How Bill Bragg reinvented paddle sports in Southern California Bill Bragg, Nancy Bragg, Bruce Mills

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Buddy Maxwell
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1 How Bill Bragg reinvented paddle sports in Southern California 2017 Bill Bragg, Nancy Bragg, Bruce Mills

Who the heck is Bill Bragg? My first exposure to the legendary Bill Bragg was shortly after I joined the Ventura Outrigger Canoe Club in March of 2016.

Bill was introduced to me as an early and honorary club member as well as a world champion canoe and kayak racer. Bill asked where I had paddled before.

Bill s eyes gave a twinkle and he asked if I had ever heard of Bill Hickey in San Francisco.

2 Who the heck is Bill Bragg? My first exposure to the legendary Bill Bragg was shortly after I joined the Ventura Outrigger Canoe Club in March of It was a cold blustery morning at Harbor Cove when Bill and his wife Nancy stopped by the old Halau (before the move). Bill was introduced to me as an early and honorary club member as well as a world champion canoe and kayak racer. Bill asked where I had paddled before. I said that I had only paddled while SUP surfing in Central and Northern California. But I added that I had surfed for many years at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Bill s eyes gave a twinkle and he asked if I had ever heard of Bill Hickey in San Francisco. I had, in fact, met Bill Hickey once back in the mid-80s at Bob Wise s surf shop on Vicente Street in San Francisco. Hickey was introduced then as the first guy to build and sell custom boards at Ocean Beach back in the late 50 s. Bill went on to explain that in the late 50s through the mid-60s he was building custom surfboards in Southern California and Bill Hickey was his first distributor in Northern California. As of 2011 according to the Internet, Hickey was still making custom boards in San Francisco. After paddling for a few months with VOCC, I began to notice some unusual hand crafted paddles used by VOCC club members instead of the typical mass produced club paddles. I was told that these were Bragg paddles and that Bill had custom made them for each paddler never making two the same. The use of materials, including inlaid wood patterns, high-density foam blocks, carbon fiber, fiber glass and mysteriously shaped laminates was fascinating. These weren t just paddles but works of art. This got me thinking there s a lot more to Bill s story than just being an outrigger canoe racer. What exactly had Bill been up to for the past 60 years? The first thing to do, of course, was an Internet search. I came upon Bill s logo, Surfboards by Bragg, on a site that lists the history of surfing decals. Second, I found a bunch of articles from the LA Times about Bill s achievements in Kayak racing in the 70s, his home grown paddling club in Ventura and his Olympic training program. That filled in a lot of blanks on the paddling front but still didn t explain how Bill went from surfing to surfboard making to paddle racing to international paddle racing to paddle making. One day down at Harbor Cove, Bill brought a couple of books to share. One was a biography of Tom Blake, renowned pioneering waterman and innovator of paddle board and surfboard designs. Bill pointed out a couple of fold-out pages upon which showed blue prints of some of Blake s original hollow paddle board and surfboard designs. He said he had participated in a paddle board race to Catalina on a Tom Blake paddle board design. After reading Blake s amazing history as a paddling and surfing innovator it occurred to me that Bill probably had a few stories that might be equally worthy of telling. So I decided to dig into it. The Bill Gets the Water Bug According to Bill, the first time he took notice of surfing was when he was in high school in Gardena in the early 50s. He rode his bike to the Manhattan Beach pier to fish and noticed people in the water on surf boards. In those days surf boards were still being made out of solid wood (Redwood then Balsa) by the likes of Dale Velzy and Hap Jacobs in back alleys and even under the pier, and ridden by some of the early - 1 -

southern California surfing pioneers such as George Kapu, Barney [?], Mike Bright, and Greg Knowle. Watching these guys paddle around in the water on boards got Bill s attention.

One day Bill saw a wooden and foam diver s paddle board on the wall at Mel s shop, so he scrounged up a few bucks working construction and bought it.

