RICH HARBOUR
BY Tom Takao

MYSTERY OF THE SURF SPHINX
BY PAUL YOUNG
OF THE PRESS-TELEGRAM

COURTESY OF THE LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM

It was a warm and sunny Saturday morning, the overcast had burned off. The swell was up and running 3 to 5 ft., out of the west, northwest through the San Pedro Channel. I happen to be in Seal Beach, California this particular morning talking with Rich Harbour. Rich Harbour is part of a rare breed of surfboard shapers, those who saw it happen in the beginning and contributed their innovative designs for the progress of surfing. It was Rich’s destiny to make surfboards for his friends and all his customers, and he is thankful for the opportunity. All those who own and ride a Harbour surfboard are appreciative of his craftsmanship and the peace of mind they get from his shapes, be it surfing or hanging on a wall.

A master surfboard shaper who has been in the same commercial shaping room for forty-two years (1962), there are a few other shapers in this category, but Rich has a year or two ahead of them. This distinction of being at the same commercial shaping room longer than anyone in the board building industry is a unique accomplishment.

Rich Harbour was born in 1943. There were no hospital in Seal Beach so Rich’s mom went to the Long Beach Hospital. Growing up in the coastal town of Seal Beach, meant having fun body surfing during the spring heat waves, the warm summer days and the Indian summers of fall. Mat surfing was another way to enjoy the waves and they were available through rental. There was Gerhart Stanlin known as G Stanlin, who had 4 surf mat consessions one by Dolphin St., two on either side of Seal Beach pier and one on 1st St.

Being close to the ocean, Rich and his older brother were out in the water whenever they got the chance. His older brother had been mat surfing five year before Rich tried it. The mat were made of rubber like canvas material and had 4 to 5 cylinder type ridges running from the front to the back and was about four and half feet long and three feet wide. Rich got good at mat surfing and learned where to go on a wave to get more speed.

Rich’s older brother was a good mat surfer and had work for Stanlins for a couple of years. So, when Rich asked Gerhart Stanlins for a job, Mr. Stanlins had no problem with having another Harbour work for him. This was back in 1957 and 1958 when he was 13 and 14 years old.

Around 1959 Rich’s mom kept asking Rich why don’t you try surfboard riding, since a .few of the other kids were doing it and it looked like fun. So, taking his Mom’s advice Rich borrowed a balsa board, paddled out, stood up on the first wave that he caught and rode it all the way to shore. After stepping off onto the beach, Rich has been surfing ever since.

Rich wanted to buy that balsa board, and the owner of the board was going to sell it. But something happened to change the owner's mind and the deal fell through. So Rich’s dad who was the Captain of the Seal Beach Police Department and oversaw, and managed the City’s Life Guards asked Jack Haley who happen to be the Head Life Guard at Seal Beach during this time period of 1959. Jack was an all around waterman, and a good surfer. He had won the first U.S. Surfing Championships in 1959.

Jack said he would try to locate a used board for Rich. Asking around Jack found a guy who wanted to sell his foam board, one of the first around the Seal Beach area. Jack notified Rich about the board, they went over to the guys house and checked it out. After purchasing the board for around $50.00 Rich had his first surfboard. (see photo)

After riding that board for a few months, Rich felt it was too long. During the summer of that year, he cut the tail section of that board just in front of the fin and reshaped the tail. After doing that project, Rich got confident in doing repairs for other peoples boards. At the end of summer Rich started a repair business in his father’s garage.

Later that year Rich went to the hospital for Thyroid problems and had to stay in the hospital for over a week to take care of the problem. When he came home someone had stolen his surfboard out of his yard. This was something totally unexpected and Rich was devastated. Not to be without a surfboard, a fifteen year old Rich Harbour decided to make his own surfboard. He purchased a blank, resin and fiberglass and proceeded to build his first surfboard in his Father’s garage.

He was more concerned on putting the glass on right than the shape. Rich wasn't using a sanding coat of resin on his second coat during his first glass job. Without surfacing agent in the laminating resin the surface of the cloth would stay tacky and gummed up the sandpaper. Jack Haley came by and suggested using surfacing agent in his sanding coat to improve the situation. On his next boards Rich started using the surfacing agent.

