I'm a fan of innovation. I'm a fan of invention. I'm a fan of the FCS concept. I like the idea of being able to change fins and travel with my boards packed tightly and efficiently. But since FCS introduced the MR twin fin series I have broken or lost 4 fins from 4 sets. The first 2 were the black carbon fibre fins that they no longer run for obvious reasons. These stiff and brittle fins just snapped straight off at the base in average size surf conditions. The next fin I lost was one of the expensive fibre glass laminate performance glass fins that snapped straight out of their plastic fin box converter that I had set up in an old Bruce Jones twinny. Today I lost one of the glass flex fins. Today's was the most upsetting and at the same time the most forgivable.
The story goes as follows, after watching a low pressure system intensify last night over the North Island of New Zealand (on TV not in person) I packed the car for a super early. I drove an hour south in the pitch darkness and was pretty stoked to be the first one out at a place I call 'Da Nang'.
I got 4 long 5ft lefts before I felt that familiar sensation of one of those piece of shit FCS twin fin fins shaping off at the base while during a bottom turn. This time it cracked the casing and tore out some foam and glass which meant at least it tried to hang on for a while. So I ask-
Dear Mr Fin. C. System,
I am a loyal repeat customer. But I need to know, why can't you make a set of twin fins to support 100kgs thru a basic bottom turn?
Have you never been surfing your self on a twin fin? Do you, like so many city bound plastic pop out surfers only surf 6'1" Chinese made thrusters in mushy surf under 3ft?
How is it that a technology used to stick a skeg to a surfboard in the 60's is more effective and longer lasting than that which you now employ.
On your web site you state that these Glass Flex fins were 'developed with chemical engineers'. Can I assume that these chemical engineers more often work with pheudo ephedrine and other precursor chemicals used in the production of 'Ice'?
You state you tested a number of materials with C. Brewer Co. I refute this and say you were obviously working at A. Brewery Co' when these twin fins were developed.
In future, when working on new products, please consider us, the massive army of wide fin based, 2 finned, 1 tonne surfboard riders who just want to go surfing on a nice 30 year old board.
sincerely,
The Board Collector.
Dear Mr Systems.
Daniell's Diamond
One more from the collection. A very clean condition Peter Daniell's shaped 6'0" diamond tail, channel bottom twin fin from 1982. Daniell's is one of Australia's most experienced and productive shapers who is still pumping out cutting edge shapes today. This board is so nice even I'm stuck for words. A glorious wide tail set up with lots of lift and speed, 2 relatively small fins that make it nice and loose but a little skatey. What a lovely simple spray. This board is just such a neat package.
Mike Klein, I never knew thee.....
but we could have been brothers. I found these shots on Flickr.
I don't know Mike Klein but I surely share his taste in boards.
Mickey Munoz fish tail.
Adam from the US sent me these pics of an amazingly rare 7'1" 1975 Gerry Lopez Lighting Bolt single fin shaped by Mickey Munoz with this incredible fish tail. The stringer is signed Munoz and dated 75 and has a serial number 8932. I wonder what the theory was behind this design. It's unlike the crew a Bolt to push a concept that didn't work. I don't know how this tail was meant to turn as I imagine it would create a lot of drag when you dug the rail in to make a bottom turn and I'm guessing the guys in the shaping bay didn't much like it either.
Nose Channels. Nostrils perhaps...?
Craig from Gisborne, NZ sent me these pics of his late period Energy thruster designed and shaped by Simon Anderson.
It features a marvelous experimental innovation now common on many long boards, the nose channel. I've only seen this once before, on a Glen Winton shaped twin fin, except the Winton board the channel goes all the way from nose to tail. The other unique feature of Craig's board is the crooked tail fin, designed for turning left perhaps? I wonder what Simon called his nose channel invention, maybe the 'Nostril'. I'll be sure to ask him.
Sad old Hot Stuff thruster...
I'm pleased to share with you my 6'1" rounded pin tail Hot Stuff thruster, shaped by NZ legend Al Bryne on the Gold Coast in the early 80's.Its nearly at the end of its life but its one enduring feature is its beautiful deck spray, comon on HS boards of the period. The history of HS shapers is well documented but who skillfully wielded the air brush is unknown to me.
Hot Stuff Surfboards began at Currumbin in the late 70's with Gill Glover in the Shaping Bay and John Allen in the glassing room. My favorite 80's surfers Chappy Jennings and Gary “Kong” Elkerton signed up in ‘81. By ‘82 Kong had joined the rest of the HS crew Rabbit and AB surfing the west peak at Sunset. Derrick Doerner became Hot Stuff's Hawaiian connection, building special rack’s that kept “AB”s classic bottom curves proportionately stable between Hawaiian seasons.
