Where are they now Part 2.

The rivaly between Occy and Tom Curren through the 80's was one of the most exciting the sport has seen. Two differnt personalities, two very different surfing styles. Tom's style was that of a fulid, smooth and graceful natural footer and Occy being a powerful, radical, agressive goofyfoot. So too they rode two very different distinctive boards. Occy's Rustys where flat, thick with hard, sharp, angry rails. Tom's were smooth with a subtle pair of Al's famous hips.

Rangi's broken nose was impressive, but an anonymous Californian collector has written to me with pics of his collection of Occy and Tom's competition boards from the 80's. Wow- thats an important slice of surf history right there!



Occy’s Redemption At The 1986 Op Pro. by Michael Kew for Transworld Surf

Rivalries are one of the most compelling aspects of professional sports. In the 1980s, Australia’s Mark Occhilupo and California’s Tom Curren were surfing’s prime example, drawing huge crowds just to see them duel.
Their early-1986 showdowns were legendary. In March at Burleigh Heads, during the final leg of the 1985–1986 ASP World Tour, they met in the semifinal of the Stubbies Classic, which induced major controversy because one of Occy’s best waves was grossly underscored by a napping judge. That wave would’ve put Occy into the final. But Curren won the heat and the event, and the judge resigned. A month later, on Easter Sunday at cranking Bells Beach, Curren earned his first world title by decisively beating Occy in the semifinal, in one of the greatest heats ever.
“I have to be his [Occy’s] fiercest rival, because we both want to win,” the new world champ told Surfer Magazine. “I respect him, I like him, but he is the enemy. And I don’t think that it’s a negative thing at all.”
Following Bells, Curren won the Marui Japan Open in May, the Gotcha Pro in Hawaii in June, plus the Lacanau Pro in France and the Fosters Surfmasters, both in August. He’d boycotted the two South African contests in July, which meant all four 1986/1987 ASP season events he’d entered, he’d won. After Bells, Occy was seemingly left for dead.
Things changed at the Op Pro in Huntington Beach, a venue known for its Occy-Curren battles. Curren won the event in 1983 and 1984, Occy in 1985. “It was nearly automatic that Curren and Occhilupo would turn in the best performances of the meet,” Matt Warshaw wrote in The Encyclopedia Of Surfing. And 1986 was no exception.
Peter Drouyn, who invented the man-on-man heat format at the 1977 Stubbies Classic, had suggested to Op Pro contest director Ian Cairns the concept of a competitor’s priority in a heat being decided by paddling around a buoy moored in the lineup. It was precisely what Occy needed August 31 during his semifinal with nemesis Curren.
With three minutes to go, the drama grew thick. Both surfers caught waves in a two-wave set, rode them well all the way to shore, and began paddling back out. Their scores were basically equal—the heat could’ve gone either way. And since Occy had caught the first wave, he was about twenty yards ahead of Curren.
Whoever reached the buoy first would win the heat. Somehow Curren made up ground on the way back out, and suddenly the two were paddling furiously side-by-side. Paddling, kicking, and giving it their all, the crowd roared in excitement. It looked like they rounded the buoy at the exact same time, though Occy just barely ahead edged Curren out. With priority, he caught a bomb, advanced to the finals, and won the contest.
For Occy, it was payback, and, as surf writer Derek Hynd said, the paddle battle was “far and away the most exciting 30 seconds of non-waveriding ever lived in the modern game.”



RUSTY PREISENDORFER SIGNED FOR OCCY 6'10 X 18 1/2 X 2 1/2 ROUND TAIL.
This board was recently found stashed underneath a house on the noth shore.
This is the board occy rode at rocky point during the mid 80's.






CHANNEL ISLANDS SHAPED FOR TOM CURREN # 20362 SHAPED BY AL 6'4 X 18 1/4 X 2 1/2

STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OP PRO OR BELLS CIRCA 1986-1988




RUSTY PREISENDORFER FOR MARK OCCHILUPO SIGNED ON STRINGER 6'3 X 19 1/2 X 2 1/2 THRUSTER BOX RAILED SQUASH TAIL.

STRAIGHT FROM THE PRO TOUR CIRCA 1986-1988






In a nice foot note to this posting Tom & Mark have just gone up against each other at the Rip Curl Bells Easter Pro.






photos from Surfer

Where are they now?

I posted a photo from the OP Pro compeditors tent and wondered where those boards are now.