So, after finishing his first board he took the board out at the pier in Seal Beach. It didn’t ride well and some of the kids made fun of the board and called Rich names. Determined to improve his skills. Rich and his brother bought a couple of blanks to make themselves a couple of surfboards. One of the blanks was orange foam, the other white. Cutting wedge pieces from both boards, three-inch width at the tail to 0 inches at the nose. Then re-gluing the wedges to the other blank. A white blank with an orange wedge center section and a orange blank with a white wedge section.

After shaping and glassing them, those two boards turned out pretty good. There was still much to learn since there weren’t very many surf factories in the area back then to learn from. In Huntington Beach there was Gordie, in Dana Point was Hobie and in San Clemente was Velzy. To the north in the South Bay were Jacobs, Vardeman, Bing and Rick to name an abbreviated few.

This was the beginning of Harbour Surfboards. It would be three years later that he would move into his first shop on Fifth St. and Marina Drive in Seal Beach. It was a small shop across the street from Bernstein Salad Dressing Factory. With a couple of boards on display and a small table to write down the orders Harbour Surfboard was in business. There was a shaping and glassing room. The shaping room double for a sanding room and the laminating room was also the glossing room.

The shop was too small for a business that was growing faster than expected. So after 9 months Rich moved Harbour Surfboards to Main St. in Seal Beach and has been there ever since. The small shop that Rich vacated would become the shop of Haley Surfboards. Jack Haley moved in a short time after Rich and started selling Haley Surfboards. Jack’s store manager at the time was Chuck Dent. Haley Surfboards would close shop and become a memory. Jack would open a restaurant in Sunset Beach named Captain’s Jack and was successful. Chuck Dent would go on to open his shop in Huntington Beach.

Surfing was taking off in 1962. Rich mentions, when he stepped into the surfboard manufacturing business. He couldn’t have script it any better, it was perfect timing. After learning the technical part of board building from his repairs, shaping and glassing. Rich was confident in making a surfboard for anyone who wanted one and the demand was there. The early Harbour Surfboard were shaped and glassed by Rich.

The early 1960’s and noseriding became an obsession and a standard. In its wake there was surf music, surf magazines, surf movies, surf television shows, surf parties, fashion statements and a life style that evolved around the swells from the winds and storms of the Pacific Ocean. Surf Clubs were growing or being formed. A surf trip up or down the coast California was a must and that meant driving down Pacific Coast Highway.

Those who lived in the South Bay traveled south to San Onofre and San Diego. Those living in San Diego and North County would go north to Malibu and Santa Barbara. Along the way from either direction was Seal Beach, the home of Harbour Surfboards.

Things got busy and Rich decided someone else would do the glassing while he shaped. Mel Ross filled the position with his fine craftsmanship. As mentioned earlier things were taking off in surfing. Orders were stacking up and to meet the demand more shaping help was needed. Dean Elliot came on to shape for Rich first and followed by a few other shapers. John Graye was one of those guy who walked the miles around the shaping racks. The summer months were busy and orders were stacking up.

Needing to take a break Rich went over to Hawaii in the winter of 63 / 64. Being this was his first time over to Hawaii Rich wasn’t sure what to take. Hearing stories of big wave Rich took over a gunny shape board. Well it wasn’t big most of his stay and but there were plenty of small to medium size waves, if only he had brought his hot dog board with his gun.

While there he met Dick Brewer and they developed a cordial interests. Rich needed addition help and Dick would be busy in the summer months. It was the summer of 65 and 66 that Dick shaped for Rich.

. In the fall of 1967 Rich went fishing with Harold Walker and Mark Martinson. They didn’t catch anything all day. So on the way in they spotted a striped marlin. Harold maneuvered the boat and Rich let out the bait. Wham! The rod did a C and the fight was on. Doing a couples of pumps while reeling in, the first of many. The marlin would take off and Captain Walker was on it.

Watching to see if it was running out or in. The first hour went by, and Rich’s shoulders arms and back were starting to feel the toll. After the 2nd hour Rich was tired but was close to landing the marlin. The line on the reel was full on the spool and Mark took the leader and carefully grabbed the bill and gaffed the marlin. With a heave ho onto the stern of the boat. One 102 lbs. Stripe Marlin was landed.