This board is not worth much. Not much to anyone but me.....
Camera phone.
Old boards are nice to ride but when its overhead and glassy sometimes you need something from this century. Its all about having the right tools for the job.
South African Thruster.
A reader from the US sent me these pics a while ago and they sent me into a spin. I could'nt work out this boards heritage. Its definatley from 81 or 82. I could tell it was'nt an Australian Energy thruster, so I assumed it was a US licenced design. But its clearly documented that Simon licenced the design to Nectar from day 1 as he discusses in the video below. There is no Nectar logos so I thought it was a fake till I saw the 'small print' A quality County Rhythm Product. A bit of digging revealed that Country Rhythm is a South African label from Durban.
Geez what a rare board, and so pretty too.
Sheep.
I flew into Bali the other day in time for a nice 6ft swell.
There were 150 people in the water at Uluwatu and 0 people out at 5ft Aiports Rights, one of the islands premier right handers. What has happened to the modern surfers spirit of adventure and discovery?
R.I.P Bon Scott
AC/DC's 1979 album Highway to Hell reached the top twenty in the United States, and the song "Highway to Hell" that Bon Scott, AC/DC's lead signer, cowrote with Malcolm and Angus Young for the album made Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. However, on 19 February 1980, Bon Scott died after a night of partying in London. Pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, choking on his own vomit, but the official cause of death was listed as "acute alcohol poisoning" and "death by misadventure".
So it must have been passionate and heartbroken fan who ordered this fitting tribute to the great man in 1980.
A Hot Stuff 6'0 double flyer, swallow tail single fin with pulled in nose and thin rails. Its shaped by legendary NZ shaper Al Byrne, pioneer of of the channel bottom. Its is amazingly modern looking shape for its age and is one of personal favorites from the collection. It was made on the Gold Coast, obviously with the long sand botton point breaks in mind.
I can see the original owner now on his new board in 1980, tears streaming from his eyes from the recent news of Bon Scotts passing as he pulls into a 6ft sand dredging Kirra pit, black tee shirt on, as he gets barreled off his head. Then as he emerges from the pit with a blast of spit he raises one arm and gives giving the devil's salute. RIP Bon Scott!
Lover's Land Bike Tour
My friend Dustin Humpheries is at it again, this time with 3 custom built Deus Ex Machina motorcycles with boardracks, chasing the best of the recent cyclone swell up and down the east coast of OZ.
Check it out at www.loverslandblog.com
Twin fin shaped by Senator Dr Bob Brown?
Due to a disproportionate amount of passion & enthusiasm verse access to spending capitol the individual worth of pieces in my collection of "innovation period surfboards 78-83" tends to average the garage sale price of about one hundred bucks.
But occasionally I get lucky. I stress, both very occasionally and very lucky.
The case in point is this one beautiful green tint early twin fin by Bob Brown of Forster on the NSW mid North Coast salvaged from the back room of an antique furniture warehouse. Made in 1978 or '79 this board has never been ridden. Never. It is in truly mint condition. And such a beautiful board too. 6'0" Rounded pin tail with an unusual set of hips, it features a lovely two colour hand cut stencil spray of a Blue whale. It looks to me like it was shaped off of a single fin template due to the wide point being so far forward and the narrow rounded pin tail. But the true mystery lies in the shaper. Could this board have been shaped by a young future politician and leader of the Greens party in Australia Doctor Senator Bob Brown before he moved to Tasmania?
Mitch Thorson, WA's favorite son.
Mitch Throson is a Margaret River based Western Australian surfer and big wave legend.
Here is a early 80's Mitch Thorson design Star Surf 6'3" double fly, swallow tail, channel bottom single fin shaped by Alan Bean.
A beast of a board designed to ride waves a lot bigger than you and I would normally try to on a 6'3".
Heavy glass job, thick rails, a pointy pulled in nose, deep deep channels and a scary big single fin.
Above is a shot of Mitch on a similar design from Surfing World in the early 80's and below is a shot of Mitch today and the wave this board was designed to ride, the imaginatively named Margaret River "Main break".
Simple folk Western Australians, simple scary folk.
thevintagesurfboard
My friend Kris from LA has a great vintage board collection.
He has been so kind as start posting some of his prizes online for us at-
http://thevintagesurfboard.wordpress.com/
check it out!
