Ventura surfboard pioneer Bill 'Blinky' Hubina inducted into hall of fame

People think Bill "Blinky" Hubina's nickname came from getting dust in his eyes as he shapes his popular surfboards in Ventura.

But he actually earned the name while sticking up for his younger brother, Bob, who has retinoblastoma, or cancer of the eye, at Simi Valley High School. Bob had an eye removed at age 3 to solve the issue, he said.

"They started calling him Blinky and I said, 'Don't do that,'" Hubina said. "So this buddy of mine, one of my close friends, goes, 'Well, OK, then we're going to call you Blinky.' That's why it started."

More:‘We’re still trying’: Five years later, hundreds have yet to rebuild after Thomas Fire

Dust, however, is part of the landscape as Hubina works at his Ventura Surf Shop on East Thompson Boulevard.

"I do blink a lot," he said.

His hard work paid off in October when Hubina, who recently turned 79, was inducted into the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame in Orange County. He is one of more than 140 builders so honored since the group launched in 2000.

Bob Bolen, a founder of the hall of fame, said Hubina received the award because he has shaped surfboards since the 1960s, owns his own shop and built a surf team.

In 1967, Hubina founded William Dennis surfboards in Ventura, a brand that he created with his business partner at the time, Dennis Ryder. Before that, Hubina had shaped boards for the now-defunct Morey Pope brand in the 1960s.

"William Dennis boards are well-known throughout the industry — more in Ventura than here in Huntington Beach," said Bolen, who is based in Orange County. "He's this really neat guy and he's dedicated his life to the industry."

Hubina and other shapers were honored in a ceremony on Oct. 15 in Huntington Beach.

A career takes shape

Hubina's approach to shaping surfboards is based on experimentation. He asks younger surfers for feedback on boards and makes changes for better performance.

He began making shortboards in 1967.

"No one was making them before me," Hubina recalled.

Money troubles, in part, drove the innovation.

"We were in debt," he said, and the company wasn't making much money.

"That's when we were so broke I made the first shortboard," Hubina said, "because I couldn't afford to make a big one."

He used leftover pieces of foam to create a shortboard. There were no shortboard blanks at the time, he recalled, so he made the shorter models by cutting and shaving longboard blanks.

Now, machines can do much of the shaping work, Hubina said. It used to take about four hours to shape a longboard, but with a machine smoothing the way, the process takes about an hour.

"We still get creative, but that thing does 75% of the work," Hubina said. "When you're 79, that's good."

Thousand Oaks resident Ben Samuel, 36, met Hubina when he was a teenager surfing in contests with his twin brother Josh. The brothers shared a surfboard.

Hubina offered to make them individual boards for free.

That offer changed his life, said Samuel, who has a William Dennis surfboard named after him. Surfboards can cost up to $1,500, he said, and when your surfing skills improve quickly, having a new board is important.

"We came from a middle to low-income family and surfboards are hard to come by," Samuel said. "We are forever grateful for the relationship we built with him over the years."

Hubina used the brothers' input to continuously modify the boards he made for them. The suggestions eventually led to the model named after Samuel, which was sold at the Ventura shop.

Samuel noted that Hubina has "tremendous" experience shaping for different riders and surfing styles.

Hubina was also honored locally on Oct. 23 at MadeWest Brewery in Ventura. One of the brewery co-founders, Seth Gibson, worked at Hubina's surf shop, as did Gibson's brothers. Their father, Bob Gibson, was one of Hubina's first employees.

"We had 200 to 300 people there. It was really fun," said Hubina of the MadeWest gathering.

A special 1,000-can run of "Blinky Beer" was made to honor the occasion. Hubina keeps some of the remaining cans in his office at the surf shop.

While Hubina stopped surfing about three years ago, he plans to give it a go for his 80th birthday — in Hawaii —after he gets himself in better shape.

"I'm going to Waikiki, where no one knows Blinky, so I won’t feel bad," Hubina said with a laugh. "I’m going to get the biggest board I can and paddle out and surf Waikiki. Hopefully, no one will recognize me."

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura surfboard pioneer Blinky Hubina inducted into hall of fame