Getting to California was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was born in Portland, Oregon, and my family lived in Washington State for 7 years. We then were transplanted in the small town of Jenks, Oklahoma. So finally at 11 ½ years old my family moved us back to San Diego, California where I now reside. My Dad is from San Diego, so he knew the ropes and would take me body surfing  and body boarding at Mission Beach. Believe it or not, the first surfing contest I ever did was a bodysurfing contest in Carlsbad. At about 12 ½,  I made a deal with my parents and got my little hands on a Progressive Design 6’4” swallow tail, single fin, 70’s – early 80’s design. It was a really cool board for its time and I was stoked to have it. And let me tell you it didn’t only ride water, but also pickle weed (ice plant) hills around my house in Clairemont. It was U.S. $65,000 - but in mind it was priceless.

 

           So the journey began every weekend on dawn patrol with my dad. He would pass his boards down to me after he rode them, and I would go out and try to stand up. It took me about a month to actually stand up. Mind you I usually went out on a 6’6” Bessel, swallowtail with wings……nice and thick, but narrow. I taught myself how to surf, which these days you rarely see. So after the wheels started turning and I could get up and turn my dad’s board, I moved down to a 6’0” Nectar. I got to be able to ride that board well. Now, your probably wondering…how did you come to riding longboards with a history like that? Well, the first longboard I had access to belonged to my Grandmother. It was a life saving paddle board that she used to teach CPR on for the Red Cross. It was a cigar shaped 8’11” G&S, orange and red, and with a wooden fin. Surrounding that board was my whole image of surfing, the beach, palm trees, and everything else ocean. So after many pleas to my Grandmother, she finally gave in and let me ride it. It was shorter than many of the boards produced in it’s era, mid 60’s, but it still carried all 35-45 lbs of the style and shape of the time. The first time I rode it was at Torrey Pines Beach, and it was unlike anything I had ever floated on. I was able to stand up on it, and after many beatings I finally Hung Ten at Tourmaline Surf Park. I was going backside and just walked right up to the nose and planted my feet in the frozen space and time of a Hang Ten.

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

Ever since then it is a quest to get that same feeling My Dad and I had made many ding repairs, resulting in a funky looking board. But it worked and I could walk all over it. When time started to take its toll on the red cross board, my Dad and I decided to strip the glass and rebuild it. Lucky for me my Dad had a bunch of friends who were all into the 1960’s G&S boards, and I was able to get my now 13 year old hands on them. They were clean, nice retro shapes. But as far as getting a board for myself, I was still on the bottom of the food chain. My Dad and I would toy around with old beat up boards in our garage, sometimes I would get crafty and make key chains and all kinds of little knick knacks. I mostly got a lot of experience with resign and foam. My second longboard was one that my Dad and I made. We shaped the foam core of a beat up board, painted it, and glassed it. It was an eye soar, but it worked, and that’s all that mattered to me. I would have people on the beach tell me, “ Why don’t you get a better board? If you get a better board you will surf much better”. 

 

          

 

 

 

 

            That led to the best Christmas ever. Under our tree was two gallons of resign, catalyst, and a 9’0” Egg Shape blank  by Skip Frye. My dad had gotten this beautiful shape from Skip, and Skip actually let him take this amazing craft home for my Dad and  I to glass. My Dad had glassed a board here and there and did an okay job on it. But, here I was with my first custom shape and my surfing ability instantly starting improving. I got hungry for more knowledge of different maneuvers I could do, I studied the Endless Summer, Barefoot Adventure, Golden Breed, and all the other old movies. I would try certain things, and by trial and error I eventually had a nice selection of moves in my quiver.

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           I got really into shaping by watching Skip Frye shape. He uses age old techniques, that he has no desire to change. He has certain information and theories of water flow and trim that nobody else can comprehend, which makes him a true master at what he does. I had my first introduction with Skip while he was shaping at the Windansea Shop, that’s where my Dad and I were getting boards from him. After school I would ride my bike to the shop and watch Skip shape. Although Donna Frye, Skip’s wife, set some ground rules early in the game. She told me they loved having me come down, and I could hang out in the room all day long, but I couldn’t talk to Skip or ask him any questions. Because if I talked to him he would talk to me all day long and not get any work done, he was a chatter, like most surfers are. So here I was in the corner of his room, trying to be as quiet as I possiibly could because I was given a pass to watch Skip shape. It was so intriguing watching him hand craft his boards. I began my duties by sweeping up the floor, or handing him his wings when he needed to sign a board. I started asking him questions like, why did you take that many cuts on that side, and that many cuts in the other side? He would tell me things about wood grain, “You don’t want to fight it, work into the wood”, or “ You have to learn what your working with.”. He taught me from the basics to anything I could pick up and understand, the whole aura of the just being in the room was the best thing I could have asked for. Just the way he is.