James says 'don't cry'
Following my posting about the 'Bustin Down the Door' movie and the Bronzed Aussies impact on professional surfing James from LA sent me these pics of his recent find. A Jim Banks model single fly, rounded pin single fin with an amazing green pigment gel coat in absolutley mint condition. He says hes not trying to make anyone cry. I say too late James!
I have reposted (without permission) a superb piece on the history of the Bronzed Aussies from www.surfline.com to give you a better appreciation of the importance of his find.
'Bronzed Aussies' by Greg Heller, February 2001- Surfline.
Formed in Australia in 1976, the Bronzed Aussies were surfing's first commercial ambassadors in the predawn era of professionalism. The brainchild of Sydney Daily Mirror journalist Mike Hurst and three of Oz's top pros at the time, Mark Warren, Ian "Kanga" Cairns and pink fetishist Peter Townend (nee "PT"), the group took their name from an old adage for sun-baked beach boys and their inspiration from the '60s cadre of Aussie tennis players -- Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe -- who'd barnstormed that sport, raising both the financial stakes and media awareness tenfold in the process. Specifically, PT cites authors Jane and Burt Boyar's document of that tennis revolution, World Class, as something of a reference manual to the Bronzed ones.
"We felt collectively we would have more success in the mainstream media as a group, and we did." says PT, now publisher of the Surfing Group in San Clemente. "We got a lot of mainstream media attention. The fluctuating fortunes of winning or losing didn't rest on one guy's shoulders. If Mark Warren won, all Bronzed Aussies benefited. If I won, same thing. The idea was to create a team that would always exist," he continues. "It would roll over like the Harlem Globetrotters. There would always be new Bronzed Aussies."
Very much the forerunner of today's surf teams (i.e. Team Quiksilver), the media savvy BAs trademarked their Aussie wave logo and plastered it on everything they rode and wore -- boards, trunks, sleek jumpers, Fred Segal embroidered jackets, etc. In an age when soul was still of the essence, squad members were happily exploring other realms. Both PT and Kanga stunt-surfed for characters in John Milius' 1978 coming of age epic Big Wednesday, and later, proverbial world champ bridesmaid and member Cheyne Horan eventually plugged Sunkist soda in TV spots.
However blasphemous those profitable exploits were to some (laughable really when compared to Slater's "Baywatch" tenure), and the backlash was swift, the BAs backed up their image by repeatedly kicking global ass on the then-fledgling world tour. PT and Cairns were one/two the first season, and the guys in general charged intently on the North Shore.
Townend is typically humble in detailing the BA's water prowess. "We went out every day and surfed as good as anyone. Mate, I wouldn't have been on four covers of Surfer and Surfing if I wasn't backing things up with good surfing. The winter I was declared world champ, if they'd had a Triple Crown, I would have been Triple Crown champion."
However conceptually progressive, the brand proved fiscally nonviable. By late 1980, the guys could no longer afford to sink anymore of their own money into the group, and the team folded. PT admits he "lost a f--king lot of money." Despite initial hopes that generations of Aussies would wear the logo with pride, there would only ever be six Bronzed Aussies: Warren, Cairns, Horan, Jim Banks and a relatively obscure two-time Australian junior champion named Steve Jones. Trivia buffs should note that when first conceptualized, the original crew was to be a quartet, but eventual four-time world champion Mark Richards ("MR") declined the invite.
Among those most notably absent from the contingent was 1978 world champ Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew. Many of today's teams market a specific image -- Volcom is punk rock, O'Neill is soulful, etc. -- but the Bronzed Auss
ies had a target audience and the ideal candidate for achieving their goals wasn't always he who surfed best. Rabbit wasn't deemed BA material because "he didn't fit the mold," but those who did were expected to follow certain guidelines to ensure optimum marketability.
In a 1982 Surfing magazine interview, ironically the publication PT now heads up, Banks described the group as something of a dictatorship, saying, "There was a pressure from them to surf in a certain way, one which they felt would get better competition results. I think [the BAs] slowed down my surfing."
Townend defends any tyrannical element as necessary. "There were definite ground rules," he says. "We were the forerunners of building a brand. Bronzed Aussies was a brand. We created the trademark and the team was the promotional entity for the trademark. It's no different than today. It was an endorsement."
