I first met 'Slick' when I moved to Dana Point and started shaping at Resin Services. He has his bay there and you can find him working around the shop every day. Chris is a south bay longboarding legend and one of the best nose riders of all time according to some very well esteemed surfers of the period. Him and his brother (Steve) were original Bing surf team members in the 60s and moved and lived in Hawaii for years. Chris may be best know for his signature 'Slot Machine' channel bottom he does on his nose riding longboards. He's handshaped over 22,000 surfboards and even had a stint doing some boards under Brewer when he lived in Hawaii.
He is a classic example from that era. Rough exterior & can sometimes be in a mood. It took me a while to get him to even notice me. I am just another new generation kook learning to shape and gettin in his way! Well, I've tried my best to stay out of his way (only gotten the wrath from him once) and after almost a year we started chatting more.
I had really been wanting a mid 6' single fin for little beach break tubes. I have been on the multi fin trip and felt a craving for some single fin minimalism and lines in my surfing. I had a 6'8 RP sitting around and I was gonna shape one for myself, but after some thought I realised it would be better to have someone who lived through the period I wanted to channel and who was actually there to shape me one. Luckily for me, I have Chris Slick right there. So I showed up one afternoon with the blank and told him what I was looking for and he accepted the build right away and we got started. After shortly going over what I was looking to get out of my surfing with this board and the types of waves I was looking for, he pulls out an old template in stash. It has "Steve Slick, 1975 6'8 x 20" written on it. He puts on the board with minimal measurement and draws out the most perfect looking curve and exactly what I had in mind. He tells me that this curve came froma. board his brother shaped for Jeff Hakman in 1975. My head explodes and I ask him a million questions.
Yeah, I could've shaped myself something similar and i'm sure it woulda worked fine, but experiences like these are the reason I believe in this pastime and craft so much. The type of experience you get by talking to an elder stateman of our art and getting that custom experience of a handcrafted item for you to experience riding a wave on. The knowledge gained by just being in Chris's presence for those few hours shaping me that board, and stories like those he told me will now be passed down now for more generations.
In his mid 70s he still takes his honda dirtbike out for spins, still so engaged with all things surf and still has that sparkle in his eye anytime you talk about boards with him. Excited to share more from what I filmed with him soon - and get some videos of me and some friends riding the board he made me. Will be gettin a resin tint from Greg and some Pinlines and a custom foiled Slick template fin from Tommy.
He is a classic example from that era. Rough exterior & can sometimes be in a mood. It took me a while to get him to even notice me. I am just another new generation kook learning to shape and gettin in his way! Well, I've tried my best to stay out of his way (only gotten the wrath from him once) and after almost a year we started chatting more.
I had really been wanting a mid 6' single fin for little beach break tubes. I have been on the multi fin trip and felt a craving for some single fin minimalism and lines in my surfing. I had a 6'8 RP sitting around and I was gonna shape one for myself, but after some thought I realised it would be better to have someone who lived through the period I wanted to channel and who was actually there to shape me one. Luckily for me, I have Chris Slick right there. So I showed up one afternoon with the blank and told him what I was looking for and he accepted the build right away and we got started. After shortly going over what I was looking to get out of my surfing with this board and the types of waves I was looking for, he pulls out an old template in stash. It has "Steve Slick, 1975 6'8 x 20" written on it. He puts on the board with minimal measurement and draws out the most perfect looking curve and exactly what I had in mind. He tells me that this curve came froma. board his brother shaped for Jeff Hakman in 1975. My head explodes and I ask him a million questions.
Yeah, I could've shaped myself something similar and i'm sure it woulda worked fine, but experiences like these are the reason I believe in this pastime and craft so much. The type of experience you get by talking to an elder stateman of our art and getting that custom experience of a handcrafted item for you to experience riding a wave on. The knowledge gained by just being in Chris's presence for those few hours shaping me that board, and stories like those he told me will now be passed down now for more generations.
In his mid 70s he still takes his honda dirtbike out for spins, still so engaged with all things surf and still has that sparkle in his eye anytime you talk about boards with him. Excited to share more from what I filmed with him soon - and get some videos of me and some friends riding the board he made me. Will be gettin a resin tint from Greg and some Pinlines and a custom foiled Slick template fin from Tommy.
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