Old Timers Riding Out Their "Golden Years" On Bill Fait Wave Skis
At 67 years young Bill Fait Champions the waves 4 to 6 days a week. He and his friends Ray Stewart 71, a retired peradontist and Lauren Pickard, 71, retired entrepreneur, AKA The Three Wise Men can be seen almost religiously every morning at 7am at their secret surfing spot on the world renowned North San Diego Coast. This sacred break is fast becoming known as "Wave Skiers" aka "Butt Boarders Paradise"
Where Do A Lot of Senior Surfers Go?
They Go See
Bill Fait
Designer, Shaper, Builder
of A Unique Line Of Wave Skis
At 67 years old and getting younger by the day Bill Fait is not about to acquiesce to the notion of aging any time soon. Bill spent his working career as a State Park Ranger and had a tremendous and envious outdoor experience for most of his life. Having lived and worked in just about every state park in California from Ocotillo Wells to Hertz Castle Bill and his lovely wife Ann have had the ultimate perpetual vacation of a lifetime.
Bill had many adventures as a State Park Ranger one of which was being number one in command at San Simion’s Hearst Castle during the Patty Hearst days of the 60’s and 70’s when the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), the radical group that allegedly kidnapped Patty Hearst set out on a brutal crime and murder spree. The fear was that Patty and the SLA would seek refuge somewhere on the Hearst Castle Estate due to it’s vastness and her famialiarty with it. In fact says Bill, "it was the only time in the history of the State Park Rangers that we ever had to bear arms".
The whole shaping and making process takes place in the pristine garage/workshop in Bill's home. The photo above left shows, a template placed on top of a large foam block which is where the whole process begins. The foam block is cut with a hot wire to the contour of the template. Above right shows the rough blank that will soon be meticulously shaped into a fine wave riding machine. Bottom photo: Lauren Pickard, one of "The Three Wise Men" and a life long friend of Bills is busy shaping his own board in Bill's workshop. If you're ever lucky enough to have Bill shape a board for you don't be surprised if you're not right along his side getting your hands in the glass.
Bill was born and raised in La Jolla, CA and spent his whole life surfing. But like a lot of old timers Bill became concerned about the stress, strain and overall impact surfing was having on his back, knees and other joints so he started looking into wave skiing. Unlike surfing which is an arduous sport requiring a tremendous amount of cutting and pivoting on your knees, ankles, hips and just about every joint in your body in one way or another wave skiing is a much more gentle and forgiving way of catching and carving a section in the waves.
Truth be known wave-skiing aka “butt-boarding” is as fun as regular stand up surfing and you get a lot more waves than most surfers. It seems as though there’s always something to ride and you seldom have a wave that isn’t overhead given that you’re in a sit down vs. stand up position. I see surfers sitting or laying on their boards and waiting most of the time. It seems like they’re always waiting for that perfect wave to take off on whereas a wave-skier can turn a small wave into a nice long fun ride just about anytime and you spend very little time waiting. Believe me from one who has spent his entire life surfing wave skiing is anything but an idle sport.
It wasn’t enough for Bill to just paddle out and ride waves and it didn't take him long to realize that he wanted more out the the experience. So from the garage of his Carlsbad home of 30+years he started shaping and making his own boards. It was not Bills intention to start a business. He actually lives quite comfortably on his State Park Retirement and other investments he's made over the years and has no mortgage or debt so he certainly didn’t need to subsidize his income. He just wanted something better for himself and didn't realize that he was about to embark on a small cottage industry. But it's not easy to buy a board from him. Bill has to know who he's making a board for and even then don't be surprised if you end up in his workshop helping him at least in the shaping process.
Once the blank is shaped to perfection it is laminated with multiple layers of fiberglass cloth and ultimately glassed to perfection into a BILL FAIT Custom Wave Ski.
Bill does no advertising or marketing of any kind and when you broach the subject of any kind of volume production he cringes at the notion of having to go back to work. He’s quite comfortable just making boards for himself and a very few selected friends and fellow surfers. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to become friends with Bill during the past few years and have been privileged to be the owner of two and soon to be three of his fantastically fun wave tools.
It’s a man’s dream come true when you can spend your golden years being healthy and living the life any person on Earth would envy. Having the best of all worlds. A beautiful life-long Wife, Mother, Grandmother and Friend, lots of lifelong friends who you spend at least 5 days a week in the water with, great health, a beautiful home in one of the most enviable places on the planet, Carlsbad, CA ,and some of the best surf breaks a surfer could ever ask for.
Once the boards are finished to perfection they are outfitted with Bill's own custom designs, thy straps, paddle leashes and seat and foot wells and padding. Each board is custom made to fit the rider. Bill meets the rider at the waterfront where he sits and floats on the blank for ultimate balance while Bill marks the spot for the seat and foot wells.
You don’t need to take vacations when you have a life like Bills because everyday is a vacation and where else would you want to spend your time rather than right in your own back yard with your family and friends. All who know Bill Fait love and respect him for the man that he is. With everything he’s got going for himself he’s still remains one of the most laid back, modest and humble folks you could ever want to meet.
Every so often stuff happens and when it does you can always rely on Bill to come to the rescue.
Above: Ray, a retired periodontist, and one of the "Three Wise Men ", at 67 years old still tackles the big wave. On this particular morning Ray was out in some 16 to 18 foot waves whence he got gobbled up by a close out he caught. He almost rode it out but at the last minute it closed out on him holding him under water for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally resurfaced he attempted to remount his board and realized that half of it was missing. It literally snapped in half from the impact of the powerful wave that gobbled his up. But never fear one of the fringe benefits of dealing with Bill is his relentless on going service. For a very modest fee Bill repairs his boards which is not always an easy fix. There are cases where he just needs to scrap the old one and build a new one. Ray aside from being one of Bills lifelong friends is also one of Bills best customers having purchased at least 8 boards from him since he started building them.
NOTE: When it comes to real true-life adventure no one knows better than Ray Stewart and Lauren Pickard. They actually look forward to the "big wave days". In fact the bigger the better. These two don't let age slow them down at all. As Lauren stated, "We're all going to go sometime and I can't think of a better way to go than riding a big exciting wave" It's the ultimate adrenaline rush. Who needs drugs when you've got monster waves to ride into oblivion.
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