Surfers relaunch rare board created on Central Coast in 1980s. Is it ‘the next big thing’?
In 1986, Santa Barbara resident and surfer Dennis Shanelec created the Ahi board.
Shanelec spent years perfecting his board, testing it in secret surf sessions until he came up with the perfect shape and acquired a patent. He made about 1,000 of them, and they became all the rage among young surfers in Hollister Ranch.
However, the white, foam board never took off. Around that time, Shanelec also was growing his business as a periodontist and decided to devote his time to his career, and he eventually became a reputed oral surgeon.
The legend of the Ahi board remained among a small group of local surfers.
Until now.
Goleta resident Matt Van Dyk, along with friend and business partner Aaron “Johnny” Foster, through a strange turn of events more unpredictable than the most wild wave, found the Ahi board.
He revived it, tweaked it a bit for the modern times and is selling it at local surf shops. It’s now called the Ahi Wave Sled.
“There’s a lot of times when you are out in the water and it can be very competitive with yourself and other people,” Van Dyk said. “A lot of times when the waves are good, it can get very heated. I even catch myself sometimes saying, ‘I am out here to have fun.’ But when you first get on an Ahi, there really is no other option than to have fun.”
At a time when foam-top boards from Costco are all the craze for surfers of all ages and skill levels, Van Dyk and Foster’s wave sled is a one-of-kind, with its origins emerging from inside a surf shack at Mariposa Reina near Gaviota.
A generation of families in Hollister Ranch and their kids used the board, but its popularity never escaped the small surf community.
Van Dyk first saw the board covered in dust inside a friend’s garage. He asked about it, and the friend let him borrow it.
He loved it, and so did his two teenage sons.
A few months later, he saw a guy at the beach with one — and bought it for $20. The guy said he found it next to a trash can in Montecito.
The board has a concave bottom, is made out of a thermoplastic polymer foam and is easy to turn and manage on the water. It’s also 100% curbside recyclable.
Van Dyk loved the board so much that he tracked down Shanelec and had a conversation with him. The two talked about the board, and Van Dyk heard the story of how the board was created from the man who invented it.
At the time, Shanelec told Van Dyk that he might relaunch the board.
A few years passed, and Van Dyke was shopping at the Surf N’ Wear Beach House, a surf shop on lower State Street, and was having a casual conversation with owner Roger Nance.
Nance blew Van Dyk’s mind when he told him that he had a single original, still in the packaging from 1986, in the back of the store.
Nance told him that Shanelec died in 2019, and that his wife, Suzanne, brought in the board and gave it to Nance.
Van Dyk, who grew up in Goleta and attended Dos Pueblos High School, began surfing when he was 8 years old at local surf spots Haskell’s, Campus Point and Sands. It’s in his family’s blood.
So, he reached out to Suzanne Shanelec. He called her and left a message.
Two months passed. He didn’t hear anything. He left one more polite message.
A month later, she called him back. After a conversation and a visit to her house, she told Van Dyk, “You have my blessing,” to relaunch the board.
It wasn’t quite the parting of the seas, but for Van Dyk, it was a biblical moment. His faith in the board paid off.
Van Dyk crawled up in the attic and found more boards. Suzanne Shanelec gave him patents that had since expired and other paperwork she had on the board.
Van Dyk and his business partner Foster, got to work.
“When I take these out, I feel like a little kid,” said Foster, a lifelong surfer. “I have a smile, and it’s just a blast.”
He keeps one of the Ahi sleds in his car.
“Mother Nature always throws different waves,” Foster said. “Sometimes the surf isn’t the best, so I’ll take this out. There’s no expectation. You just go out and have fun.”
The board, Foster said, is easy to control and turn, no matter the conditions. The narrower tip allows for a better grip. Foster said the board allows just about anyone to feel comfortable in the water.
“It allows for people to just enjoy the ocean,” Foster said.
The Ahi Wave Sleds are for sale at the Beach House, 10 State St. in Santa Barbara.
Grayson Nance, manager of the store, said the board was ahead of its time. The concept was always good, with its slender shape and ability to control, but it never caught fire.
Nance surfs with the board.
“It’s completely different from a body board,” Nance said. “It’s different from a surfboard. It’s got its own niche. Everyone is always looking for the next big thing.”
The boards are available at Surf Country in Goleta, the Surf N’ Wear Beach House in Santa Barbara and on the company’s website.
For Van Dyk, the relaunch of the board is a dream he wasn’t sure would ever happen. What began in the 1980s is alive today and experiencing a rebirth.
“Put your kids on it. They will ride it, stand on it and love it,” Van Dyk said. “My kids taught themselves to surf on an Ahi.”
One of those kids, Shane Van Dyk, even coined the phrase that is now the board’s official slogan.
“It’s always overhead on an Ahi,” referring to how the board lets a person get under any kind of wave.
Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk , @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz . Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook .
