Harbour Owners Society

Killer new website!

2011-04-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

This blog will continue to be alive for reference, but there is now a great new Harbour Owner Society Website.

Check it out.

http://harbourownersociety.com/

Facebook!

2011-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

Hello all, for now this Blog will only act as the archives for past events. Updates on events and photos can now be posted by members on our facebook page.

No plans to take down this blog, so use it to scroll down memory lane often. :)

Keep the stoke, see you on the waves!

TDRevolver

Harbour Owner Society on Facebook

2010-09-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

IT'S HERE!!!! Harbour Day is coming soon. November 13th...NEW LOCATION! We're still having it at Bolsa Chica (Tin Can Beach) but we're moving down to tower 23 for better parking.

As usual, great food, raffle prizes, surf, fun, and hang time. Dawn patrol till whenever. Be there around 10 a.m. and out of the water if you want to get in the famous group shot (as seen across the web and even on the front page of the OC register in years past).

Scroll through this blog if you want history, or pics from past events. The side bar has links.

You can buy raffle tickets from Todd or the shop in Seal Beach. You must be present to win! Raffle will be around lunch time. More details to come as they roll in, we usually meet up somewhere Friday night as well, either in Sunset or Seal Beach area. I'll post something on that as the event nears.

Can't Wait!

Tim and Pippa--What this blog is all about!

2010-07-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

This blog was created secondarily to keep up with the happenings of Harbour Owner Society, but, PRIMARILY, it is a great place to share the wave wanderings of Harbour Owners...and this is a great one! Have you had a great sesh or trip with your Harbour, send pics and write-up to tdsurf@juno.com. Here it is, thanks Tim and Pipa. Also, note the side-bar for upcoming shop event with Quicksilver.

_______________________

The plan was to take the long ferry down to northern Spain & drive back up the LH side of France, checking out some new spots & revisiting old haunts. It didn't go quite as planned (it never does), due to the weather. We'll do it again one day, when the sun shines.

Board for the trip was the 9.0 (surftech) Wingpin.

We set sail from Portsmouth at noon & 22 hrs later arrived in Santander in northern Spain (saving a drive of about 800 miles). A long lunch, followed by a trip to the movies, a turn around the deck, a light supper, followed by a little ship board romance with best beloved... and well ... suddenly it was time for breakfast!

The coastline of Cantabria is very green, well watered by winter rains, with limestone gorges & mountains running down to the sea - very reminiscent of the Big Sur.

As we arrived in Santander, it started to rain. Little did we know that we were about to experience some of worst weather, in 30 years, to hit this coast & way up in to France. First stop was just outside Riz, a river mouth & beach break.

Wet campsite at Isla with Riz in the background - river mouth is on the right - very messy surf!

Very attractive landscape with lots of bays, coves & surf spots. This is Laredo.

Between Laredo & Islares ... the storm approaches ...

Islares ... waiting for the swell ...

The country side around here is very rugged. Saw lots of eagles over the valleys.

Next stop was Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum - a fantastic piece of modern architecture ... and the rain poured down!

And so to Mundaka, an old fishing port on the left hand side of a river mouth, sheltered from the prevailing north westerly winds, with waves breaking on a sand bar just out side the harbour.

Ah, ASP spot Mundaka! The biggest, hollowest, most powerful lefts in Europe!

As we walked through the narrow streets of the old town in the late morning, the wind roared across the roof tops, rain dripped from the eaves of medieval buildings and glistened on the ancient cobble stones. Up ahead a door banged and a rubber clad figure, board under arm, padded off down the twisting alley towards the harbour. He slipped in to the water; paddled out straight into the river and shot off downstream as the current and tide caught him. The tide was dropping fast and the banks were were beginning to work. The waves were soon doh+ & as it got darker & darker, raining ever harder, more surfers began to make their way out to the line up.

Was I tempted to go out? EeeK! Boy was it rough & heavy out there! Well, it really would have needed a long board with the weight & speed of the TS to cope with making the sections, and mine was at home in the garage! I spoke to another Brit later on, who told a tale of surfing here with a friend some years before. They had gone out in similar conditions on longboards, his mate got nailed on his second wave, leash snapped & the board just disappeared. They spent 24 hrs looking for it. The board was never found! Ah ... Mundaka!

After rain all night, we awoke to blue sky & sunshine. The break was now really blown out although a lot smaller, so we drove along the coast towards France, to Lekeitio. Beautiful bay, with a fishing port on one side & a beach, with point break, on the other. Great campsite in the hills above.

Just when you thought it safe to go back in the water!

Into the corner at Lekeitio

That evening the clouds piled up & it started to rain again. It rained all night & it was still pouring down in the morning, so we moved on to San Sebastian near the border. San Sebastian is an elegant resort, much favoured by the wealthy since Edwardian times & similar to Biarritz just over the border in France. Well it just p****d down! Nothing for it but to get across the Pyrennes & into France & hopefully better weather. We stopped at a camp site that we have stayed at before, just inside France, about 500m from the border. Well, the rain poured down! The woman in the office told us that this was the worst weather for 30 years, with very serious flooding in the south of France & 45 fatalities so far.

Long story short .... we sat in the bar & got on the Internet, checked satellite photos that showed this storm running from northern Spain, across southern France & up towards Alsace & the German border!

By the morning it had been raining nonstop for 40 hours straight! The walk to the shower block was through ankle deep water - yuk!

Aargh! cabin fever was setting in! We decided to drive north up the western coast until it stopped raining & the sun cane out.

Drying out en route

And so to Biscarosse, home of Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe, 100m high, 500m across the base & about 1.5 km long.

Clean morning lines at Biscarosse Plage

Mind the speed bumps

The LH side of France is mostly one long beach break from Biarritz up to Brittany.

Old WW II bunkers get the treatment

On to Lacanau, another famous ASP spot. Take off was very fast with waves pitching top to bottom & about 1.5 oh. Challenging, getting the Wingpin tucked in before getting nailed. I stayed off the main peaks, as they were very crowded. Found a nice right off the rocks just visible in this shot.

Great fun until the on shores mucked it up late morning and it got very bumpy. Lost count of the number of waves I got bounced off. Herself commented "Every time I looked up, you seemed to be upside down!"

Onwards, & over the Gironde to Royan on the ferry

St Palais sur Mer- great work ethic!

La Sauveterre - another highly rated beach break

Clean, head high, empty lines at Sauveterre

A happy camper!

The last leg, 34C & time for tea - Chateau La Guignardiere

Home again -

The Victory in Portsmouth - she served during the American War of Independence, the war of the French Revolution & the Napoleonic Wars & of course as Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar.

The oldest commissioned warship in the world.

"Todd's sleeping in..."

2010-07-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all, it was an epic day after the 4th this year at the secret spot at Bolsa.

Rolling into the lot around 6:30 a.m. it was strange to see that 1st car space empty, I obliged the necessity to keep it occupied by a local and took the Boardhound's usual. I pondered the disaster that must have befell our faithful wave riding friend, surely his house had caught fire, a blown tire on the freeway, all his boards turned dominoes in his house??? Surely he'd not miss this day, big wave weekday and he didn't have to work?

Luckily I needn't stress long, for soon Doug pulled in and as we watched a few medium waves roll in with Tava surfing them alone, we decided to hurry into the water, "Where's Todd?", Doug asked as we rushed to change.

"I'm not sure", I replied, "I haven't heard back."

As we changed into the wetsuits and Roxy (shown above) checked the waves, the little girl couldn't help be get a little sad as Doug checked his phone, "I slept in". Doug read from Todd's text.

"He slept in!?"...So with shock in our hearts mostly strangers entering the water, Doug and I headed out into a super fun morning with Tava, dumbfounded at the impossible, Todd slept in.

But soon, the thought was lost, because as Steve and James paddled out along came the bigger sets.

It was definitley one of those stellar Bolsa days, nice sized waves, time between sets to paddle out (although, that was if you were smart enough to wait for the lull, which I often wasn't, and the drift had me in front of 24 more than once). But despite the constant paddling, and the occasional pounding it was a great day. Super fun drops into 8-10 foot faces with bowling up sections that often stayed open made for one of those days, put in the words of James, "You had to stay focused on those waves."

For my second surf in over a month, it wiped out my shoulders, but it's a pain I can love.

Tava caught some of the nicest waves I've seen him ride on his stand-up, dropping a sick, steep, walling right that I'd of loved to have a real camera to catch, I made do with some end of the session shots with my cell phone.

We all made drop after drop into the steep faces and really had a blast and left it all in the water.

It was a fantastic day, one deserving a follow-up breakfast at Woodies...and right about then, we heard from Todd...

So there we sat at breakfast limp arms raising forks to famished mouths, and thankfully we heard a tale that was music to our ears, the legend was not dead. Todd had woken early enough to surf, but knew he'd never pull himself from the water with only an hour session in order to make a 9 a.m. meeting in San Clemente to deliver one of his new boards to have it cutom painted.

Sounds like it's going to be a beauty (we'll post some pictures here for validation of the story later). Todd decided on arrival and after meeting the artists, his mind was better suited for other thoughts than working out an artist's scheme, so he left that work to the master and is excited to see the results. He's going to this guy for his board, some great work! I can't wait to see it.

The art of Drew Borphy

Well, it sure was a fun day out there guys, lets hope it's just the precursor to more killer summer swells to come!

Roxy and I will see you at the waves!

TDRevolver

P.S. I'll have the pre-post to Harbour Surf day, one of the 1st two Saturdays of November, and a pretty cool shop event is coming up end of July, so I'll post details on that soon as well.

Proud Harbour Owners

2010-04-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Long time Harbour Owner Society members Bobby and Mark, stand proud with two very special boards, 50th Anniversary Special Editions. The chosen spot for their maiden voyage, Malibu! What are they nuts?

Bobby J, showing the pin tail versatility.

Mark....smooth....

The hand-off...if you haven't experienced it...you need to!

Congrats fellas,

Keep the stoke, have a great day!

Good times at the Swap!

2010-04-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Joemotion fins

Another fun event at the swap thanks to Todd and Jeff making up some killer grub...

JDuck and Cameron providing the tunes...

Swappers buying and selling...

And everybody else getting to enjoy it all.

I had to miss the book signing, but the book is incredible, if you haven't bought one, def. worth it!

Swap pics!

And a few tasty waves as well.

New HOS Member...

2010-03-31T21:00:00.001-07:00

How did I miss this? I've been slamming and somehow missed the Feb. arival of a new HOS member...my mistake.

Mark's Limited Edition!

2010-03-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Sure is fun seeing the Harbour Day raffle have such a fun conclusion. Mark won the board credit in the raffle at this years Harbour day. Instead of buying one off the rack, he put his credit toward having Rich shape him a 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Board...

As you can see...great decision! Awesome!

Two events coming up, Book Signing and Board Swap!

2010-03-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

I can smell it in the air; warm weather, long board waves and late evening sunsets...SUMMER!

But we may have some rainy days before then so before we all hit the Board Swap to trade our boards, we'll need something to get through those rainy dawn patrols. "The Harbour Chronicles Book" should do nicely.