Cheyne Horan's career with the Bronzed Aussies would prove most interesting. Brought on as a teen to replace the departing Warren, the oft-zonked Horan broke his contract in 1979 and, in doing so, altered the course of professional surfing history. Not long after walking away from the BAs (an acrimonious split that nearly ended in a lawsuit), Horan found himself one heat away from the world title. Were he to win his semifinal heat at the 1979 World Cup at Haleiwa, he would be crowned champ. His opponent: one very pissed off Peter Townend, who might otherwise have taken a dive for the team's greater good.
"I kicked his ass," PT says. "Then MR had to beat me in the final and he did. I don't think [Horan] ever got over that." All told, Horan would finish in the runner-up slot four times.
Ultimately, one could argue the Bronzed Aussies were seminal figures in surfing's ascension to mainstream acceptance. Certainly they were prognosticators of the commercial boon of the '80s. Though subsequent, non-BA related tiffs have somewhat fractured the relationship between Townend and Cairns, the guys all remain mostly friends with the original trio reuniting in 1997 at the inaugural ASP Masters event at Tavarua.
PT estimates he lost close to $100,000 in the experiment, but hardly regrets altering the public face of waveriding. "I'm proud of my contributions to pro surfing," he says. "Bronzed Aussies had a huge impact on raising mainstream recognition of surfers as legitimate sportsmen. Look at Tony Hawk. Skateboarding has left surfing behind because of Tony Hawk's ability to step beyond that little insular, clique-ish, community and develop video games and become larger than life."
Obama
Although slightly off subject for this blog the above photos are more than noteworthy.
The second photo shows complete commitment to a hollow sucking wave, the high line he was chosen, head up, eyes focused on the tube ahead.
He is without doubt, the most accomplished surfer the free world has ever been blessed with as leader.
Hallelujah!
All time classic innovation period flouro spray, double fly, swallow tail, scoop deck, turbo fin, thruster with futuristic 'computer' style logos....
I was trained as an Industrial Designer so my interest in vintage surfboards is in their innovative hydrodynamic design features as much as it is in their history or aesthetics. So I get super excited when I find board with more than one "new" innovation on it. When I say "new" I mean new for 1980 and when I say innovation I mean new idea, good or bad.
Strapper is a surfboard brand from the outskirts of Melbourne of which I know little about. I rang them, they still exist, but don't have a website and the guy on the phone couldn't really help me with much about their history. I'd be really interested to learn more cause there was obviously someone there trying some pretty wacky things in the early 80's.
The first thing to note about this board are its Turbo fins. Curved inwards, for what reason I'm unsure. But it is the Scoop deck concept that is definitely a unique innovation. I've surfed this board and it manages to combine all the disadvantages of the fat rails of a thick board with none of the floatation and all the negatives such as drag and slowness of a thin board with out any of the responsiveness.
6'0", pulled in nose, double flyer, swallow tail, turbo fin, scoop deck thruster.
I just love it!!
Bustin' down the door.
I saw Shaun Thompson's movie 'Bustin Down the Door' about Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholemew, MR, The Bronzed Aussie's, Shaun and his cousin Mike in Hawaii during the 'Free Ride' period and it prompted me to write about my 6'0" Hot Stuff single fin, channel bottom, rounded pin tail designed by Rabbit. A classic little number from the middle of the innovation period and one of the stars of the 1982 Stubbies. Although not technically very innovative at all, its classic simplicity made it the ultimate wave riding tool for the barrelling sand bottom points of the Gold Coast for which it was designed. The photo is of team rider 'Kong' at Kirra.
My freind Aaron took me to Sandon Point on a big day recently. I couldnt get hold of my big wave board so I took this along instead hoping the big clear fin would hold in off the bottom. Sure enough I scored a bomb, I got up, got to the bottom and surprised myself how well a 6'0" handled a long fast drawn out bottom turn on a big barrelling wave. Naturally I got smashed in the pit further down the line. What was I thinking, a 6'0" on an 8" day. At least it only cost me $15 from a store called "Garage Sale In A Shop".
Photo of Sandon Pt from www.sandonpointphotos.com
Sweet.
Here is a sweet little 80's rider of mine. It's a 5'10" McGrigor thruster shaped by Barry King in Brookvale and is in amazing condition for its age. I love its bold colours, pulled in nose, wide mid piont, its soft chimed rails, its double flyers and swallow tail. But the highlight for me is its Simon Anderson designed Jet fins. These were popular for about two minutes in 1982 including the time when Simon surfed on them in the finals of the Stubbies at Burleigh Heads and, I'm told, in Florida where pro surfer / shaper Mike Notary rode them and called them 747's. Sky blue beauties with an white adjustable center fin box. This board is worth nothing and is one of my favorites in the collection.
