Richard Kenvin's Obsession with Bob Simmons' Planing Hulls

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8 ай бұрын

Richard Kenvin walks us through his absolute obsession with the dynamic planing hulls of Bob Simmons, and the multitude of designs and shapers they inspired. In hallmark Journal fashion, the history of surfing isn't an artifact; it's a base to be built upon. Kenvin brings it all current with velocity and some beautiful surfing at Windansea. While the original boards are ancient, the current versions are stunningly modern.
RK brought this movement to our attention in TSJ 17.6's "Remember the Future." surfersjournal.com/issues/752

Пікірлер: 25

@cpost1558 8 ай бұрын

This is great, my Dad's friend had the first Simmons board in Hermosa Beach. It had a spoon nose and fiberglass. There was nothing like that before. All boards were red wood planks or plywood kook box. Simmons was a step ahead. My dad got a block of balsa from a war raft and he brought it to Simmons work shop on Olympic in Santa Monica in 1951. Simmons made him his first "shaped" board. I am going to reach out to Richard Kenvin with details. I love talking about this stuff. It's true, this surfboard design paved the way for the way we ride boards today. Surfing is a Nobel activity pioneered by brilliant people.

@toddbefield1100 8 ай бұрын

Nice... my Dad and his Santa Monica surf buddies (Buzzy Trent, Peter Cole, Les Williams, Kit Horn, etc) had stories about Simmons back then...revolutionary shaper..."Bear" in Big Wednesday was modeled after Bob Simmons supposedly 2...

@cpost1558 8 ай бұрын

@@toddbefield1100 That's rad. Growing up, I was exposed to all this stuff, it was so cool. I used to go to the North Shore and Stay at Peter Cole's house. It's been amazing. For some reason, I can't read the rest of your comment, cut off after " Bear" was modeled after Bob Simmons supposedly 2......

@toddbefield1100 8 ай бұрын

"Bear" in the movie Big Wednesday was modeled after Bob Simmons...

@gordonquigg9389 7 ай бұрын

That board you unwrapped is a 1946 Joe Quigg board for the girls and the kids to learn on in the after the war era. Simmons never made a short board before late 1950.. Simmons didn't surf before WWII started. He started surfing on the planning hulls that Bud Morrissey and Guard Chapin had been making in the '30's and '40's. Joe Quigg had been making 4 to 5ft belly boards cut down from dinged up boards discarded at the beach, and was standing up on them by the time he was 5 years old, years before Simmons had ever gone in the ocean. When Joe turned 18 in 1943, he joined the Navy and at that point in time no one of the surfers that frequented the beaches up and down the coast of California had ever seen or heard of Bob Simmons yet. Simmons started surfing just after that. In 1945 Joe got a two week leave of absence to visit home in Santa Monica, went out surfing with his best long time surfing buddy Matt Kivlin, at Malibu, and there was this weird ugly guy, weakly paddling around on an eleven foot long, 100 pound, straight plank, with a crooked broken arm that he wouldn't have fixed, yelling at everyone, telling them what to do and to get out of his way. He was a terrible surfer with no ability or talent, and he would ride 30 yards ahead of the curl, or if the the wave got at all hollow he would loose his balance and jump off. So finally my dad was amazed at this guy just monopolizing the spot and kooking out all over the place and pushing women off their boards and telling them to go in. Joe finally said to Matt, who is that guy. So Matt laughs super hard and says, "oh that's this new guy Bob Simmons, he's just crazy and full of himself. But afterwards at the beach, Joe noticed that Bob had a certain amount of charisma and a funny personality. So they got to talking for hours and became friends because Joe had been shaping boards for 15 years already and Simmons hadn't started yet. All of Simmons ideas were from the so called planning hulls of Bud Morrissey, Gard Chapin, and Pete Peterson. Simmons was fascinated with Joe's boards, super light and shaped and contoured everywhere like a bird. So that was the meeting of Simmons and Joe Quigg, and they ended up seeing each other out surfing for years after that. The war was over in late '45 and the men were released in early '46, and when Joe got back home to Santa Monica, Simmons was about a year into building surfboards. But Simmons theories were the opposite of Joe's. Simmons famous quotes were a real surfboard is eleven feet long and must be heavy to go downhill faster with the pull of gravity. He didn't put fins on his boards until after he saw Joe Quigg's fins. Simmons boards were originally milled straight with no rocker to go faster, and had 2 to 3 inch deep, 15 to 18 inch long keels attached to the bottom of the board with screws brackets or slots. He did know how to glass boards so he didn't use resin himself until way later. His bottoms were round, the rails were high and square, and he actually put weights in his early boards to try to get more pull from gravity. Simmons boards were horrible failures, and when he brought them to Hawaii, he almost drowned in medium sized surf at Makaha. When he came back, after late 1949, he wrote Joe a letter and admitted the all of Joe's theories and designs were the future and all of his were failures and that he was giving them up and going the Joe Quigg way. By 1950 all the boards up and down the coast had the Joe Quigg look and construction of all balsa, super light, flat bottoms, low round rails, and Joe's invention of glassed on fish like fins. Simmons couldn't sell a board anymore at Malibu, so he moved down to San Diego with all of Joe's theories and designs and everyone down there, pretty much ever since thinks that they were Simmons'. And this Elwell plagiarizing liar who barely new Simmons, befriended him right before he died, then made Simmons this big hero after he died and spread a bunch of lies giving Simmons the undue credit for all of Joe's shapes, designs, and inventions. Elwell went around doing this to create a platform to make himself famous on. But as far as the mini-simmons goes, that's a hoax. And it's actually a mini-Quigg but nobody ever called them that because Joe big boards were all under 10 feet, and his girls and kids beginner's boards were all lengths between 5 ft an 9 ft. and they were popular and at all the beaches from San Onofre to Malibu and the south bay areas. After 1947 and especially 1950, Joe's designs, construction and look took off north of San Onofre concentrating in the malibu area, and quickly spreading like wild fire to Hawaii, up and down both west and east coasts. At the same time starting in 1947, Joe Quigg's big wave guns were introduced to Hawaii, with the first elephant guns. After late 1949 nobody ever made a Simmons style board again. All the hydrodynamica and mini Simmons that you see are mostly Joe Quigg's inventions and designs.