*The book signing will be Thursday, April 8th. 5-8 p.m. Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion at Orange Coast College. 2701 Fairview Road Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Same place as the killer art exhibit, see last blog posts for details on that.

For shop info:
http://www.harboursurfboards.com/contact.asp

*The Annual board swap will be on Saturday, April 17th. 9am-3pm. Check with the shop to book a space if you want to pass on a board to some happy new owner.
The Board Swap is always a great time of socializing, board viewing and hopefully finding that gem you've always wanted.

It all happens behind the Harbour Surfboards Shop in Seal Beach, the longest running surf shop in the world!

Hope to see you all at the upcoming events!

Harbour Chronicles opening night!

2010-02-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

WOW! What a turnout.

The show can only be described as a huge success. There was barely room to walk as 50 years of Surf and Harbour History walked the room. Photographers were clicking away, future surfers chased about the throngs and legends shared handshakes and hugs with current Harbour Team Riders.

As far as the food, amazing. I can't tell you what any of the intricately designed appetizers were, but they were all mouth watering. I happened to be tailing Rich in hopes of a picture for the blog, as he kept growling back, "Let me get some food."

As we walked into empty tables with only Starbucks coffee left, he asked what happened.

The Head Caterer shrugged her shoulders and said, "We're used to serving artist types, they nibble away and the amount we brought lasts the entire show...we're not used to serving surfers."

I had to laugh, I think my plate was piled slightly high. Sorry Rich and Burt.

Anyway, my daughter had a blast and enjoyed the friendliness of the Harbour Crowd.

It's great to be part of History! What a show.
Congratulations Rich!

HARBOUR CHRONICLES...The next H.O.S. event Feb. 13th

2010-01-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

HARBOUR CHRONICLES: A LIFE IN SURFBOARD CULTURE

Rich in 1662

What: HARBOUR CHRONICLES: A LIFE OF SURFBOARD CULTURE Art show, Starbucks, food (some of which will be served by the OCCCullinary Class). FUN!
Where: Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion at Orange Coast College. 2701 Fairview Road Costa Mesa, CA 92626

When: H.O.S. gathering and opening night, February 13th 5-9 P.M.
Show runs through April 9th. Gallery for exhibition Tuesday through Friday from 11-5, Wednesday until 8 P.M.
Sponsored by Honolua Surf Company and Ocean Life Inc./Harbour Surfboards

Hello all, above is the facts, more info below. I also know there will be a gathering of HOS Members at http://www.wingnuts.biz/ around 3:30, Larry and a few (maybe me) will be surfing San O in the afternoon leading up to the event. Check the message boards for all the chatter.

FYI: Something wrong with my posting abilities on the Harbour Message Boards, I enter a post and then it says, "enter text in message box" or something like that. Anyway, I'm radio silent on there till it's all figured out.

More info on the event:

As stated at The Surfer's Journal

"The Harbour Chronicles"
By Scott Hulet
"TSJ is pleased to announce The Harbour Chronicles: A Life in Surfboard Culture. This exhaustive and immersive installation will be unveiled February 13 at the Orange Coast College Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion. Harbour Surfboards were the preferred equipage of innumerable 1960s hot shoes, including Mark Martinson, Dave Reed, Roy Crump, Jackie Eberle, and Greg Tucker. The show will feature the recreation of three shaping rooms, dozens of referenced models, a series of interpretive didactic panels, and a chance to see what most surfboard historians consider to be the finest color laminations of the period. In other words, the shit."

Here's Rich's latest from his Message Boards about the event and the date of the upcoming book shown below. I'll post an update before the release of the book as well.

"I'm doing my best to keep everyone posted. If I have confused anyone, my apologies.
There is going to be a grand opening (Feb. 13th only) of the exhibit at the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion on the campus of Orange Coast College. It is free admission, free parking, will be catered by the OCC culinary class with beverages provided free by Starbuck's - once again, all FREE! The exhibit runs until April 9th, but there is only one Grand Opening ceremony.

The book is being printed and bound in Asia, and the Chinese New Year is right in the middle of the process. This complicates being able to exactly predict the book's delivery as they all go on vacation, but our best estimate is March 29th. It is hard bound containing 144 pages of many, many pictures and stories.
Signed and numbered copies (150 only) will be $49.95 and unsigned are $29.95. At present we are not taking reservations for the signed or unsigned copies .
On March 29th (if the books arrive by this date) there will be a VIP (special invitation) book signing of the numbered editions, plus LIMITED EDITION #3 Curly Redwood/Balsa will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. There will be a $10,000 reserve and it remains un-glassed, waiting for me to sign it and place the happy, highest bidder's name on it."

I'll make sure to update the H.O.S. blog before book signing and release.

You can keep up to date with Harbour happenings at the Harbour Blog.

The show is going to be great, hope to see the H.O.S. members...it's our favorite kind of event...Free!

Not to mention we get to be part of...

"Do I dare to surf this Beach?

2010-01-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

A little poetry from Wavedancer...

Do I dare to surf this beach?

Do I dare to eat a peach?

A man’s grasp should exceed his reach

But waves aren’t gentle when they teach

But waves aren’t gentle when they teach.

Do I dare to surf this beach?

The outer break seems out of reach

Huge swells progressing each-to-each

Lips crack white thunder on the reef

Where one-celled life builds nail-edged teeth.

Do I dare to surf this beach?

Once more into the liquid breech

The waves’ power impedes all speech

With board attached to fragile leash

With life attached to fragile leash,

Do I dare to surf this break?

Muscles throb and shoulders ache,

Pull for a drop I might not make

Possibly a real mistake

Body broke beneath the wake

Will burning lungs finally exhaust?

Am I ready to face this cost?

For he who hesitates is lost

Around and down and turned and tossed

If the nose pearls my fate is earned

But then the rail carves a turn

And down the line the rider burns

Forgets all his worldly concerns.

This is the life for which I yearn.

Do I dare to surf this beach?

Do I dare to eat a peach?

A man’s grasp should exceed his reach

But waves aren’t gentle when they teach

But waves aren’t gentle when they teach.

By Wave Dancer

Nice work!

If you haven't yet, subscribe to this blog...Keep the Stoke!

Thanks,

TDR

Congratulations Marc!

2010-01-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

As seen below, Harbour owner and film maker Marc Moore did some creative filming and surfing and won the recent Surfreel contest! Check it out!
Surfreel Contest Winner video

Exciting updates coming soon...stay tuned!

Holiday Cheer, with surf inspired art...

2009-12-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

Above and below, two of the pieces of artwork to be found at this website, Joemotion.

And surf art in another form, an ode from Larry, one of four to be found on the Harbour Surf Talk Message Boards.

San Onofre

When you start there

Those waves stay with you

All your days

You'll never be as afraid

As you should be

Of something about to break

As sometimes at Sano

It doesn't break

Not outside and not

A hundred yards more

Toward the shore.

Waves elsewhere break

Hard upon the sand

Or the rocks or scrape you

Along the coral

The length of the reef.

A San Onofre wave

Turns a kid into

An optimist

Take one ten feet tall

It'll never roar or send you

Onto the round smooth

Rocks on the seabed

From Dogpatch to The Point.

At Old Man's you can ride

Those combers all day

They'll never kill you

It's just that at low tide

You'll have to walk atop

Those rocks, the most pain

You'll ever have at San Onofre

Named after a saint

Who lived sixty years in the desert

Whose miracles remain mysterious

As the way you move on a wave.

And finally, a very cool, short video of the Harbour experience, by Mark Moore.

I hope all is well and nobody is sick from surfing in run-off the last couple of weeks, the Holidays are here faster than ever it seems; I'm ready to catch a few in between my son's soccer season and my daughter's softball season.

I hope to see you on the waves.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

More pics from Harbour week...

2009-11-19T10:09:00.001-08:00

The photos keep rolling in from the great times of Harbour week, at least it was Harbour week for a few.

Here's a link to Ron's photo's from the day, some of which are on the "Harbour Day" preceding this one.
http://www.awefoto.com/surf/hsd2009/

He really out did himself this time, contact him for purchases...incredible work Ron!

Here's Mark, soon to be a new board on that sweet ride.

Rich with cake.

California...still got a few good things going for her.

Happy proud papa, Tim on the maiden voyage of his Limited Edition.

The new shape, logo and name of the newest Board in the Harbour line was a hot topic of the weekend, here it is, sure to be a magic board, "The Merlin".

Enjoy the day!

Harbour Day, Best yet!

2009-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well it all came together for this Harbour Day.

As we all know, once Todd (Boardhound) took over organizing the event a couple years ago, the gathering keeps getting better and better. First he brought on t-shirts, then catered food from Jeff and his family, then the raffle was born. Every year, Todd strives (works his butt off) to make the event more enjoyably and memorable for all. And this year was no exception.

It all started off Friday night at Woodies in Seal Beach, where a large crowd gathered to watch Rich's vintage surf footage and enjoy food, drink and companionship.

But Todd had planned a little something extra this Harbour Day's eve and soon John (srf4life), was presenting Rich with two bottles of Red Wine, engraved with the 5oth anniversary logo (no labels, so pretty sure 2 buck chuck, but oh well) and two very nicely engraved wine glasses. A cake was also presented which added a 50th Anniversary sweetness to this event.

After the masses left, a few of the die hards made their way over to Henneseys for one more pint to store up the carbs for the next day's surf.

Dawn found the coffee shops bustling with Harbour Owners excitedly making their way to Tower 20 in Bolsa Chica State beach, I pulled in around 6:15 in the Falcon, to an already filling parking lot and the roar of what promised to be a pounding but fun morning of surf.

Few Harbour Owners waited for one another as one by one, board and rider hit the water.

It was a namesake "Bolsa-Bitch" day, where rides would be fast and fierce, crashes many and brutal paddle outs the norm--which always makes for great pictures!

After an epic morning of barrels and wipe outs, we all headed to the canopies for the traditional group picture (see first photo) and some great food.

This years sojourner from afar was Tim Sale, who came over from England with his wife Pippa in order to meet fellow Harbour Owners, shake Rich's hand, and pick up the beauty of a board (a 40th anniversary) shown above. Tim also got the unexpected experience of surfing this board finless, when unbeknownst to him, the fin had popped out and he took off on his last wave without it...squirly but fun times for him. Rich was nice enough to replace the fin, so all ended well.

Now, ever since Jeff Stauffer and his giving family started preparing the meal for Harbour Day, it's been mouth watering fantastic. But it was taking it's toll on them and we all wanted Jeff out in the waves with us before 3 o'clock this year. So even though he'd been happy to do it Todd made the call to give Jeff and his family a hard earned break from catering duties. I was sure we'd be dissapointed with whatever food replaced it but Todd brought in an upstart catering company which knocked it out of the park with Hawaian barbequed chicken, steak, rice...

I can still taste that chicken.

So with mouths watering in bliss we gathered around, caught up with old friends, ran our hands down rails and told tales of the surf.

Surfer and Shaper together; Terry Simms and Rich Harbour

After the stomachs settled a bit, and the last raffle tickets were sold, it was time to give away some prizes.

Rich's renewed health thanks to succesful (and one of many) neck surgeries was apparent as he easily handled the ticket calling duties for the raffle, calling names and giving hugs (well, the girls anyway) to the winners.

