Sunny Vardemann, Dewey Weber, and Rick Stoner. Can you imagine?
One of those famous surfers, later nicknamed ‘The Bull’ just might have thrown Henry through a bathroom window during those carefree high school days.

Henry styling at 22nd St., Hermosa Beach. Photo: Leroy Grannis

His South Bay surfing included many winter days making the long walk down and back up the trail to PV Cove (no wetsuit, no lunch, burning tires to keep warm). He was a member of the “Double Deuce Danglers” of 22nd Street in Hermosa Beach, one of the early surf clubs/teams.
Henry was also a regular at Malibu during the 50s and early 60s along with such notables as Terry “Tubesteak” Tracy, Mickey Dora, Johnny Fain, Mike Doyle, Mickey Munoz and Gidget.

Henry charging big Haleiwa

He was an early pioneer of the North Shore in Hawaii and was featured in some of Bruce Brown’s early films including “Slippery When Wet,” “Barefoot Adventure,” and “Surfing Hollow Days.”  Those early North Shore sessions included Henry charging big Sunset Beach and nearly maxed-out Haleiwa on a 40 pound California-style longboard. Henry had the chance to be one of the featured surfers in “The Endless Summer,” but turned it down!
In the early years Henry started sweeping up (for free) in the Velzy and Jacobs surfboard shop, then worked in sales for Velzy and Jacobs, and later Jacobs Surfboards, where his outgoing, friendly personality served him in good stead.  He was in charge of the Jacobs surf team during its glory years with surf stars such as Lance Carson, Ricky Hatch, Johnny Fain and Robert August.
Henry was also a Los Angeles County lifeguard for 23 years, participating in every competition from 1958 to 1981 and was on several winning teams.

In 2008 Henry and Peff Eick were inducted into the Hermosa Beach Surfers Walk of Fame

Henry moved to San Clemente, where he still lives, more than 20 years ago and spent a long period working for Stewart Surfboards.  Both Stewart and Hobie Surfboards have a Henry Ford model.
He eventually moved into the apparel section of the surfing business with Koko Island.  Coming somewhat full circle from his Malibu days, he has also been involved with “Gidget Worldwide Promotions.”

Judging a longboard contest. Photo: Glenn Sakamoto

For several years he has been involved in putting on and judging longboard surfing events, including the Rabbit Kekai Invitational in Costa Rica, which has now moved to Hawaii to make it easier on Rabbit, and others.  Henry is passionate about preserving the history of surfing and giving back to an endeavor that has shaped his life.


   

That same style, 40+ years later

Henry Ford grew up as part of an extended “surfing family” in the South Bay and he continues to be an active member of an even larger surfing family today, with his involvement in longboard surfing contests, many aspects of the surf industry and preserving surf history and culture.  Now in his 70s, he’s still a stoked gremmie and a regular at San Onofre and some favorite spots in Costa Rica and Mexico.

That’s all, folks!

Addendum:  Henry recently had double knee replacement surgery.  He took his rehabilitation seriously and as a result, he’s back in the water surfing better than ever, popping up like a South Bay gremmie!

EXTRAIDO DE: http://surfmuseum.org/henry-ford/

Vintage Liddle Hull

Liddle Hull - Miki Dora

[SURF] Surfing Hollow Days

Rick Griffin Sketching Haggerty's

Rick Griffin Sketching Haggerty's

Before Rick Griffin made his more well-known contributions to Surfer magazine and the psychedelic poster art scene, he was just another kid doodling waves in his high school notebooks. Even then, his distinct renderings, and the possibility that he would graduate beyond rank-and-file notebook sketching, seemed evident to those around him. Classmate and fellow surfer Randy Nauert—who in those years played with ’60s surf rock band the Bel-Airs—recognized the potential in Griffin’s work. While the pair helped form Haggerty’s Surf Club, Nauert held on to Griffin’s early cartoons, which are published here, along with Nauert’s account of how Haggerty’s was formed.

In 1958, during my first year of high school, I was teaching Rick Griffin to surf on my 9’6” Hobie balsa surfboard in Palos Verdes. We thought balsa wood was the state of the art until my friend Charlie Couch showed up with a coral-colored Hobie foam surfboard. Charlie let me try his new board. It floated nice and high in the water, paddled well, and caught waves easier. I liked the new board, but a part of me also thought, "This is the end of surfing. Now anyone can have a surfboard.” Since they were plastic and popped out of a mold, you would no longer need to borrow a board from a friend in order to get started. I learned to surf on borrowed redwood and pine boards, paddleboards, or anything on the beach that wasn't being used. Then I saved up enough money to buy that first Hobie balsa board and I was on my way.
As surfing became a fad, poor care for the local beaches threatened to close many of our favorite surf spots. The San Onofre Surf Club had already dealt with this problem so we looked to them for guidance on how to organize effectively. When deciding on the name for our group, we chose a spot that took guts to ride—a spot that only broke in winter, next to the PV Pool and the old JJ Haggarty mansion. We elected to call the club "Haggerty's"—with the unique spelling—so that we could own the name. Rick drew up a logo, clothing design, patch, and we published it with the Nauert Griffin Card Company. Rick’s poster read:

Attention Surfers "These are the times that try men's souls"…. All surfers are faced with the threat of loosing our surfing beaches due to GREMLIN ACTIVITIES…. It is your duty… as a True Surfer… to help in the campaign to Wipe Out The Gremlin Element. Keep surfing the wonderful sport it is… Don't be a gremlin. 
Campaign Sponsored By: Haggerty's Surfing Club… Bing Surfboards, Walmar Productions.

Placing those posters on all the car windshields of the Narbonne High parking lot almost got us suspended, but the club grew rapidly.
—Randy Nauert

For more on Rick Griffin, check out “The Anatomy of a Surf Fink,” in issue 23.3 of TSJ, chronicling his most famous surf character.
Images: Randy Nauert Collection/Rick Griffin

EXTRAIDO DE : http://www.surfersjournal.com/rick-griffin-sketching-haggertys