Santa Barbara & the second coming of Petrillo

For me, this surfing craze began on Long Beach Island in the 1960's, a cousin of mine rented a board to meet some guys, and in that two day rental, I hung unto that object like I was a lamprey eel.

I then borrowed another board for a 3 week period, a gorgeous Ron Jon, Hansen Competitor. I wanted my own board, and finally in 1970 my Dad bought me a 7'8" Petrillo Gyro. I didn't know anything about the brand, there were some 1/4 page ads in the surfer mags with Dru Harrison on them.

Here's mine. off my right shoulder is my younger brother James kicking water on Nick Balbo, my old man.

I really loved this board, it came down to the island for 4 weeks, maybe 3 summers in a row. I couldn't drive and it was lashed to some hard racks on my old man's 1968 Cutlass Supreme.