@TBlanktim 8 ай бұрын

Very well said. What he stated is the very essence of surfing. The magazines are the ones to have perverted the image.

@jamespardue3055 8 ай бұрын

RK started just as I did, at the same age too. A natural progression from body surfing to belly board to knee board to stand up. Gawd I miss those days, lots of empty waves and beach peaks in Newport and Huntington. I even had a real 'El Paipo' glassed belly board, and it was the most fun you could have with your pants on.

@DAPOOLPARTY 7 ай бұрын

love it. love all these series that TSJ are doing. Thank you for morning inspiration.

@PhilipRevere 8 ай бұрын

RK was always a good surfer at Wind N. However, he was so obsessed with Bob he created a dishonest display for the San Diego Museum of Man back in the day that said the Fish was created by Bob and never mentioned Steve Lis at all? Shame Shame. As a surfer from San Diego that grew up surfing La Jolla and the cliffs I think Richard totally blew it. Who from La Jolla or LA that was friends with Bob rode a "Hydroplane" from 54' to70'. The answer is no one right? Did Pat Curren pick it up? Did anyone. Nope. Most San Diegans that watched this happen in real time have a different opinion then Richard on how influential Bob's boat hull - airplane wing design was to the kids making boards at the cliffs in the 70's. Paipo's predate Bob by what 500 years or more? It was a Hawaiian that stood up on Steve's fish correct? We ride Fish's today not Hydroplanes......God Bless America and its surfers.

@petersellas7025 8 ай бұрын

Everyone forgets to mention Joe Quigg who I think was much more influential than Simmons on the design of the modern surfboard.

@izandevainmyheart1129 7 ай бұрын

RK in his prime in my opinion was the best surfer I have ever seen live Under rated big time

@joshryan2478 7 ай бұрын

Still making that film 😆

@skitdogg 8 ай бұрын

Mini Simmons, funnest boards on the planet, if you know you know. Thanks Bob, but also thanks for your service Kenvin

@wayneburke4381 8 ай бұрын

you missed Joe Quigg

@petersellas7025 8 ай бұрын

I was thinking the same thing. I would have to say Joe was the father of the modern surfboard not Bob. Yes, Bob did the twin fin but Quigg did the scabbed rocker balsa boards and fin and modern rails. Go look at his outlines on the wood boards in th surf museum in San Clemente. I had a 7'11'' Quigg board in 1960 high density foam he was experimenting with. First foam board 8'4'' Gordie in 58, 8'2 Velzy in 59 We dig Joe Quigg

@Californiansurfer 8 ай бұрын

❤yes, I saw his balsa board at San clamente surf museum SHACC 1995. It’s been my passion also. I think , I’m gong to make another 8 ft Simmons balsa board. This time,i won’t sale it.. thanks body.. ❤