Black Bolt.
I have an obsession with Lightning Bolt surfboards from the 70's and eighties. The rarer the better. This ones got to be one of the rarest. An all black Tom Eberly (Hawaii) shaped single fly swallow tail twin fin. I spoke to Mark Richards (who shaped for Lightning Bolt for a while and who was a long time Team Bolt rider) about this board an he assured me it was made for advertising purposes only. One like the ad above to be precise from the back cover of Surfer from December 1980. The pics were sent to me a while ago by a fella in California (whose email I have since lost) who was interested in selling it.
Damm.
Star Fin Systems- The on going dilemma. Part 2.
Lee wrote-
Hey Damion, I sent you a photo of my tris twin fin shaped by chops a while ago and then i lost one of the g&s star fins, unable to find a replacement i have been making a few sets and thought you might like to see them. See photo attached or you can check them out here http://thefinfactory.blogspot.com/
alway love reading your blog mate keep it up.
Cheers, Lee
Star Fin Systems- The on going dilemma. Part 1.
Matt from Florida has been suffering the same pain as many of you who write to me trying to get hold of the rare vintage Star Fin System Fins.
Matt has taken matters into his own hands and has made replicas using a couple of different methods. You can check out a few of his attempts at-
http://scadinc.blogspot.com/2008/06/so-this-was-our-first-project-ever-and.html
And if you ask him really nicely he might even make you a set. His email is mattlaboone@bellsouth.net
Aloha from Kona!
My friend Tim has sent me pics of his shed and board collection from Hawaii.
He's looking for vintage Bonzers. Keep an eye out for him.
Pigeon-toed Channel Island thruster
Australian made 6'0" Channel Island thruster designed by Al Merrick and shaped by Doug Bell.
I always thought they were a weird looking board with that fat elongated tail and funny single flyer or hip as they call it.
The strangest thing about the board is its fin placement. There is almost no angle on them at all. They stick straight up out of the board and point straight up and down, parallel to the stringer. I haven't ridden it so I'm interested to see how it goes.
There is no question that it worked well for Tom Curren. You can see its a much smoother ride in the video of Curren on his Channel Island Black Beauty vs Occy on his Rusty in the 1986 Rip Curl Bells Beach comp.
To me it looks like Occys board is faster and looser in the conditions.
I wonder who won?
Perhaps I should have asked Occy when I was chatting to him last week.
Stubbies
Tim Orr from Pure Life Surfboards Hawaii sent me these pics of his beautiful Californian Bruce Jones shaped single fly swallow tail twin fin made to promote the 1980 Stubbies Classic. I love the board but I've never understood how Stubbies ever sold in the US. My experience of the product is accurately depicted in the video below, ably narrated by Jermaine from 'Flight of the Conchords'.
Sipping twinfins
The Boardcollector is back in Bali. This time with a 5'9" triple fly swallow tail Christie twin fin from about 1980. A lovely board, shaped on the South coast of NSW around Ulladulla, that's working well for me despite its shorter length because of its nice wide fin base that can take all 105kg's of me thru the turns at Batu Belong and Chungu.
I've been spending some time with twin fin devotee and surf photograher, Dustin Humphries of Sipping Jetstreams fame.
Yeah, Bali's a pretty nice place to be for a guy and 28 year old surfboard.......
Emerald Twinny.
Here is my 6'1" Jim Banks model single fly, swallow tail, channel bottom, Emerald Twin Fin. A sweet ride, with hand shaped fins as thick as your thumb. I don't know if the fin foil was designed that way or some one had a hang over this day and couldn't be bothered sanding them down much past the original thickness of the fin blank.
Some boards get around.
6'2" Simon Anderson hand shaped thruster. Single flyer square tail, with red and blue panels on the deck. Clear bottom. This board was made when Simon had just left the Energy label and he said that only appox 100 were made of these boards with the Simon Anderson logo on the rails with the 3 fin circle logo. The board is well restored and completely water tight. No cracks around fins or delam on deck. I was really looking forward to surfing it. I bought this board at Mick Mock's auction and the money from its sale was donated to the Surf Aid charity. I was being offered for sale along side 2 other beautiful Energy thrusters by Scott Beggs. This board was particularly rare because Simon shaped it. He was'nt doing much shaping during this period as he was competing full time.
Sadly I can't afford to keep it, although I truely wish I could. I wrote on the ebay listing 'If this board was a puppy dog I'd say 'to a good home only'.
