: Board Collector

Fake Bolt

Mike wrote to me with some questions about this nice 6'1" triple fly rounded pin tail twin fin. Its got a great spray and beautiful 'bolt' style pin lines down the rails. This board would be great to ride. It also has what I believe are counterfeit Lightning Bolt transfers and no shapers signature. Fake Bolts were very common for the time as were fake 'Lopez' signatures on the blank. This board is worth as much as pressing of a short lived 'Lightning Bolt Records' release, that is, a lot to the right person.

Possibly.

Baby Blue Bolt

Michael wrote to me to ask me "Any ideas on who can honestly tell me what this board might be worth. It's an early 80's, 5'-10' single-wing, twin-fin. Ridden for about 4-5 years. Deck has the typical pressure dings from use. Been in a board bag since then.A local guy has been really interested in this board for the past few days and that got me curious."

I am obsessed with Bolt twin fins, with 4 in my collection and I can tell you this is a good one. Baby blue with pink Bolts and designed for two-time pipeline masters champion Rory Russell. Rory was an original Team Bolt member, who excelled on the pro circuit blazing his own trail just behind Gerry Lopez.
That local guy should be interested, this board is worth close to a grand.

The Club of The Waves

My (new) friend Andrew does a great site called The Club of The Waves.
It is an international surfing, surf art, surf photography, surf history & surf culture site. It profiles surf artists & photographers and delivers a growing archive of articles on subjects like the history of surfing, it's pioneers & heroes, surf culture, the history of the surfboard, surf lingo and more. Check it out at www.clubofthewaves.com

One day I might be able to convince him to do a feature on my massive body of work I title "Doodles from the back pages of my Maths Class text book"

Team Simon

A tip for collectors-
Simon only ever used the triple Energy logo for team riders. You couldn't buy or order a board like that, you had to be on the Simon Anderson, Mike Newling, Duke Bombora, Scott Beggs team.
So if you find an old Thruster with the triple logos you've got a piece of history.

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.- Errol Flynn

Fast times at Wave Tools

I love this spread from Surfer September 1982.
On the left, an ad for Lance Colin's Wave Tools with a fine array of 80's shapes and sprays.
On the opposite page, coming to a theatre near you, Jeff Spicoli in the pre-release ad for Fast times at Ridgemont High

With love from Tokyo

Doug, my new friend from Tokyo sent me these pics of his board he's trying to learn more about. I felt I had to post them because I think Doug has a great piece of experimental innovation period design on his hands. I've never seen or touched the board but my guess is that is a Japanese licence of Dick Brewer's brand from Hawaii because the logos are different and I've never heard of the shaper. Its a 5'8" rounded square tail with double hips. But the most interesting feature is the twin stabilizer fins set behind the big clear laminate twin fins. I've never seen this on a 80's twin fin. But it is similar to what Dick and Reno Abalila were doing with bonzer 3 fins a few years earlier. To me it looks very modern, like the new school quads kids are riding today.

Shawn Stussy- Mr Cranium!?

In Australia Shawn Stussy is generally considered to be the man who populated a plague of elastic waisted pants upon a generation. Few here believe he was once a credible shaper in his own right (like Bob Hurley who even shaped for Lighting Bolt). I heard when Shawn finally visited Australia and complained as to what had become of his good name the local licensee in Melbourne simply replied 'well...you never sent the cheques back'.
I have found here a rare portrait of him with one of his boards from an ad from a surf shop that carried his hardware and a shot of a young Californian ripper putting one of his boards to good use. I sure would like that twinny for my collection.

The Thruster (officially) proves itself.

Simon Anderson collecting his 1981 2SM Surfabout Trophy, shaking hands with a defeated Shaun Thompson who has just lost on a twin fin to Simon's new thruster design in 2 foot surf at Narabeen. Simon had just won the Bells Easter Classic a week before in huge waves on the same design, thus cementing its place in surfboard design history as the most functional design ever.

Richard Cram- Team Bolt

I continue to search for the original owners of boards in my collection identifiable by their markings. My research indicated that this Team Bolt twin fin shaped by Bill Barnsfeild in Hawaii could only have belonged to Rory Russell, Mark Richards or Bobby Ownens.

But here we see evidence of a young Richard 'Mr Cutback' Cram riding a very similar board in Jefferies Bay South Africa.

If it were the same board it would have traveled from Hawaii to Bondi on tour to SA and finally back to Bondi where it has now peacefully retired.

Photo by Pat Flanagin

The Riddler

Simon Anderson is a professional surfer and a shaper. He is the man credited with developing the tri-fin surfboard design that he called the 'Thruster'. In 1981 Simon was frustrated with the limitations of the twin-fin design, in particular the way it would slide out, and he, at 6'0" liking to put a lot of power into his turns. Simon's tri-fin design solved this, adding more stability and allowing for greater control in the pocket. The three fins combined the best features of the single and twin-fin designs, and naturally became hugely popular. His tri-fin design was the biggest innovation since fibreglass and polyurethane foam.
This rounded pin tail board is an early examples of his design as evidenced by the rear fin that protrudes past the tail and the angled channels on the bottom. Features that were modified within the first rear of the designs manufacture.
It was made for a pro surfer, sponsored by bite clothing.
? But who was he?
? What happened to bite clothing and their baggy shorts?
? Who shaped this board?
? Why the question marks?
? A a fan of Frank Gorshin's Riddler character from the Batman TV series?
? Or an old school DC comics fan
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Kingsley Looker part 2

Kingsley Looker's legacy to surf history is less about his prowess in the water and more about his trail blazing alternative career path. Kingsley was the original pro-surfer turned professional musician. He paved the way for the likes of Jack Jonhson, Tim Curran, Rob Machado, Neal Purchase Jr and Andrew Kidman.
It is true that his red rose on the grand piano lacks some of the laid back surf cool of Johnson or Kidman. But he was the first to get paid for pulling into barrels at Manly by day and paid again to sing Billy Joel at Steps Cocktail bar, Cremorne by night.
Hey sing me a song your the piano man.......

Kingsley Looker part 1

A couple of years ago I was driving to Maroubra for a surf. As I was going thru Coogee I saw a yellow skip out the front of a building site. Sticking out the top was a broken nose of surfboard. Normally I'd drive by but I could clearly see a 'Platts' logo.
Platts was a small Australian board short company that went under a few years ago. I knew they didn't have much of a team, so if this was a team riders board I knew who it probably belonged to. I pulled it out of the skip and got goosebumps down my arms. I knew this board.
But how could I prove it?
I put it in storage till today. Because recently I found the Sunday Telegraph colour insert, program for the 1986 Surfabout, and there on the cover in all its 80's flouro glory was this board!
I still wasn't sure so I dug out the board, still covered in grime and unrepaired. I thought, Platts logo under the glass, its been snapped and put back together, it definitely something, but theres no shapers signature. Then finally peeled off some of the tail pad near the plug and there it is "GR 5'11" x 19"3/4 KINGSLEY"

This board is not worth $ but it does have a cultural history value, to me.

Vince Klyne beats up Keanu Reeves at the beach!

My favorite 80's surf star, Hawaiian surfer turned Hollywood actor, Vince Klyne AKA "War Child" and Anthony Kiedis from the Chiili Peppers beat up Keanu Reeves in the movie Point Break.

Klyne went on to work as a model for Guess, JimmyZ and GQ magazine and starred in other 80's films of questionable quality such as Cyborg