Tex Haines @ Victoria Skimboards

Daily Shot 2-16-12 Aliso 8:30am

2012-02-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

Massive sand movement from recent wind swell. If we could just get a south swell. A shot from the time machine, Aliso in the 30's is my guess.

Daily Shot 2-15-12 Blue Lagoon wall to Victoria Bch 8am

2012-02-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

Cold and windy today, but the bake spot in summer.

Daily Shot 2-14-12 Agate 8am

2012-02-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot 2-12-12 Aliso 8:30am

2012-02-13T08:27:00.001-08:00

Stormy weather.

Daily Shot 2-12-12 Aliso 8:30am

2012-02-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot 2-11-12 Oak St. 8am

2012-02-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot 2-10-12 San Onofre 8:30am

2012-02-10T08:57:00.001-08:00

A little change up for all you skimmers.

San O on a spectacular morning, great surf and no wind.

Daily Shot 2-9-12 Aliso 7:30am

2012-02-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

New swell, more West than SWest.

Daily Shot 2-8-12 Aliso 7:30am

2012-02-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

Shoot and run. This one chased me 30 (walked it off-after) flat out running paces up the sand. Pumping lines, tight interval, SW angle, high tides, off shores. And didn't get me.

Daily Shot 2-7-12 Cleo St. 7:30am

2012-02-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Biggest wave I could find. Rain imminent. Max high tides.

Daily Shot 2-6-12 Heisler 9am

2012-02-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Swell dropping.

Daily Shot 2-5-12 Treasure Island 8am

2012-02-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

S. Side Treasure Island steepness.

N. Side Blue Lagoon Wall to Victoria.

Daily Shot 2-4-12 Brooks St. 8:30am

2012-02-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

Couple of guys and their camera man out early. Today is Zero Trash Day, 1st Sat of each month. Adopt a street and beach, pick it up between 10 and 12 and meet your neighbors. I pick up Laguna Canyon Road for 100 yds in either direction, come on down and join me. I have a few bags and extra picker-uppers. Whoorraahhh. Pickin up the bits, or butts, as the case may be.

Daily Shot 2-3-12 Aliso 8:30am

2012-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Clean, not too cold.

Daily Shot 2-2-12 Agate 8:30am

2012-02-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Picked up a bit. Should keep growing.

Daily Shot 2-1-12 Thalia 7:30am

2012-02-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

Calm again.

Daily Shot 1-31-12 Aliso 7:30am

2012-01-31T08:53:00.001-08:00

Daily Shot 1-30-12 Main 7am

2012-01-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

Largest lake in the world today.

Daily Shot 1-29-12 Aliso 8am

2012-01-29T12:39:00.000-08:00

January?

Daily Shot 1-28-12 Agate 8am

2012-01-28T09:55:00.001-08:00

Warm air, cold water, with frequent clean sets. Goodbye John Lara. You made us laugh.

Daily Shot 1-27-12 West St. 8:30am

2012-01-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot 1-26-12 Cress St. 8am

2012-01-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

Small pulse focusing on inside reef.

Daily Shot 1-25-12 Aliso 8am

2012-01-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Dropping but still firing. Summer weather today.

Daily Shot 1-24-12 Treasure Island 7:30am

2012-01-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

Still pumping today. Aren't we lucky!

Daily Shot 1-23-12 Aliso 7:30am

2012-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Rain imminent.

Daily Shot 1-22-12 Aliso 8am

2012-01-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Got some size today.

Daily Shot 1-21-12 Aliso 9:30am

2012-01-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Tres hombres de San Clemente. Hard core, driving rain, ya gotta like it!

Daily Shot 1-20-12 Heisler 8:30am

2012-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Why would you go on vacation when you live here?

Daily Shot 1-19-12 Main Beach 8:30am

2012-01-19T09:24:00.001-08:00

Main Beach, cold, clear, 6" shorebreak.

Daily Shot 1-18-12 Thalia 7:30am

2012-01-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful day.

Daily Shot 1-17-12 West St. 8am

2012-01-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

West St. shot from Aliso Peak.

Daily Shot 1-16-12 West to Camel 8am

2012-01-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot 1-15-12 Brooks St. 7:30am

2012-01-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Wave?

Daily Shot 1-14-12 Aliso 7:30am

2012-01-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Bit of a sider at low tide early. Cold off-shore winds.

Daily Shot #2 1-13-12 Brooks 8:30am

2012-01-13T09:24:00.001-08:00

Diving anyone?

Daily Shot 1-13-12 Thalia 7:30am

2012-01-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Surf Team out in force.

Daily Shot 1-12-12 Brooks St. 7:30am

2012-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Not much swell. Long waits. Glasssy.