At the auction I thought it was an Energy and that maybe it had Simon's name down the rails cause it was one of his competition boards. But my research proved that it was not to be.
Then I saw an article on Coastalwatch.com about a charity that had collected 180 surfboards for Papua New Gineau. The boards are being donated to existing and prospective surfers in villages across PNG and also through the network of clubs of the Surfing Association of PNG. The donation is to encourage the locals into taking up surfing as a recreational activity and to foster a growing surf industry, including the development of a sustainable surf travel sector.
There in the photo I saw a familiar sight- The Simon Anderson I just bought at the Surf Auction.
Tomorrow its off to its new home, somewhere on the Australian East Coast.
Hawaiian Laser Zap
Brandon from Hawaii sent me these pics of his 5'10 triple flyer (triple!!) swallow tail 'Cheyne' model Mc Coy Laser Zap. Its in fantastic condition for a board from 1982. The board was originally designed to be ridden with a Star fin or winged keel designed by Ben Lexan and Cheyne Horan. I discussed the design of the board and the fin with Cheyne earlier this year. He explained to me that the winged tips on fin are designed to compensate for the surface area of the fin that is lost when the board is tipped on its side during a turn. Which makes complete sense, as this would give a lot of additional forward drive . The wide tail area of the board and 'no nose' design is meant to skim across the water like, and I quote Cheyne here, "when you squeeze a watermelon seed between your fingers", which is completeley mad makes no sense at all. I love the design of these Geoff McCoy shaped boards and have two of my own but I find them completely impossible to ride. But without Cheyne's , Geoff's and Ben's commitment to experimentation and innovation we wouldn't have the boards we have today.
Even the blind squirrel finds a nut now and again....
Jeff from California wrote to me with a story that just has to be shared......
There's still a few treasures to be found now and again. This board was found when I went to look at an old pickup that was being sold for scrap. This board was inside the cab. Left the pickup, bought the board. The pics don't do this board justice
Jeff
Pray for surf.
Mick Mock's Sydney Surf Auction
The 2008 Sydney Surf Auction went off with a bang on Sunday. Appropriately, it was held at the Harbord Diggers club, overlooking the beach where the first surf board was ridden in Australia by legendary Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku. There were 350 items up for auction with the highlight's including a 1976 7' Hot Buttered Single fin single flyer swallow tail with airbrush mural of a breaking wave by Martyn Worthington, 2 x McCoy Laser Zaps and 3 x early 80's Simon Anderson thrusters. It was exciting for me as Mick had included a lot more 70's and 80's boards than in the past. I scored 2 pieces for the collection and a clip across the ear from the wife when I tried to tell her that I only bought one board and she found the reciept for 2 under the seat of the car.
Bruce Jones from LA.
I had to go to LA for work for a few days last year. A week before I was due to go I jumped on ebay USA, searched surfboards, entered the area code where I was staying, 90210, searched surrounding 20 miles, refined the search to items ending the day before my arrival and up popped this little gem.
A 5'10" single fly swallow tail swallow tail shaped by California legend Bruce Jones.
I scored it pretty cheap cause it didn't have any fins.
I took it home and started searching for a set of second hand fins of the right age and style.
First off I used a pair of FCS fin box converter and a set of fibreglass MR twin fins.
Then I found these nice red fins from the late 70's that seemed to fit really well.
I waited till my next trip up the coast, packed it up, put in the new fins and was pretty phyched about getting it wet.
It had travelled halfway round the world and had taken 6 months for me to get it all together.
I waxed it up, paddled out at a nice beach break near Seal Rocks NSW and took off on the first wave the board had surfed in years.
I went well down the line but as I put in my first cut back I heard a terrible noise come from the board.
The inside fin tore completely from the board, fin box and all.
Bummer.
Thanks to Christian Tan for documenting the whole episode.
Nine times world champ is a Beatles fan......
On October 3, 2008, Slater won his ninth ASP world title at the Billabong Pro Mundaka. When the Boardcollector caught up with Kelly he was very polite and complimented me on my John Lennon quote t-shirt 'war is over- if you want it'.
A fine surfer and an informed music historian. He is a great man.
Retro rewind
Marty Hunt wrote to me-
"I am a member of a local malibu club and on the weekend I asked them if they wanted to do a retro division, and I would bring some of my boards down. Attached is a photo of my boards we used (only some of my collection).
They included Mcgrigors, Nirvanas, Jacksons, Carey, Kenn, WB, Emerald, Sky, etc, etc just to name a few.
It was a fun day and good to see the old girls in the water."
