Your kid is not the next Kelly Slater

Surfing is very fun, always has been, always will be. That's the draw and always will be. There it is, a uniquely fun activity that draws millions to the shore on a daily basis. Some where along the line somebody thought a surf contest might a good idea,  and you know what? for some, they're pretty damn fun. Me included, I've competed at various levels for over 35 years.

I was fortunate enough to have a son who bought into my passion for surfing and have been cramming technical critiques, competitive insights and heat tactical scenarios into him since he was 3 1/2, he first stood on a board on a wave at 18 months. Despite my obnoxious rants and all to his credit,  he has held on to one pure belief, riding waves in its simplest form is really fun.

I was an exceptionally talented, yet ill supported surfer growing up. No "soccer dads" back then, different times. Me, being the father of an aspiring surfing ICON,  was going to give my son every opportunity that I perceived missing out on. Little league dad on steroids, that's what I was. In a justifiable tirade my wife exclaimed "your son is not the next Kelly Slater." This stung at first, and continued for a couple of years, but in a recent Revelation I came to terms with the fact that she was right. In fact, I concluded he might not even be "the next David Eggers".

Here's the deal, EVERYONE on earth knew what Kelly Slater was going to be when he was 12. Tom Curren was the same and was beating the worlds best in his early teens. I was an NSSA judge during Rob Machados amateur days and it was remarkably clear that he was destined for greatness.

You may think, or maybe its a far fetched wish, that your kid is the next big thing, but my wife said it best, "your kid is not the next Kelly Slater." Be prudent in your life changing pursuits to enable the feeble pipe dream. Try not to compromise your friendships and ties to try to better your child's fleeting shot. Competition is fun, surfing is fun, try to keep it that way. The next Kelly Slater didn't finish in the bottom half of the last NSSA final, top half either. If he did, we'd already know who it was. Just like Kelly.

Second Generation

Jack Colby is an eight year old surfer from Seal Beach. He is also the son of Rob Colby whom I've had the pleasure of building boards for off and on since the Eighties. Rob was a Quick rider in his teens and is now one of THE GUYS running the Billion dollar Surf Industry Icon. Rob is also probably the most brilliant human I've ever known, but this blog is about Jack not Rob.

Jack was at my Surf Camp all summer long, in fact Jack only missed a hand full of days the whole season. Jack initially had some issues reading the line up and experienced the wrath of the San Gabrial River mouth as only an eight year old can. Jack, however, persevered and figured stuff out. After a couple weeks Jack was catching 80 waves a day.

Jack started the Summer riding his first custom board, a Chas, a 5-8 x 20 x 2.6 PT83 to be exact. This worked out great because it was floaty, stable and kept that wave count in the eighty range daily. The mother of all sand bars formed this year and lured a lot of the PIT CREW and their 4-7s to the river on a daily basis. Jack wanted the taste of  the PIT Crew promised land, but Rob and I resisted and let development run its coarse. Jack worked his butt off and by the end of Summer had tried and mastered Sam's(my son) entire quiver. Jack ordered his second custom board, a 4-8 stub.

After some peer pressure from some local dads, Rob entered Jack in his first real contest, the September WSA at SanO trails. Jack quickly discovered that the Pacific can dish out a lot more power than on offer at the beloved River. Jack took his beatings, shed some tears then collected himself and prepared for the next events. The next couple events went a little better for Jack, but he was still a spot or two away from advancing to the next round. Next up was Oceanside.

Oceanside was solid head high plus peaks, as good as you could ever want for a contest at O'side. Jack paddled out looking strong and very comfortable. Rob coached him into his first wave, a right he bobbed and weaved his Stub across the entire contest area. Jack again paddled strongly and confidently back to the line up.This time Rob helped Jack connect with an even larger left in which Jack arched and widgeted all the way to the beach. Jack backed this up with a couple additional solid waves and clearly dominated to get his first career heat win.

What an amazing progression in six short months. Congrats to Jack for making his first career final. I know it's good to be Jack and to have Jack it must be good to be Rob. I'm feeling blessed that I've been able to be a part of it, both parts.

Epoxy Evolution

I've been with Guru Glassing for the last 4 plus years. I've probably refined my glassing skills more during this stretch than the 25 years leading to my arrival at Guru.

For the last couple of years Dave VanGeisen( owner of Guru glassing Inc.) and I have been working together developing a system of manufacturing hand made EPS/Epoxy Surfboards. The results have been fantastic. We feel we have an Epoxy glassed product that will rival the finish look of any Polyester resin based product in the market, only with significantly superior strength to weight ratio and enhanced performance.

I've won two consecutive age group National titles on EPS/Epoxy and my whole team is requesting this construction exclusively with almost unparalleled(age group specific) results in the SoCal amateur scene. This construction method is obviously not new but the way we have developed it is and I'm very excited to share it with you the consumer. We will be putting together an inventory of both Poly and Epoxy Chas surfboards over the next several weeks and I will be available daily to help you choose the model that best fits your needs.

Thanks to Dave for all your ideas; to Joe Hohenester for getting me exited about the genre and Shawn Houshmand for illuminating the potential for the PIT CREW riders!

You can contact me @ 562 896-0121 or chassurf@aol.com.

Follow Chas surfboards

Exciting things coming from Chas surfboards.

.A couple of new models in the mix

We are starting to put together a stock of our popular models @ Guru Glassing.

Follow our blogs for updates on Chas Surfboards, The Pit Crew and Chas events.