Twin, tris & quads.

Sky twin fin

Jason wrote:

These are some of the boards in my collection. I have ridden most of these boards. In terms of performance, the Maurice Cole (rip curl), the Stussy and the T & C twin are probably the pick of the bunch. 

Do you think that T & C twin is shaped by Laurie Byrne? 

My understanding is Laurie was shaping Bertlemann's under licence in Australia and the spray is similar to Berts from the period. Furthermore, the Bert in my collection & the T & C have the same fins.

Maurice Cole shaped Rip Curl

San Jaun thruster

Aloha quad.

Town and Country twin fin

Larry Bertleman twin fin

Ben Aipa twin fin

Shawn Stussy shaped thruster

Town & Country thruster

Mystery quad with Sunbreaker decal under glass.
Denis might be able to help us out.
Was this board made at the Energy factory?

Denis say:-

I don't think this board came out of the Energy factory as all Sun Breaker boards came out of Pacific Dreams. They were shaped by Roy Lee and Sam Egan. 
Maui and Sons sticker is interesting as Sam and Marg Egan where Oz agents for Maui around this time (Luke Egan was one of their sponsored riders )so maybe a friend of Sams owned the board as I dont recall ever ordering a quad. I am pretty sure guys who owned Sun Breaker in USA never made boards so I can at least assume it is Australian and maybe a custom .
Hope you and your family are well
Dennis

30 years of the Thruster by Mat Warshaw

Thruster. Thruster. Yes. Perfect! Thirty years later, ! still get a kick out of the word. Has there ever been a better name for a surfboard design? Miles ahead of "quad" or "channel bottom" or anything else merely descriptive.

None of that grim tight-mouthed machismo, like "gun." All the schoolboy sexual twang of the longboard-era Penetrator-except the Penetrator tag was a marketing ploy, nothing more, while the Thruster was so named, at least in part, because that's how the damn thing actually rode. Piloted correctly, this weird-looking three-finned craft, introduced in 1980, put more speed under your feet coming out of a turn than it had going in.

Thruster inventor Simon Anderson of Narrabeen, a Rushmore-worthy power-surfer, a homebody working class beer-stained bloke among blokes, takes pleasure these days in describing the short but bumpy road traveled before his design gained mass acceptance. The heckling from World Tour peers when he showed up on the beach with a prototype. A trade show where he sat moldering in a convention hall booth for two days and wrote orders for a grand total of three boards. A firstround loss at the Stubbies contest, after he'd vowed to

win a big event in order to prove the Thruster's merits to a skeptical-dismissive, even-market. Anderson, normally the embodiment of calm, was nonplussed. "First wave I ever rode on a Thruster, the f-kin' th ing was going ballistic," he later recalled. "But it was a hard sell anyway. Good surfers would sit in the water and look at me funny. Yeah, it rocked me a bit."

Anderson needn't have worried. Even if he hadn't burned rubber over the competition in thundering 12-foot surf at Bells two weeks after the Stubbies, even if he didn't follow up a few months later with a big-swinging-dick Pipe Masters win, even jf Surfing mag hadn't named him 1981's Surfer of the Year-hell, even if he'd called his new design the Flying Bag of Shit instead of the Thruster-three-fin boards were going to rule the sport.

And rule the sport forever, apparently. Drive, speed, all -wave versatility, short-radius turning when needed- Anderson's brainchild had it all. It still does. Sure the tri-fin has been refined and improved over the past three decades. But look at how much it hasn't changed. Thirty years! You know what dudes were riding 30 years before the Thruster was invented? Doors! Coffin lids! Tree branches!

I for one don't much care that Anderson didn't patent that·tri-fin design when he had the chance, and thus lost millions in licensing fees, or whatever. Better for the sport (if not Anderson) that he remain board making's great foam-covered proletariat hero. Somebody once had the noble but ridiculous idea that we should all mail Anderson a nickel, or a dollar, or something, for every three-finned board we buy. How about instead, for this pearl anniversary of the Thruster, we all just raise a glass in salute of the greatest board design to ever roll down the pike.

My 6'0" single hip, rounded pin tail, channel bottom, Energy thruster with the short lived jet fins.

Not all of Big Simon's ideas are good ones.

Mission Statement

Its been 5 years this month since we started this blog so I thought it was time, for your sake and mine, that I define exactly what it is that we are trying to do here.

WHAT:

The chosen subject of this blog is Innovation period of surfboard design that we define as 1975 to 1985. The aim to to explore, re-discover and learn about the surfboard designs, the shapers, their theriories of how and why their surfboards work or don't work. At the same time learn more about the surfers who rode them at the time. We do this by finding, restoring and test riding, measuring and photographing surfboards from this period for the purpose of sharing the findings. The ultmate aim, is to uncover and highlight a design feature or surfboard shape that was over looked by history and bring it to light so as it my be re-discovered and apreciated today and ultimatley give credit where credit is due to the original designer shaper.

WHY 75 to 85?:

After the excitement of the initial short board revolution 1968 thru '72 surfboard design went through a relativley conservative phase. The innovation period, or T2 the second transition period, saw an explosion of new designs ideas and concepts. These new found ideas were fueled by what was happening else where in pop culture in the late 70's and early 80's, music, art and fashion. Some of these new surfboard designs exploded onto the sence, were imediatlley embraced and thrived due to a combination of factors both political, fashionable and functional, others due to poor timing and the zeigeist of the time, withered and died on the vine. After about 1983 surfboard design went into another, longer, more conservative phase, as the no nose template and three fin thruster design took hold.

