: Board Collector

Univ in Encinitas, the Ellis Ericson and Alex Knost show comes to town.

About a year ago my good buddy Tim from Univ in Encintas CA gave me a sneak preview of an upcoming Alex Knost show of Ellis Ericson shaped boards

Naturally I was fascinated by the twin fins.

Double fly swallow tail

Alex testing the art works in Hawaii

Alex and Ellis hanging the show.

Geez, I like the look of the swallow twin in the middle. It sure looks like fun.

Hmmm, this one not so much.

Thanks Tim!!

Swellnet's Board Bazaar

Keep an eye on Stu Nettle's Board Bazaar on Swellnet

In the 70's the arrangements that US and Hawaiian surfers and board makers had with Australian licensees, associates and surfboard making friends was loose to say the least. For example, I'm unclear of the relationship between the Western Australian Town and Country label and T&C Pearl City Hawaii, those Star Bolt boards look dodgy and I doubt the many professional and back yard board makers in the 70's who sprayed a Lightning Bolt on their boards ever sent a royalty cheque to Jack Shipley.

Never the less there were many legitimate arrangements between traveling pros and Australian board builders. Its certainly been established that Gerry Lopez shaped a hand full of boards in between surf trips and comps at the Bennett factory in Brookvale.

So I had no reason to think that Larry Bertlemann did not have a deal with Bob Cooper on the north coast to do an officially licensed version of his design, in fact there no reason to think that Larry himself didn't stop off and shape a hand full of boards for a little cash, food and lodgings.

Upon getting hold of the board I couldn't find any LB markings on the deck. Looking closely I realized the olympic rings had a decidedly 'hand drawn' look to them.

My final assumption is as follows.

That a star struck kid in the late 70's, with a nice old Cooper single fin, in awe of Larry's amazing surfing, replicated his signature board graphics with some tissue paper and some pigment resin.

Either way, from Larry's own hand or from the the hand of a dedicated young fan, a nice board to have and to hold.

Steve Lis fishes and the theory that lightning strikes twice.

Whilst in San Diego I had the opportunity to visit with a lucky and sharp eyed collector who found not one, not two but three original 70's Steve Lis shaped twin fin fishes at local swap meets and flea markets.

Steve Lis is the godfather of the modern twin fin and he has a god like status in South San Diego County and the reefs of La Jolla, but outside of Southern California his massive influence on modern surf craft is rarely noted.

Steve was a kneeboarder and originally developed the split tail to give himself somewhere to put his rubber training wheels, I mean flippers.

Aiming to achieve two pin tails on one board what he ended up creating was a wide planing area tail that is loose responsive and incredibly fun to surf.

"Just close your eyes and feel those rails"

You can clearly see his kneeboard heritage in his outlines.

The keel fin, a development he shared with Skip Frye with whom he surfed and shaped, remains one of the defining aspects of californian twin fins. Right up to and through Mark Richards four world titles, californian shapers remained close to the keel fin shape. Many Cali twins from the 80's in my own collection share this stubby shape. Peter Schroff, South Shore, Lance Collins / Wave Tools, Gary Linden, Bruce Jones to Larry Bertleman.

It was a Steve Lis twin fin fish that Reno Abilero was riding at Narabeen that so impressed Mark Richards and set him on the path to developing his own version and using it to take over the world.

This guy had such sharp eyes he even managed to pick up two matching Stussy twin fins, from different places at different times.

3 x Steve Lis's and 2 x Shawn Stussy's, now what are the chances......

Fin control system

It was a rainy day, the house was a mess.

Every where I looked there was stuff lying around and behind the stuff there seemed to always be a fin.

I decided I needed to take control.

I decided I needed to build my own fin - control - system.

In the living room...

in the shed.....

in the kitchen...

on the table...

on the window sill...

in the living room...

under the stairs...

in the office...

even in the steamy bathroom...

My problem is finding them when I need them.

Well, really my problem is not having enough time to go surfing and always being in a rush.

Seeing that most of my fin sets are made up of mis matched sets, my problem is finding a set that matches.

So I'm building 4 or 5 shelves so I can spread them out and match them up quickly and easily.

My own version of an FCS.

Skip Frye collector / rider / obsessive.

I was visiting my friend in San Clemente when our talk turned to Skip Frye, so he broke out his early 70's Skip Frye shaped G&S single fin.

Skip Holds a revered, almost saintly spot in Californian surf culture. The stereotypical Socal blond headed ray ban wearing life long dedicated surfer of the 60's, the shy and retiring Skip went on to develop his own unique and highly influential style of surfing that won him some big name contests and carved a place for him in the American surfing psyche. His unique style was also reflected in his board shaping and he went his own way to create, thin, flat shapes designed to capture as much 'trim' as possible.

Geoff let me handle his lovely Skip Frye shaped G and S single fin that he has recently signed by Terry Martin. Skip started his shaping career at G and S where he spent the 60's and part of the 70's before going out on his own.