 

          

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           With all of this High Performance knowledge, I didn’t just stick to the water. I was drawn to the fast lane on the pavement. I started downhill skateboarding, testing my mortality with speed. Well, it took a painful dance with a car in Cardiff to prove to myself that I am not invincible. I blew out my knee, only had one month left on my contract with Rusty, and ended up losing the main staples of my possessions. So here I am washing dishes in a coffee house after dealing with a major ACL Surgery, and I got to thinking about my future. I decided that I was going to start my own company, and do my own thing. I was still heavy into the competition scene in California. I did a few events in Hawaii, but mostly stuck to the mainland. At the time, about 1995 or 1996, the longboard scene was just beginning to hatch. Before I knew it, the longboard scene was full grown and I was doing international contests, movies, or pushing myself for better contest results. Nobody was getting rich, but we were trying to lay down a foundation for all of our futures. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. By this I mean that in all of the glamour that high performance longboarding can bring, the industry has stepped away from the soul. The only thing that separates longboards from shortboards is the ability to    hang ten on a longboard. Manuverwise you can do just about everything on either  board except hanging ten. To me, that is my main focus, to help revive the industry to come alive again the right way.

 

          

 

           When I hurt my knee, I had to start out surfing again by making myself 10ft boards. I made them wide, heavy, and classic. Really taking my shaping back to the beginning.  I felt I wanted to make high quality boards, from the shape to the finish. I went to Japan on a wetsuit sponsorship and was hooked up with my current dealer in Japan, YU.  The quality and craftsmanship being put out by his factory is hands down top notch. I knew I had to be a part of this. Now I go over three times a year and shape about 100 boards each time. I am learning a new language, made - and are making, lifelong friends in the process. I wrote a book on how to hang ten, it was translated into Japanese, and it has been doing well in Japan thanks to all of my fans and the people who just want to learn a different way how to hang ten.

 

           Meanwhile, I had broadened my horizons …………………………………

 

 

 This is a lot! Stay tuned for the second half of the Saga!

THANKS! KEVIN

 

 

 

 

Kevin Connelly Surfboards

 

 

           When I was a teenager, you didn’t see any kids my age riding longboards. I was only reinforced by the elders that I surfed with, and finally meeting some other kids that ripped on longboards. My good buddy Erik Sommers joined the scene, and we constantly tried to one up each other…..pushing each other to try different cooler maneuvers than the other. Other kids joined too, Byron Rhor and Nick Carbonne, and before you knew it we had a crew of very talented surfer’s riding longboards. Thus giving the term longboarder a new life for my generation.

           After I shaped my first board in Skip’s room with his tools, I was asked by Larry Gordon to join the Gordon and Smith team as a Professional Surfer, and do some shaping on the side. G&S gave me an experience to work with a lot of foam, and they supported my surfing. Of course I didn’t join with G&S until I okayed it with Skip, he gave me the green light, and so I started on my Professional career as a surfer and a shaper. I was with G&S for about a year and a half, I was contracted for a year and hung out for a bit after. I started surfing between Pacific Beach and La Jolla a lot, and my boards were being glassed near Rusty Preisendorfer’s factory. Surfing in La Jolla I saw Rusty a lot and got to know him. I used to poke him in the ribs and ask him when he was going to start up a longboard team. One day I did my normal routine with Rusty and asked him when he was going to add a longboard team, and he told me to come talk to him and bring some boards. Next thing you know, another contract and more knowledge.  I thought I was going to break through the glass ceiling in surfing, being a longboarder entering this massive shortboard enterprise. I was only nineteen at this time, and was hungry for knowledge and good surf. With being sponsored I was able to accumulate both of those things.

           I was doing contests in Hawaii, and broadening my shaping ability. I went from shaping flat, classic boards, to G&S and high performance boards. I also shaped lots of eggs and shorter stuff, learning about rocker and certain types of bottoms.  As soon as I was shaping with Rusty, I shifted my shaping mentality more towards shortboards. The longboards I put through Rusty’s were 21” wide and maxed out with a 16” nose, and a  12 ½  to 13 ½ tail.

Kevin Connelly’s Biography