Life on the edge in San Diego
Rescue mission, bounty hunters, boat live-aboards, runaways, process servers, knights in Balboa Park
Various Authors 8:30 a.m., Dec. 15
Chris Ahrens
Articles by Chris Ahrens
Sleepers – they look slow and drive fast
Michael Bream's junk car version of Tesla
Michael Bream’s original down to the oxidized paint 1965 VW twin cab pickup is what auto racers call a “sleeper.” Sleepers are cars that look slow and drive fast. Bream’s vintage VW qualifies by appearing ...
The advantage of a custom board
The anti-Wavestorm arguments
“When you add it all up, a surfboard costs a few cents a wave.” — Legendary surfboard shaper, Bill Caster Generally ranging between 800 and 1,200 dollars each, custom surfboards seem expensive until considering the ...
Another surfer-turned-manufacturer
Asymmetry in 1999, finless boards now
Carl Ekstrom began surfing in 1948, four years after his brother, Woody, had mastered the sport at Windansea, from where the family was nearly forced to move after their rent was raised from $12 to ...
DIY surfboard shaping — cool but not too cool
Solana Beach, La Jolla, Morena Boulevard
In the early 1960s, surf shops, which had been little more than beach shacks where balsawood blanks were sculpted into surfboards, were replaced by storefronts where surfboards were sold along with T-shirts and trunks. By ...
Tiny surfboards
Alaias are paipos’ bigger brothers
Paipo boards are small wooden surf craft made to be ridden prone. Alaia boards are paipos’ bigger brothers and can be surfed while standing. While known in Encinitas for building and riding both traditional-style paipos ...
Tim Bessell will make you an Andy Warhol surfboard — for $8,000 to $40,000
It started with forgettable film made in La Jolla
Artist Andy Warhol became famous for finding art in things as common as soup cans. While surfboards are not that common, pop art’s crown prince did have a brief brush with the functional art form. ...
Where are Mike Doyle, Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Joe Roper,Chris O'Rourke, Chris Godfrey, Larry Gordon, Tom Bessell now?
San Diego surfers of future past
Just prior to the advent of the pro surfing tour in the mid 1970s there was a group of San Diego-based surfers who set the pace for the sport. They helped dictate everything from how ...
