Steve Pendarvis on Creativity in Surfboard Design

April 24, 2012 by 5 Comments

Steve Pendarvis. Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Anyone who surfs the reefs and beaches of Central San Diego has come across the original shapes of Steve Pendarvis and his Pendoflex line of  surfboards. The irreverant and innovative Sunset Cliffs surfer is part of the long line of unique San Diego shapers and designers that includes Skip Frye and especially Steve Lis.

Steve has worked with Canyon Surfboards, Classic Glass, Superior Glass, and Diamond Glassing. Some of the surfers who have ridden Steve’s boards include Buttons, Dave Rastovish, Dan Malloy and Gavin Beschen.

Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Serge Dedina: When did you first start shaping surfboards?

Steve Pendarvis: In the 1960s when I was in my early teens, I started shaping and building surfboards. I was always tinkering with projects: boards, model airplanes, boats, bikes, all finely tuned.

Dedina: How did your interest in shaping begin? Did you wake up one day and say, “I want to be a shaper.”

Pendarvis: Having projects naturally led to building surfboards. Not to mention 2 dollars for resin, 40 cents per yard for cloth, skateboard marine plywood for fins, blanks from Ridout plastics or G&S for about 8 bucks. Yeah baby! $20 dollars or less to make a new toy, now we’re talk’n!

Steve field testing his Pendoflex design in Baja. Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Dedina: With all the pop-out surfboards made in China and computer-shaped boards, is the role of the underground shaper still even relevant?

Pendarvis: Yeah, I still have my planers and sanding blocks humming, hands on is key for me. A lot of the innovation comes from underground shapers. If a design becomes trendy, it is often picked up by corporations and mass-produced and may eventually be popped-out overseas.

Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Dedina: Given the market forces that are forcing the consolidation of the surfboard industry into a more corporate structure, why are you still handcrafting surfboards?

Pendarvis: To each their own. I prefer the work ethic of making a carefully hand-crafted surfboard.

Dedina: What is the value of a handcrafted surfboard?

Pendarvis: Absolutely custom for the client is what it’s all about!! Hand-crafted surfboards are built for the customer, thus the word custom!!

Dedina: Your shaping and surfboards have been associated with Central San Diego and especially the Sunset Cliffs. Why have the Cliffs been such a hotbed of surfboard innovation and design?

Pendarvis: Can’t really say, except for beaches and reefs a plenty!

Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Dedina: Many of your Pendoxflex designs have used alternative surfboard technology and building techniques. Can you describe some of the alternative ways you are designing and building boards and what materials you are using?

Pendarvis: The Pendoflex has a high torque, high speed, tail design built into the tails; it’s a stand-up derivative of a Greenough shell, which I then back-fill with foam to bring the deck flush with the rest of the board. A Pendoflex taps more of the available energy, sort of like a Fiberflex skateboard, weighting and unweighting,building speed on speed. It’s really cool.Subtle flex characteristics fuel powerful rail turns, while the board conforms to the wave face.

Generally my boards have a foam core, for instance US Blanks (PU), and WNC or Marko foam (EPS), and here and there, balsa, agave, cork and veneers.

Photo: Steve Pendarvis.

Dedina: Who are the surfers and shapers who are inspiring you to think differently and continue to progress in your shaping?

Pendarvis: Some are Skipper (Skip Frye), Stevie (Steve Lis), Greenough, Paul Gross, Dan Hess, the Campbells, the Thompsons, Brian Conley and the Murpheys, legless.tv, and others. And everyone and thing that comes across your senses helps define your relativity.

Dedina: You and your wife Cher are known as super positive and a stoked couple who continually look on the bright side of life.  Since the members of Sunset Cliffs surfing crew have not always been known for their laughter and good cheers (at least with outsiders) why do you think it is important for surfers to be positive and create connections outside their local surf spots?

