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Birdie · Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: Location: so cal

Something tells me that I can't post an image here of them

cressfin.jpg

Nope!

Back to the FAQ!

<back from FAQ>

Ok, will go make a website now to upload images.....

(runs back in a little while later)

Here it is

http://home.netcom.com/~birdies/id0.html
[/url]

Poobah · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 10:42 pm Post subject: Old School Cressi

Back in the mid sixties, most people around here bodysurfed with either Duck Feet or Cressi. Every now and then you'd see someone go out with a pair of Jet Fins. My current pair aren't from the sixties, but were retros made in about 1980. They're comfortable and nostalgic (even if they are retro.) They have the big swallow on them. This photo will probably make Birdie jealous.

Birdie · Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: Location: so cal

Interesting how Cressi has the swallow as their mascot....

We have a big o' pile of that kind (but not model/make) fin at the Y pool.

Sometimes I find a matching pair, my size.

I was bummed I couldn't get any of the green churhill makapuu retro's they put out more than a year ago - maybe find a pair on ebay.

Those new cressi's (on my website) look *very* tempting, if for nothing more than snorkeling....and mat riding.

You can find them being advertisied on the back covers of Dive magazines now...

doc · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:33 pm Post subject:

Birdie · Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: Location: so cal

I can't seem to locate my makapuu's - must be out in the truck.

Normally, I wear between a M to M-L.

The Tech2's have to be a ML.

My Hydro's are M, and too tight to wear anywhere but the 81 degree pool.

My Churchill Slashers are M and I cannot wear them with socks or else I get horrid little cramps in my feet and have to get back to shore and yank them off in a hurry...They are OK in the summer, no socks.

My Makapuu's fit me perfect, socks or not, but I can't be sure of their size til I dig them up...

I'll keep digging.

Destined to have more fins than shoes

Birdie

doc · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:39 am Post subject:

Birdie · Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: Location: so cal

As kids, we never wore shoes in the summer.

Not even flip-flops.

Just barefoot -- skipped out the door to the beach everyday...

Would step on our towels to get across the sand if it was too hot.

Or sprint and then hop on them, ouching the whole time.

Going back to school in the fall was always an ordeal...

School shoes and socks! They were soooo binding and weird feeling.

Other than school clothes, I always had MY OWN clothes which were a pair of skateboard and bike shoes -- Vans deck shoes-- Hang Ten shirts and Levi 501's....Tie-dye shirts and clothes from Mexico.

My Makapuu's are probably M-L's but I have to double check.

My feet are wide, and, I am sure it was from all those barefoot summers.

I can tell GG doesn't wear shoes!

doc · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:05 pm Post subject:

pretty much the same deal here - though winter, with snow and ice and all kinda precluded being barefoot year round, as did a few jobs I had.

Remember those cheezy, made in China or something, rice straw topped velvet covered strap flip flops? Took a while to break in and then they'd die off after a couple -three weeks of heavy use. I'd burn through three-four sets a summer. The samrt ones would have one pair they'd wear an hour a day to break in and then they'd have something comfortable when their others died.

kage · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 9:25 pm Post subject:

you know what I would really like to find is an old pair of Juaraches. Does anybody remember those? Maybe I'm not spelling it right. Her- ah -cheeze. They were those leather heavy sandals with tires on the bottoms.

doc · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 10:32 pm Post subject:

Huraches or Ho Chi Minh sandals, though they are two different things.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2885435077#ebayphotohosting huraches - quite comfortable too.

http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm make-em-yourself Ho Chi Minh sandals. Resist the blandishments of the capitalist running dogs.

http://www.sandals-huaraches.com/Page4.html the best of both worlds..... and surprisingly cheap, before shipping. If you know anybody in LA, this'd be a good time to call in a favor.

hope that's of use. Let us know how you like 'em.

doc......... 8 1/2 EEEE

kage · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 12:19 am Post subject:

YES! ...but no. Hmmm Now I'm in search mode. The kind I'm talking about were worn in California in the early sixties. They were overall made of heavier leather, not shiny, and fewer straps than the ones in the links. They had a distinctly clunky look, maybe we called them hauraches and they weren't, certainly a possibility. Now that I think about it they were the Beach Boys song. All I remember is you soaked them in water and wore them dry on your feet which made them real comfortable, they were heavy enough you could just sort of kick them off. If I find them I'll post a picture. The Ho chi minh ones look a little too proletarian for my tender tootsies Shocked

. Thanks though!

doc · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 12:31 am Post subject:

Right, I know the ones you mean- I could sketch 'em now, a bunch of side straps coming straight up to a solid piece over the instep, a buckled piece around the back of the heel ( which always chafed hell out of me - always preferred the hurache types) .

I did a quick search for 'tire sandal' and that was what I got, that last link, about the first of around a thousand. They're out there.....

Birdie · Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: Location: so cal

Kage,

I was thinking of those - they were all the rage in the south bay - '60's.

They were heavier...and they made that sound...not squeaky...but...you know what I mean - they talk when you walk.

I'm sure you can still get them in Mexico.

I have seen them...I can't remember where, but it could have been at val surf....and made by an american company - they were in diffferent colours, brown, blue, black...an updated version.

Not the originals and but modeled after them.

I need to goto Mexico and get some pots for the garden....probably in the spring...will let you know....you can all post your shoes sizes!!

Oh, and Doc...those flip-flops with the black velvet...didn't they have the gold/black "made in Hong Kong" stickers??? Those and the Huarches....they were all the rage....

And then came CLOGS!

Which are brilliant beach shoes, for around the house etc..you can just flop them off and you're barefoot...and they make them in wide double wide and triple wide...

doc · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 8:32 am Post subject:

There you go. I knew it was something with those yellow/brassy-looking stickers. The Hong Kong sandals would break in quick...and when rhe Rainbows came out they were kinda weird - didn't break in for a while and nobody liked 'em.

Here, we either went with sandals in summer ( though one year when the shop couldn't get any I went barefooted and had soles you could ride a rat trap pedal English 10 speed bike with) or those Ugg boots.

Then I graduated to rubber boots. Clogs never did it for me and I was going offshore anyhow.

Keep me posted on that sandal thing, though, I'd be interested come spring.

Nels · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 6:40 pm Post subject:

I'm pretty sure I've seen new versions of hurache sandals in the trade rags, although It might not have been this year. I'll skip the sandals, give me 1971...

Those grass slaps from early 70's, seems like there were a few types. White soles on them, right? The ones I used to get in Hawaii would last many months if you used common sense, as in not getting them sopping wet. Used cheap dime store thongs/flip flops for the dirty work. Mandatory to learn to walk without making them snap.

Now the Tribe seems to have traded in simple slaps and sandals for SUVs, standing in bike lanes to keep feet clean while changing. If you can't shake sand out of floor mats you aren't going to the beach enough.