February 19, 2009

February 19th, 2009. Charley pulled his 7' 6 ''out from where the other boards laid. It's first thing in the morning and the Caribbean sun struggles to shine through a thick mayhem of winter clouds. He was going out at Salsa Brava with a board I had made for him two years prior. He'd surfed it at "Labyrinth" on a medium size day and he's going to take it to Puerto Escondido this summer. Chuck is a board builder himself and could have ridden any board he wanted. Instead he choose this one out of respect, which I took but not without worrying, I mean today was going to be HEAVY. Solid 6 to 8 foot backless mutants and he trusted my craftsmanship. Needless to say, he did not suck. I saw him committed to some critical late take offs in a day reserved for the faithful mad dogs that surf this place. What a show. On this 4th annual trip to the Central American Caribbean Charley brought two special guests, Flea, who taught him how to shape and his wife Frieda, a 4 time women 's asp world champion. Our destination was Bocas del Toro in Panama. The level of surfing that followed the next few days was exceptional but what was more exceptional was the unique situation of sharing with this guys the sort of camaraderie that comes from the craft of board building. Knowing I was going to be the rookie I did most of the listening. At one point my own board came under scrutiny and the ax came when it was pointed out "how much work" four glassed on fins carry.While agreeing that boxes or plugs would save me a lot of elbow grease, I still wouldn't give in. (to this day I've yet to build a board that does not have glassed fins) , at the end Charley and I crossed back to the Costarrican side for one more glimpse at Salsa before heading back to our respective destinations. About two weeks later I got a call from him saying hello and reflecting on another successful trip. He said Flea and Frieda had returned a few days later and were mega stoked on the friends and waves they had encounter. I couln'd help but bring up the four glassed fins comments from the two veterans saying to Chuck, "tell Flea you guys sounded like" two virgins on prom night", this prompted a good laugh from him. We agreed on meeting in Nicaragua this summer...,apparently he knew about this "left". The moral of this story is that surfboards are more than just a business. How many times I am confronted with the same question. How is the surfboard business? I don't know,is always the answer. Surfboards are, like the guys that ride them, part of your life.


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