3 southern California surfing pioneers such as George Kapu, Barney [?], Mike Bright, and Greg Knowle. Watching these guys paddle around in the water on boards got Bill s attention. So he decided rather than fishing from the pier he would take up spear fishing and lobster fishing. He soon start hanging out at Mel s Aqua Shop, a local dive shop. One day Bill saw a wooden and foam diver s paddle board on the wall at Mel s shop, so he scrounged up a few bucks working construction and bought it. The board was short and had a hole cut clear through the deck so you could look down for lobsters. He and his friends used the board as a dive board one summer. When they got bored with diving they would try to catch waves on it. Unfortunately, it wasn t a good shape for surfing and when you caught a wave water would shoot up through the hole into your face. At first they would keep their swim fins on and standup with one foot over the hole. They had so much fun that Bill plugged the hole with a piece of a foam kick board. From then on it was all about surfing. Bill surfing PV Cove back in the day. Over the next couple of years Bill and friends started surfing regularly on solid balsa boards weighing as much as 50 lbs. In 1956 Bill said he had been asked to participate in a Catalina paddle board race on a Blake designed board. Unlike other competitors, Bill took the board and tested it before the race. It sank. It and several others had been made for the race by a local carpenter. He apparently didn t have much experience at boat building and did not seal the seams. Bill had been patching and modifying wooden surfboards for a few years at this point and knew what to do. He dried it out, fiber-glassed all of the critical seams and sealed it. He didn t win the race (36 miles in 9 hours and 2 minutes) but he was the only one to finish on a Blake designed board because the others all sank. Surfboards by Bragg That started Bill on the path to building his own surfboards and paddle boards. With the introduction of modern light weight urethane foam, Bill decided that making surfboards might be a good way to make a few bucks while attending college. So, in Redondo Beach in 1957 Surfboards by Bragg came to life. This was basically a one man operation where Bill honed his skills selling a board, then running into the back to shape, glass, sand, finish the board and collect some dough before the buyer got distracted by a competitor. Quick turnaround and craftsmanship became his brand and has been a hallmark of his work ever since. In addition to making surfboards throughout the late 50s and early sixties, Bill was building and racing paddle boards both in California and Hawaii. After a Waikiki-Diamond Head race one year a guy paddled up to Bill in a kayak and asked if he ever thought about racing kayaks for the US in the Olympics. Well he hadn t but thought that might be fun. But back home in Southern California, Olympic racing kayaks were hard to come by. So Bill found someone who had one and bor

national champion in the two-man, 10,000-meter kayak race.

In three days he built a replica for himself.

In 1969, he was hired by the Ventura School District and relocated to Newbury Park.

Gradually a dozen or so of his high school students Bill paddles Westlake Bill paddleswaikiki

and coaching PE, swimming, married Nancy and started a family all the while training for the US

His twin daughters, Susan and Sharon eventually became kayak and canoe racers too, winning

4 national champion in the two-man, 10,000-meter kayak race. Bill paddle racing at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, 1962 rowed it for the weekend. In three days he built a replica for himself. That started him training for the Olympic K2 competition. In 1969, he was hired by the Ventura School District and relocated to Newbury Park. There he continued Olympic training on West Lake. Gradually a dozen or so of his high school students Bill paddles Westlake Bill paddleswaikiki Diamond Head International Kayak Racing By 1962, Bill was teaching high school math and science and coaching PE, swimming, married Nancy and started a family all the while training for the US Olympic paddling team. His twin daughters, Susan and Sharon eventually became kayak and canoe racers too, winning numerous medals. While Bill never did make an Olympic team, he won a gold and two silver medals in the 1967 Pan American games and was a three-time were joining him on the water. Due to the shortage of boats and paddles, Bill and his protégés built their own. Four years later, the number was up to 20 and growing. Needing more open water he later moved his training headquarters Bill s kids on Westlake - 3 -

to Ventura Harbor. As training became more regular and he and his crew started competing in local races Bill decided that they needed to take things more seriously.

He secured sponsorships, took his protégés up to Seattle for the national championships and came back with the team titles.

Bill is often credited with making southern California the capital of canoe racing and training in the US (formerly it was an East Coast summer sport).

house in Newberry Park: Bill Bragg is not one to hide his hobby.

in and around the house are paddles, boat molds and other equipment related to water travel. There is little room for much else.

