Terry Martin, legendary shaper

Terry Martin notes

San Clemente. July 30, 2009

I'm walking around, checking out surf shops in a neighborhood in San Clemente with auto-body shops and shaping bays. A guy going into the shaping warehouse space, holding a blank. I was like, “is that Terry Martn?”

I chase him in there, but he disappears into an “employees only” area.

I go back into the surf shop part, looking for Jeff, my first contact at the shop.

Suddenly, Terry comes back in. I ask him if it’s him. Yes.

He tells me he first shaped a board in 1952, at age 14. In San Diego, I think, forget the break.

Boards weighed 85 lbs then, and he was just a kid, riding the shoulder of waves while the established surfers took the best. Surfers were he-men then, and liked overpowering waves.

He shaped a board out of balsa and redwood that was a foot shorter – around 10 feet – and weighed just 20 lbs. It had no fin, just a V bottom that went the back half of the board.

He showed it to Sunny Someone??? Magera? Margolis [started with an M].

Sunny was disdainful of the board and its weight: “That’s cheating,” he said.

Then Terry went off and surfed – really surfed waves.

Eventually, Sunny came over. “Gimme that board,” he barked.

On his first wave, he fell off. Then he started surfing. Two hours turned into three.

When he came in, Sunny told Terry: Make me one of those boards.

That was the start of Terry’s shaping career. He’s been shaping at Hobie for many years.

On the Peter Pan Slug.

A guy had a custom board made – big ugly shape, very wide, wide nose.

Then he reneged and said he didn’t want it.

Hobie or Terry called one of their East Coast customers, Peter Pagniotis at Watershed in Rhode Island. Asked him if he wanted it, then shipped it.

Peter Pan called soon after and said the board sold right away. Could they make another? And make it as ugly as possible. So they made it pea-green colored.

Again, the boards sold. And that was the start of Hobie’s very popular Peter Pan Slug model.