The white whale!

I had speculated about its existance, but I never knew if it was real until now.
I've certainly never seen pictures of one.

Here we have proof, the missing link, the white whale, one of the first Energy thrusters ever made, the innovation period design whose combination of elements went on to change surfboard design like no other, shaped by Simon, airbrushed by Simon's brother, with the hand cut stencil '3 fin thruster' logo, WITH the 3 logo triangle of decals under the glass reserved only for Energy team riders, Simon, Mike and Scott.

15 years ago I heard of a similar early model selling in Japan for excess of $10,000. 

Today it sold on eBay for the mind blowing sum of AU$49.

Times must be tough out there.

Simon in Hawaii, photo Surfing 1981

Simon in Hawaii, photo Surfing 1981

Here are 2 fine examples from the Hawaiian vintage surf auction. Nice but not nearly as rare.

Nude surfing

Surfing in bikini bottoms, good.

Surfing in bikini bottoms, bad.

Energy thruster fan.

Adam wrote- 

"Just wanted to share some pic's of my Simon Anderson thrusters. 

I was always of the opinion that multi logos was a team board ? 

I have had the sticker since I visited Simon's shop in Waterloo Street Narrabeen in the 80's, note the 7 digit phone number. 

I remember mum driving me down to check the shop in her Valiant Safari Wagon."

Adam could be right. I have only ever seen the triple logo on boards being ridden by Simon Anderson, Scott Beggs and Mike Newling. Then again, the glasser could have just gone logo crazy that day. 

Without any way to contact Simon, Scott or Mike I guess we will never know.

East Coast 80's fan.

Nick wrote to say- 

 I live in Lantana, Florida and have enjoyed collecting and restoring Surfboards for years. Here's my current collection but its always expanding.

After I got out of the Navy in 2006, I decided to move to South Florida and become an Ocean Lifeguard at Lake Worth Beach, Florida. About 2 years ago I found this old beat up vintage board, threw some wax on it and had a blast. 

Ever since then I've been riding, collecting and restoring Vintage Boards. All the boards on my wall are from the 80s Era held up by a bamboo rack that I made and the ones on my ceiling are from the 70s era. 

The giant knee board with the skull and cross bones is the original Lake Worth Lifeguard Paddle/Knee board from the 70s that my girlfriend found in the trash. I cleaned it up with sanding and polishing compounds. None of my boards have been re-tinted, there all original. I don't think it holds much of a dollar value but to me that board is priceless because of all the lives saved and history behind It. 

I found most of my boards online, by various adds I've posted around town and seeing people surf them and cutting them deals for them. 

I recently met a Guy standing in line at Island Watersports Surfshop that overheard me talking about vintage boards and invited me to start working at his shop and he's been teaching me all about restoring surfboards. 

I'm not collecting boards to sell and make money, my boards aren't for sale. One day they will be passed down to my child. 

My favorite is that 1980 Blue Fox Wave Weapon because of its local nastolgia and that it represents a time when they were beginning to make high performance boards known as Wave Weapons by Greg Loehr working under John Parton who is the creator of Fox Surfboards. 

I collect these boards strictly because I love the sport and all the history surfing has. All of my boards have been wet sanded from 500 all the way up to 2000 grit sand paper then polished with multiple compounds to remove scratch lines and give them their brilliant shine. I have my sights set on 6 more boards that are around town. There is a:1980 Town n Country Twin Fin, 1970 Nomad Single Fin, 1970 Hawaii Surfboards Twin Fin, 1970 Wave Tools Single Fin and a 1980 Local Motion Twin Fin. 

I'll prob never stop collecting but I can only fit around 15 more boards in my boardroom so I'm becoming very picky on what I get.

Neal + Simon + Glen.

I wrote recently about the mystery surrounding this South African Country Rhythm thruster. It was shaped by Australian shaper Neal Purchase at the Country Rhythms factory in South Africa, and has a Simon Anderson and Glen Winton stickers. 

How many authors can one book have? How many shapers can shape one board?

Reece has solved the puzzle with this video of Glen Winton surfing against Italy's only pro surfer, Mark Occhilupo in the 1984 Lacanau Pro. 

Glen riding - Neal shaped - Simon licencenced - Country Rhythms built.

Local Motions.

But­tons Kaluhiokalani is a Hawaiian surfer whose rad­i­cal maneu­vers in the ‘70s were ahead of their time. These inovative high energy move became a major influence modern day surfing. His iconic moves were as recognizable as his Pat Rawson shaped Local Motion boards, bright, short and thick single fins.

My friend has shared some pics with us of his Rawson for Buttons single fin bearing stickers from his short lived sponsorship from a local insurance company. The story goes that Button's and the crew were given free car insurance by UIR in exchange for promoting their logo. The sponsorship lasted for only one season in 1981, which implies Buttons and co's driving was as radical as their surfing.

Derek Ho had the same short lived sponsor. Photo Surfing 1981.

Jeff from San Diego wrote looking for some more info this similar example from the same period that he found recently in a downtown pawn shop.

Buttons wasn't just a radical small wave surfer as proven by this early 80's Pat Rawson shaped gun.

Pete wrote to say - 

"
Please find photos of my Buttons board that was shaped by Phil Myres at Noosa Surf Works when Buttons visited the Sunshine Coast in 2007.


The image is fine airbrushed. Phil Myres produced the Col Smith channel design under the Freeflight label at Balina.  
Phil says "I want the Free Flight label to reflect the work we did in Australia on channels and concaves and our own planshapes and rocker. I really don't want to do the same boards as everyone else, these boards are individual designs that work, not some clone of someone else's board" 
 
It is a classic image of Buttons!"