Carl Ekstrom

Al Nelson and Carl Ekstrom

Carl Ekstrom grew up in La Jolla and began surfing there. The surf spot that he and his friends would go to was WindsanSea and there have been many memorable moments for them. One such memory back in September 26, 1954 happened to be a sad one. It was like any other Sunday for the young trio of Carl Ekstrom, Ronald Patterson and Mike Diffenderfer, who were standing around in the parking lot bluff at WindanSea.

The surf had come up and it was 6 to 8 feet from the South. The young group of future board builders had only been surfing for a short time and their surfing experience were limited, so they just watched the surf that day. The regulars who surfed the spot were out along with some surfers from not of the area. The word was out and those who knew of WindanSea’s waves showed up with the swell.

On this day two surfers from the South Bay, Bev Morgan the founder of Dive n Surf Wetsuits and Bob Simmons a innovative shapers. They had drove down in Bev's Jeep, which was parked in the parking lot. Carl happened to walk by and viewed some bones and a ram's head that were in the back of the Jeep. Bev had collected the items from a previous diving trip that he had made off of Catalina.

Simmons knew of the South swell and had planned for it.  Once at the beach he had a routine of neatly folding his clothes and towel and placing it in one of the upper corner of the thatch shack before going out. By this time Carl had walked down to the beach to see Simmons closer up. As he was about to go out with his twin fin surfboard, Carl made a comment and Simmons answered him. Simmons paddled out and Carl went back up to the parking lot and continued hanging out.

Mid morning was turning into noon and something had happened. Simmons board was rolling in the shore pound without Bob swimming in for it. Someone would placed his board by the shack.  Seeing his board by the shack Bev Morgan thought he might have gone elsewhere with others. No one was really sure what had happened, but they didn’t think there was anything wrong. 

After awhile Bev started asking around and someone mentioned seeing Simmons in the impact zone just before a few guys came racing across. Word spread that Bob Simmons was missing and a gut wrenching concern developed among his friends as nightfall covered the ocean.

The next day the conditions got bigger and the waves were closing out.  After a couple of days the surf went down and Bob “Woody” Ekstrom happened to be at the beach. Someone reported a body floating in the surf earlier, but had disappeared. A short time later Bob spotted the body near the shore and went into the water to retrieve the body. It was Bob Simmons. The police and medical people were called to the scene. After the recovery and the forms that were filled out, the ambulance disappeared up the street and Bob Simmons into legend.  

Another early memory that Carl remembered was when a group of guys in La Jolla including himself were into board building during the 1950’s. To get their balsa, some would drive up to General Veneer and buy their wood. Other times General Veneer would bring the balsa to them at the WindanSea parking lot.

Either way the guys would put their money together and buy a full bundle of wood. Of course they would argue over the best wood after the delivery. Reason being there were really light boards and really heavy boards that came out from same bundle. So Carl and his good friend Al Nelson were there with the others that made up the La Jolla’s early board builder crew.

Carl and Al go way back. Al’s early beginnings in shaping started in any garage in La Jolla. He would go into a garage and start shaping his board. The homeowner would come home and say what the hell are you doing in here. Al’s remark would be Ed told us we could shape a couple of surfboards here. The owner said who is Ed and Al would say the guy who lives in the house. The owner replied he doesn’t live here you know and my name isn’t Ed.

Then Al would go up the alley to the next garage, finally he had worked his way up the street by La Jolla Blvd. and found 3 garages with dirt floors. He started shaping in one of those garages and no one kicked him out, they were kinda semi abandoned. Al made friends with the guy in one of the front houses and used an extension cord from the house for electricity.

After Al was in the garage for a few weeks, Carl would use the garage next to the one Al was using and started glassing boards there. Before that Carl did some work at Danny Mack’s house before starting his first glassing shop in the garage next to Al.

Pat Curran was shaping at Danny Mack’s house, which was across La Jolla Boulevard at the end of Bonair Way. The guys working at Danny Mack would go to Tijuana on Sundays for the bullfights sometimes leaving on Saturday for two days. Telling Carl that they had to get there early to get good seats. Some years later, Carl found out that the bullfights meant the Long Bar.

Getting back to Danny Mack’s shop. Carl learned to shape from the guys at the shop. His first board turned out alright but his second board was not so good, the year was 1957. After Danny Mack’s and the garage, Carl started working at AJ Surfboards.

Carl would move up to Hermosa Beach after graduating from High School in 1960. Briefly working at Jacobs surfboards where Hap Jacobs, Larry Felker, and Kenny Tilton were shaping. At the Jacob’s shop, he was introduced to the side shaping lights. This was the first time he had seen it and it sure made the contour of the rails more distinct.

A few months later Dick Mobley got Carl to work at Bing Surfboards. From there  Carl would shaped at Wardy’s in Laguna Beach, Del Cannon got Carl the job there. After that it was to Ole’s in Seal Beach. Being a wandering shaper and viewing different techniques, the experience broaden Carl’s outlook on shaping.  But it was at Con Surfboard, that Carl really got good at shaping. In 1963 Carl would open a new shop with Al Nelson in Pacific Beach. It was in 1965 at his Pacific Beach shop that Carl developed the asymmetrical surfboard concept.

Bing Surfboards had a stall of shapers during the Nuuhiiwa Noserider period of the mid 1960’s. Those shapers were Wayne Land, George Lanning, Al Nelson, Mike Eaton, Dick Brewer, Dan Bendikson and Bing Copeland. One day during their lunch break at the Poop Deck by the Pier, Wayne, George, and Al were discussing the chromed planer Bing had gotten for Dick Brewer. 

The guys felt they should also get a chromed planer as well. After the guys had a few drinks Al suggested that they do not do any more boards until they got their chromed planer. George and Wayne agreed. Al mentioned he was tried and was going home to get some rest.

He left Wayne and George who would continue to refresh themselves at the Poop Deck. Instead of going home Al went back to the shop and shaped all the orders that was on the to do list for the day.  The next day George and Wayne found out what Al had done and gave him their piece of mind and laughed it off. The 60’s would fade like the longboards, but through it all they were like brothers