Rich was in his mid twenty’s when He, Robert August, Mark Martinson, and Dave Nelson were rooming together at Robert’s Parents house. Living in Blackie August’s house was an experience in the winter of 68 / 69. With a full moon, a very high tide and a big winter swell knocking on the door steps of the California coast line.

Things got wet and wild. Staying in the front bedroom just behind the living room Rich woke to the sounds of a loud noise. He got out of bed and looked out the window. Through the moisture covered pane Rich could see the foam of the waves splashing on the window. The waves had come up over the beach and was smashing the front of all the homes along the beach.

There were no surf reports back then and basically local residents didn’t have a clue until it happened. The experience of the winter storm had disappeared and spring turned to summer. The longboard started to fade and the short board evolution began. Board became shorter and shorter. Designs were changing daily so it seemed. Into the 70’s the board designs went.

Meanwhile Rich met a lady named Helen while living there at Blackie August’s house. One thing led to another and they started dating. It was September when they met and she would become his wife the following August

. In Seal Beach during this time period and before the house of Legendary Blackie August was known as the sphinx house. To understand this special place in surfing, an article appeared in the Long Beach Press Telegram about the sphinx and the early surfers of Seal Beach

It was a special time and special people were there to enjoy it. This was before, during and the years into the 1980’s of Harbour Surfboards. Let your imagination be your guide while you take a brief ride back down Main Street on the Red Car

MYSTERY OF THE SURF SPHINX

LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM

PAUL YOUNG 9/ 9/ 1999

Legend has it there once was a sphinx who cast a spell over the sea, bringing in the surf with force and perfection. For nearly 50 years, the plaster icon sat atop a home in Seal Beach, where it pulled breaking monsters from the ocean and made men fall in love with that rolling abyss of power and beauty.

If you listen closely, legend says, the whisper of the sea will spin tales of waves and parties and friendships. “ That sphinx house became ground zero for surfing in Orange County,” says Tim Dorsey, former chief of the Seal Beach lifeguards and a surfer who grew up near the house at 1303 Seal Way.

“ If you wanted to know about surfing or get a little history about surfing, you’d go to that house,” he says. “ It ‘s interesting because everybody had this idea that it was South County or Huntington Beach, but it really all started in Seal Beach.”

During the 40s and 50s, there were beach boys who rode the waves out in front of the house almost every day. They liked the way the churning sea surged around them and the way it felt to slip across the face of a peeling wave. They rode pillows sewn together and filled with air, later discovering balsa surfboards and the art of stand-up surfing.

One night, as the beach boys intoxicated themselves with green death, they decided to do something to make the waves bigger and better. They would capture a sphinx --- a mythical figure with the body of a lion and the head and breasts of a woman – as their personal surf god. They would place it on the roof of the home of surf guru Blackie August to bring the life-empowering waves.

Night mission Surf legend Jack Haley, now 59 and dying of cancer (has past away), recalls that their quest began around 2 a.m. He says that a group of surfers headed to a hotel on Ocean Boulevard at Alamitos Avenue in Long Beach to bring the wave-creating idol to Seal Beach. (Others say it came from Santa Monica or Venice. The mystery lives on.)

According to Haley, the sphinx sat overlooking the ocean from its perch on the Villa Riviera Hotel, where it watched perfect waves break near where the Queen Mary now rests.

When the surfers arrived, the guard was sleeping. They sneaked on their hands and knees to the stairwell and made their way to the top. When they got to the roof, says Haley, these surfers climbed onto the ledge where the magical sphinx was sitting. Using brute force and about 10 men, they lifted the heavy structure from its place, carried it down the stairs, past the sleeping guard, and into their car.

Skeptics may note that the Villa’s figures looming gargoyles are of concrete, not plaster, and are medieval in design. But why spoil a good story?

By 4 a.m., says Haley, the surfers were back in Seal Beach, building scaffolding and putting up ladders to load the sphinx onto the roof. Later that day, Lloyd Murray, one of the first surfers in Seal Beach, came down to the beach to help consecrate the sphinx.

“ I remember standing out there with a bed sheet over me, praying to the Kahuna,” he says. “ There were a bunch of us out there, and we got some green death, or whatever we were drinking, and we poured wine on a surfboard and we were going to light it on fire and get four virgins to take it out, but we couldn’t find four virgins. So we got a couple of little girls to take it down for us.”