Here he is with the big winner, Mark (woodnsea), who was all smiles after winning the big prize of a Harbour surfboard. Soon after this photo, he made the quickest exit I've seen, "Where ya' heading?", I asked. "To the shop!" And he was gone.

After clean-up, the crowds slowly made their way onto other Saturday doings, but a few of us went out again, and enjoyed the afternoon waves that continued to roll in.

As the afternoon waned, a tired and injured Todd settled back with a few of us in the Falcon and enjoyed a cold one, "I think this was the best one yet."

I agree.

TDRevolver
________________

All photos labeled Awe F'shore courtesy of Ron Woolhether, contact him for purchase of prints.

For a killer slide show, with many more photos of the day, go to JB's website, Harbour Slide Show it's definitely worth checking out, support JB by ordering some photos!

Here's a write-up from Laylan (photo above), a soon to be Harbour Owner (I'll be checking next year Laylan) at the Orange County Register.
http://beach.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/07/harbour-surf-day-honors-seal-beach-shaper/18599/

Here's the slideshow from that page: http://www.orangecounty.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=22&id=1982

As the pictures roll in, I'll post links and and more photos as additional posts, but I wanted a summary of the day up asap. Hopefully, we'll have Lia's photo's including their Rincon post Harbour Day voyage to view shortly.

Keep the Stoke, hope to see you all on the waves.

TDRevolver

Harbour Day #7, November 7th, Bolsa Chica Tower #20

2009-09-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

Group photo, Harbour Day #6

Hello all, there's been some fun waves lately, and my back injuries are finally healing up to enjoy them, THANK GOD! Fun times at San O on a quite Monday.

Couple of quick notes:

*Stay tuned in the coming months for a new product from Harbour Surf Boards, and it's not a surfboard, but something all Harbour fans and history buffs will be sure to want.

*Time is ticking to get your Limited Edition 50th Anniversary board, I believe orders will be taken till Dec. 31, but check with shop.

*Order shirts now, deadline Oct. 1st for Harbour Day shirt. todd1218@verizon.net

Now to the Harbour Day;

For those that are new to the Harbour Family, or just investigating what's so great about the Harbour brand, one of the staple events of the year is coming up, the Annual Harbour Day.

Harbour Day started several years ago, when a few of the guys who post on the Harbour Message boards decided to get together for a surf. Click this link for last years pics and OC Register write-up.

Here's the info:

*November 6th, casual gathering at Woodys in Seal Beach, 7:15 pm, hit the shop, then stop on by for a beer and grub.
*November 7th, Tower 20 (South of entrance, 1st parking lot North of RV camping).
*Dawn till Whenever.
*Group photo of Harbour Owners and boards at 10 am.
*Raffle at 11:30 range--after lunch.

Harbour Day is for everyone, young and old, Harbour Owners, non-Harbour Owners, non-surfers, anybody who enjoys a good time with a positive attitude is welcome.

There will be a good supply of:
*Food...

*Prizes (buy a raffle ticket for that, and must be present to win, email Boardhound, or stop by the shop.)...

*surf...

and fun...

We hope to see you there, if you are a new Harbour Owner, or looking into it, you can comment here, or email Todd for questions about, Harbour Owner Society.

Customer Appreciation month continues...

2009-08-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's always a good time to stop by the Harbour Retail shop in Seal Beach. But it's even better when Burt joins forces with Quicksilver, O'neil, and Honolua to show his appreciation of his customers with a great sale.

The final week of sale prices (make sure to stop in this week) kicked off with great food (excellent potato salad Todd) and good company.

I'd say the highlight of the event was the toss game set up out back, where kids were held to three tosses in order to win an O'neil hat, but Harbour regulars took 20-30 tries for theirs.

And of course, it's all fun and games till Burt decides to go after Boardhound with the beanbags, and all out war ensued...Trace smartly laughed and stayed out of the battle.

John takes advantage of the great service and prices.

Todd seemed to find a way to get into most shots...can you find Todd?

Fun times!

See you on the waves!

You should of been here yesterday...

2009-08-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Or at least a couple of weeks ago. I've heard that quite a bit since I've been back from my road trip through Oregon and the North West. I had a blast Saturday morning, and I'm still sore after a month out of the water, but I keep hearing about that swell...hopefully more to come.

I also missed out on two great opportunities at the shop to get some great gear at great prices. Robert is marking items down left and right for Harbour Owner Society members...I'm hoping to get some pics of the last two events and I plan on taking pics myself this Saturday at the next one.

DON'T MISS IT!

Hope to see you there, here's the information.
TDRevolver

FROM THE BOARDHOUND:

Hello all, we are starting Customer Appreciation week #4 featuring O'Neill, we will Have some grub and drinks. Stop by and get some killer deals on O'Neill Products. Stop out back and say hello, grab some grub and have a good ole time.
thanks
Boardhound

O'neill: August 22nd-28th, Saturday the 22nd- Free gift w/purchase,
food, and fun.

Honolua: August 15th-21st, Saturday the 15th-Free gift w/purchase, food,
and fun.

Board Swap and Balsa Board pics!

2009-04-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

First a couple of pics from the great day at the shop. Rich was free with his knowledge, and Todd and Robert were free with the food. Great times. The boards were just amazing...I'll let the pictures do the talking.

See below for the Board swap info. Thanks for the Pics Lia Johnson!

Jeff and John sharing a bite to eat.

Proud Papa enjoys the glow.

A great place at all times, but very cool on this special day.

Artistic Prowess...

More art in the form of custom tool.

Listening and learning.

Here's the boardswap info:

Hope to see you all soon on the waves!

Rare Chance to discuss surfboards with Rich Harbour

2009-03-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Curly Redwood Balsa project:

Want to see these beautiful works of art in their finished form?

Who wouldn't?

Saturday, March 28th, 2009, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the longest continually running surf shop in America, 50 years of Surfboard knowledge will be available to the public, in the form of Rich Harbour himself.

Harbour Surfboards

329 Main St.

Seal Beach, CA 90740 USA,

will host the event.

Rich Harbour will be on hand for the unveiling of his recent masterpieces and will answer questions and discuss surf history, surfboard design and these beautiful boards. The pictures below are just a teaser, to a must read for any surfer, at the Harbour Blog,

Dry as Death Valley...

2009-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Man, it's been too long, since I posted, with sickness, rain, and coaching multiple sports, IT'S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I SURFED!

I miss the waves and my surf riding friends.

JDucks upcoming performance inspired me to update the blog.

Spring, warmth, sun and more daylight is just around the corner (and soccer is done!) so, hopefully I'll be back in the water regularly again and posting at least monthly.

So, here's what's up:

JDuck is getting the band back together, for a Pasadena event, a couple of us will be there I know, so if you can come out to support, we can have a little inland HOS gathering with killer stoke.

JDuck's band puts out a smooth surf sound, that will put your mind on a wave while sitting at the bar.

Also, check out the Harbour Blog, link at right, for some great shots of Rich shaping a board, with cameo of Boardhound. Really great. Also some fun shots of the SUP in actions. Here's just a sample.

Well, I hope you are all catching many more waves than I am, can't wait to get wet!

Harbour Surf Day #6, Nov. 8th, 2008

2008-11-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

WOW! What can I say, kicking off the the 50th year celebrations with the new "50th Anniversary" board on display, a new Harbour owner thanks to a raffle, an East Coast Harbour Day, and the best turn out yet...the 6th Annual Harbour Day, the best one yet!

This post is just an example of the stoke Harbour brings, we had more photos than ever, some from JB, (his work here), JDuck, Dinkum (East Coast), SumDumSurfer, Rich, and Old Surfer Dude (his work here).

And this write up, thanks to Laylan Connelly, who has a great blog keeping up with the OC Beach life:

http://www.ocregister.com...-one-2224921-board-boards

Laylan gave me permission to re-post her story here. I've added a few of the many great pictures, from the day, I wish I could post them all, but refer to above links if you want more. Her article also appeared in the OC Register; Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Harbour lovers honor long-time shaper

Rich Harbour marks 50 years of surfboard shaping and nears 30,000 boards.

Laylan Connelly

Beach columnist
The Orange County Register
lconnelly@ocregister.com

Laylan interviews Rich

Trevor Downs gently glides his hand over the turquoise blue Harbour longboard while showing off the small details of what makes it special.

The piece of art could easily go up on his wall, he said. The problem is – it's the only board he's ever wanted to ride.

Downs' longboard was just one of about 50 showcased on the sand at Bolsa Chica State Beach Saturday for "Harbour Surf Day," a beach party with Harbour lovers who take the day to honor their favorite surfboard shaper Rich Harbour.

Harbour is celebrating 50 years of surfboard shaping, a milestone anniversary that kicked off Nov. 1 and will run through 2009.

"You know what, I'm proud of myself," said Harbour, as the 65-year-old sat on the sand taking photos of the crowded waves dotted with Harbour boards."I've never been bummed out on what I do. Every life has its lows and highs, but it's been mostly highs most of my life."

Harbour Surf Day started in 2005 when a group on a message board on the surf shop's Web site decided to get together. Only about 10 surfers showed up, but the event grew every year.

1st Harbour Day

Harbour tries to show up to each one, as well as many former employees who have worked in the shop through the years.

Many of the people who attended Saturday told stories of how Harbour took the time to figure out what they needed. When Todd Saunders came in with his father, Harbour had them give a test ride with two boards before sitting down with them to figure out what they really wanted.

Todd took over organization of the day for the 3rd event, adding t-shirts and a raffle to the fun.

"You walk into the shop, you don't feel like a customer, you fell like part of the crew," said Saunders.

Harbour, the last of a nearly extinct culture of surfboard shapers who work in a back room of the shop, said it's the love of working with his hands that keeps him going. He loves every aspect of the job, from fiber glassing to the creative puzzle-solving process of making just the right board for a surfboard rider.

"I hate changing oil on a car; I'd rather have a root canal. But get dust on me, and I can lay down in it," he said.

Harbour started making boards at a young age, after someone snagged his board, and he had to come up with a way for a new one. Knowing his parents wouldn't fork over cash for a new one, he proposed the idea of making one to his dad, who worked as head of tool and dye for Douglas Aircraft.

The first board came out "pretty pitiful," Harbour said with a chuckle. There were no instruction videos back then, and not many other shapers around to give advice to a kid.

"There were snickers …. I was the joke of the beach. That crushed me," he said.

But those laughs made him motivated to create something greater, to really take time to analyze it and figure out surfboard shaping. His second board turned out much better, and a business was born.

Of all the boards Harbour has created, his favorite is the one hanging on his wall, his 20,000 surfboard that he made for the 40th anniversary collectors series. It's all wood, made of half curly and half balsa.

For the 50th anniversary, he will make five more collectable wall-hanger legacy boards numbered 30,001 30,002… and so on. At a price of $8,000 each, two have already been ordered.

He's already gotten the wood for them, with logs that are so large it takes three people to lift them. These boards are for the connoisseurs of surfboard design who want a piece of art for their wall.

"I have to cut all this up to make surfboards out of it … oh boy," he said.

Also, the same design is available all-year long for a rideable surfboard made of traditional material for about $1,200, depending on length.

