You Asked, She Answered: Dibi Fletcher Shares Her Infinite Wisdom

The matriarch of modern surf. The den mother of the radical. Dibi Fletcher's got something to say. Last month SURFER put out the call to you, the loyal readers, asking for any questions you may have for Dibi Fletcher. And now she's bringing the heat with her honest, unvarnished answers ... and if you have a question for the new "Hey Dibi" column, a sorted advice column for surfers of all walks of life, shoot us a DM on Instagram and we'll make sure it gets to her. And without further ado, here we go:

As a surfer and aspiring artist, are there any tips you could give someone trying to get a career off the ground?
As an aspiring artist, I believe it's safe to assume you've been studying art. I suggest you take some business classes to help you navigate the business of marketing and selling your art if that's your goal. The business of "art" is business, and you'll need to take advantage of social media to create a following that future dealers would be looking to as a sales base. Much like surfers and skaters have to be their own press, it is the same with an art start up.

Very sorry about the recent passing of your father, was there ever a piece of advice that he gave you that you still use today?
Thank you for your condolences. My dad was an old school businessman, many in the surf world worked with him and have recounted lots of amusing stories, and I'm sure when I say one of his favorite sayings "you got it in writing?" will sound familiar. He was referring to the easy way people throw around deals in conversation, but the moment of truth is when there's a tangible promise. That may not seem very father/daughterly, but as I got older I understood him a lot better and realized the value in our relationship could strengthen if I learned the language of business that he was most comfortable with. I started reading everything I could about the businesses that were represented in the stock market. Listening to and watching the business news and learning the language of the engine that powers the globe. I would call him, and we would have the greatest conversations about the latest technology or get into discussions about global trading that affected the flow of products to all the companies that made up the world's supply chain and the surf market that I was involved in with Astrodeck, in particular. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have him spur my curiosity and seek an education that broadened my horizons, he was truly a unique mentor, father and friend.

I believe people thought Herb and I had some "surf life" goal. When we started out together there was no real surf industry. I was still a teenager when we had our first son, Christian. Neither of us even had a high school education, but looking back, I'm glad we never listened to the naysayers. Maybe we just didn't know we couldn't do things. We were living on the North Shore and Herb was surfing in the day and making boards at night in the backyard shed. I spoke with Gordon "Grubby" Clark, a family friend, and we got the Clark Foam distributorship for Hawaii in the late '60s. It was an amazing time to be young and fearless. The world was filled with opportunity, and we just went for it, from Herb riding his Jetski at closed out Waimea, introducing the first surf traction to selling surf videos in a surf shop, that had never been done before, nothing was too farfetched. It was amazing and we were living the volume up full Blast....

Where did the idea for Astrodeck come from?
Herb has always been a dreamer and extremely creative. He'd spend most of his days surfing Pipeline and Gas Chambers and dream about how to design boards to go faster and hang higher in the tube. He knew he needed something on the deck to replace the "parfin wax" that was used at the time for more fin and rail control. He started experimenting with flat thin sheets of EVA that he poured and salted while it cured on tables. When that process was complete, he added pressure sensitive tape to one side that could be stuck on the clean deck of a new surfboard. There were a lot of complications to start with, from crippled nipples due to chafing, to the extreme difficulty of precision application with large sheets. Herb was filming Wave Warriors at the time and working with a Il the greatest surfers who were generous with their expertise, and he kept refining his traction experiment until he came up with the kicktail and arch bar that would change surfing forever.