Jean Pierre Van Swae

Jean Pierre Van Swae is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer/shaper who goes by the name of “Fly.” A pop­u­lar surf­board shaper for over 40 years, he started his board build­ing career mak­ing fins for Fred Wardy. Fly explains why it’s so impor­tant to “keep the stoke” and to spread aloha in our daily lives.

What was it like grow­ing up?
I was born in Europe and I came to the United States when I was five years old. Raised in Cal­i­for­nia, we lived inland in places like West Cov­ina and Mon­terey Park. It was alright, we would slide down hills on boxes for enter­tain­ment. That part of my life was mediocre but still fun.

It wasn’t until ’58 when we moved to Laguna Beach that I saw guys rid­ing waves. It was like a door opened up. It was like “Wow!” We’ve got the ocean, guys rid­ing surf­boards – it was some­thing all new to me. The whole expe­ri­ence just tick­led the hell out of me. Surf­ing was love at first sight.

Do you remem­ber the first time you stood up on a board and the feel­ing you had?
Yes. It was at Doheny in 1959, on a balsa wood board from Hobie that I paid 60 bucks for. There was nobody out in the water and it was a small day. It was frus­trat­ing at first because I would pearl or I would miss the wave. And this went on numer­ous times because the board had very lit­tle rocker – it was almost like a table­top! I finally caught a wave and it was such an exhil­a­rat­ing feel­ing when I did stand up, it felt like I was lit­er­ally on top of the world. There are two things in life you will never for­get – your first wave and your first gal.

Tell us about your first job
I hung around Fred Wardy’s shop so much they finally put me to work. I started learn­ing about things like fins, fiber­glass, resin, and foam. I really learned how to make a board from start to fin­ish. It was a job that wasn’t really a job. It was a bunch of guys that worked together and we had a blast. We would all go surf Tres­tles and come back and then do our work, have din­ner, a few beers, and get ready for the next day. There was a lot of cama­raderie and we knew what to do.

Who did you look up to at that time?
Peo­ple like Dale Velzy. Wardy. Phil Edwards. Mickey Munoz. All local peo­ple who were vet­er­ans. See­ing peo­ple like Joey Cabell, how smooth he was. Watch­ing guys who really knew posi­tion­ing, and knew how to judge waves – and to just be smooth about it.

How impor­tant is style?
You can watch peo­ple out in the water and every­one has their own style. With­out even see­ing their face out there in the water, you can tell who it is. Surf­ing is like a dance and you don’t want to be awk­ward. If you’ve got style you can actu­ally use that in your favor to get into and out of sit­u­a­tions. Besides just look­ing good, you can throw your arms out and can gain a lit­tle speed. Style is functional.

What do you love about surf­ing?
That each day is a dif­fer­ent day. With waves, you don’t really know what Mother Nature’s gonna throw at you. Every­body has a dif­fer­ent feel for it. Some peo­ple use it as a form of med­i­ta­tion. Those that have frus­trat­ing jobs and they need to vent it out. For myself, I enjoy what I do – mak­ing boards, so for me it is a gift. Basi­cally each wave that I get is a gift that I enjoy.

Each wave that you catch is a treat. A gift of nature. It’s being in har­mony with the whole envi­ron­ment – the ocean, the swell. It’s you and the ocean melt­ing together. With a cer­tain amount of ded­i­ca­tion, it’s kind of like a reward. I’m happy if I can stand up and hoot and holler!

What is your process for mak­ing boards?
I try to find out how long they’ve been surf­ing, what they surf and where they surf. I get a feel for where they are in their surf­ing. Every­body has a dif­fer­ent way they want to have fun.

What’s your favorite part of shap­ing?
It’s the whole process. It’s like a sculp­ture that you are doing for some­one. When I get a blank, it’s like a raw can­vas. Shap­ing is done in seg­ments start­ing with the plan shape, the rails, con­tours of the nose and tails. All of these things add up and then a pic­ture unfolds. It’s like doing a painting.