Rangi wrote-
I actually owned one of Occy's board from that period. I only have the top 12 inches now sitting in the shed.
My old man threw the bottom 3/4 out to the dump after it sat in the garage for so long.

i went to school with some kid who owned it and he knew i liked occy so he gave it to me. Liked was probably an understatement, i had two walls covered in surf mag cutouts of him surfing.
The board was beaten up and yellow. I spent months fixing it up and replacing a fin. In the end it even had car bog and car filler in the dings.

The problem was the glass was rather thin from all the sanding and i snapped it one day out at avoca beach while pig dogging in a small tube.
It sat in the corner of the garage in two bits until mum wanted the garage cleaned out.. so off went the board and all my tracks collection. I cried at the loss and even considered going to the local dump looking for it but dad said it would be buried by then. I imagine it would be a collectors item if i still had it.

It was shaped by Rusty Presiendorfer ( im sure it had his last name on the board, written for occy and was labelled as number 4. I take it that meant occys fourth model Rusty.
It had red fins. i think it had two and i had to replace one of the side ones. I am not exactly sure which period or contests he used this board but i do recall seeing some footage of occy out at some remote left hand Hawaiian reef break riding something that may have been it. The board had a red rusty logo and no other stickers when i got it.

I took an outline of the tail once and tried to copy the shape but it wasnt the same and never rode as good. Funny now, i see they do a reissue.
This thing was thick and wide.
i think well over 19 inches.
Square rails. super square edges at the bottom tail which sent off a nice spray on turns. It would pop out of he wave if you put a very hard turn in.
i think i saw that happen to occy too on the video. i think it actually had some vee running out from the back fin but was probably flat in front of the fins.

I recall in a magazine back from the day that the boards where "flat fat and forgiving".
I still have the nose and i will take a pic and send it to you if you like.
obviously its not for sale or anything but id like you to know about it, seeing as you asked what happened to these boards!

cheers

Rangi.



One thing though. i think it said not "for occy" but mark occhilupo.
the preseindorfer name is on the rice paper logo so maybe was not on the stringer/fin area.
i looked at some of the pictures on the net for the 84 copies and they dont have the same blockyness in the rails.
i guess he pulled them down a bit.

I worked out that i got this board in 1991. i dont know how long the guy that gave it to me had it or how he got it but he was from umina beach. he was from a broken home and i let him stay at my place, he saw my occy wall photo collage and said he had one of his boards..its beaten up, you can have it.
I couldnt believe he was telling the truth till i read the pencil.
You can see the red resin chop strand you buy for repairing car panels and the white paint that i ended up painting it all over.
more mojo than a beat up guitar.

On another note there was an Al Merrick Curren epoxy model that came out a few years after i got this board.
my mate got one that was gold spray like a gibson gold top.
i think by the shape of it that it was not moulded off one of the mid 80s boards though but probably a current 90s board.
i think they had a few pro model boards running at the time with the idea being that you could try one out at the surfshop before you buy.
The problem with those boards though was that they had wooden laminate that once it began splitting it would keep running up the rail.

Thanks for doing the website. I enjoy reading a bit of australian surfing/board history.
cheers,

Rangi

Puberty Blues- Australia's most influential surf movie

Puberty Blues is an Australian movie based on Kathy Lette's novel about growing up the the surf side suburb of Cronulla in the late 70's. The story climaxes when the two heroines overcome their hardships and prejudices and buy their own board and just go surfing. The movie made a huge impact on me as a kid growing up in love with surfing. But it wasn't till I watched Bombora - The Story of Australian Surfing that I realized just how influential the movie really was. A number professional surfers in the documentary site the movie as one of their main inspirations to get involved in surfing. World champ Mark Occhilupo actually scored a extras part in the movie as a 10 year old grom!
The highlight of the movie for me is seeing the board they buy. A square tail single fin with an unbelievable spray of a leaping tiger on the bottom. To me it is one of the most collectible surfboards in Australian surf culture history. I have been doing my research on who shaped it and where they bought it. Apparently there were two surf shops in in Cronulla in 1981 when the film was made. With help from my friend Sam who worked in one of the shops at the time (and rumor has it played the part of the shop assistant who severs the girls the chicko rolls) we have worked out is was a locally made G&S or Emerald and probably came from Steve Core's Surf shop.
This board needs to go to the Museum of Australia and hung on the wall next to Ned Kelly's helmet and Phar Lap's heart.