The Santa Cruz Crew back in the day

I came across this illustration recently, a cool piece of Santa Cruz surf history that Jim Phillips did for the Santa Cruz Surf Shop back in the 80's. I spent 13 years of my life at the Surf Shop, airbrushing surfboards at night to get through college, designing t shirts, logo's, window displays, being a buyer, Richard Novak and Jay Shuirman originally owned the shop. The crew was huge back in the day.
Pat Taylor, Richard Schmidt, Josh Mulcoy "Homer", Harbor Bill, Keith Meek, Tim Larkin, Obo, Alex and Tor Johnson, Bruce Ramsey, Kevin Walters, Jack Roddy, Hank and Charlie Heitmann, Hugh Holt, and a couple names that escape me.

My brother and I Pleasure Point 1963

My grandma raised five girls and a son in Monterey, worked at the fish canneries in Cannery Row with her two eldest daughters, my dad's father was a fisherman. She lost everything she owned to a house fire, rebounded, lost her son, lost everything again when the family was put in Internment Camps during World War II, pregnant with her daughter, she lost her husband and raised her family solo. My mom was 12 years old my dad in his own camp with his family was 14. The untold story Beyond Barbed Wire movie a documentary my Uncle Yukio helped fund tells what happened during this time. Something my parents never spoke to us about until this movie came out. I saw my dad cry for the second time in my life while watching this movie at the Pacific Film Festival, the only other time I saw him cry was at his mother's funeral when I was 8 years old. My parents Americanized us, spoiled us and encouraged us to do things they could not. I know that is part of what drives and fuels my passion to make life better and to do more then just sit and watch it go by.

The old Red Barn in Aptos 1976

I kept my horse Rivers here for over 17 years. I paid $15.00 a month, kept a few other horses there for a total of 21 years. The original owners who turned it into a B & B and the second owners booked the place for weddings weekend retreats almost all year round. Sadly I think the magic has since vanished with all of the development around it. We use to let the the horses in the field during the day to graze and put them in at night. One day all the horses got out and ran down the middle of Soquel Drive toward Soquel Village. They got as far as the water department and then turned around and ran all the way back home. Whiskey, Faye and Lonnie what a sight.

Cover of the Mid-County Post

I never imagined that these old shots would be front page over 30 years later.

Judi Oyama Rolls On

I spoke at last months Capitola city council meeting about why the kids need a skatepark and how I spent most of my youth driving to San Jose just to skate. Linda Fridy a writer for the Mid County post was in the audience and got a hold of me and wrote two nice articles. This one and one about the Capitola Classic she was super supportive and nice.

I think my parents will be surprised when they see it on the cover of the Mid County Post this month.

The other girl is Lisa Harner and old friend from the past. Photo by my dad.
Skater for Life!

The Park Wilshire field 1964 in Aptos

My dad is a photographer. One day he got all excited about the clouds and asked my mom to put us in some red clothing and we walked out the back gate of our fence and he had us fly a kite. Back then we were like "Dad?" but now looking back I get what he was doing. The field is overgrown with trees and bushes with a few homeless people living back there. It is a great place to hike, walk dogs and bike with your kids. I know the houses will come eventually. Enjoy it while it's there.

Greg Foy of Landry and Foy Builders upgrades Aptos home

Landry and Foy Builders new website
Greg took an old home that had not been changed since the early 1960's he remodeled the kitchen and living room which made a dramatic much improved change to a very dated old home in Aptos. Greg's vision made it all possible. Imagine what he can do for you.

Slalom Skateboard Racing is Fun

Slalom skateboarding is not exactly a common sport, most people have never even heard of it. It is hard to find safe locations to skate since you have to set up cones and use one lane of a road. The road has to be smooth, steep and have a good run out, so you can stop safely without the danger of getting hit by a car or crashing at high speeds. You have to know how to stop by foot braking or sliding stopping which ruins your wheels and even worse your body if not done correctly. In addition it takes special skateboard equipment. You don’t use your typical wood kicktail skateboard to race. You need a board that is designed specifically for the sport. I recommend having a quiver of boards for specific each different kind of slalom course that is set at slalom races. Some races have a tight course, which requires a shorter quick response board, a giant slalom for faster courses with wide offsets and the hybrid course that is in between. Slalom racing is very challenging and exciting to watch as well as do. For the tight course I use a shorter RoeRacing carbon fiber board that is stiff and has a great response when turning quickly through the course that has cones closer together. I use Radikal trucks that have a specific front and rear truck. The front truck is super responsive and turns quickly and rear truck tracks so you are able to go around cones quickly. Wheels are an important factor depending upon the road surface incline of the hill, slalom course and temperature of the pavement. In the morning you maybe running a soft wheel since it is colder out and you get less traction, by the afternoon if the road warms up you may change to a harder wheel. My favorite wheels of choice are Chris Chaput's Retro wheels which come in different wheel sizes (heights) and durometers (hardnesses). At a competition you will see two racecourses that are the same on each side of the road with two start ramps. And yes besides making the course and stopping the start can make or break a race. You have to time yourself perfectly so you get out of the gate on time. Going early can cost you time penalties, going late can cost you the race.