5 to Ventura Harbor. As training became more regular and he and his crew started competing in local races Bill decided that they needed to take things more seriously. He made the club official by giving it a name, first Rusty Pelican Oaring Association and later The Ventura Olympic Canoe Club (the first VOCC). He secured sponsorships, took his protégés up to Seattle for the national championships and came back with the team titles. As of the late 1980s, the Ventura club had won 10 national titles and finished second four times. Bill is often credited with making southern California the capital of canoe racing and training in the US (formerly it was an East Coast summer sport). Bill s Shop Photo credit: Helena Day Breese, Men and Their Garages, Lyons Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2008) The Perpetual Shop One LA Journalist described Bill s house in Newberry Park: Bill Bragg is not one to hide his hobby. Right there stacked under a large pepper tree in the back yard of his family s home in Newbury Park is the evidence: racing boats about 50 kayaks and canoes.in and around the house are paddles, boat molds and other equipment related to water travel. There is little room for much else. Not even in the garage The car hasn t been in there for a long time, Bragg said. It has been banished to the street, where it is parked out in the shadow of a 40-foot boat trailer. [July 30, 1989 MIKE HISERMAN Times Staff Writer] VOCC In 1975 Bill hooked up with George Moore and Gary Lee at Ventura Harbor. They had recently formed an outrigger canoe racing club. While most of Bill s experience and training had been Ventura Outrigger Canoe Club - 4 -

for Olympic style kayak racing, being the competitor that he is, he gave it a go and quickly added outrigger canoe racing to his resume.

and down the coast. George and Gary s club went through several iterations of membership over the years, eventually becoming the Ventura Outrigger Canoe Club in 2009.

Bill s still tinkering in his garage and Bill and Nancy Bragg are honorary club members of the VOCC today.

The next time Bill and Nancy came out to paddle; they were both using exotic looking paddles. Nancy s had a petite carbon-fiber blade, with semi-transparent green gaps running through its weave.

Bill had something that looked like a giant green dragon claw on a stick or a fiberglass palm leaf, not sure which. These were no ordinary paddles.

6 for Olympic style kayak racing, being the competitor that he is, he gave it a go and quickly added outrigger canoe racing to his resume. The club didn t win any races but Bill and his student and Olympic proteges took to freelance outrigger canoe racing, jumping in to fill racing boats with Ben Tai Tai or borrowing boats for races up and down the coast. George and Gary s club went through several iterations of membership over the years, eventually becoming the Ventura Outrigger Canoe Club in But we re not a racing club, we paddle for fitness and fun. So, here we are; the next iteration of the VOCC. Bill s still tinkering in his garage and Bill and Nancy Bragg are honorary club members of the VOCC today. Bill s Paddles After first learning of Bill s paddle making I started to look for VOCC paddlers with unusual looking paddles. The next time Bill and Nancy came out to paddle; they were both using exotic looking paddles. Nancy s had a petite carbon-fiber blade, with semi-transparent green gaps running through its weave. Sitting behind her in the canoe one day as we paddled into the sun, I was captivated by a shimmering array of sparkling emerald stars and spray each time she stroked. Bill had something that looked like a giant green dragon claw on a stick or a fiberglass palm leaf, not sure which. These were no ordinary paddles. After paddling that day I asked Bill about his paddles and how he made them. He has since shown me an awesome array of his favorite paddles. No two alike. The one s I have found and photographed so far appear at the end of this story. Throughout Bill s career as competitor, paddling coach and club organizer it seems his efforts were rarely sponsored or funded from outside. That meant that he, his students and paddling club members had to make their own boats and equipment with minimal funds. Being a former paddle board and surfboard maker came in handy. Bill had the tools, the vision and the skills to work miracles with just about any materials he could get his hands on. Over the years he has incorporated exotic laminates, invented new methods and refined techniques that challenge one s imagination. According to Bill s long-time friend, Merv Larson, Bill has never used templates or patterns. He just grabs some stuff, and he s got plenty of material lying around, and goes to work. When he stops, it s done! As an artist, designer and amateur wood worker I was mystified. I had worked in surf shops in the late 60s and have since repaired and rebuilt too many surfboards and sailboards to count, but I had never seen anything quite like this. How does he do it? (But that s another story.) Not only are his paddles stunningly designed and constructed, but he makes them incredibly fast. Bill s paddles are functional fine art. [The World According to Bill : click this link to hear Bill tell it like it is. audio link] And here are a few examples of Bill s magic - 5 -

7 The Paddles Norm & Brian Bob & Debby Steve & Sons Jimmy & Laura - 6 -

8 Sherry More Bill - 7 -

9 - 8 -

10 2017 Bill Bragg, Nancy Bragg, Bruce Mills

Squeak the Skater Goes Surfing By Michael Stahl

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