Surfboard shaped by Craig Stecyk at Dave Sweet's Surfboards, Santa Monica, 1966

This is a single glassed, lightweight surfboard with a single fin, and two fin boxes. According to the donor, Craig Stecyk, "the board was shaped by me in December of 1966. It was manufactured by Dave Sweet Surfboards, Santa Monica, CA (Sweet pictured here holding a board similar to the one donated by Stecyk). It was single glassed (less fiberglass than usual) to promote lightweight and flexibility (ditto for lack of a central strip). The fin is a Reynolds Yater #2 design from the Tom Morey Finworks. It is polypropylene in construction. The board features a stepped deck (for better sensitivity and control when riding on its front third). It has two fin boxes allowing for repositioning of the fin. (This will change the riding characteristics of the board. The center position is "normal". The outside position is the variable position). The bottom color design was also done by me and is typical of the "plastic fantastic" period. This board is entirely created from plastic materials and is a typical "stringerless" surfboard from 1966-1967. A stringer is slang for the wood center strip common to most surfboards." Stecyk is another eccentric character that lives in the surf and skate world. He is one of the people responsible for the creation of the Zephyr Surf team and the Z-Boys skate team and for bringing surf and skate art to the forefront of that distinctive culture. Stecyk was a writer for “Skateboarder Magazine” during its resurgence in the mid-1970s and spread the word about these growing sports throughout the globe providing his distinctive insight and first person narrative. Stecyk continues to practice his craft as a multimedia artist and still has a direct impact on the graffiti and street art cultures he helped create.

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