SUNSET PRIDE: Hess Surfboards

The San Francisco Chronicle is assisting me in highlighting yet another person of interest and source of SUNSET PRIDE, Danny Hess of Hess Surfboards. A true artisan when it comes to making hollow core, wood and epoxy surfboards. A nice guy as well - I've only met him once through a mutual friend. Read all about his boards and the lifestyle he has created for himself as a full-time surfboard maker right in the heart of the Sunset District - click here to read the article.

The shot below is of a friend of mine that I took last Summer. He is hiding behind a Hess "Handplane" he was using for bodysurfing. Little buggers are $150.00 - YIKES! But worth it as I am told by those who have bodysurfed with them - I have not.

Do you own a Hess surfboard or handplane? Would love to hear if you do and why you chose Hess over other board makers.

Shark Attack, Baker Beach, San Francisco

OK... so I'll propagate this one. By "this one" I mean that every word typed beyond this point should be considered hearsay rumor. 

So a friend of mine and I are driving down to the Santa Cruz area to go surf and take some photos this past weekend. He asks me, "So did you hear about Baker Beach?". This being a very broad question, I replied, "What about Baker?". I'm expecting him to tell me that the Bodysurfing had been unreal recently or that another tourist got pulled into the surf and had to be rescued or worse recovered by the Coast Guard. He responds by telling me that some beach walker with his or her dog were having a nice day recently. The beach walker throws a ball or stick out into the surf and "little buddy" goes running out to fetch it. Well no sooner than he gets to the ball or stick then, WHAM!!! A great white shark nails "little buddy" from below and takes him under. Supposedly a 911 call was placed during the incident.

Wow.

I'll let you decide what to make of it. I've felt relatively safe bodyboarding and bodysurfing Baker Beach a handful of times. I'll look into this some more and see if it is legit. Did you hear anything about this? If so drop me a line/comment.