"It's not a surfboard for everyday, it's a surfboard for theday," said Robert Hownson, who took over the store in 1993 so Harbour could concentrate on building.

He compared it to a special outfit you'd wear to a wedding, for that perfect 6-foot glassy and peeling day when no one is out but you and your friends.

Harbour and former employee Mike Marshall, who worked at the Seal Beach shop from 1963 to 1968, chatted on Saturday about the early days, and how he met his wife back then, who surfed on Harbour's surf team.

"These people, I can't get rid of them," he said with a smile, humbled by the turnout. "They've become lifelong family."

By Laylan Connelly

Great story, Laylan, Thank you!

Here's some more pics from the day...great times!

Tad can work it all, big to small.

We can't thank Jeff and his family enough, beyond the call, amazing food...thanks buddy.

"I won a leash?" "I won a shirt?" "I WON A BOARD!!!!! WOW!"

Steve on the nose...

Another Steve on the nose...I'm changing my name to Steve.

And let's not forget, the first annual, EAST COAST HARBOUR DAY

From Dinkum:
The EC Harbour Day in Flagler Beach, FL went off nicely with a small turnout (about 12 people had to cancel in the week prior for several reasons). Our small
group was welcomed by the locals who knew we were coming thanks to a local surfshop who had been kind enough to give me advice on local restaurants and the
break.

Until next time...enjoy the ride. Thanks JDuck for the new HOS heading picture.:)

50 year celebration begins!

2008-10-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Amazing really, 50 years of surfboard making. A half century! What a pleasure to be part of history, it's my privilege to ride a HARBOUR!

It's going to be a great year, with collectors item boards;

Seal recognizing Rich (I would hope, if I hear of anything I'll post here), and a nice little kick-off, November 8th at Harbour Day (See below for Harbour Day details, all welcome). Come out, for great food, great people and great boards.

CHECK "WHAT'S HAPPENING" ON SIDE-BAR FOR HARBOUR DAY DETAILS

and here for news on the East Coast event.

Here's some info on the 50th year celebrations, from the Official Harbour Blog, located here.
___________________________

Starting November 1st, Harbour Surfboards will begin honoring its Fiftieth year in the surfboard business.

In 1959, Rich Harbour, Harbour Surfboards’ founder, began shaping surfboards out of his parent’s garage at 15 years old and continues to craft surfboards today. Fifty years later, Harbour Surfboards is the oldest surfboard manufacturing shop that still operates in the same location. Handcrafting nearly 30,000 surfboards and counting, Harbour Surfboards is recognized worldwide as an iconic surfboard label.

Harbour Surfboards was an early pioneer in the Southern California surfboard building industry that has since become a lifestyle and cultural phenomenon with its influence in fashion, advertising, music, movies etc. Today vintage Harbour boards are coveted and by collectors and enthusiasts everywhere.

As a tribute to his fifty years of board building, Rich Harbour is pleased to present the Limited Edition surfboard model. The concept is a culmination of Harbour’s most popular surfboard shapes. A classic pin-tail shape with 50/50 rails and made of classic weight poly-urethane foam, the Limited Edition is decked out with a 5 piece cedar and basswood t-band stringer, offset glue lines, Volan fiberglass and a single multi-colored fin - the Limited Edition will surely become a collectable. The Limited Edition surfboard model is available to the public for one year only beginning November 1st. Contact Harbour Surfboards for pricing and a brochure.

For the serious collectors, Rich Harbour plans to personally glue and shape five high-end Balsa and curly Redwood versions of the Limited Edition surfboard model next year offered at $8,000.00 on a first come first served basis beginning November 1st.

Please contact Harbour Surfboards 562 430-5614 to get your hands on one of these boards!

For those interested, in the much shorter, but stoke filled history of Harbour Day, check the previous years posts:

Harbour Day History and 2005 (2 events)

2006

2007

Gotta' love Harbour...HISTORIC, and HISTORY IN THE MAKING...

Longest Wave for Marc, 10ft to win, new board for TD!

2008-09-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here's Marc on the H3, dragging the hand....

Check out Marc here, going for longest ride...
http://mainland8.freewavechallenge.net/video/373/Marc-Moore-on-a-long-one-at-Malibu

Great ride Marc, I was thinking of heading to Malibu for my maiden voyage, but seeing that kid swarming you like a Bee is giving me second thoughts. :)

I've had one of the great weeks in my life as a surfer, and I haven't even surfed yet. I just can't quit finding excuses to go into the garage to run the hands over the egg rails.

As seen in an earlier post, it was a pleasure to sit with Rich and talk out my custom Harbour several weeks ago. But seeing the beauty for the first time, just unbelievable.

The board really is a piece of art, worthy of a place on the wall.

Being a teacher, father of four, and coach; I've had time to appreciate the board in its pristine form, as art. But, the time is near, where I can appreciate if for its true value, a perfectly crafted wave riding vessel...CAN'T WAIT!

Thanks, Robert, for picking and placing the fin for me, and for talking me through the early visions of this board.

For those interested:

It's 9'10
Rapier Outline
Egg rails
Subtle blended nose concave
3 3/16
Lower rocker than normal Rapier

Don't forget, Harbour Day coming up, get your raffle tickets, NEW 10 ft BOARD TO BE WON!!!!!!!!

From BoardHound:

Hello all, Here is an update on the "Raffle" I will have a New 10' Harbour for the Raffle. If you win the board you will be able to pick it up at the shop. If the board needs to be shipped because you missed the Event I will have it boxed but yo will be responsible for the Shipping and Insurance cost. If you decide you want Choose a different board you can exchange it for a board of equal or lesser value (No Cash refund) or if you want to order a custom or exchange for a board of greater value you pay the difference. Again I will promise you a New board
in the Raffle.

EMAIL TODD FOR RAFFLE TICKETS, OR BUY MORNING OF EVENT.

Note: I am also buying tickets so I have the same shot as all of you at winning the board.

H-3 and Jeff in action

2008-09-15T07:43:00.001-07:00

The "secret spot" where Harbour Owners often surf was in Fall form this weekend. The winds stayed calm, and the swell was big enough to overcome the tide, plenty of very nice peaks with the occasional larger set making it exciting.

Local surfer and pro photographer, Jim Boswell (of JB Photography) has been on hand of recent, and he caught Jeff on the best sequence of the day.

Many other Harbour regulars have some great shots to view at www.PrintRoom.com/pro/jboz
Once on the site, click gallery, then find a day you were surfing, you just might find a photo yourself.

Thanks Jim, for giving me the pictures to post.

Nice work Jeff, Great ride! Def. shows what the H-3 can do!

September is here...

2008-09-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

A classic photo circa 1965, of Harbour Surfboard owner and Surf Talk regular, Screwfoot49.

I'm back...I had a great trip, but I missed the waves and my Harbour surfboards.

I hope you all had a great summer, I've been cramming in as much surf as possible, surfing Camp Pendelton for the first time, San O with Brother John, and a Bolsa Session or two. It's great to be back in the water with my fellow Harbour Owners.

Although I'm loving the warmer waters (most the time) it's time for Fall Off-Shore glass with hopefully some nice swells and dwindling crowds, and I'm excited.

I'm also pumped about the new Harbour Web site, make sure to schedule some time to check it out.

New Blog site, new photo's for boards, and many more new additions make the site a real gem, matching the quality of the Harbour Name.

As always, the New Arrivals are a first stop for me.

And the Surf Talk usually has a nice picture or two...

I especially like the newest post on the new Blog, featuring some old-school Harbour skateboards.
Harbour Surfboards

It was something special, my first Saturday back, some nice waves at 23, then over to Nicks for a burrito, followed by browsing through the new boards on the rack. Some great new Nose-Riders in there.

It's always a stoke filled experience stopping by the shop.

Keep the stoke, I'm hoping to have a new Harbour in my line-up before Nov. 8th Harbour day, so you know that will be worthy of a post with plenty of pictures.

Nice work JDuck.

Harbour Day coming soon, check side panel, or here's the word from Boardhound:

Hello all, We are gearing up for the annual Harbour Surf Day, Please let me know if you want shirts the shirts will be ordered
on Sept 20, 2008. If you are attending the east coast event Please let me know so I can get your shirts either to you or to
james for hand out on the day of the event.

West coast event will be held at Bolsa Chica state beach, Tower 20 (lot just north of campground)
We will start meeting at 6:00 am on Nov 8 2008 .
If you need a room the Sintra Inn in sunset has offerd us a 10% discount on rooms Sanatra Inn
(go to reservations fill out the info and in the comments box put "Harbour Surf Day 10% discount)

Schedule of events
Friday Nov 7th (To be announced)
Saturday Nov 8th- 6:00 am Set-up, meet, Gab & Surf
10:00am Surf Day Photo
10:30 to 1:00 Grub, Gab & mingle
1:00 Raffle
2:00 Surf or gab

T-Sirts 20.00 each (Artwork Attached)
Raffle tickes 1.00 each (You do not need to be present to win) Name & Phone # required

On a road trip...be back soon!

2008-07-03T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I won't be able to post here for a while, I'm on a road trip across America, but I'll get an update in August. If you want to follow my travels, I'm updating here: surfwriters

At least I can throw these up though, nice concave, and nice "very close" Nose Ride!

Harbour Owner Society at San O! Pics by JDuck

2008-05-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning 4 a.m. I pulled into the already 4 deep car line of San O, feeling good.

Jeff (Slider) was asleep in the overhead bunk of the Millennium Falcon, and I planned on getting another bit of sleep before the gates opened. But it wasn't long before the rumble of Todd's truck, John's van and the regular San O crowd started to pull in, so I was too excited to sleep.

Todd's Big Rig and my RV set up nicely in front of Four Doors, and the Harbour members rolled in, then it was into the surf to beat the crowds.

The morning swell was fun, with some good sized sets giving us plenty to ride. (Some shots form Sunday may be uploaded soon, when I get them). After a strong and tiring morning of surf, it was time to initiate the new HOS grill.

As usual, Todd and Jeff stepped up beyond the call of duty, with Jeff supplying the rib-eye and Todd supplying everything else (keep buying the gear all), the two master chefs created a phenomenal feast. (That's Slider, putting the pressure on with his Mad Dog look, killer tattoos, and tough guy swim trunks.)

Let's face it, there's tons of paddling at San O, and after a double session, we were wearied, tired and very happy.

The never tiring Todd, fires up the grill again, for the second round of grub; burgers, more steaks and Brats...very tasty, very tasty indeed. He seems to work best when approached, just as the embers go dark, and someone (like me) asks..."Can you cook me a steak?"

The crew gathered around, telling stories, before the picture. Many more showed and surfed, including a whole new crew for Sunday, but these are the members hanging around Sat. afternoon.

That's me, wondering how my back got old so fast.

A few of us enjoyed yet more cuisine Saturday evening, at San Mateo campground, with tri-tip tacos, and award winning Cabernet. Thanks for the hospitality James Clan.

I must say, I'm always stoked, by the "locals" of San O. For many, they've had their spots for years, they have their routine, and they have their locations to park; yet they welcome the Harbour Owner Society, and make room for our occasional gathering there. From the warm welcome at 5 a.m. in line, to the proper policing of mega-rigs taking 10 spots parallel parking, to the Hawaiian Surf Club...a great class of people. Thanks!

