SimFish, Tim Elsner New Stick

This is a very Cool looking stick.
Shaped by Joe Bauguess at Mike Eaton's
Shop for Tim Elsner.
This is a Spin off of Bob Simmon's
Early Dual Fin Surfboard.



Excerpt from ALL ABOUT SURF Interview with
Richard Kenvin (RK to his friends) regarding
Bob Simmons and Steve Lis Design Influences.


RK - What is holding my interest the most right now is investigating this legacy of design that formed here in the San Diego area? Of course, a lot came from elsewhere. But I'm particularly fascinated by certain elements of designs that came into being in this area. So I have been tracing a lot of lineages and seeing how it has blossomed and spread throughout the world. A lot of it has become tribal lore, at least in my experience. I had always heard of it. Bob Simmons surfing the Windansea area and riding dual finned boards. I had always heard that stuff as a kid when growing up surfing Simmons Reef. There was always a consciousness about that sort of thing. That's basically where I'm at as far as inspiration.
For me there is "a Board," the Steve Lis Fish, which, thru either conscious or unconscious and intuitive decisions by Stevie, happens to fulfill a series of design innovations that originated, the first time around, in the mind of Bob Simmons over half a century ago. Simmons's boards are loosely connected to the fish through Ekstrom, and also the Mirandon brothers and their Twin Pin boards. For whatever reasons and circumstances these seeds of revolutionary and functional surfboard design sprouted, grew, and spread round the world from their source here in San Diego. So in my mind these designs that have been looked upon historically as an interesting yet insignificant side show, i.e. the Simmons Dual fin and the Lis fish, are really more like one of the main deals when you consider this thing we call "shortboarding". And of course George Greenough's contributions are extraordinary on all levels.

When I think of a sort of holy trinity of shortboarding, meaning people who showed us the boards of the future and how to ride them, the names that come to mind are Bob Simmons, George Greenough, and Steve Lis, two brilliant kneeriders and a mad scientist. Of course all forms of surfing are valid and wonderful, and surfers from different disciplines, like single fin enthusiasts or traditional longboarders might mention different names... but for me its those guys. A longer list would include Pat Curren, Diffenderfer, Mike Hynson, Dick Brewer and others...

Excerpt From: ALL ABOUT SURF
http://www.allaboutsurf.com/articles/hydrodynamica?pg=1

Bing, Mike Eaton and Matt Calvani, What's the Connection

Bing opened his first surf shop in the fall of 1959 with his friend Rick Stoner and became one of the major surfboard manufactures of the sixties and early seventy's. A year after they opened, Rick decided to sell Bing his portion of the business thus came Bing Surfboards. The business grew at an exponential rate, and Bing expanded his factory to include a glassing area and a team of first-rate shapers, including Dick Mobley, Mike Eaton, Dan Bendiksen, John Mobley, Wayne Land, and George Lanning and then eventually Dick Brewer also joined the team.
At one point, the factory produced up to 40 surfboards a day. In addition to his board-building team, Bing also had a star team of riders, including David Nuuhiwa, Dru Harrison, Chris Schlickenmeyer, and Rolf Aurness just to name a few.




The late 60s was the beginning of the end for the major manufacturers. It was a time of the “back yard board” and “no label” surfboards. Bing along with his master shapers and new designers, the Campbell Brothers, transitioned to shorter boards with a few models, but despite Bing Surfboard’s continued popularity, sales declined and it became obvious to Bing that the business may not survive. It was also around this time that Bing and his wife, Conlee, decided it might be best to move their young family away from the drug scene that had developed surrounding Hermosa Beach. Bing decided to pursue a career change and moved his family to Idaho.

In 1974, G&S took on the license of Bing Surfboards then Mike Eaton continued the Bing legacy through the 80s and 90s. Until one day in Baja in 2000, where Bing and his family spend their winters, Bing was surfing one of his favorite spots and a car pulled up with a group of young guys. One of the guys approached Bing and claimed to owe him some royalty money for some Bing & Rick surfboards that he had made for Rick Surfboards.



This young man then offered to make Bing’s boards if he was ever interested. Bing casually mentioned this to his good friend Mike Eaton, who had been building the boards up until then, and Mike was happy to pass along the legacy to the new generation of surfboard shapers. This young man was Matt Calvani. To this day, Bing and his family live in the mountains of Idaho and spend their winters surfing in the warm waters of southern Baja, not forgetting to stop in on Matt and his surfboard manufacturing team located at Shoreline Glassing.

Excerpt From: Bing Surfboards
http://www.bingsurf.com/history.html

6'8" Bonzer Zinger