WHO:

This is not meant to be a vanity project, its about sharing. Its not about me and my collection or, god forbid, my surfing. To share my stories I've got to put myself out there. It is the journey of discovery through a certain chapter of surfboard design history seen through the eyes of one passionate and enthusiastic industrial designer and dedicated but average surfer. I want to share my impressions of how a design does or dosent work by taking it for a surf and writing about it. If I can illustrate my test rides with photos I will. But remember we are looking at and judging the board not the surfer.

HOW:

I try to find a surfboard design to feature that I know nothing about. I use that as a starting point for the mission. By definition then, I often know nothing about a particular board when I first feature it. Thats the point, its a journey of discovery. Often the best insights come from readers feedback, comments and contributions.

I am constantly on the look out for old boards. I find boards in yard sales, thrift stores, hard rubish throw outs, swap meets, the back room of surf shops, on gumtree, craigslist and eBay.

Many of my best finds have come through tips from readers of this blog and for that I'm deeply grateful.

MAGAZINES:

Once I find a board I know little about I start digging through my collection of vintage surfing magazines. These include Surfer (US), Surfing (US), Tracks (AU) Surfing World (AU), Waves (AU), Australian Surfing life (AU) Breakout (US) amoung others from 1975 to 1985. I'll scan or photograph relevant ads, photos and editorials. I only ever use the internet as a last resort.

PHOTOS:

My aim is to use as many original photos as possible. This includes scans I do from my vintage surfing magazines. This means most of my photos are of questionable quality. My aim is to plunder and recycle from the internet as little as possible. Where I use someone elses image I try to give credit.

Since my recent aquisition of a waterproof camera I will endevor to do as many on board, in action water photos as I can.

DESCRIPTIONS:

My mission is to try to give as accurate  measurements and descriptions of the design features of the surfboards as possible. As possible means, when I find enough time. To date I have not yet once achevied this aim. So I refer to my freinds at surfresearch.com.au to show an example how it shoud be done.

DESCRIPTION: 1978  Mark Richards Twin fin II   5 ft 10"

MANUFACTURER: Maddog Surfboards, Byron Bay.

SHAPER:  Bob Margetts

DESIGN: Mark Richards' Twin fin 2

DESIGNER: Mark Richards

CONSTRUCTION: Foam blank, 1/8" redwood stringer, spray, r/h plug

Length (bottom) : 5' 11"

Length (top) : 5' 10''

Width at wide point : 19 3/4"

Nose (width 12" from nose) : 14 1/4"

Tail (width 12" from tail) : 14 1/2"

Thickness : 2 1/2"

Pod :  5 3/4" inches

Nose Lift : inches

Tail Lift : inches

Weight : kilos

Swallow: 1 1/2" deep

Flyer: 7"

FEATURES

Nose: Pin

Tail:  swallow tail, flyer

Deck:   flat

Bottom:  slight Vee in nose, deeper at fins, channel from fin base to rail

Rails: Tucked

Rocker: Even

FINS: 6" x 5" base x 7'' span @ 10 1/2''   Brewer, inside flat/outside foiled, toed and tipped/cambered. 

Its true, to date I have not completely fulfiled the aims set out above.

But I hope we can all enjoy the next 5 years of trying.

South Shore twin fin

I'm pleased to share with you my 6'0" single fly, swallow tail South Shore twin fin. Shaped in 1980 in Costa Mesa by Jim Fuller who originally started shaping with Herbie Fletcher. An interesting board, unlike anything I've ridden before primarily due to double concave to deep Vee that extends almost the entire length of the board. Clearly designed for summer time fun it uses all the tricks of the trade to make the most of mushy waves. Its close to 3" thick, very boxy with the flattest deck that I've ever seen on a contemporary short board. The deep long convaves were designed to capture and harness all the power of a small wave.  It also features short, keel shape fibreglass laminate fins.  I find shorter fins to be very interesting. They go fine down the line and are quick to pick up speed and drive but spin out really easy in the turns once the board gets going. The board felt so wide and boxy and the fins so short, I felt like I was Ryan Birch riding a finless square piece of polystyrene foam. Its probably the most fun board I've ridden in 1'-2' waves.

Ryan Birch

shaped by Jim Fuller, glassed at South Shore glassing.

examples of South Shore twin fins from the same period

at one stage the board was sprayed with flouro pink slashes with the black paint splatters but they have faded with time.

short fibreglass fin template

I took it out for a run on a nice 1'-2'ft day

In the sunshine you can really see the deep long concaves,

and the flat deck and boxy rails.

I got a couple of rights

got dropped in on by a donkey on a longboard

here you can see how high out of the water the whole board rides once it gets going

and how much of the rail gets used in a turn

this is the beginning of a cut back, see ya later donkey,

and this is the end.

A pre-Rusty, Rusty twin fin for Rusty.

Jake wrote to say-

Sweet 5'10 Canyon twin shaped by Rusty (Preisendorfer). The checkers are stickers put on by owner who got the board when he was 15.  The guy said he bought it second hand and that supposedly Rusty shaped it for himself. 

The "for T.M." would leave me to believe otherwise.