the first pig?

so...i live this phucked up fortunate life. i know that from the look of the person i wake up next to every day. be that as it may... i recently wrote this article for slide magazine...issue 16...i can't... caint...wait.. to paw one of those....anyway, i heard a rumor that mickey was the FIRST. so...i checked in with him (my initials are MB):

Matt Calvani claims Hap Jacobs claims Mickey Munoz was the first person to ride a Pig board. Apparently the first ride occurred at Manhattan Beach.

MB: Could you please describe the scene ...that board you rode in Manhattan beach.

Mickey Munoz: During the velzy paddle out, i have the 50's balsa velzy jacobs glassed by allan gomes. mickey sanded it in an open lot between two houses in venice for alan gomes.

9'8" or 9'7" i paddled it out. there were 100's of people in the water. i stayed out longer than everyone else. after my last wave i walked up the beach. hap was there, i walked up to hap and said....

this board..it actually works...hap metnioned that he and dale gave me the very first pig board we ever made, you went out and rode it and you were totally dazzled on how well it works. my performance on it solidified the design in their mind. its interesting that if you shrink the template down, it is essentially what contemporary boards are today.

MB: What events lead to the wide point being placed behind center?

MM: Im not totally sure. I believe dale originated that outline. i am not sure there was a real theory in mind. it made cents that when you trim a board you are centered, you stand up, you are slightly aft of center, you turn from aft of the boad...wether he thought that or not...he hadn't surfed in a while. he quit surfing in the very ealy 50's. he listened. he had a great eye for outlines. he was experimenting with different outlines. some of it was an effort to be different than the norm. try something different. he might of thought about it, i don't remember talking with him about the theory.

MB: It seems the pig board really gave birth to "hot dog" type surfing. It seems, given the fins back then, that the wide point back provided the template with this curve that has helped the boards turning ability. How do you feel about that?

MM: that could have been. up to that point, geoprge downing, people like that in hawaii, they were coming off the heavy redwood boards, you know the hot curl, finning was gettin going. hawaii was about controlling speed. were were about generating speed and then controlling it. here was kivlin and quigg, buzzy bent in la jolla. other surfers coming off the redwood , kook box design...the lighter balsa wood came around. in our case...we were riding malibu. one of the hottest curls in the world. the repitition gave us an opportunity to really see what is going on with a board. malibu gave us an opportunity to study the subtle aspects of board design. matt kivlin was a tall graceful surfer. he designed boards for his build. joe quigg was different in stature. he was a little more conservative in design. he was building boards for women. he was all about light weight. he built a 21 pound paddle boad that weighed a pound a foot. all this said, velzy is one of the first surfboard manufactures to make boards on a production scale. I personally surfing wise couldn't take credit for the surfing. Matt built more stream line boards for trim. malibu rincon statue-esk manner. joe was a little more animated because of his body type. there was a clientell that emulated him. then velzy came along and appealed to a younger clientel of riders...you know dewey was considereed one of the first hot dog type surfers. he could really turn a board. leslei williams at malibu was really laying the turns down. between the few freaks that werre that good. the pig boards were really responsible for introducing turing to the masses. its like what snowboard design did to ski's...so you are right..the pig board opened up the opportunity for the average surfer to turn like that 1 percent.

MB: Mickey, where did the pig board get its name?

MM: raddish, stupid out there outlines just to be dirferent. just like the stances were named after bull fighting.