Neal Purchase's local knowledge

These days Neal Purchase is as famous for his own shaping as he is for spawning his creative off spring, musician / surfer / shaper Neal Purchase Jr
Neal is still shaping today, but back in the 70's and 80's he was crafting some fine shapes in Sydney at Keyo and carving deep channels on the gold coast with the likes of Steve ‘Zorro’ Goddard at Hot Stuff. Later he moved to Local Knowledge before doing his own label.
It was while he was at 'LK' that he crafted this little Queensland tube shooter, shaped for the dredging tubes of the Gold Coast's point breaks.

I love the Superbank and while it is beautiful and mesmerizing to look at, the superbank hates me. I've broken my best boards there, been swept off the jump off rock (cutting me knee and knocking my fins out) and been dropped in on by Tom Carroll ( among many other nameless Gold Coast tradesmen/ local surf stars).
But all is forgiven, even the 1000+ crowd, when you consider the goldy inspired the simple yet beautiful lines in this 6'5" single fly channel bottom rounded pin.

Deus Surf Swap 4- Sydney

THE Martin Worthington will be there doing some sprays.

Tony AIRSPEED will be pinstripping on the day so people can bring along something to be done.

Hand shaping of timber Alia boards by Teal.

Display and demo of GROWN timber handcrafted boards.

And the usual mix of vintage surf boards, print, art and bric-a-brac from Jeff and others.

Stefan's VINTAGE WALL OF JOY with only pre 1990's boards, you can put your boards on consignment for the day.

The famous Deus food emporium, lucky door prizes to be won etc.

Gates open 10AM

For all enquires, bookings call Keith +61 417 217 530

World's most famous obscure surfboards 4- Square tail single fin with tiger spray Part 2

Ben wrote-
Mate
Thought you would be interested in this board. I was told that 2 were made for the movie and this is the other 1. Not sure!!! Kid have been using it as a sandboard!!!! Found it at the dump!!!!
It is a Gordon and Smith shaped by Tony Bishop with artwork by Jim Pav???ington maybe?
(Possibly Jim Parkinson from Jackson, another Cronulla based board company)

Fish Fry Night @ The Gold Coast Surf Museum

World's most famous obscure surfboards 4- Square tail single fin with tiger spray

This is the forth in a series of postings where I try to determine the worlds most famous and culturally valuable surfboards, where they are now, examine their history and celebrate their obscurity.
The definition is simple, the surfboard the most people have seen and are aware of.

The next board I'd like to submit for your consideration (again) is the square tail single fin from Puberty Blues. 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.

We need to find out.
a) How many people know of this board?
b) Who shaped it.
c) Where is it now? I think Keith already knows the answer to this one!

World's most famous obscure surfboards 3- Blue swallow tail single fin from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters

This is the third in a series of postings where I try to determine the worlds most famous and culturally valuable surfboards, where they are now, examine their history and celebrate their obscurity.
The definition is simple, the surfboard the most people have seen and are aware of.
The next board I'd like to submit for your consideration is the blue swallow tail single fin from the opening credits to Sid and Marty Crofts saturday morning show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. It looks like a Bing or Hansen.

We need to find out.
a) How many people know of this board?
b) Who shaped it.
c) Where is it now?



Those kids are dressed like surf hipsters from 2011 with their ringer tees, van's surfsiders and cut off shorts.

World's most famous surfboards 2- Blue deck yellow rails single fin from Brady Bunch Curse of the Tiki episode 4.

This is the second in a series of postings where I try to determine the worlds most famous and culturally valuable surfboards, where they are now, examine their history and celebrate their obscurity.
The definition is simple, the surfboard the most people have seen and are aware of.

The second board I'd like to submit for your consideration is the blue deck, yellow rails single fin, brand unknown, shaper unknown, that Greg Brady surfed at Ala Moana bowl in the 4th episode of Brady Bunch in Hawaii series. Greg Brady grew up in LA and was a competant surfer in his own right. What's interesting is not so much that he did his own surfing on the show but that he decided to do his own stunt and dive face first onto a dry piece of reef. Check it out here

We need to determine is.
a) How many people know of this board?
b) Who shaped it?
c) Where is it now?





the problem for poor old Greg is he hit the reef at Ala Moana and the family swam out at Waikiki to rescue him...........

World's most famous obscure surfboards 1- Blue round tail single fin from Mad Max 1

This is the first in a series of postings where I try to determine the worlds most famous and culturally valuable surfboards, where they are now, examine their history and celebrate their obscurity.
The definition is simple, the surfboard the most people have seen and are aware of.
The first board I'd like to submit for your consideration is the blue round tail single fin, brand unknown, shaper unknown, that was strapped to the roof of Mel Gibson's Holden HJ Sandman panel van from Mad Max 1.

We need to determine is.
a) How many people know of this board?
b) Who shaped it.
c) Where is it now?





That there is Cundalini... and Cundalini wants his hand back!

You cant judge a book by its cover

While I was at Sacred Craft I was lucky enough to get up close and personal with one of the most important surfboards of the innovation period. In fact its probably one of the most important surfboards of the modern era.


It is one of the first three fin thrusters (3 fins of equal size) Simon Anderson ever shaped and it is the board he rode at 15 foot Bells, the board that grabbed the surfing worlds attention.


Its all here, Simon's trademark double hips, big fat tail and hand drawn 3 fin thruster logo


It could be argued that this is the board that signalled the end of the innovation period of surfboard design as eventually every kook and pro would end up on this set up, virtually unchanged, for the next twenty five years. Actually it is the pinicle, the high point of the period, the most sucessful of all the innovations, as shapers contiued to experiment with radical fin placement, tail shapes and outlines for another 5 years before settleing on the thruster.


Here's Simon riding this very surfboard at Bells beach in 1981 and on into the history books, changing the course of surfboard design forever along the way.


Strangely the board drew little attention due to its 'original' condition, proving that you cant judge a book by its cover.


Yes, my shoulder operation is feeling much better thank you Simon.



I have attempted to replicate Simon's famous board by removing two of the fins and severely beating the nose and tail of this early 80's Energy thruster.



The truth is it has become a lot lot harder to find good quality examples of boards from the 80's at a fair price. The good news is they are being found, collected, looked after and appreciated by a growing number of collectors. The bad news is the prices are increasing but my budget has remained the same.

Jet

I'm guessing Tony Cerff has shaped more twin fins than anyone else on the planet. According to my records he did time on the planner through the 80's at Mad Dog, JET, Local Motion and Town & Country (Australia). At Mad Dog he shaped many, many MR brand twinnys. This lovely little 6'0", channel bottom, single fly swallow tail JET by Tony came out of the same factory at Byron Bay.
I like its narrow tail and high wide point but its boxy rails and and little if any rocker make it tricky to ride.

Tom and Rob spotted on Melrose

Original Tom Curren and Rob Machado pipe boards spotted in the rafers on Melrose ave not far From Quentin Tarantino's exploitation cinema.