Later that day, waves came. And there the sphinx stayed for nearly 50 years.

Nights of wine

Surfers everywhere were drawn by its power. They wanted to feel the surge of magic, lining up with the sphinx to get the perfect, peaky waves that broke there.

Every night in Blackie’s garage would be Bruce Brown, who made the surfing movie, “ The Endless Summer” and his fellow surfers and filmmaker, John Severson. After surfing 13th Street all day, surfers would pay 25 cents to see their films. They would hang out and drink wine and eat Pat August’s unbelievably tasty food and listen to Blackie’s stories. The next day, they’d do it all over again.

“ I surfed so much and I was so skinny that they sent a note home from school to ask if I was eating enough,” says surf legend Robert August, who grew up in the house. His mother was insulted after all those great meals she’d cooked for him.

People were free to surf as much as they wanted, when they wanted. And Pat and Blackie August encouraged it, always ready with a peanut butter sandwich or a hot drink.

When they worked as lifeguards, there was no tower at 13th Street and they’d have to sit on the beach with a can and a blanket and be cold, Haley says. “ Pat would come out with a sandwich and give it to you. Or she’d invite you into her home to go to the bathroom. What people they were--- they just had generosity. Full aloha spirit, just 100 percent.”

“ We had no Disneyland,” says Dorsey. “ We didn’t have any cars. Our playground was the ocean. Blackie introduced us to that playground. Surfers didn’t fight over waves back then. They shared bonfires and wine to stay warm after surfing in winter—and always pulled over on the side of the road if they saw another surfer driving in the opposite direction.

‘ El Supremo’

They also threw outrageous parties. Like the one where they feasted on “ El Supremo,” which some say was the biggest lobster to walk the face of the earth. One night, a group of surfers got into the sport fishing building at the end of Seal Beach Pier, dove into “ El Supremo’s” tank, grabbed him and brought him over to the sphinx house.

“Haley came knocking on the door dripping wet, with this thing flipping all around,” August recalls. So Blackie and Pat got up and cooked it for everybody in the middle of the night. “ El Supremo” was so large, however, that his meat wasn’t very tasty, August says. It was too tough.

There was also a barbecue every summer, where the Grenache rose flowed like a river and the best surfer of the year painted the sphinx’s nipples red. There was a red can of paint and a small brush in the garage just for that party. The tradition lasted some 15 years.

When the neighbors got offended, Blackie bought the sphinx a training bra. To maintain it, he would climb onto the roof and restucco the sphinx’s green body with care, so as not to displease it.

“ It is said that when he sold the house, the house would be purchased but the sphinx couldn’t be taken down,” Haley says. Even though it was crumbling and weathered, the sphinx had to stay. But as it deteriorated, so did the spirit of surfing.

Crowds and parking

“The lifeguards situation was almost military,” August says. “ There were way too many rules, and you were in horrible fear of the parking people.” Crowds began to form. People began to fight over waves. And surfing was turned into a major industry. Eventually, the freedom and youth of those days passed into a mystic past, like the sphinx.

No more lighting fires on the beach to warm up, or sleeping in the sand, or drinking wine until sunrise.

When the house was torn down, the sphinx was thrown into a dumpster. A passerby picked it up and supposedly brought it back to Long Beach where it’s said to sit in a garage somewhere. Times had changed.

“ (I miss) the freedom,” says Haley. “ There are too many restrictions now ….. We grew up in the best of times, and I miss the fact of the freedom of going out and the fact that everybody was pals.”

We thank Paul Young and The Long Beach Press Telegram for the ride back. Harbour Surfboards was developed under this canopy of friendship in Seal Beach. And through the years it has strived to maintain that surfing spirit in the performance of their boards and the quality that is reflected back at you.

Currently Rich has others doing most of the work, while occasionally shaping a board or two. Those interested in a collectable balsa / redwood longboard shaped by Rich Harbour can contact Harbour Surfboards.

Walking on the Seal Beach Pier towards the end, with the surfers on the north side, boogie boarders on the south side and a paddle boarder paddling north. The interview with Rich Harbour was like the coastal overcast clouds disappearing and the day became sunny. As I reach the end of the pier, the paddle boarder had disappeared around the breakwater.