Daily Shot 1-11-12 Cress 6:30am

2012-01-11T13:50:00.001-08:00

Red sky at morn', sailors be warn. Nice mixed swell coming in.

Daily Shot 1-10-12 Cress 7am

2012-01-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

A little more swell than yesterday, masked by high tides.

1-9-12 Brooks St. 7am

2012-01-09T07:17:00.001-08:00

Daily Shot 1-8-12 Crescent Beach 7:30am

2012-01-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

Still some swell. Super high tides.

Daily Shot 1-7-12 Aliso 8am

2012-01-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Teddy Valasis, Great doubles between the sets. Early Vic session with Matthieu, Tex, Trigg, Tony, and Stephanie. Footage to follow.

Daily Shot 1-6-12 Treasure Island 8:30am

2012-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Big. See lines behind.

Daily Shot 1-5-12 Aliso 9am

2012-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Beautiful day, a bit of swell.

Daily Shot 1-4-12 Cress to Agate

2012-01-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

Pumping. Nice peak at Agate.

Daily Shot 1-3-12 Thalia St. 7:30am

2012-01-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Could it get flatter? Apparently, yes.

Daily Shot 1-2-12 Aliso 8am

2012-01-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Small. Foggy everywhere except Aliso.

Daily Shot 1-1-12 Oak St. 8:30am

2012-01-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

Nice day, just surfable. Happy New Year.

Daily Shot 12-31-11 Brooks St.

2011-12-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

Small and foggy. Happy New Year's to everyone.

Daily Shot 12-30-11 Oak St. 8am

2011-12-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

One thousand words plus five.

Daily Shot 12-28-11 Carmel Beach 7:30am

2011-12-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

Good size surf, beach flat, no leash-dog beach heaven, Pebble Beach golf course behind me.

Daily Shot Brooks Street 12-27-11 8 am

2011-12-27T08:18:00.000-08:00

beautiful arc in the wave, and just above the foam, a pelican flying to no where in particular. See the peli, be the peli.

Daily Shot 12-26-11 Aliso 7:30am

2011-12-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

Daily Shot Brooks St. 12-25-11 7:30am

2011-12-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

I think they called this a swell. A long time ago I saw one. Brooks St. Merry Christmas.

Daily Shot Mountain St. 12-24-11 9am

2011-12-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Couple of nice bumps off of Cress. Tide dropping fast.

Daily Shot 12-23-11

2011-12-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from all of us at Victoria. Melekelikimaka

Daily Shot Anita St. 12-23-11 8:30am

2011-12-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

Calm and clear again.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-22-11 10:30am

2011-12-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

No one on it. Blows out 5 minutes later. Tide dropping fast.

Daily Shot 12-21-11 7:30am

2011-12-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

First light, 30 deg. and 20 knot offshore breeze, crispy.

Daily Shot Cress St. 12-20-11 8am

2011-12-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

2' west pulse, water 56, 3 out at Cress going both ways.

Daily Shot 12-19-11 Victoria Beach 8:30am

2011-12-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

This one's dedicated to John Piott.

One of the original crew at Vic in the 60's. Waves 1-2'

Daily Shot Camel Point 12-18-11 8am

2011-12-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

There's waves, and 40 shore fishers, getting perch before marine reserve goes into effect.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-17-11 9:30am

2011-12-17T10:11:00.001-08:00

Clean lines, warm day.

Daily Shot Cress St. 12-16-11 8:30am

2011-12-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here comes the sun plays in todays daily shot. Tiny surf, surreal calmness, clear water, light offshores, dive anyone?

Daily Shot Oak St. 12-15-11 8:30am

2011-12-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

Oak St. with 4 on it. Saw one 4' face in 30 minutes. Clean morning. Nice chat with Beaker.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-14-11 8 am

2011-12-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Almost flat, very small wind wakes from the south. A tern down day.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-13-11

2011-12-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

Nice offshore breeze, swell still kickin, rain offshore still coming in.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-12-11 8am

2011-12-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

Cold and rainy, right on shore, good swell

Daily Shot Aliso 12-11-11 @11am

2011-12-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

One of the small ones, three guys going off at Aliso. Another great day.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-10-11 9:30am

2011-12-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

Get out there. Warmer by 10 degrees, swell starting to hit.

Daily Shot Brooks St. 12-9-11

2011-12-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

Double Daily Shot. Brooks St pusher at high tide, with bonus coffee and sugar shot, ha! with Ron at Andre's Patisserie, best pastries in Laguna Beach. Support your local treasures, or they're gone. Next to French 75 across from Surf and Sand Hotel.

Daily Shot Aliso 12-8-11

2011-12-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

7:15 am, cold and flat.

Daily Shot Oak St. 12-7-11

2011-12-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Tiny, freezing.

3 kids out at Thalia

6:30 am!