Pendarvis: As you know every dog’s gotta leave his mark on the fire hydrant. Hey, that’s my hydrant! And you can use it too mate! I dunno, share and share alike. I still get my poker face going from time to time when the bait ball shows up, loading up the zone, Yikes!

We look for the positives, and appreciate friendship and kindness among people.

Steve and his wife Cher.

*****

You can find out more information on Steve Pendarvis and his Pendoflex surfboards here.

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Brett Bender’s Shaping Life

December 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

Brett Bender at work at the TNT factory in Imperial Beach.

From my Imperial Beach and Coronado Patch surfing column of Nov 15.

Brett Bender can be found most mornings surfing his modern longboard south of the Imperial Beach Pier. Brett’s son Noah is one the key members of the Imperial Beach Grom Squad, most of whom surf Brett’s ultra-modern and progressive Natural Selection custom shortboards.

Q: Why did you start shaping surfboards and when

A: I started shaping surfboards at the age of 14 in my mom’s garage, because the whole process fascinated me and I thought it would be fun to make money at something you love to do. At 19 I got a job airbrushing and shaping for Mitch’s in La Jolla, manufacturing them at Star Glassing at Brown Field.

I shaped for labels like Iron Cross, Dove, Airwaves and World Motion, Ezera, Marbella, Tony Staples, Bear, Gordon and Smith, Blue Water and others. The whole time I evolved my own Natural Selection Surfboards designs. I am also airbrushing at TNT and creating retro and 60’s style longboards in Japan. I airbrushed for shapers such as Rusty, Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Nev Hyman and too many more to mention.

The heyday of surfboards for me was in the late 80s, early 90s when it seemed like everyone had lots of work before cheap imports from China and elsewhere and computer shaping machines.

Q: What shapers influenced you starting out and today?

A: When I started shaping I was interested in Ben Aipa’s shapes until Simon Anderson’s three-fin thruster came out. Simon was the man. I had the opportunity to work and learn from international shapers in the 80s and 90s including Almir Salazar, Paulo Cabral and Geraldo Rinaldi in Brazil, Grant Miller from Australia, Kim Purington and Steve Elliot from Hawaii. I learned their techniques and tricks of the trade.

Most of all, David Craig has influenced me the most because I have been watching him shape since I was a teenager and he is a true master of his craft.

Q: Where are you favorite places to surf?

A: I love surfing here at home in Imperial Beach. My favorite spots are point breaks like Byron Bay and Noosa Heads in Australia or Scorpion Bay, Mexico.

Q: What designs that you are working on?

A: Currently the boards I have been working on that have received excellent feedback have been shorter, wider and thicker using a modern version of the old fish blanks allowing for the extra volume with dialed-in modern rocker.

Q: What is happening with surfboard materials that are new and exciting?

A: All different board designs are being ordered in the epoxy medium, since they are lighter and more buoyant. Epoxy seems to be what a lot of people need because they love them. My favorite boards to make are actually 60s style with resin tints, traditional outlines and rails with modern high performance hidden in with lightness, bottom contours, step decks and a really good fin.

Q: Where did the collapse of Clark Foam leave the surfboard industry?

A: The collapse of Clark foam was devastating. Almost 50 years of experience gone, 100’s of rocker combinations, the special stringers, the famous molds all gone which were irreplaceable. Personally it was difficult because I do mostly handshapes. Dozens of blank companies popped-up only to quickly go out of business. A few good companies remain over five years later already.

Q: Is there a future for the small “handcrafted” surfboard shaper/manufacturer?

A: There is always a place for handshaped boards, the personalized custom board. But there will always be a place for the computer board, the highly evolved high performance shape that takes hours to achieve by hand and only takes minutes by computer.

Q: What it is about shaping that keeps you motivated?

A: The most rewarding thing about making surfboards is creating and surfing them with my son Noah whose love for the sport and interest in surfboard design has inspired me.

Serge Dedina is the Executive Director of WiLDCOAST and the author of Wild Sea: Eco-Wars and Surf Stories from the Coast of the Californias.

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