Peter - hard at work on his latest space cadet
SurfingTheMag.com: Is it the same crew as the day you started?
Peter: Well, my partner Gary and I worked at Surfboards Hawaii back in the 60’s, and our other partner was with Sunset Surfboards back in the early 70’s. It’s just a long time crew that has stuck together over the years.
SurfingTheMag.com: Are you guys stoked on the “revival” of some of the older style boards like twin-fins and single-fins making a bit of a comeback?
Peter: I think they are actually different. The boards being built today work better now than the boards back in the old days. They’ve been improved. Channel Islands Surfboards, they really stepped it up by changing the bottoms and the fin angles and made them work better, I think. You can definitely see the improvements from then to now.
JP: With the retro trip, there are good ideas as in every decade where there are good ideas that get passed over. And people always bring those in to us with slight modifications. Like the fishes that have the Lok-box fin system. By toeing the fins in and making other modifications, that totally re-invented the fish.
Even the single-fins are so modified that they don’t even compare to the old ones. Just because it has a resin tint, doesn’t really mean that they are retro. They have all new resin types, all new foam – they really are actually pretty modern surfboards. The original “idea” might be retro, but the boards are not.
There is this whole generation of kids that missed out on that era. There are so many different ways to ride a wave, you know? The big thing now is to have a pile of surfboards. Everyone wants to try to take a different line every session.
Peter: This is the least boring time that I have seen since probably 1968.
SurfingTheMag.com: A different mindset maybe?
Peter: It’s the first time in a long time that I have seen pro surfers actually order different stuff. They are having fun on boards other than the standard, old 6’2 tri-fin.
SurfingTheMag.com: Guys like Rob Machado are actually coming in here themselves and glassing their own boards, creating their own trippy artwork to be used…
Peter: Yeah, Rob needs adult supervision when he’s glassing, definitely. [laughs] He comes in here and works on different stuff. But he’s always done that. Even when he was on the tour he would have a quiver of different boards.
JP: A lot of those [tour] guys feel that contest surfing is actually beginning to hold back surfing. It used to be that professional surfing wanted to push the limits of surfing forward.
The all new showroom at Moonlight Glassing
SurfingTheMag.com: You hear that even today with things like the dream tour in full swing?
Peter: Oh yeah. You hear about how the judging sucks, they still have to ride the “approved” boards. If they paddle out there with a single fin, fish, or a bonzer – they feel aren’t going to win their heat. It’s like for some reason, they want to hold things back.
JP: Even if they have a tri-fin that doesn’t look right for some reason. For instance if they showed up with a tri-fin double-wing, the judges hold it against them. We talk to a lot of the guys, and they just get really frustrated.
SurfingTheMag.com: Well, we won’t name any names on that topic as some of those guys are possibly still on tour. But getting back to your shop, a lot of the pros make it a big point for their boards to get finished here. Why do you have such a hardcore following?
Peter: A lot of those guys don’t even get their tour boards done here. They get their own personal boards done here. The boards that are in their own personal collections and they want to have fun on get done here.
JP: The pros are rad and everything, but honestly - I get more satisfaction when a hard working, blue-collar guy picks up a new board and loves it. Or when a grom brings us his first shaped blank. That is the kind of stuff that keeps the job soulful and fun.
SurfingTheMag.com: Well, with the level of detail that goes into each board, one could hardly blame them.
Want to make sure that your board gets an insane airspray and a quality glass job? Tell your shaper to send it to Moonlight Glassing. Or contact Moonlight yourself at 760-942-3319.
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