Another great event with fantastic friends--all who enjoy riding the wonderfully crafted vessels that carry the Harbour name.

1st Florida Harbour Day!

2008-05-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

April 27th. Sunday. Morning. Oh-Dark-Thirty:

My friend Tom "Snake" Kelly arrived at the house as instructed - with no board. This was to be a Harbour only day and since he loves Harbours (but hasn't bought one yet - egads!) he was due to ride the Banana. I had loaded up my wife's Chevy Guzzler Gigantus (Suburban) with several boards the previous night so we were ready to go on his arrival. I had packed the Gatorade, he had brought a prodigious supply of Twinkies. Ready to roll.

Destination: Ponce de Leon Park, Melbourne Beach, Florida. Time alloted for journey: 2 hours:

Burnin' up I-95, slowing only for the many patrol cars. Munching onTwinkies, MojoBrew cafe Cubano and Rolaids, whilst listening to Warren Zevon sending lawyers, guns and money... We arrived, well, late. Eight thirty to be exact. Ponce de Leon park is actually nowhere near any of the east-west corridors that bring you from the interstate to the shore. So, once you get there, you've doodled down the coast for about twenty minutes taking in the sights; condos, condos, scrub palms, condos, bikini clad lovelies, condos, ah... a park... nope wrong one, condos, bikinis, condos, palms, the park! The upside of being a bit of a distance is the lack of crowds. Das ist goot. Muy bueno. Etc.

As we unloaded, we spotted a fellow taking video of the waves [which we
had suspected were non-existent as we were driving down A1A (the coast
road) - fortunately we were wrong about that]. He wasn't wearing a
Harbour shirt and there was no indication he was a "Harbour Guy" - we
do blend in fairly well - but my extra sensory perception lead me to
believe that he was, indeed, "one of us." It might have been that he
saw my Harbour shirt and came over to us introducing himself. I prefer
to think it was the ESP thing. Anyway, it turned out he was Tom
(Longboard727) from St. Petersburg, which is on the Gulf coast of
Florida (our West coast). AKA The Land of Even More Pitiful Waves Than
South Florida Or Maybe Utah. He had traveled all the way across in a
tiny Toyota which was dwarfed by his San-O on a soft roof rack. Risk
taker; I knew we were in trouble.

We readied the rides: Tom - 9'6" San-O, Snake - 10-0 Banana, James -
10-0 Sol (okay so the waves were seriously underpowered for the Sol but
I had promised to bring it for Gordon to try). The Banana was ideal but
I didn't want to stick a friend with an inappropriate board, so I got
to look like a kook (okay it wasn't much of a stretch for me) instead
of Tommy (Snake). I am such a nice guy.

As we were waxing up Gordon ran up. He had been in the water for a
while and was coming up to switch boards out. He introduced himself. He
must have ESP too, because he came right over to us (naturally it
wasn't the three boards with big triangles on them). I wasn't sure I
had actually met him because I think I blinked and he was back in the
water. I am a bit sluggish in the mornings.

So, I didn't bring a wettie. Actually, none of us had. Except Gordon. Smart. It was cold. Not California cold. Florida cold. Which is to say, about 70 degrees. After about fifteen minutes the brain freeze had worn off and it was really very pleasant. Central Florida has the nastiest looking water. The bottom is all silt and rock so it is never clear when there are waves, and bacteria joyfully find their way into any exposed orifice... sinus infections run rampant in this part of the state. Plus there are sharks. Lots of them. Big ones too (someone caught a 12 foot Tiger at a spot I surfed - on the day I surfed it. Not an uplifting thought really). None made their presence known today though.

We finally made it into the water and we were welcomed by waist to chest plus peaks. Lefts and rights. Tom (727) and I stuck together and traded off waves, occasionally doing a me-go-right-you-go-left deal. Fun stuff and fortunately we knew our rights from our lefts so no collisions. Drops were nice but you had to work the faces to make it through the trough between the reef and the shore. Gordon said it was better earlier. Natch.

The Sol is an awesome board and loved the drops, but the tail is too narrow for mush and it took a lot of cutting back and trimming waaay forward to keep it going in those waves. Tom was catching some awesome rides on his San-O - getting up to the nose even with a sprained ankle. I hate that kind of talent. Eventually we traded off and I quickly found out why Rich has size charts. A 9-6 San-O is a shortboard for my 205 pounds.

Eventually a steep enough peak cam along and I took off right, almost lost it on the superfast bottom turn and managed to work the wave all the way into the shorepound where I politely backed off the wave (okay, it dumped me me off the back of the wave - two left feet, I swear) so that Tom's board wouldn't get bounced off the inside bar. Tom had some trouble with the bottom turns on the Sol at first because of the tail and the mush, but he worked it nicely and really enjoyed the board, methinks. He followed me in and we walked back up the beach - there was a bit of a drift on it so we were about a 1/4-mile up. We traded boards after I let him tote my much heavier Sol up the beach for me. Sneaky.

Tom went back in and Snake and I wended our way back to the Guzzler. Me for a different board, Snake for a Newport. I was eyeing the Banana that whole time because I had observed him getting a LOT of waves (not surprising - he did earn the nickname after all). Since he's a smoker, I bet I could've grabbed his board and reached the water before he could catch me. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor (he's also mean when he's mad), I instead reached for the Fish. 6'6". Yikes! I had taken it out for the first time two days earlier and, having decided that there was no way I could ride something so tiny, I was sincerely shocked when I popped up and skated the thing down a face and cutback into the curl - on my very first try! Woohoo! Same for the twenty something waves that followed. Four-foot shorebreak and fun as all get out.

My confidence was up. So here I was, paddling out on the 6-6 and I had lost Tom and Snake but ended up next to Gordon on his Quatro which he had switched to from his HP-1. Needless to say Gordon's wave count was about four to one. Well, maybe ten to one. And smooth? He does his Harbours justice. I managed four waves on the fish and didn't do as well as I had in the minichop two days before, but I was still happy that I was standing on a such a small board and having a blast. Went in and traded out for longer equipment again and saw Gordon rushing off for work - sadly, he never got to try out the Sol (next time). I paddled back out and managed to hook up with Tom once more. The waves were seriously deteriorating as the winds came onshore and really bumped them up. My Twinkie high long since gone, tummy rumbling and fatigue setting in, I said "one more" and proceeded to wait another 45 minutes for it.

Ugh.

I am so stubborn in my refusal to paddle in. But then, out of nowhere, a headhigh peak arose. I spun and took off, gliding down the brown, sunlit wall. Reading the way the rip disrupted the face and broke it in two, I pressed my heels into the rail and swept back into the curl, straightening out for a second before pushing my weight back onto my frontside rail and hooking into the reform, accelerating like a bat out of hell into what fast became a booming shorepound. I pulled out and proned in. Looking back I saw Tom raise his arms in a two-handed salute and I waved goodbye. A great end to a fun, fun session.

Back up at the cars, Tom packed up his board (he had taken the next set wave in and gotten a good noseride) and decided he had to get back over to St. Pete rather than join us for lunch at the local food shack - DaKine Diego's which serves pretty-darn-close-to-authentic Costa Rican cuisine. Snake and I packed up and headed over after bidding Tom a safe journey. We were all stoked on the camaraderie and decent surf and wished only that there had been more of us there and more time afterward. We will plan another one with more time to decide on a date so that more folks can come.

First annual Photo Contest! WINNERS!

2008-04-25T13:54:00.001-07:00

First, my favorite picture, even though it was not in the contest...Rich filling out my order form for my first custom ordered Harbour...I've bought new and used, but to sit with Rich, discuss the shape, and spend time with him and his knowledge, priceless. I'm looking forward to posting the shaping pictures and the finished board.

Thanks Rich!

Now to the contest.

Lots of votes for all the pictures, here are the four with the most, so I'm calling it a tie in both divisions...thanks for the artwork, and thanks for the votes all...fun times! We'll do it again. Boardhound has a little something for the winners.

Stay tuned, for a fun little write-up and pics Monday, from the Florida Harbour Day, and then in a week or two, some photos from the H.O.S. San O weekend.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE--IT'S WORTH IT!

#1 Great photo, what we dream of as we head to the beach.

#6 As one voter said, it's why we go to the beach on knee high days!

#7 Great art, great surf shot!

#13 Artistic? Entertaining?...well...it did tie for most votes...why, because we love the Boardhound!

The other vote getters.....

Photo Contest and H.O.S. Event May 2nd & 3rd

2008-04-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

For more great art from Ron, check out his website, awefoto.com

It's a down month for events, but the weather is warming, and May 3rd and 4th is our next H.O.S. gathering. Look for the big White Rig, and the H.O.S. Mobile Office near 4 doors, in San-O.

Should be a fun one, some of us are camping at San Mateo, Sat. night.

Todd's bringing some grub, but bring something along to share if you like...hopefully we'll be initiating the new grill.

KILLER SALE PRICES AT THE SHOP! STOP IN FOR A GREAT DEAL ON BOOTIES, SANDALS, ETC...STUFF'S GOING FAST THOUGH. And as always, boards are a pleasure to view.

It's time for the first Surf Photo contest.

Two contests.

1. Contest 1 is of the best surf shot, judged on the surfing action, not photo quality, this can be a wipeout, tube, turn, or vibe....submit your photos to tdsurf@juno.com, I'll post for voting.

2. Contest 2 is for photo, artistic quality. This photo can be of anything surf related; waves, piers, oceans, surfers, shapers, boards, etc....it should be judged for photo quality, artistic value, entertainment, etc.

Once again, send photo's in smaller format, not too big so I can post easy, to tdsurf@juno.com

As soon as I get 6-10 pics in each category, I'll post for voting. This is an on-line event, with the possibility of no award (or maybe a little something)...just for fun, to see some surf related photography.

It's simple, send me a pic, I'll post them all, we vote, send me your favorite choice, and I'll post the winners.

If you're a pro, great, I'll post your website along with your picture, so you're a winner either way!

ALSO IN MAY!

BOARDSWAP

Buy Sell Trade

MAY 10, 2008

O&E Representatives will be present offering savings on surfboard accessories!!!

Check out Joe Aaron

Pro Surfer/Artist/All Around Great Guy!!!

Joe will be doing some live artwork and have other artwork on display. Check out his website:

www.joemotionprod.com

9am- 2pm

329 Main St.
Seal Beach Ca 90740

Call the shop for questions or to reserve a space to sell your board…it's FREE!!!

(562)430-5614

FREE BBQ 12-2pm

WWW.HARBOURSURFSHOP.COM

Keep the stoke!

Harbour Owner Society at San O...

2008-03-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Bobby J with Nadine...the San O experience...gotta' love it.

Another Harbour Owner Society event unfolded the weekend of March 1st, and as could be expected, the formula for success produced winning results once again; Quality people + Great attitudes = Stoked!

Most the team pulled in Saturday morning ready for dawn patrol. TDRevolver brought a new addition to the Harbour Family, the "Millenium Falcon", as Han Solo would say, "She may not look fast, and she's not, but, this pile a bolts will sure house a mean H.O.S. meeting."