Aliso 12-6-12

2011-12-06T10:01:00.001-08:00

High tides, cold offshores 8 am, almost flat

2011-12-05T10:58:00.001-08:00

Aliso Beach - December 5, 2011

Next!

2011-11-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Friday, rainday, November 4, 2011

It lives! First off the robot shaper for me. This is perfect duplicate of my most recent 8'2" x 23" wide body, low rocker, flat bottomed, hard railed, wave catching machine. I plan to make a few of these for sale out of our shop in Laguna. My current 8'2" is iteration number 7 in a progression of subtle improvements. Speed is the essence, in paddling and milking the facets for down the line performance. Catch more waves! Catch more waves! Tri-fin for waves under 3' generates tons of speed in the cutbacks, and single fin option for more control in the juicier stuff. Comes with a single molecule of Tex Haines.

2011-09-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Life goes on. Shaping up a new stick for the Brooks St. 9' of pure speed and stoke comes together in the San Clemente shaping bay. Can't wait to glass it up. I'm planning another 8' after this. Number 6 in the evolution of the 8 footers I have been riding over the years. Aloha!

Marion Haines

2011-07-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Marion Haines, a good camper, wise in books and plants, was rooted in a land where nature and the love of life imbued her every action.

She was born and raised in Hawaii, and that alone is a most wonderous and savory thought. One could roll around in that thought for a long time. barefoot to school. meeting Pele, the goddess of war and volcanos, on a dark , dark night as a teenager, having Duke Kahanamoku ask her by name to go out for a surf on his board as a regular event. Surrounded by the amazing aloha spirit which I can only say is as loving as it gets for our species.

She came of age when on December 7th, 1941 at the age of 16 Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was just over the ridge from her home. She and her friends had been sliding on tea leaves the evening before, up on Tantalus Drive behind Honolulu. Imagine a really steep slope, riddled with erosion paths like a slalom course, the mud as slippery as it gets. I mean steep. At night! Darn fool kids. Afterwards they all piled into the Buick, still covered in mud and went down to Waikiki to rinse off in the moonlight. Home to bed late. Next morning. . . chaos, bombs bursting just over the hill, smoke billowing, planes roaring by, followed by fear of imminent invasion, horror stories about war, a mad scramble to mobilize all resources, and getting the women and children to safety.

So . . . off she goes to the mainland, a darn fool kid no more, to attend Stanford. She is there for summer school, ahead of her classes arrival that
fall. The early cute bird from Hawaii gets a lot of dates. Amazing what you learn from her old friends.

Of these years I know little. But many of those here today are a testament to her friendship from those trying and wonderful times. Depression years and world wars are beyond my comprehension. I salute the greatest generation. Thank you for being part of my Mother’s life. I remember all those parties you attended at the Mendocino house.

She went on to marry a gem of a doctor, raise 4 kids, embrace the surfing life of weekends at San Onofre, co-author the San O Cookbook, finishing her education at UCLA, volunteering at hospitals, working
on her garden, becoming a docent at Huntington Gardens, as well as the Library. She was an avid reader, collecting old first editions of all her favorite authors, she embraced the arts, and life with gusto.

She was also a good skier, hiker, and an good golfer. And Oh My God she could cook. Thank you lord, thank you mom, thank you Julia Child.

We, as kids, sitting in the VW bus, would cheer and pump fists, as she marched into a store to chew out the proprietor in the rare situation where she felt ripped off, or cheated. She had real grit. We all knew it from early on.

Just recently, when I broke down a bit at her bedside, she caught me and asked what was wrong. She is barely hanging on herself at this point. I was depressed, and in a lonely moment, but I said it was just the strain of the economy that had caught up to me. She paused for a few moments and said, put it in low gear. And there was that big smile.

Just go. Those words combine well with put it in low gear. On numerous key moments in our lives she would say that there never is a GOOD time to go on a vacation or a trip, just go. Go when you get the chance. Grab it. Appropriately, just after her passing, my family went down the Colorado for a long planned, 8 day river trip of a lifetime, that we really couldn’t afford, time or money wise, and of course Marion was with us. No words can describe that trip. You have to just go.

She will be sorely missed. But man o man are we glad she is back with her husband, our dad, and all her old friends and relatives. Aloha. See you in the water, or down in the canyon, now and then.

The 1932 photo is of Marion Haines, age 7, with her 5’10” finless koa surfboard which she also skimboarded on at Kailua Beach.

2010-09-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

I am just back from a trip to N.Y. I got to skim and surf Montauk, as part of my wife’s father’s 80th birthday bash. And we were lucky enough to skim at Block Island on August 29th with a couple of Rhode Island guys. They were good riders, getting siders that were barely working at Ballards Beach, and the mindless-bather crowds were maxed out. Hurricane Danielle was sending waves from Bermuda, and Earl was just beginning to look menacing down in the Caribbean. Fun skimming with you guys. Thanks for the session. Flew back out of Newark the night before Earl slammed into the Outer Banks. Photo: CBHaines

Tex

Stay in the box Mac.

