Beginnings
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| Rusty Whitlock |
Cory Patterson, Keith Halterman and the BW crew were in Carlsbad, CA last week
to begin interviews for the documentary, 50 Years
of Shaping, The Journey of a Surf Family. In true Aloha spirit, the
Whitlock family opened their homes, their shop, RW Surf, but most of all, their hearts, to
us.
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| Pic of the back of the shop |
Cory Patterson,
the project’s Director, has spent hours over the past year filming – work in
the shop, board shaping, surf lessons, and, of course, lot’s of surfing. But
this trip was about the story. Rusty, the centerpiece of the story, was not
feeling well, but he came up to Carlsbad from Mexico,
anyway. I’ve spent hours with Rusty on the phone, but this was my first face to
face. And, yeah, I was a bit awed. It’s not every day I get to hang out with
surf royalty.
Interviews and
More Interviews
We spent most of the first day with Rusty, piecing
together his story, taking him back in time with hours of questions. We heard
stories about a time when the surf industry was in its infancy. The pioneers of
the 50’s had opened the doors for young adventurers like Rusty and his friends.
He grins
a little as he tells us ‘we just wanted to surf’.
They were just a bunch of young surfers who went on to
become surf legends that we all know today…names like David Nuuhiwa, Herbie
Fletcher, Jackie Baxter and Randy Lewis, to name a handful. One of my favorite
stories Rusty shared that first day, was about ‘stealing our boards back from
Camp Pendleton’ after they had been confiscated by the Military for getting a
little too close to the beach. Seems like the Marines kept a chicken coop full
of boards they were confiscating from the local boys. You’ll have to watch the
documentary to hear that one! And, we heard some great stories about Bob ‘The
Greek’ Bolan, Rusty’s first sponsor. It was a brand new Greek board that Rusty
had to ‘repatriate’ from the chicken coop! Bob and Rusty are friends to this
day.
Rusty’s story is set during a time when the industry we
know today was growing. The innovators of the sport and the growth of
competition were evolving. Rusty was an intimate part of that growth. We look
forward to sharing these amazing stories with you.
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| Selection of RW Boards |
