Newest Production Crew Member



Cameron (far right) waiting as Cory Patterson sets up for the interview of Bob 'The Greek' Bolen in his Huntington Beach Shop

Cameron is a sound guy. He’s been working clubs and studios in the Sacramento region since completing his internship at 98 Rock. When you first meet Cameron, you might think he is a little bit quirky. He does not say much. But, what I discovered, was he does not need to chatter away like the rest of us. When he has something to say, it always seems to be spot on. Kind of stops everyone in their tracks for a beat or two with a ‘hmmmm, yeah, you’re right. I never thought about it quite like that’. I think it’s because, being a sound guy, he is always listening. He has that look on his face like he is hearing things the rest of us just don’t hear. You know, like Universal Truths or something. Well, that might be going a little too far.  I’m not exactly sure what channel he’s tuned into, but what I can tell you is that the sound quality of his recordings are crystal. 50 YoS is happy to have Cameron on board.

 

The Family Begins

Patty and Cory at Padres Game

Patty Whitlock – Family Matriarch

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the driving force in any family is the mom, the matriarch, the head or ruler of a family. Patty Whitlock leaves no doubt that she is, indeed, the driving force in this family. Divorced for many years, Patty and Rusty have two very distinct roles in the dynamics of the family personality and the family business.

It is this writer’s impression that Patty has been the glue that has held the family together through some difficult times. Not unlike many families, the Whitlock’s have had their difficulties. Trying to build a board shaping business in the late 60’s and early 70’s on Oahu was challenging. Rusty and the kids may have been living in paradise, but Patty was tasked with keeping the whole thing together. While Rusty was surfing, competing and building a board shaping business, Patty was having and raising kids and managing the money. Those are all stories we will explore as we get to know this family. But, first, there was a love story.

 

Surfer Girl Meets Surfer Boy

Her eyes take on a soft, faraway luminescence as the memories move her back through time. Her face is transformed, time and stress slipping away. The beauty and youthfulness of a young girl hums around her as she tells us ‘I was 17 when I first saw him. He was walking out of the ocean after a competition.’ She smiles at the memory and said, ‘I knew at that moment he was mine. We did not talk until later that evening. When we did, we were never apart again. ‘

I don’t know about you, but that story took my breath away. The look in Patty’s eyes told me, without a doubt, the truth of that moment in time, about 45 years ago.

The Story

Those first moments were magical, sparking the beginnings of a family that would span 3 generations in the surf world.  The story will broaden, covering this family’s joys and tragedies, woven through the world of surfing from the days when the brands and competitions we all know today were just forming. Their family story closely linked to the transformation of a simple surfing lifestyle into the high powered, fierce, competitive world of professional surfing, as we know it today. This family was there, at the beginning. This family is there today, even now shaping the way we surf.

Always Make Time to Surf

Cory Whitlock and the Shop

Cory getting ready to test a new Kevlar board

Cory Whitlock was one busy man when we invaded his shop. Cory is the king of mutli-tasking, running all the facets of RW Surf Shop. He was in the middle of a huge tee shirt print order, giving surf lessons 10 and 12 people at a time, designing and shaping boards, creating custom boards for surfers who walked into the shop and running a crew of 7 people to accomplish all these tasks. In the middle of it all, Cory was working on moving the whole shop from Carlsbad to Oceanside. He never actually sat still; he was always working on something. Even so, his Aloha spirit was always there, barking orders, laughing and smiling, putting up with our film crew all over the place.  He is an amazing man to watch.

Still Time to Surf

Rusty, Skylar and Cory in the Shaping Bay

Being the subject of our second day of interviews, I became an annoying shadow. Well, at least I felt like an annoying shadow. Cory never seemed to mind. He took time to explain the business. He took time to show us the new Kevlar boards he was working on. He is experimenting with the positioning of the Kevlar, trying to get the shape just right for optimum spring and flex. He described it as “getting enough movement in the board without getting the spring of a diving board”. There are others experimenting with the material, but, as it’s always been with RW Surf, they are on the cutting edge once again.   

While looking at artwork on the boards, Jeff Meyer came in to paint the Hawaiian Islands on a SUP board. Jeff has been painting boards for as long as Rusty has been shaping them. He is a true artisan and paints some amazing boards.

 

The end of a long day in the Shaping Bay

With all this work going on, Cory still made time to surf. The waves were good in the afternoon so Cory, along with documentary Director, Cory Patterson and a few of the shop guys, they were off. I remember thinking how amazing it would be to have a job that would let me work on the beach, hit the waves then come back to work without doing anything but rinsing the salt and sand off.

A Man Walks Into a Surf Shop....



Over a year ago, I walked into this surf shop down in Carlsbad, CA, not knowing what I was in store for. My name is Cory Patterson and I’ve been surfing my whole life and I’ve been filming and photographing surfing for years. Walking into RW Surf, I was met by Cory, who I learned was the oldest son of Rusty Whitlock. I was given an introduction to the Whitlock’s by BoardWarrior, who I do some filming for.  My friends at BW thought I might enjoy getting some pics and catching some waves with their old friends at RW. It was an amazing day. We went out and shot some pics, went surfing and shared stories.

 


Keith Halterman, Cory Whitlock,
Cory Patterson, Rusty Whitlock
 


Well, mostly I just listened, absorbing story after story of all this surf history, like I was reading a book. On my surfed out drive home, back to LA, I called my friend Keith (BW’s videographer). Stoked about the day, I told him we need to start documenting this shop immediately. We need to get the history recorded before it’s lost. So, over the course of the past year, I have been shooting with the Whitlock’s, while working with BW to develop a great story we are calling 50 Years of Shaping; The Story of a Surf Family.

The stories this family shares, about living and growing up on the North Shore, pro surfing careers, tragedy and rebuilding, injury and unbelievable comebacks, both inspire and amaze. Through it all, never forgetting that Rusty keeps shaping one of the best surfboards out there. He has been innovating and creating boards, with his own hands, since 1963. Not in a big production factory, but in a one man shop. A shop that has surfing in the corrugated tin walls, shavings on the floor and the smell of resin and fresh salt water in the air.

Rusty and Cory working in the shop.

Through a lifetime staying true to the soul of surfing, Rusty is, to this day, one of the nicest most stoked out dudes I have ever come across. The whole family lives for surfing, doing what they can to keep themselves surrounded by surf culture and the ocean, no matter what life throws at them. But never losing the kindness and the ability to be a real human being in and out of the water. You won’t find flash or trendy here. They are just who they are and that is it.

With Hollywood and corporate surfing trying to sell an image of what a surfer should look like and surf like, Rusty and RW Surf live their own truth. Surfing is freedom. A way to express yourself as a person, as an artist and not giving a flying fuck about what the next 30 dudes in the lineup think of you. Remember earlier on I said "They are just who they are and that is it". Cory said in one of the 50 Years interviews….’we live a million dollar lifestyle, without the million dollars.’ That, my friends, is the soul of surfing. Well, at least in our eyes.

Rusty has been shaping boards for 50 years!

 Documentary in Development

The Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to complete this documentary will be live in late May. Watch for it. You’ll be able to see a short trailer of the documentary that we hope to release by early next year. We’ve said from the beginning that this is story that needs telling, and we are going to tell it!, So, keep your eyes peeled and keep your stoke.  

  

RW Surf Board