WaylandAbout

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The Roger Wayland Project Gallery
ABOUT ROGER

5'5" Quad Channel Knee/Paipo board. Kneewells are a recent addition.

Sometimes the interesting thing about people isn't what makes them different, but what you have in common. Commerce has in many ways ruined the community spirit in surfing. Ego builds walls which often fall back on those who built them. What follows is what Roger sent when I asked about his background.

"I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach. I started surfing in 1965. My frist board was a 9'6" Hobie. Tin Can Beach (now Bolsa Chica) was and still is my home beach. I had the great fortune to spend the summer of 1965 and 1966 in Hawaii. I bought a used board there and surfed and bodysurfed both summers in Hawaii.

I guess you could say we are a third generation surfing family as my dad surfed in the 1930's in Southern California, I surf, and my son surfs daily. He competes occasionally and works selling longboards at HSS in Huntington Beach.

After graduating from CSULB in Long Beach,I backpacked around the world for a year. For approximately 20 plus years we moved around the country building and operating cable systems. We came back home in 1999, remodeled our original family home, and now reside for the duration in Long Beach. I will never live away from the beach again. I am currently making a career change and (am) enrolled in a Global Logistics Specialist Program.

Once back in Southern California, the first purchase made was a new surfboard for my son. I picked back up with a Boogie board, then a longboard. Since our homecoming, I attempt to ride waves as much as possible. I now mainly Paipo, Handboard, bodysurf, and occasionally ride my longboard. I am absolutely mesmerized by my Paipo and Handboards. My son was competing on his high school surf team and wanted a few different boards to ride. I started shaping his boards to compete with. Along with his boards, I got into building some belly boards, and belly/kneeboards. I have expanded into Paipos and Handboards. The more I shape the more I want to design and shape. My son has a God given talent to surf. It is the ultimate to build him a board and watch him takee it out for the first time and rip with it. I just finishd up a board for my daughter. It was great to see her ride it for the first time the other day. There is no greater joy in my life tnat to be at the bech with my family. I ride my Paipos or handboards, and the kids ride surfboards that I have shaped. My son is also now riding the Paipos and doing some pretty great trick stuff on them. My daughter is starting to pick up bodysurfing and spends a fair amount of time on her boogie board. Life is good."

Roger Wayland

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