Innovation?
This blog is supposed to be about exploring and celebrating the 'innovation' period of surfboard design in the early 80's from an Australian perspective. So in theory this futuristic looking board an 80's Wavelenght Wetsuits ad fits right in.
It features-
2 x built in low powered lights (not water proof)
1 x Minolta 110 camera (splash proof)
1 x Sony Walkman, AM/FM radio casssette player (splash proof)
Silver paint job.
Its a cheap 80's prop but so is Rockatansky's MFP Interceptor, the Ford Falcon from Mad Max.
The 15 year old in me really wishes I owned them both.
Tom Caroll '83
Above is a pretty crappy version of a 6'0" Bryne rounded pin tail channel bottom thruster with adjustable centre fin. Based on (or possibly one of???) Tom Carroll's boards that he competed on from 82 to 85, winning the 82 and 84 world titles. I believe he was he first goofy foot to win a world title (Rolf Aurness 1970??) he worked closely with his shaping partner Phil Bryne, who's boards he still rides to this day.
Maroubra is not the Bronx
With the recent US theatre release of the 'Bra Boys documentary and the planned film version with Mark Whalburg staring as Koby Aberton a number of people have been asking me 'how heavy is the 'bra'?
Here is a recent photo of me on sunny day at Maroubra. Please note- there is no smoke from burning cars, no riot control police, no gangs of tattooed thugs lining up to beat me up for surfing their break. In fact there's not even another surfer in the water.
In my opinion you couldn't find a prettier beach or a more orderly group of surfers anywhere. By orderly I mean they don't tolerate drop in's which makes for a safer and more pleasent surfing experiance for all.
Now Bondi on the other hand with its 10,000 kooks bailing chinese made long boards in the impact zone every time theres a 3ft set, that place is heavy, don't go there....
photo by aquabumps.com
Emerald Bolt
For you enjoyment, I submit this nice 6'1" single fly rounded pin tail twin fin shaped by Steve Griffiths of Emerald surfboards Taren Point (near Cronulla). According to surfsearch Steve left Emerald in 1979 although I would have guessed its age at 80/81.
It has a nice 'Lighting Bolt' inspired spray, pin lines and multi coloured laminated fins.
I love all twin fins but round tails always look a little weird to me, like twin fins can only work on a swallow tail.
I'll take it for a surf and let you know how it goes.
T&C Junkie
Kenny emailed me with some pics of his collection.
I laughed out loud when I opened them up.
He's a complete freak like me with a fantastic selection of boards from a really tight period around 79 to 81.
EXCEPT HE'S WORSE THAN I AM!
He has a Town and Country fetish. So not only is he focused on T2 period boards but he specifically goes for T&Cs.
I cant wait for him to write again cause I think I can see a Buttons Kaluhiokalani model and a Dane Kealoha model.
We will wait and see......
Jealous and Scared- Mystery solved
Mike explains-
I found the bolt in Bali, it was around june 2002 my 2nd trip there of the year when i saw the board standing on 1 of the many boards rental joint racks in kuta. That when i knew i must get this piece of surf history out of the rental mayhem in kuta. I made the rental guys an offer & he accepted it immediately, it was peanuts but guess the guy was happy to get that old yellow single fin that nobody rent out of this bunch & get some 2nd hand thrusters w/ the $$..
It was still in pretty sound condition when i got it, taking into consideration it was used as a rental & under the bali sun 24/7. There was the normal dings on the nose, tails & various areas around the rails but board still felt soild & there no delam of any kind.
I can't find any specs or marking on the board, i measured it around to be 7ft 2' or 7ft 4'. It got a laminated sticker on the top part toward the tail area that said 'Shaped by Tom Eberly' which I googled to be 1 of the lightning bolt shaper in the 70's, there another 'Lightning Bolt Made in HAWAII U.S.A' on the centre back of the board. I dun think it belongs to Gerry Lopez but it probably got left behind for 1 of the kuta locals boys by the visiting Hawaiian Pros surfing Uluwatu & Padangx2 during the late 70's when bali was juz discovered.
Tom Parrish’s backyard.
This photo, taken by Tom Parrish, circa 1977 shows the backyard of his, Tom Parrish’s, house on the north shore of Oahu. Tom used to shape and store many of the world's best professional surfers boards including Rabbit Bartholomew's, Peter Townend's, Shaun and Micheal Tomson's, Mark Richards, Ian Cairns among others.
They are all mind blowing boards but the only one I can recognize is Petey's powder pink pintail.
