The good ol days

April 4, 2007 on 10:40 am | In The Latest | No Comments

Aloha. Got a great letter and thought it was worth sharing…

Dear Bryson,

Here is a little story out of the past.

I was just surfing the net and came across your website. Allow me to introduce myself - my name is David Daigle and the first board I ever bought was a 7′6″ Dewey Weber ‘Ski’ from your shop on the old Katy Freeway back in June 1969. My best friend Mike and I travelled all night from New Orleans and arrived at the shop at around 3am in the morning. I remember looking at the board through your window and just waiting with excitement for the store to open. Finally, dead tired from the long drive we crashed out on top of the washing machines at the laundromat that was next door to the shop. As soon as the store opened I bought the Ski and a roof rack for my old VW bug and we were off to Surfside. Lived on the beach for the next week and had maybe the best time ever surfing the ankle to knee deep mush that was available.

By the way, the Weber Ski - now 38 years old and in excellent condition - has the place of honor on my garage wall. It will never touch water again, but I do like to look at it every time I pass it by.

After that summer of 1969, Uncle Sam got a hold of me and I was off to Viet Nam before I could realize what was happening to me. The only good thing that came out of that was that I got to surf some fairly decent waves in the South China Sea in Da Nang. Once my army days were over, I had to finish up school and start working. I moved to Norway in the mid ’70’s, so you can imagine my surfing days were over (way to cold over there!). The Norwegian company I work for transferred me to Houston in the summer of 2005, so I am basically a new arrival back on the gulf coast. Mainly for nostalgia, as soon as I arrived in Houston I inquired via the yellow pages and internet, but never found any trace of the old BJ’s surfshop.

Since I’m now in my mid fifties I figured I would never surf again, but last year my wife and I went to Hawaii for a summer vacation. Just for the fun of it, we rented boards, surfed a little and lo & behold the old stoke came back bigger and stronger than ever. Since then, I have bought a few boards from Ron Jons in Florida and also a board from Soundwaves. If I had known you were still around I would have surely brought a little business your way.

I’m back at Surfside most Friday’s - Sunday’s and having loads of fun in the gulf mush again. Actually, there have been a few good days this past winter, so I’m reliving my youth again.

Anyway, I just wanted to write and let you know that your old shop was a big part of my teen years and I recall those days with very fond memories. I’m not really sure if we ever met, but I was in your shop a lot back in ‘68 & ‘69.

Who knows…….maybe I’ll be riding one of your boards again one day.

Best regards,
David Daigle

There ya go, another satisfied customer!
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