Todd's Big White Rig, the Millenium Falcon, John's Surfing Chevy, Steve's V.W. van, and WoodinSea's mint condition paneled wagon, made for the perfect San O backdrop as we headed into the surf.

Bobby J finished his coffee, Lia fired up the camera, and the morning session began.

Bobby J and Ben
The swell was coming in nicely, with often plentiful wave sets of chest high plus. With waves for everyone, nobody was complaining and the day got off to a great start.

Later, John's smile told the tale, after a morning of many more waves, like the one above and better.

Ry was stoked to be riding the great deal he found up North; it just took a little drive time, a little patch, gloss, and polish time, and he's got himself a sweeeeet little Classic. He really made the board shine, from the board stand, to the water.

Ry and Mark in "Classic" style

Jeff

After the multiple wave sets, wearied riders like Mark (above) began to make their way to home base, for nourishment.

Of course, it was a good twenty minutes, after the last guy pulled off his suit and sat down for a snack...

when Todd finally came in.

in his own "San O" style.

Despite the sagging arms and shoulders, Todd fired up what would be the last Bbq for that grill, and soon we were dining on steak, burgers, and dogs.

The cold wind drove some of us into the H.O.S. office, but soon, the surf we watched through the Falcon's rear window beckoned.

Steve (Lilparadosso), was the first to hear the call, and soon, we were out in the surf once again.

With the wind calming, and the temperatures rising a bit, it was a suprisingly fun session.

The sun's rays breaking through, some nice little peaks, sparse crowds and friendly banter kept us charging till near dark.

Between Steve(Surf4me) calling out, "Walk to the nose!" and Steve (Lilparadosso) yelling, "Don't chase it!", I had plenty of motivation.

With a great first day behind us, myself and others headed for home, but the die-hards, Todd, Bobby J., Lia, and Steve stayed the night for a fun (in the sun this time) Sunday.

Steve (Surf4me)

Steve(Liparadosso)

Ben

Highlights of the trip for me, were of course the great fellowship, and shared stoke of my brother Harbour owners, but also, the stoke of those who passed by, or who we met on the line-up, that, although, maybe not Harbour Owners, shared the stoke, and were very hospitable to our gathering.

I appreciate you all, for great companionship, in and out of the surf.

TDRevolver

H.O.S. Weekend coming up!

2008-02-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Lia Johnson, for the beautiful photo

Harbour Owner Society members, fun times ahead the weekend of March 1st. at San O.

Todd (Boardhound) will be there with the Big White Rig, Saturday, and Sunday, from Dawn till ???

Look for it, hopefully, at the nearest Grass Canopy to "Four Doors."

I know some of us our going to be cooking out, Saturday afternoon, so bring some grub, and a grill if you have one.

Can't wait...maybe somebody will be lucky enough to be riding the new...
Noserider.......

See you all there, bring the family, they are part of the Harbour Owner Society!

Don't forget to check with Todd, about extra H.O.S. gear and/or I.D.'s for discounts, it would be a great time to grab something.

TDRevolver

Our Wave...Hot read on new Harbour rider!

2008-01-31T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Harbour Owners! I hope your are all healthy and surfing!

I've added a link to "Our Wave Newspaper", just scroll down the right side column. They have a cool photo/write-up on new Harbour rider, Trevor (gotta love the name) Lucca.

Go to link, click, then down right side of page, you can download a pdf, which has the paper, it's on the 8th page.

Share the stoke!

Surfer's Yoga Class

2008-01-24T11:02:00.001-08:00

Tired of the rain, but want to get ready to surf when it's gone...

Check out fellow Harbour Owner, Jim's, yoga class.

Surfer’s Yoga

Experience a heightened level of surfing.

Jim Geier has been surfing for more than forty years and has designed a yoga
practice which enables surfers to be calm, balanced, flexible, and centered.
Surfer’s Yoga will increase your water time and enable you to keep surfing
for many years to come.

Surfer’s Yoga was designed to help surfers where they need it most:

• Improve Balance
• Relieve tension in the neck and back
• Loosen up the spine
• Improve overall agility
• Be calm. Increase patience while getting worked, or when waiting
for the next set.

Tune up for your next go out. We offer a pre-surf practice every Tuesday
and Thursday morning from 6:00 to 7:00 am. There is also an extended
post surf session on Sundays from 12:00 noon until 1:30 pm.

Come and loosen up with us.
Yoga Shakti
19142 Beach Blvd. , Ste FF
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 968-9093

Jim on his Harbour during last year's Harbour Day.

New year...New Board!

2007-12-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

The excitement is high as the new "Nose Rider" (official name?) gets tested out, here are a few pictures. Looks awesome.

Check down the right side of blog, I'm trying out some video footage from Youtube, should be surf...and also a video link area for our own video footage.

2008 is looking to be a fun one...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TDRevolver

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

From all Harbour Owner Society members!!!

May you catch many waves!

Harbour Day--2007...Giving Thanks

2007-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Pictures by Rich Harbour and Lia Johnson.

Write-up by Trevor Downs (TDRevolver)

Well, we're on the eve of Thanksgiving, and I have much to be thankful for, and as I go through the pictures to update our BLOG, I'm very thankful for those who come together on our annual Harbour Day.

This year's event was special, and unlike the years before, kicked off a week before with the arrival of Craig from Australia. What a blessing to meet someone with a stoke to surf, and to give.

Craig's trip was off to a great start, when after being shuttled by Todd from the airport, he checked into the famed Sanatra Inn, and soon had a new Quatro in his quiver. He was the first of many Harbour owners to stay there that week, and soon after his arrival, he met up with a Taxi driver, who offered to escort him about Orange County as his personal driver.

Craig spent the week shopping for his family, surfing Anderson Street, and enjoying the sites, leading up to a couple of fun surf days with Boardhound at Cardiff, and then with Boardhound, Bobby J, and Doug up North.

The boys showed Craig the breaks of Leo Carillo...

and County Line.

Friday, Craig was joined by James, who once again made the trip from Florida, for Harbour weekend.

At San O, Craig, Bobby J, and Todd were joined by myself, Nick, Mark, Ry, Richard, and his son Steven, (as well as a few others). Lia, was once again, there to capture the fun.

Do you remember when? The stoke begins, as Steven enjoys his first San O wave.

Mark, Bobby J. and ???

Craig

Mark

RY

After a fun day at San O, we all made our way to Sanatra Inn, checking in before the night's events.

Taco Surf was raging after quick check ins at Sanatra, and the band was finally enjoyable, and not too loud. Fish Tacos and beers went down smooth before we moved the festivities over to the shop for some great classic film footage from the 60's.

Rich hosted, the guys from the shop graciously served some snacks, and Rich answered questions about his classic film footage and surfboard design, then spun a tale or two before being honored by the H.O.S. with a photo, by Ron, that Todd had etched into marble.

A few of us finished up the night with some Belgium ale at the pub across the street from the shop, and for some reason the waves in the surf stories got bigger as the night wore on.

The morning would prove to be the best conditions yet for a Harbour Day. Clear skies, and chest to head high waves, made for a fantastic morning.

Lisa looks down upon the maniacal smile of her husband, wondering, once again, if it's a good thing to be married to a guy who wants to serve the world?

Good job buddy, another great event!

Boardhound (Todd)

Steve--ilparadosso, showing how it's done.

???

???

Jim

???

Bobby J. on Nadine

TDRevolver (me)

Tad

???

Ry

Scott--5over

Charles--Artgeek

Brad

Craig

Jeff and his family, for the second year in a row, served up some tasty South of the border treats, they have really stepped up the last two events, and as a family, really made the event a treat.

Job well done, a new board won, Lia powers down.

Todd, myself, and a very special guest raffled off a plethora of prizes, and it was a great ending to the event.

Once again, another fantastic day, and for me, I give thanks to where all thanks are due, to God for a wonderful day with wonderful people.

Thank you Rich, Thank you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

SACRED CRAFT - Consumer Surfboard Expo - 10/13 & 14

2007-10-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Some pics Rich posted on the Harbour Site, sounds like a great event, I'm sorry I missed it.

From Bobby J,
"There was a great representation of all types of surfboard stuff (I really liked the new laminate techniques using photo scans), and discussion sessions (the "Don't call me skeg" talk was pretty informative since I'm usually a single fin guy).
As for the booth I really liked the video monitor Rich set up showing photos of people riding his gear (I especially like the one in the middle), or film clips from both the early years and present day. It was more fun when the "seasoned veterans" stopped by and watched the old footage and started to talk story."

Count down to Annual Harbour Day continues...see below.

Harbour Day approaches...November 3rd!

2007-10-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Let's hope this year's event is warm enough, so Bobby doesn't need his hat!

Wow, some fun waves this weekend, really fun!

Time flies, and I can't believe another Harbour Day is upon us. The same great team that provided us fantastic food last year, will be back, the big white van will be home to another awesome raffle, and once again we can all, "oohhh, and ahhhh" at the plethora of Harbours that will be about. I can't wait!

Nov. 3rd.
Dawn Patrol till whenever.
Bolsa Chica State Beach
Tower 20 (Just North of the RV Park).

I thought I'd post a little flash back for the newbies, here is a link to a background story I wrote a few years back, it'll give you a little history, and a few picks from past Harbour days.
Harbour Day History

See you all there! Remember, Harbour Day is an open house (meaning, you don't need to own a Harbour, or even surf to participate) to share with others the stoke we have for surfing and Harbour surfboards.

Remember, we are overloading that spot, so smile and show respect on the waves.

Pray for good weather and better waves!

Fun times in August for Harbour Owners!

2007-08-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

August Events
By John (Srf4life)

Harbour Owners’ Society members were busy this August, despite the small-ish surf that we had. In addition to our regular Saturday HOS crew at Bolsa Tower 23, we enjoyed a Thursday afternoon cookout at San-O organized by Melissa Harbour on Aug 9, and the premier of a new surf movie, “Faces of Honolua,” two days later, featuring a special guest commentary by Rich Harbour, held at the Surf Heritage Foundation in San Clemente.

The San-O Harbour cookout took place on a warm, sunny summer day with a 2-4 foot peaky swell and semi-clean conditions.

Harbour team rider Tony Bell and Harbour shop owner Robert both showed they have skills in the water. Those of us who have seen Robert almost always ride a shortboard or fish were surprised at how good he is on a longboard.

He put on a display of classic drop-knee turns and effortless cross-stepping particularly suited to the wave at Old Man’s. We hope to see him on his longboard at Bolsa from time to time.

After our surf session, we all retired to the tables under the shady bamboo grove near Old Man’s and had a barbecue in laid back Aloha style. At the end of the day we all agreed it was a classic San-O day.

The premier of “Faces of Honolua” was a real treat. For many of us it was our first time visiting the Surf Heritage Foundation in San Clemente. In addition to their film series, the foundation boasts what has to be one of the finest collections of surfboards and surf history in the world. There are hundreds of rare and classic boards on display, dating back to the turn of the (20th) century, lots of cool photos and artwork, and in one corner a replica of Dale Velzy’s shaping room that includes his original tools. It is a real surfing history lesson, and definitely worth visiting.

