I met the most classic character this weekend. And at the gas station of all places.

I needed to return a borrowed sander and I took it down to the Beacon station on Mission to blow off the fiberglass dust with their air compressor. I was blasting away when this little guy (he's like 5'2") cruised up to me and just started talking.

He was in torn up boot cut jeans, flip-flops, and a super faded, too-small T-shirt. His frame was compact, but well defined. I was a little nervous about being approached by this stranger, but there was something so calming about him. I smiled, told him about my sanding, and the Hansen, and my restoration job leading all the way up to why I was at the gas station that morning.

Planting himself on my tailgait, he listened intently and then related these facts over the hiss of the air hose:

Turns out he knew Hansen and Mike Doyle and surfed some of the same spots that they did in Redondo and Manhattan Beach.

He grew up in Seal Beach and started shaping surfboards in his backyard in the late 60's. He then moved up to production shaper working under a few surfboard labels - most long since forgotten. He also worked for Hansen for a short time, but said it ended "badly". He left it at that.

In the 70s and 80s he lived on the North Shore of Oahu and was the first to pioneer many of the "secret spots" on the West Side of the island and the outer islands. He also hooked up with Jeff Ho in the early 70s and was the yin to Ho's yang in an era of intense surfboard design philosophies. There were two camps in those days: Everyone was going shorter and lighter, but where Ho was pushing the limits of asymmetrical design and extreme half-swallow pintails in California, this guy and a small cadre of Hawaiian shapers, many now famous, were heavily into small board/big wave performance. Apparently, the first 360 ever attempted at Sunset was on one of his designs. Intense stuff!

I was pretty much done with my chore and began to feel some apprehension as to how I was going to break it off politely with this guy. Seeming to sense this, he concluded our conversation by saying, "That was a long time ago. I don't surf anymore and I don't shape anymore. I just don't have the heart for either."

I felt sincerity in his statement that quashed any doubt that I may have been harboring. He continued, "If you ever have some time, and want to talk about surfboard design, I'd be happy to oblige."

He pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and a carpenter's pencil from behind his ear. He scribbled down his name: Buzz Carver.

With that he moved on, shuffle-gliding on his sandals more than walking, as if to keep his body in perfect trim.

I got back in the truck and pointed it toward home when a little flash of recognition went off in my head. I picked up the paper that he had given me. Could it be?

I raced home and grabbed the photo album that I have been keeping, documenting my restoration of the Hansen. I had photographed every inch of that board before stripping it and took particular care to document the shaper signature on the bottom. It really isn't a signature in this case, however, as even though board dimensions are represented, the name of the shaper is not. I had always assumed that there was no name as it had been shaped by Hansen himself.

But when I compared the handwriting of the note - given to me only an hour before - to the photographed board signature; A DEAD MATCH.

- Ryen Phillips