How long have you been shap­ing?
I’ve been on my own since 1970, shap­ing my own boards and glass­ing them. My old shop was in a barn so I did every­thing – from shap­ing to glass­ing. I even made my own fins. I always look at some­thing and think: “How can I make it better?”

Of all the places you’ve trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
I spent some time in Tahiti which was fun. I didn’t get to surf a lot of the neat spots over there but I did get to surf some real enjoy­able places. But I have to admit, being in Kauai was one of the best times I’ve ever had. Friends that I knew and friends that I met – along with the sheer qual­ity of waves. There were places that were really good – like left break waves. Pakala’s is a great wave. You can long­board or short­board and even get bar­reled there.

Who/What inspires you?
There are peo­ple like Mickey Munoz – he’s kept the stoke. Peo­ple who are still surf­ing that are still pumped up. Also Fred Wardy, Del Can­non, Terry Mar­tin – these guys have taught me a lot. Not only are they my friends but they’ve been will­ing to pass on to me what they’ve learned.

Life inspires me. It’s really a lean­ing process. Every­day I go out I try to learn a lit­tle bit and maybe help some­one out. I try to keep the aloha spirit out there.

What are you most proud of?
I’m proud of all of my kids. They’ve done so well. My youngest Jean Paul is an excel­lent pho­tog­ra­pher and he’s got the best job. I’ve got a won­der­ful grand­daugh­ter. I’ve taken all of my kids out in the water at the age of one so that they can share the stoke and grow to love surf­ing like I have.

Oh, and my ’55 Chevy sta­tion wagon named Peggy Sue that I have been busy restoring…

Who do you feel are some of the peo­ple shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
There are so many good shapers today. Timmy Pat­ter­son I’ve known since he was a lit­tle tiny kid. I would have never guessed that he would be such a great board builder. He grew up to be an excel­lent shaper and has even taught me a few new tricks! His Dad would have been very proud of him if he were still alive.

What’s your favorite board you are rid­ing these days?
Right now it’s a big board. It’s 10’7″, 27 inches wide, 4 inches thick that was made for a cus­tomer who didn’t want it because a pin­line was left off of it! At San Onofre, it is such an easy rid­ing board that can catch any­thing that you can see. It’s just down­right fun! I call the board “Eddie.”

What’s you favorite surf spot?
It would have to Low­ers even though I haven’t surfed it in a while. It’s a good wave and it’s so much fun. I’ve had numer­ous good times surf­ing there, uncrowded – back when the Marines used to chase you off the beach. Now it’s open to the pub­lic and it’s like Mal­ibu. I like to keep the fun in surf­ing. And surf­ing with 60 guys is just a lit­tle too much. I have more fun surf­ing at San Onofre with a bunch of good friends. It’s the fun fac­tor. I always ask “How’s the fun meter – is it cranked up yet?”

What kind of music do you lis­ten to?
Elvis. Bob Dylan. Led Zep­pelin, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Cream. Older guys, sure but there is some really good stuff in there. Blues like B.B. King – Jazz like Dave Brubeck and Take Five. If it’s soul­ful and has a great beat – even AC/DC!

What are you most grate­ful for?
Com­ing to Cal­i­for­nia and mak­ing it to the beach! And for my Mom get­ting job and mak­ing it to Laguna Beach. I am so damn grateful.

What’s next for Mr. Van Swae?
I’ve got­ten numer­ous requests for stand up boards. This is new ter­ri­tory for me as a shaper. Some peo­ple don’t like it and that it’s going to the “dark side.” Peo­ple are really hav­ing a good time with them and it’s good exercise.

Basi­cally I want to refine my busi­ness and make it as good as I can. And I sim­ply enjoy the fact that I am on the beach mak­ing surfboards.

Find out more about Pierre “Fly” Van Swae and his surf­boards here. Pho­tographs of Fly surf­ing by JP Van Swae. All other images by Glenn Sakamoto.