The film itself was a montage of surf footage from the last 40 years at Honolua Bay. Since Rich Harbour was one of the first, if not the first surf photographer to film the classic Maui pointbreak, much of his rare early film of the bay was used in the movie. It was great to hear Rich, along with Herbie Fletcher, reminisce about the early days at Honolua Bay. It was a special evening and a wonderful opportunity to see Rich receive some recognition from the Surf Heritage Foundation for his pioneering board building and surf photography.

Tim's Wave Wanderings in France...

2007-07-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

France 2007 – for those who may never get the opportunity…

The plan was to take the camper van to France and cruise gently down the left LH side
visiting some old haunts, find some new spots, surf a bit, sample the excellent food and wine along the way, to Biarritz, just by the border with Spain.

Board choice – hmmn…. I would love to say that I took one of the Harbours, the Wingpin is my usual travel board, but it was not to be. I was very concerned about the temperatures inside the van, as the green house effect of all that glass generates a lot of heat (especially parked up in the sun) and a delam would be very bad news. Thus it was that the DT2 9.2 made the trip with the 9” HP fin, also the surf forecast was not that good and this board (with flattish rocker) was a good choice for the expected conditions. Just about half the Atlantic coast is one big beach break.

We sailed Plymouth to Roscoff in Brittany, first stop Pointe de la Torche which is almost the most westerly point in France. Lovely beach break in a curving bay with the point itself working sometimes. I’d last surfed here about 15 years ago and it was just as I remembered.

Two good days of chest to shoulder high clean waves with a few nose rides (but the cross stepping is not the best you ever saw!) A fun weekend.
Next stop Carnac, with the Neolithic dolmens, menhirs and rows of standing stones.
What an awesome sight to see them marching for miles across the country side.
On again through Lorient past the WW2 U Boat pens to the Isle de Re (sorry no accents on this key board). Very pretty Island but no surf. On to Les Sable d’Olonne and a campsite next to the beach, excellent spot.

Through La Rochhelle to Royan and the ferry over the Gironde. Chanced upon a couple riding 70’s Honda and Yamaha with CA plates – a long way from home!
Off the ferry and down the coast to a premier spot – Lacanau. What a dump! Weather awful, wet and very windy. The storm blew for 2 days as we drove on down the coast. Messanges, another beach break and some mighty barrels after the storm. Paddled out through the most vicious rip in almost flat water with overhead waves either side. Took a well overhead, clean, glassy barrel here, took off, just made the turn, tucked in and got well and truly hammered. What a beasting that was! Waited till the next day when things were more manageable and had a great session.

On towards Hossegor. Ah Hossegor! The river at Hossegor was diverted by Napolean to provide a better harbour further along the coast. The channel scoured out by the river enables big Atlantic swells to hit the coast without slowing down and produces some truly huge barrels. There was a claim last year, for the largest wave ever ridden anywhere – about 90ft!. Don’t know if it made the record book, though.
And so to Anglet where the European Surf Championships were being held.

Saw some great surfers struggling in pretty flat conditions. I had to chuckle over the Swiss Surf Team though – I mean where do they practice?
Finally, Biarritz. A very elegant town with some handsome beaches and various breaks.
Cotes des Basques was a great bit of theatre, with the poseurs performing for the crowd.
High tide meant a take off very close to the rocks, a short ride closely followed by a stylish kick out.

Time to head for home. We had a really good trip. France is a great country with some superp surf spots and wonderful wine. Oh, and some of the cheese is really quite good too!

Harbour Tin-Can Beach clean and surf day

2007-07-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Surf photos by Lia
Gathering Photos by John

Great Job! Click on pics for larger view.

Harbour Owners’ Society Gives Back
By John (Srf4life)

This Fourth of July weekend, members of the Harbour Owners’ Society got together to give back a little something to the ocean that gives us so much. Todd (Boardhound), had the idea one morning while picking up trash near tower 23 at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Why not get the HOS together for a little beach clean-up and make it a fun occasion while we are at it? Thus was born the first (annual?) HOS “Beach clean-up, surf, and grub.”

The weekend after the 4th of July seemed as good a time as any to hold the event, since there figured to be plenty of trash left behind by the masses who would flock to the beach on the 4th. The call went out on the Harbour website, and about a dozen members, as well as several guys from the shop, pitched in. (Of course, these members were undoubtedly motivated only by their desire to keep the beach clean. The surf and grub was probably no more than an afterthought to these selfless souls.)

The beach clean-up started bright and early, about 6:20 am on Saturday July 7th.

Todd supplied the trash bags and disposable gloves. After about 30 minutes, we had the parking lot and beach north and south of tower 23 picked clean. Jeff S. and Bobby J. both commented on how plastic water bottles and especially those plastic water bottle caps have become the most common form of trash left on the beach. “Maybe we should call it water bottle beach instead of tin can beach,” Bobby said. All in all, the State Parks Department does a pretty good job keeping the facilities at Bolsa and other state beaches clean, but it is still astounding how many people will carelessly leave their trash on the sand when there are literally hundreds of trash cans up and down the beach, some just a few steps away. It is an indication that, in our consumer culture, people all too often think only about consuming, not what they leave behind.

After the beach clean-up, the morning was capped off by a fun surf session in 2-4 foot clean, peaky conditions, with the occasional head high set. The crowd situation was fairly typical for a summer weekend, but we all got some good waves. Everyone was in good spirits and there were plenty of hoots for good rides. After our session, we gathered at Todd’s white box van where he cooked up some awesome breakfast burritos.

Some might say that our beach clean-up is a drop in the bucket along a stretch of beach that gets millions of visitors annually (in fact, Bolsa had the fourth highest attendance of all California state parks last year). But it still sets a positive example, and if more people followed that example it would go a long way toward healing our fragile planet. Perhaps it is best to see it as an exercise that does a little something good for the beach we enjoy and perhaps more importantly, raises our own consciousness about the need to take care of the planet and its oceans. After all, we know that whatever gets dumped upstream eventually makes its way to the lineup.

And who knows, maybe all the fun waves we had that morning and the good vibe we shared was Bolsa’s way of saying thanks.

From Todd's Email....

2007-06-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello members, i just posted this on the Harbour message board so if you plan on joining us please wear a HOS shirt or at least a Harbour shirt. This is a HOS day but I would like non members to help as well

Hello all, for anyone that wishes to help out.
Sat July 7, 2007 we will be having a beach clean-up.
we will start gathering at 6:00 am in lot 21 tower 23
we will line up at restroom north of tower 24 and walk to restroom south of tower 22 basicly 3 parking lots.
Then some surf and grub.
I will supply rubber gloves and trash bags

then just like any sat we surf and have fun.
I would like to have some grub as well so if you are going to join us please drop me a line.

March Wave Wanderings

2007-04-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

HOS In Baja . . .
By John (srf4life)

OK, so it wasn’t like some exotic two-month surf safari to Tahiti, but for a bunch of us working stiffs from the HOS, it was a chance to chill for a weekend in Baja and surf till we dropped. Before I go any further, we gotta give a big muchas gracias to Eddie, who lined up his Aunt and Uncle’s place near Cantamar for the gang to stay. Nothing like being able to wake up and check out the surf from your front window.

Our long-awaited sojourn began on a Thursday in late March after everyone got off work. Despite Trevor’s constant dire warnings of impending gridlock, we actually sailed through OC, through San Diego, and through the border without a hitch. From that point on, we welcomed Trevor’s steady stream of pessimistic pronouncements as a sure sign that everything would work out in the end.

Friday we decided to head further south to check out some spots. Salsipuedes wasn’t firing, but when we pulled up to San Miguel, the point had a nice shoulder-head high swell working, and not too many surfers in the water.

Trouble was, the crew there was mostly shortboarding locals who did not appreciate the nine new faces in the water, many of whom were on longboards that could easily pick up the set waves outside. Our group played it cool, however, returning hostile comments with a Zen-like wave-sharing ethos (Slider and Bobby J’s commitment to nonviolence would have made Gandhi proud). And while nobody got all the waves he wanted, we made no enemies and may have even made a few friends.

Yes, he made it!

Back at the house by afternoon, some of us decided to paddle out into the jacking beackbreak out front after lunch. The sets were running head high or better, and they were coming in at a steady pace. Occasionally you could get a shoulder, but more often than not the sets were closing out. Getting caught inside meant taking a beating. While everyone had his share of good rides, the nod that afternoon went to Todd for his insane drops, and Trevor, who absolutely ripped on his fish.

While Todd and Eddie’s crew (Chris, Daniel, and Frodo) were hooked on beachbreak adrenaline, the rest of us decided to go in search of walls that stayed open for more then 3 seconds. That night, we had dinner in Puerto Nuevo, and could see clean little reef breaks to the north, toward Gaviotas, so we resolved to head that direction the next day.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm, with a slight offshore caressing the waves, and Bobby and Lia, Trevor, Jeff, and John set off to a spot we had seen to the north of Puerto Nuevo. We were not disappointed. The reef groomed the fun little SW swell to perfection, and the sets had long, playful waist-to-chest high walls that peeled left and right. If this had been Cardiff or Swami’s the place would have been packed. As it was, we surfed alone that morning. Four of us in the water. Beautiful waves. Meanwhile, Lia got some great shots from shore. It was awesome. The weather was perfect, the water was glassy, and everybody got perfect long rides. After a couple of hours, the tide rose and shut down all but the biggest set waves, so we rode in and decided we would have to come back for an evening session.

When we returned, it seemed that the northernmost break offered a nice little point setup, and we paddled out for our afternoon session. As I paddled out, I saw Jeff get a picture perfect cheater five on one of the waves at the point.

Bobby got a couple of nice, long rights, and Trev got one of the bigger sets waves of the afternoon. Lia was up on the cliff above, taking more pictures of our rides to post on the HOS blog. We were out pretty far, maybe 200 yards, and I had just finished my first ride of the afternoon when Bobby and I heard Lia scream. Up on the cliff one miscreant was in Bobby’s truck and another was ripping the camera from Lia’s hands, threatening her with a rusty scissor. Bobby paddled in like a man possessed, and I followed. Fortunately two surfers at the bottom of the cliff had also heard Lia’s screams, and these good Samaritans climbed the cliff and chased the thieves. Unfortunately, the thieves made it to their car and got away before any of us could get our hands on them. The two good Samaritans helped flag down a police car and the crime was reported. While Lia lost her camera, it could have been much worse, and all of us—especially Bobby—were relieved that she was unharmed.

We were all very thankful to the two young surfers, Jaime and Jorge, who chased off the banditos. While thanking them, the young men explained in passable English that they were just learning to surf. In fact, it was only Jaime’s second time surfing.

I watched the two paddle out on their beat up short boards and flail around clueless in the whitewater. Since Bobby and Lia were ok, I decided to give them a quick surf lesson, and they eagerly agreed. I offered to let them ride my San-O, which is 10-6, and about as stable as the Queen Mary. After some basic pointers about paddling and catching waves, Jaime paddled into his first wave and stood up, riding straight to the shore. It was the first time he had been able to stand up, and he was beaming from ear to ear. He was whooping and chattering rapidly to his friend Jorge in Spanish, and I could tell he was stoked. Remember that first time you stood up? He had that look. He had found his inner surfer. Jorge had a little less luck standing up, but was giggling like a little kid. With practice I know they’ll both get better.

