sports

The single fin, winged, pintail from the mid to late 70's

Last summer while my ex-girlfriend's Dad was showing off his expensive sports cars to me in their garage, something else caught my eye. Not the neon paint job, or the imported European engine, but a faded pink lightning bolt on the bottom of a surfboard. I respectfully reverted my eyes back to the car and nodded my head trying to drum up some mechanical question to pretend I knew or cared what he was talking about. But my eyes were drawn back to the dusty board forgotten for years. Later I asked the Mom about the board. She told me it was her husband’s younger brother's who had long pawned it off and moved onto other hobbies. She told me I could have it.

It's a retro, single fin, winged, pintail-complete with a Gerry Lopez lightning bolt on its underside. It has super boxy rails and tons of volume. The board has no dimension written on it, but it is 6'1" and about 20" at its widest point. 2 and 1/2" thick would not be much of an exaggeration. A classic design from the mid to late 70's that today has become obsolete. I decided to take it out to Ft. Pierce inlet on a small summer ground swell. I soon realized the era California shape really was not suited for small Florida waves. I took it out one other time-last hurricane Bill in the Melbourne area after I had sufficiently had my fill of great rides and wanted to experiment. It slid down the wave like nothing I had ever ridden. It was a dream cruiser. It was a crash course in pocket surfing- one of those rides the makes you reevaluate the fundamentals. I found myself, like a Hollywood movie, flashing between the present and the past, between digital HD and old crackling warm super 8 film. I found myself letting my body try to mimic the old films I had seen of the great single-fin riders: Mike Ho, Larry Bertlemann, Shaun Tomson, Rabbit, and Buttons Kaluhiokalani.

As I was walking back down the beach to leave, an older guy stopped me and said, “Hey! Is that a Catri board?" Looking at the deck I read: CATRI, and in thin futura: SUPERLIGHT. I told him it was but that it didn’t mean anything to me. He told me to hang on to it and told me to look up Dick Catri. Both of which I have done and I can say I am very glad I did. The board is still in great shape, but even better is the story I discovered.

Born in Jersey and a later Miami beach boy, Dick met up with Jack Murphy whose name might have an infamous ring to it. In 1964 Murph the Surf stole the Star of India sapphire along with several other gems. When Murphy pulled the heist, Catri had been back and forth to the North Shore surfing its legendary breaks becoming a surfing icon. Later in ‘64 he opened a shop back on the east coast in Satellite for Dick Brewer and assembled a team. He then took an offer by Hobie a couple years later and continued to coach and surf. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 1966.

In the late 60's the short board revolution marked the end of Catri's west coast board distribution and the beginning of east coast manufacturing teaming with Clark Foam. From starting the APS (later replaced by the ASP) to coaching some big names like Todd Holland, Scott Bouchard, David Speir, Sean and younger brother Kelly Slater, Dick Catri has definitely left his mark on East coast surfing. Wait, it gets better. Solidifying himself as a local legend, Catri, who mostly keeps to himself these days, runs fishing charters and can be contacted through the Melbourne motel Surfcaster. The Surfcaster is adjacent to a family owned local Italian restaurant called Rosati's where I frequently grab some pizza there after surfing or between sets. I actually ate there the day I took the Catri single-fin out in Bill's swell.