MICHEL JUNOD
By Tom Takao

Started surfing in 1962 at the Santa Monica pier. At thirteen Michel was the smallest guy in his class and had a hard time putting the boards that were available back then under his arm. He went over to Jacobs Surfboards in Hermosa Beach, and ordered a 7’ 10” x 20” wide surfboard. It was scaled down from the larger boards. This was the board Michel started on and it cost $100.00 plus 4.00 tax

He surfed on it for 9 months before getting a 8’10” Dave Sweet, after awhile a 8’10” Dewey Weber, and his first long board (over 9 ft. was considered a longboard) a 9’6” Jacobs, then a 9’6” Challenger. The co-owner / shaper of Challenger Surfboards was Carl West, whom he met in 1964 at the Surf-O-Rama at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. After his friend purchased a Challenger, Michel made the switch after seeing that board.

Michel’s surfing got him on the Challenger surf team, which was located in Mission Beach in San Diego. Since that time, Michel has been a life long friend of Carl West. Carl moved to Belmar, New Jersey in 1965 to start Challenger Surfboards East. Michel would go visit Carl when school got out for the summer of 66’, and for the following 2 summers afterwards. Learning to shape from Carl was a good experience for his shaping foundation. Besides work, Michel surfed the East Coast Surf contest scene for Challenger Surfboards.

The East Coast surf scene was unique in the 60s with its rules and regulations on the beaches. In 1967 during Christmas break Michel went over to Hawaii to visit his friend Butch Yamashida. During his stay on Oahu his board was stolen. Once back from the islands Michel got a 9’ 8” board by Del Cannon in the spring of 1968.

Most of the hot surfers during the 60s were on surf clubs, and Michel was on a surf club called the North Coast Surf Club. They had a good time, though they didn’t have the recognition or membership compared with the Malibu Surfing Association. Like the 60s longboards, most of the surf clubs of this era disappeared.

In the summer of 1969 Michel went to Hawaii once more, living across the street from Punaohe High School, shaping boards in the basement of the apartment where he was staying, Butch was doing the glassing.

After the spring of 1970 Michel returned to Santa Moncia and was working for Jay Stone who was making Blue Cheer Surfboards. During the summer, Chuck a good friend from high school had moved up to Santa Cruz when Michel was in Hawaii. He was working for Jim and Tom Overlin surf shop and had came down to visit family. So Chuck stops by and tells Michel the surf is great in Santa Cruz and the Overlins were making surfboards, and suggested coming up. The lure of good wave made the invitation acceptable.

So Michel loaded his boards into his 55 Chevy and drove up to Santa Cruz. He got a job with Jim and Tom Overlin for the summer. Things didn’t workout after the summer for his friend at the shop. So Michel and Chuck started West Winds Surfboards, Michel was doing the shaping and Chuck took care of the books and managed. That lasted until 1974 when Michel felt he needed to get back to the islands. Michel made the move back to Oahu’s North Shore. In 1974 through 1978 Michel had his own boards, Michel Junod Customs, as well as working for George Downing, Lightning Bolt and Surfline on the South Shore.

The year was 1978 when Michel, his sister, and father went to Switzerland to visit relatives. While his family was in Switzerland, Michel spent 2 months in Biarritz, France making boards for Michel Barland, before returning to Hawaii. Once back on Oahu Michel decided to move over to Kauai with good friend Mike Wellman and started making boards on Kauai. In 1984 Michel got married and had a son in 1986.

In 1986, MIchel, his wife and young family moved over to the Big Island to study at a Christian missionary training school for 1 year. Surfing mostly on the Kona side, the year went by quickly. It was the summer of 1987 when he and his family moved to Chile for 2 ½ years. Then in 1990 moved to San Clemente for 6 months working for Terry Martin at his Laguna Canyon shop. Terry’s boards were called Just Add Water.

After working for Terry Martin, in September of 1990 Michel moved back to Santa Cruz to make boards and has continued to this day. Besides the quality shapes, Michel has been a hot surfer since the 60s.

In 1993 Michel won the 5th Annual Big Stick Surf-O-Rama. The other finalist were Bob Pearson who took 2nd, 3rd went to Dave Parmenter, 4th was Terry Simms, 5th Mike Young and 6th was Joel Baldwin.

Today you might see him riding a 6’ 7” bat tail single fin 70s retro model or a 7’10” x 20” wide egg shape, kinda like the one he first started out on.