Jealous and Scared
Mike from Singapore has sent me these photos of his beautiful late 70's Lighting Bolt single fin pin tail. I wonder who shaped it?
Reno Abellira, Brian Hamilton, Dave Ronk, Paul Akiu, Mark Angell, Barry "BK" Kanaiaupuni, Rory Russell, Bill Barnfield, Ed Angulo, Kingsley Kernosk, Wayne Santos, Wayne Boulanger, Tony Anjo, Russell Kim, Bobby Skallak, Art Cheney, Mike Armstrong, Don Koplien, Davey Smith, Harpo, Gerry Lopez , Kent Smith, Don Koplien, Joe Blair, Cino Magallanes, Mike Smith, Tom Parrish, Robbie Burns, Mickey Muñoz, Bill Stonebreaker, Ed Searfoss, Greg Burt, Tom Nellis, Peter Trombly, Gordon Solomon, John Carper, Bobby Owens, Chuck Vinson, Roy Stamm, Cowan Chang, Tom Parrish, Steve Walden, Bill Stonebreaker, Tom Eberly, Randy Rarick, Craig Wilson.....
He tells me he's ridden it in Bali. Geez, you'd need to Ulu to be 10ft to get this girl going. Thinking about it makes me jealous and scared at the same time.
Chop's from the UK
Vikki has sent me these photos of a nice late 70's semi fish twin fin she picked up recently. She tells me it was shaped locally by a guy named Chop's who owns Beachbeat surfboards in the UK.
The fins are the old US Rainbow fin system and sadly won't take a modern fin box fin or the FCS fin box converter. Note how both plastic fins are the same and have a foil on both sides of the fin, rather than being flat on the inside face.
She is worried the fins may fall out. In my experience the only trouble you'll ever have with a fin box of this age is ever getting the fins out at all.
Bluey wrote to me with some more info....
Peter "Chops" Lascelles, originally comes from Caloundra, settled in UK many years ago. He's the younger brother of Dave Lascelles, who set up Cord Surfboards, with McTavish, Platt, and Greenough on the scene also.
Last time I was in his shop (a couple of years ago) he had a couple of boards that Damian Hurst had sprayed (apparently Hurst wife come from St Agnes and surfs). Chops shaped them and then had his glasser finish them. Ones about to come up for auction in Sotherbys, c.£70,000+, reckon it will go for over £100k, don't think it will ever get wet....
Bob Mc Tavish twin fin.
Sadly I knocked the fin out of this beautiful 6'0" x 20" x 2"3/4 single fly swallow tail twin fin shaped by Bob McTavish while surfing Granite Bay in Noosa a little while ago. I lost the original fin and was forced to decide how go about repairing repair it.
My passion is testing different board designs in challenging conditions to see how they really perform when given a chance. So I decided to take the oppotunity to fit fin control plugs instead of replacing the glass on fin so I could take this board away with me on overseas trips in a triple board bag.
I took it to Bali with 2 other boards. As it turned out I rode it the whole time, never even taking the other boards out of the bag.
All the foam in the nose gave it great paddling speed and wave catching ability. The narrow tail really holds in on bigger waves and the large surface area of the fins gave it heaps of speed of the bottom.
I let the locals have a good look at it and they seemed to like the removeable fin too.
Surf-O-Rama
Surf-o-Rama: Treasures of Australian Surfing is new newly published celebration of Australian surfing and beach culture by Murry Walding. The book covers Australian surfers, magazines, books, music and features excellent examples of surf craft and paraphernalia.
In the surfboard history section he lists his Top Twenty essential boards for any collection.
These are not boards your gonna find at a garage sale for $15 so I wouldn't call them all essential, but its a nice list to aspire to owning. My top 5 are highlighted in bold.
1. Solid Timber board.
2. Ply board.
3. 16ft toothpick
4. Hollow Ockanui.
5. Keiran balsa Malibu.
6. Scott Dillion gun.
7. Gordon Woods triple stringer 'Island Special'.
8. Hayden longboard.
9. Keyo longboard.
10. George Rice wafer.
11. Bob McTavish Plastic Machine by Keyo.
12. Wayne Lynch International Involvement by John Arnold.
13. Farrelly pintail.
14. George Greenough spoon.
15. Ted Spencer White Kite by Shane.
16. First generation twin fin by Shane.
17. 1970's round pin single fin by McCoy.
18. Hot Buttered Flyer swallow tail with Worthington spray.
19. Mark Richards twin fin.
20. Simon Anderson Energy three fin thruster.