As the light began to fade, they got out of the water, beaming smiles still on their faces. Best of all, in the midst of a harrowing situation in which we saw the worst of human behavior, we also saw the best of human nature from these two young Mexicans. It gave me a good feeling to pass on the joy of surfing across cultures. The thieves have by now fenced their ill-gotten gains and probably pissed it away. On the other hand, Jaime and Jorge, two decent young men, are now stoked on surfing. And that lasts a lifetime.

February Wanderings......

2007-03-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

"A rail is born."
This piece of art, capturing Rich Harbour performing his art, was taken by Ron Woolhether...Ron is always catching the spirit of all things surfing, and does fantastic work. His website is on the right, as well as HERE.

The t-shirts are in the mail for some and other's are picking them up as I type. HOS is at over 40 members and growing, with new events in the works.

There's a new board in town...and it looks Awesome!!!! Can't wait to buy this one.

TDRevolver (me) spent some of February surfing Maui.

I covered the island, surfing Honolua Bay at about chest high, and finding a little barrel on my rented mass produced 9'0 with flex-fin, and then watched several days later as guys ripped it up in overhead barreling conditions, it was fantastic. I might of attempted to join them if I had my Hp-1 with me, my next trip I'll definitely be bringing my Harbour.

From above, standing on the cliffs next to a sugarcane field, I watched as guys dialed in barrel after barrel, and during the breaks in the swell, the clear coral filled bay to the East was spectacular.

The day I surfed there, not only did I have clean fun conditions, a plethora of fish to watch, and several turtles to keep me company, I also was treated to a show from a Humpback Whale who began to breach not far from shore. The megaton creature launched itself into the air several times, to cheers from the line-ups.

There was one wave where I was glad I wasn't riding my Harbour; while trying to repeat an earlier mini-tube, I stepped toward the nose, tucked down into the curl, and my nose dove under; and to my wallets demise, I rammed into some nice sharp rock, adding $50 to my rental fee. I must say, a fiberglass board would have probably been sucking water, but this plastic piece just lost paint. So they are good for something.

I also surfed East of Lahaina, a small clean day with a couple of locals before the masses woke up and crowded the spot around 11 a.m. Surfing with shorts only was a blast, and even the smallest wave curled through with perfection, but once again, gliding along clean, clear perfection would of been oh so much sweeter on the San O.

Another fun but small spot was Kihei Bay, a great summer spot, but occasionally catches the swell in winter. It was crowded, but really fun, and once again, whether the wave was 2-3 or the occasional 4-5, it was perfect. Of course, they did tell me, the day before I arrived it was stand up barrels, I guess I should of been there yesterday.

I did hit the North Shore on a stormy day, with only one nice sized, mush wave to speak of, but it was fun.

And an outlaw session with some locals at the closed down old-school wood sk8 park in Kihei was real fun.

Back on the mainland, Nick finally got his new board, and it blew past all his expectations, it's a real beauty.

Oh yeah, and Boardhound continues to bring glory to his name, putting, I think, 3 more boards into his quiver.

Remember guys, send me your updates if anything exciting is going on, sorry no original pics, I was on my own surfing the whole time, and never took any.

January Wave Wanderings!

2007-02-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

Well, the new year kicked off with small but enjoyable waves down the coast. A few of us surfed off the New Year at Malibu, being the first to ride this classic spot was fun.

Tower 20 has been the spot for Nick, TD a few other H.O.S. members weekdays, while Todd, Jeff, John and I'm sure a few more headed South to find perfection at Cardiff.

The first Harbour Owner Society Surf and Grub session was a blast, with (finally) some waves to ride at Bolsa. Woody's eatery in Seal Beach was hospitable as always, and many a false surf tale was told over breakfast after the fun waves.
Scott/Ry and SR rippin'....

Bobby J, introduced his newly repaired Cheater to the water, but was soon driving down the line on his Rapier.

John.

TDRevolver broke-out the landboard and headed inland for some sk8 sessions in the desert and an outlaw session in some Vegas' drainage ditches.

Check out the shop, new boards are rolling in, but as of yet, Nick still awaits the arrival of his new Rapier.

The new shirts are very close to being ordered, just a few details and they should be on the way shortly.

See ya' soon, I don't know what's up next, but check the Hot Read on the right for updates......and don't forget, feel free to send your picks of Wave Wanderings to, TDSurf@juno.com for posting.

Welcome!!!!

2006-12-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Harbour Owner's Society Blog.

This is an introductory post, please scroll down to November posts to see examples of what you might find in the coming months with our monthly blog updates.

Please note the,"Side-Bar" for links, membership rules, past posts, and other information. For this introductory post, we'll recap some of the sidebar information here.

After the great time we all had at the Harbour, 2006 surf day (see post below for pictures), a few Harbour Owners began to ponder the existence of a Harbour Owner's Society. Some of us have the stickers and some may still wear the shirts of the once casual but existing society. Todd (Boardhound), Bobby J., John, and a few others thought it would be a great idea to start it again. Bert said he didn't have a problem with it, and away we went.

How do you become a member.
1. Own a Harbour Surfboard.
2. Let Bert or Boardhound know. Boardhound's email address is, todd1218@verizon.net
Just send him your info, letting him know you want to join.

Why we exist.

1. To offer Harbour owners a chance to meet like minded people.

2. To share surf, stories and the stoke

3. To offer a non-competitive environment for surfers of all levels

4. To set a positive example as Surfers in and out of the water.

This is a Society of surfers for surfers.

It is an optional club, with no obligation of Harbour owners to join, but anyone who owns a Harbour Surfboard is invited to join. It is a voluntary club, with non-competitive events.

Participation in any and all events is optional. Purchasing Harbour Society Gear, including ID card, is optional, but you will need an ID card for non-Harbour store discounts, such as at Woody's Restaurant.

Some of the things we have in mind in the upcoming years are shirts and jackets (with funds going toward a Owner Society fund), pot lucks, surf days, movie nights and various social events...Please do not hold us to any of these things, as in all clubs, we will evolve as time goes. If you expect nothing from this club other than good friends, you won't be disappointed.

Although we have the blessings of Bert (Seal beach shop owner) and Rich Harbour, they in no way are responsible or are they the sponsors of this club, and we do not speak for them. All opinions, musings and ramblings of the Harbour Owner's Society Blog are in no way to be construed as coming from Harbour Surfboards as an organization.

We hope to enjoy many years of great surf and stoke with you all.

Sincerely,

The Harbour Owner's Society.

Watching Rich Shape By John Loyd

2006-12-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

Watching Rich Shape
by John Lloyd

The Harbour shop held an open house on November 25 to celebrate its expansion. Robert really rolled out the red carpet for everybody, with free food and T-shirts. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere where people could chat with other Harbour owners and talk surf talk.

A special treat was getting to watch Rich shape a board. He worked on a TS that he is making from one of his last Clark blanks. His neck is feeling a little better and, though I could tell it slowed him down a bit, I know it must have felt good for him to get back into the shaping room.

I have great admiration for shapers as craftsmen, and Rich is one of the masters. It was a privilege to watch him work. As he shaped the board, he didn't use any rulers, measuring tape, or calipers. He just used his hands and his experience. The blank had been roughed out by a CNC machine, but it was a very rough planshape and Rich not only had to smooth it out but also make quite a number of alterations. For instance, the machine does not get the nose rocker exactly right, so Rich has to change the curvature by hand. He has done thousands of these boards throughout his long career, and does not need a caliper or ruler to tell him when he has the rocker just right. He peers down the center of the board, then shaves off a little foam a millimeter at a time until it meets his standards. Then it needs to be sanded, and more adjustments made for the rider of this board. It is a long process, but he does not cut corners and pays attention to every detail before he moves on to the next step. I watched in awe as he would run his hands over the foam, find some tiny bump or imperfection that was invisible to the naked eye, and smooth it out with a few swift strokes of the hand planer or sandpaper. The TS is a three-stringer board, with a wood and foam tail block. He meticulously made sure that the edges and corners of the stringers were clean and flush with the foam, so that the entire board was seamless and absolutely smooth.

It makes me think he could do this blindfolded if he had to. The secret was in his hands. As they became covered with a fine coat of foam dust, you realized his hands hold the knowledge of those thousands of boards. They know just how much curve to give the rocker, just how much roll to put in the rails, just how much crown to put on the deck. Then, when at last the blank was finished, he signed his name and numbered it, just like any artist would. A simple declaration that says so much about pride and skill and workmanship that have taken nearly fifty years to perfect: By Rich Harbour. He then inscribed it to its new owner.

He is a true craftsman, and to watch him work is to appreciate the art of shaping a surfboard.

More and more boards are being shaped entirely by machine, or slapped together in factories in China. Surfboard making seems to be going the way of everything else in this industrial society. The economics of the industry are pushing it that direction. But you can’t convince me that a machine can put soul into a board. You can’t tell me that a machine is just as good as the hands, the eye, the mind, and yes, the heart and soul of the human being who shapes a board. As long as I am surfing, I want to know that my board—the thing that puts me in touch with the ocean—has heart and soul. That’s why I ride a Harbour.

By John Loyd

Upcoming events: We're looking forward to Harbour Owner Society t-shirts and jackets in the new year...stay tuned.

December happenings...
Woody's old style surf eatery in Seal Beach has agreed to give Harbour Owner Society members a 10% discount on designated days...stay tuned for dates. And get those ID cards, they are mandatory for discounts. Information on right.

As if the Harbour Surf Day didn't make this November memorable, another great Harbour Event took place, The Harbour Open House.

In late November the Harbour shop in Seal Beach hosted an Open House to give back to their patrons with awesome food and hospitality.

It was a great chance to see the new remodel of the shop. It looks great! Check out the photos.

Pictures by Ron Woolheather (see link on right for his website of great photography), and a short muse by John Lloyd on the experience of watching Rich shape.

More pictures from the day.

November--Harbour Surf Day, 2006

2006-11-14T09:15:00.000-08:00

Pictures by Lia, Sumdumsurfer, and Dennisthe12c....thanks.

Sometimes things just work.

No matter how much you plan, how hard you try, sometimes the best laid plans do not yield the fruit that was envisioned...but other times, the result is beyond expectations.

The fourth Harbour Day was one such event.

Waves, weather and stoke all joined together harmoniously to create the best Harbour day yet.

Rich enjoys the day, going against doctor's orders to support the event...Thanks Rich.

Bobby J performs a nice carve in his ride dedicated to Dinkum.

TDRevolver becomes a shock absorber to survive the chop.

Now that's the way to turn an 11 footer....go Nadine!

Boardhound finds it windy but fun after serving the crowd all day.

A special treat for the day, a plethora of classic Harbours; included in this fantastic collection, reportedly, was a board shaped in Rich's garage. Thanks for bringing them out!

Jeff's daughter, Jackie grooms the next crop of Harbour surfers.

Boardhound holds down the tent as Jeff and his wonderful family serve up some great food.

Wow...that was fun!