Design from the heart

Maximum Impact Office
photo by r.r. jones.

I got an really nice email from a student in Canada asking about design. What I told him is to do what you love. You may have to do some work that is not exactly what you want to be doing in the beginning, but stay focused on what you want to be doing so you have a direction and a goal.

When I graduated from San Jose State in the spring of 1986 my graphic design teacher asked what I wanted to do when I graduated. I told her action sports graphics. She laughed as well as a bunch of students that were in my class. She said that would be fun but don't expect to make much money at it. I was a bit disappointed with her response but I knew that she was wrong. I'd been working at the Santa Cruz Surf Shop as a buyer, surfboard airbrusher and designing all the graphics while going to school. I met Bob Hurley who started Billabong in the US, and many up and coming surf brand founders. I was getting requests for designing t shirts and logo's for the surf, skate and emerging snowboard industry. I had another teacher ask me what I was going to do when I got out. I told him I guess I'll have to get a design job over the hill. (San Jose) He asked Why? You are already working and have so many connections through the surf shop. I liked his comments much better. I explained why I had changed career direction. He (Russell Leong) said, go the action sports direction since you have so many contacts and you're already doing it, if you need any help you can call me. Straight out of school I opened my own design business Maximum Impact Design. I ran it solo for eight years in Santa Cruz and had great success. The only problem I had was burn out. I was working 7 days a week and when it slowed I stressed about work and when I was busy I stressed about work. I got an offer to work with a trade show company and went for it. I had my weekends and holidays back. I kept my office open and worked at nights to keep my favorite clients for a year then I closed it and moved it home.

I still have my business which has been a great outlet. I've kept a ton of friends and contacts over the decades and I'm still doing action sports design as the art director at Giro. The path to life is not always straight it turns and bends and has many ups and downs. After a year at the trade show company which taught me how do work on large scale graphics and million dollar Apple Trade show booths, I worked at Session for a year, then a small design firm doing lots of short turnaround print work. I wanted to get back to doing strictly action sports and got a call from RockShox the bike suspension company. It wasn't exactly the sports field I knew but I grew to really enjoy it. Just when things were really going well they decided to move to Colorado. I declined to make the move. The only other company in town that would fit the bill was Giro. I got lucky and got the art diector job. I've been there for over 6 years and love what I do.
I'm forever thankful to Russell who gave me the advise to go with what I love. I in turn give the same advise to others.

Skater for Life!

I’ve been skateboarding for over 34 years. When I started I was 13 now I am 47. My girlfriends laughed at me and I got the look I knew all to well from strangers I’d never met. If you are a skater you know the look. Skateboarding is an individual pastime. You challenge you. It takes balance and patience to try a trick over and over to only bruise you body and your confidence. Whether it is trying a hill from the mid point and working your way up or somewhere in between. There have been many times when I get to a slalom race and I see the hill for the first time and wonder if it is due able. I always start mid hill and work my way up. Sometimes it’s not the hill or the speed I worry about, it ‘s the stopping. What is the run out if any and is there enough room to stop? There are three ways to stop. One is foot breaking where you take one foot off your board at speed, place the bottom of your foot down on the pavement ever so precisely and burn the soles of your shoe down, hope you don’t get any wobbles and no sand. There is also the slide which puts flat spots on your oh so favorite wheels and if worse comes to worse the knee slide which always takes a good chunk of skin from shins and ruins your laces.

The same goes for riding a new pool or pipe. You work your way up. I never thought I’d still be skating and still loving it. Most the time I skate with friends that I’ve skated with for many decades. John Hutson and Mike “Smiley” Goldman my old Santa Cruz Skateboard and Independent Truck teammates still ride vert and slalom race with me. We laugh at our age and how fun it is to still be riding. Back in the 70’s Goldman would drive a few of the Santa Cruz team riders to Modesto and Sacramento to skate the only two parks in Nor Cal, which was usually a 2 1/2 – 3 hour drive each way.

I skate to skate. It wasn't about the money, it wasn't for any media attention, it was for the love of the sport. I rarely got any press back in the day. Even though I skated 4-5 days a week and competed up and down the coast. I even skated in the Skateboardmania tour with Duane Peters and 18 other skaters making some good money as a teenager. Skateboardmania was the first big multi-million dollar skateboard show back in the late 70's that put us on Rock and roll buses, hotels and Hollywood for 6 weeks. I recently got a bit of coverage in two skateboard books and a few magazines “ Built to Grind” and “Scarred for Life”. Living in Santa Cruz has not always been a hot spot for getting any press. Being a woman skater makes it even more rare. Now decades later it is rather unique but fun. I hope to inspire the next generation of girls, sisters, mom’s and girlfriends of skaters that want to skateboard. I’ve never been one to stand on the sidelines. I’ve influenced a few women to slalom race and hope to continue the trend. Do it because you want to. Do it because it’s fun.