2010-08-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Still going . . . 1980 to 2010 I bought this Honda XL80 new in 1980 from a shop in Newport on 17th. I liked it because it was a 4 stroke, quiet, ran on regular gas, and had 4 speeds, and it couldn’t go much faster than I could handle if I had to jump off. Heck, bicycles in a peloton go at least 50 mph right? I mounted a box on the back for my dog Mac, added a skimboard cradle on the side, and foot pegs for an extra rider and voila, the urban transportation insurgency was ready to roll. Great gas savings, and heavenly lane splitting capability in those standstill canyon traffic jams are the rewards. These days, I live up on Arch Beach Heights and it really makes me feel better about a quick run into town for grinds or visiting my mom. The risks are there! Let me tell you. My dad, the doctor, darkly refered to them as Honda donors, as all the organs were in great shape after an accident, only the head was really damaged. I drive very carefully, and not very often. It fits in my van easily, and has made a trip to the tip of Baja and back, as my back up vehicle. And it is so entertaining. People I pass break out in big smiles as they see the big guy on the circus sized bike. Some day I will buy a big red nose to wear when I ride it. Laugh all you want, life is good and still going greener.

Wednesdays Blend 7-21-10

2010-07-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Rise 5:15. Walk gods. Sorry, dogs. Chase rabbits, so outa breath. Breaky with Carly. School at 7:30 Check surf at Agate, walk dogs again, very narrowly miss getting nabbed for dogs off leash. Saw his white shirt and what looked like a mug and ignored him, looked up again and it was two Beach Patrolie kids with ticket books. Hey, I’m older now. Realized they hadn’t seen the dogs as they were just out of sight. Lucky COME in a gutteral whisper, Jazi COME, clip on leashes, stand erect and say a little too loudly Good Morning! Good kids, they knew they had somehow just missed me and just responded good naturedly. Dog laws gotta change. Carmel Beach has a no leashs required on their main beach and they make it work. Don’t even get me started on our towns highway robbery parking meters. What exactly are they not paying for? These days we could use a few more tourists. And not burn them for parking more than one hour in any one spot. Anyway, rant over.
Stopped in to check on my mom. 85 and going along pretty good. Figuring where she wants to live next and when. Not bad for a Punahoe girl who saw the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Walked dogs next door, (see picture) threw disc golf for 9 holes. The zen ritual, stretch legs, walk dogs, prioritize next biz moves, and not throw out my back again on the long shots.
Time now 1:30. Posted first blog today. Took a good amount of time. Working on many projects at once, plus the usual cleaning up here and there around the shop. This is more for today. Signing off. . . . .Tex

The Daily Blog. 1 down 249 to go!

2010-07-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

A photo is a time capsule. The first official Victoria shop about 1980, the year we began making our first foam core boards. None are visible in this photo, so it is probably pre 1980. Rent is extremely expensive in Laguna, so the shop is a study in maximizing space. The Tour: (clockwise from 9 pm.) Sliding door to shaping room with brooms etc. Middle slot with brushes on wall is the resin storage bay. Furthest back is sliding door to the office/showroom, a spacious 8' x 9' space. Main room, old Rainmaker skimboard on back wall, glassed while at Lewis and Clark College in Portland Oregon in 1971. Finished boards storage all around wall on hanging racks, ventilation ducting (a huge expense for us), back wall a mysto wood warper, at the time our best invention. Outboard motor hanging from ceiling by ladder for voyages in the Makana, "The Gift", my grandfathers 14' outboard motorboat circa 1950, modified by David Kahanamoku and myself to have a cabin, and reinforced deck and stringers, for wild forays to the Hollister Ranch for surfing nirvana. Oh! the stories I could tell. Overhead surfboard storage racks, David Kahanamoku shaped yellow surfboard in final glassing stages is below. Resin/tarpaper covered floor, usually the racks to the right, on sawhorses were pulled into the room for glassing 20 skimboards at a time, Note the milk cartons for mixing resins. We still recycle everything we can at Vic and many of the wood structures in the shop are still in use today, though they are incorporated into completely different forms. I gave up that ladder only this year when we sold our house, as it was more useful to the new owner, than to me. Co-founder, Peter Prietto was probably still my business partner. The back door out of the office gave us great fresh air. In 1982, when our landlord, George Burkhardt built a new complex just around the bend, we moved there and expanded into two units. Now we are up to 5 units here and a separate glassing facility down in San Clemente. Click on picture to make it larger. Tex Haines