LEE SURFBOARDS

By  LEE LUCAS

      I started surfing in 1960.  There was a man sitting on the seawall at 25th St.  He had a board lying next to him and we started talking.  He was on his way to Florida. 

      After a while he asked if I would like to try it. Back up a little. We had been using air mattress, the hard ones and trying to stand up on them for years.  Having a board only made it much easier.  That was the beginning of my being addicted to surfing.  One thing led to another and I was trying to figure out how to make a board.  Then on my next trip to Galveston I met Henry Fry, also at 25th St. 

      He had a shop painting hot rods and was starting to build surfboards in Spring Branch.  I got him to make me a board in between cars, and I was hooked. After watching Henry shape and glass, I contacted a foam company in California and made my first board in a garage. 

      Two years and two trips to California later, a friend of mine who managed Pasadena Sporting Goods, told me he could sell a lot of boards if I could supply them.  So Tradewinds Surf Shop was formed with custom LEE Boards and a model that was shaped by the foam company in California.  We did all the glassing.  This allowed us to turn out boards faster.   We were located in old town Pasadena on Shaw St. close to Pasadena High School.            

      I was having way to much fun.  The location was an old car dealership with lots of rooms to Shape, Glass, Grind and Polish.  It had a big show room in front we could skateboard in.  The shop also had an old School Bus we traveled in.  We loaded it with boards and people.  Then we were on Safari.   There was always surfing music playing and people hanging around the shop.  Everything was great. 

      When the shop was closed, there was a sign hanging in front "Gone Surfing"

      Then Uncle Sam came knocking and by 1967 I was closing the shop. At that time, we had sold about 900 boards and shipped to five states.                                   When I returned from the Army in 1969, there were surf shops everywhere, and even Henry was talking about moving to Costa Rica to make boards. He moved a couple years later.

      I moved to Colorado to Ski.  But that’s another story....

      Contact LEE LUCAS and go fishing in DUCK KEY, FL.  L&L FIRST LOVE CHARTERS

phone:(305)-393-0558

email: captlucas@aol.com