This unrestored balsa and fiberglass board was once owned by Hawaiian surfer Sammy Lee, who recalled that it had been reshaped from a balsa plank by Bob Shepherd. Lee was a well-known and versatile surfer of the early ’60s, appeared on the cover of Surfer Magazine and was probably most famous for being featured on the album cover of an LP record by surf music instrumental band, The Ventures. Lee was both a hot-dogger and a big-wave rider and also one of the early standout tube riders at Ala Moana on Oahu’s south shore.

If Lee’s recollection is correct that the board was reshaped by Bob Shepherd, it is a rare, if not very refined example of his work and was probably most cherished for its light weight, a mere 29 pounds.

Shepherd was born in California in 1934 and started surfing as a 21-year-old. In 1957 he moved to Hawaii and began shaping boards two years later, mentored by Joe Quigg who had also moved to Hawaii earlier in the decade. Shepherd quickly established a reputation as a shaper, especially of big-wave guns, and went on to make boards for top surfers of the era like Paul Strauch and Buzzy Trent. He was also the primary early influence on Dick Brewer, who became one of the most renowned shaper-designers in the world, famous for big-wave guns in the ’60s, radical short "mini guns” at the end of that decade, high performance shortboards in the ’70s, refined single-fin and tri-fin big-wave guns in the ’80s, and a pioneer of tow-in board design in the ’90s and beyond.

Shepherd opened a board-building shop in Honolulu in the early 1960s oddly named Swim Boat Surfboards, but it was a short-lived enterprise. He worked as Honolulu fireman from 1961 to 1989 before moving to the Big Island after his retirement.