When I was 8 years old I attended a private school in Goleta, CA. It was my good fortune to have as one of my counselors, Jeff Kruthers, surf board shaper from Palos Verdes, CA. He had lived in Santa Barbara County since the early ‘60s. In 1968 Jeff took me to the Lobero Theater for the pre-screening of world famous surf board shaper and knee boarder George Greenough’s The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. It was the first surf movie with all music and no narration and it focused on short boards. Jeff and I paid close attention to all the new short boards. At this time, most people were riding surfboards in the 9 ft. range. The film brought enlightenment to a new era of short boarding and within a few days of seeing it, Jeff began shaping boards in the 7 ft. range. He shaped the first short board I had seen in Goleta, it was 7’ 4”. It was my dream board.
I had always hoped that Jeff would sell me that board. Fortunately or unfortunately, one of my best friends ended up with it. That surfboard always stuck in my mind. The outline looked like an oversized George Greenough knee board.
I had watched Jeff ride one of his friend’s “V” bottom surf boards and at the time it looked like the board might have had too much haul or “V” in the bottom. Jeff liked the outline of the board and one or two other things but it just didn’t seem right. The next day he bought a surf board blank and shaped it similar to that board but had taken most of the “V” out of the tail and the bottom was flatter. This board for the time was one of the forerunners of the modern short board.

All these years I had had Jeff’s short board in mind except with a couple of tweaks. One day in the mid ‘80s, I went by Aqua Tech surfboard shop owned by my two friends Scott Anderson and Randy Carranza (formerly Natural Progression Surf Boards owned by my friend Terry Lucoff, currently Anderson Surf Boards). I was looking in the used board rack and found an old 8’ 4” “V” bottom board shaped by Wilkins Surf Boards. I took it to Scott Anderson and told him I would like the same outline only 7’ 6” instead of 8’ 4” and instead of round crude rails I would like contemporary rails (like one of the new boards in his shop) with a slight “V” in the tail running up about a foot and a half.
Scott Anderson that day in 1988 shaped the first Stoker V Machine.
Several weeks later I went over to visit my friends on Oahu and experienced one of the happiest moments in my surfing life. I was in a surf meet at Queen’s Beach and came in first place in my first heat riding the V machine. When I got out of the water, Hawaiian surf legend Rabbit Kekai came up to me and went “Wow Randy, cool board! Let me check it out.” I handed Rabbit the board and he said it reminded him of a Ben Ipa surf board he had previously owned. Then he showed me his 7’ 2” Ben Ipa twin fin. My board had three fins. I was super honored when he asked if he could use my board in his next heat at the contest. He came in first place in that heat. Rabbit went on winning the heats in his age group not on my board but on the Ben Ipa 7’ 2” board.
During the same trip my young Hawaiian friends, the legendary Town & Country Longboard shaper Tommy Tanaka and world famous long boarder Bonga Perkins, tried my board several times. It was very rewarding watching them and seeing them impressed with the V Machine as they were doing helicopter 360s and other hot dog surfing. I was staying on the North Shore with renowned Hawaiian surfer Glen Kaulukukui. I watched him ride my board at Queen’s Beach on the South Shore. He had always been one of my mentors and favorite Hawaiian surfers so you can imagine how stoked I was when he told me, “Hey Stoker, I think you got something here.”
Back in the Mainland I loaned my board to a number of my California surfing friends. People started ordering them up. By the end of the 80’s my friend from Goleta, CA, Steve Talley, had taken over shaping. He probably shaped about a hundred Stoker V machines over fifteen years. Brad Johnson took over shaping the V Machine in the early 2000s

In 2014 Scott Anderson—the original shaper—took over again and is still shaping my boards. In between, I have had other shapers and it is really good to be back with Scott.

Footnote: Big thanks to Angela De Vargas, Allan Sarlo, Blake Reynolds, Tommy Curren, Tyler Warren, Matt Wessen, Timmy O’Rourke, Ricky Masse, Joel Tudor, Steve Talley, Andrew Detrick, Max Wilshinsky, Jimmy Gamboa, and Dillon Jones for believing in the shape and design of the V Machine and faithfully riding my boards.