: Board Collector

Ghetto Juice

From Ghetto Juice-

Kurt Steinmetz has a ton of old surfboards and entertains us yet again with another doozy from his collection.... An old Hurley board that he picked up back in the day.... Since we're down with Bob Hurley, we asked Bob to tell us all he could remember about this board and here’s what he said.... “Yeah, ”said Bob. “I think that is a team hoard.. ..either Pugsley, Thom MC Elroy or Ron Quigley's. Looks like a 5.8 x 2 3/8 double bump swallow...single concave with roll in the nose. Boards

were evolving quickly at the time.. .I was working hard to keep pace with how fast surfing was progressing. This one was influenced heavily by Greg Pautsch. His McCoy boards were really advanced and we were just transitioning to thrusters from twins. The idea of a no nose and surfing in the pocket was being pioneered by Cheyne Horan, Geoff McCoy and Greg. It was airbrushed by John Vartanian and Glassed by Greg Martz at Watermans super light and really flexible... great little boards for barrels...especially 54th street. ”

Bob Hurley Hot Stuff Twin Fin. Part 2

Randy Rarrick from Hawaii Surfing Promotions has sent us pics of Rabbit Bratholemew's board that Bob Hurley shaped for him, that Rabbit rode in the 1982 OP Pro in California.

Randy fully restored the board for Bob who presented it to Rabbit at this year's US Open.
So the board went full circle from Bob to Rabbit, back to Bob and finally, back to Rabbit!

This shows you why it's worth restoring important iconic boards!

Randy writes" The thing that makes my restorations different, is I was there, made and worked on the boards and have seen nearly 50 years of history unfold before me. So, my motivation is not to just try fix something to make a buck, but rather, preserve what history has presented us. Most times, I'm lucky if I break even on the work I do on these.

I try to make them as close to original as possible. Or, if I have to modify the color scheme, or do something to save them, I usually try to be "era correct" in the color scheme, or sticker placement and try not to deviate too much from the original. Case in point, was I only had one "bred to shred" laminate that I'd gotten from Allan Byrne, so I used that in place of the "Hot Stuff" laminate that was originally on Rab's board. But, it was his logo, so it was OK. So, the goal is try to present them in as original condition as possible and/or present them in such a way that would of been acceptable when made new".

Bob Hurley for Rabbit USA 1982

Rabbit in California 1982

Bob and Rabbit with Hurley replica of the actual board above.

Hot Stuff twin fin

Bob Hurley's Rabbit twin fin reminded me of this little number Keith sent to me a while ago.

A mint condition Australian made Al Byrne shaped Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew model Hot Stuff twin fin.

Sometimes Keith can be so cruel to me.

Bob Hurley twin fin

In the early 80's Bob Hurley was pushing the envelope of the then current design thinking when he started working on a faster, more radical turning short board design to suit his local Californian conditions.

Bob Hurley unloading blanks in 1982.

He feels he achieved his aim when he began working in collaboration with Rabbit Bartholomew. The result was a Hot Stuff twin fin now known as the Rab 111.

Bob says that this was his finest work and it is the design he is best known for as a shaper.

Bob with the original Hot Stuff twin fin

More recently while watching Kelly Slater and Dane Reynolds competing at the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles it dawned on him that what these guys were trying to do in the water was being limited by their contemporary equipment and that he himself had faced this problem before in the same location 3 decades earlier.

So he dusted off the Rab 111 and shaped a couple of modern copies.

Single fly swallow tail, gentle rocker, beaked nose, just like his early 80's twin fins.

He has since teamed up with Lee Stacey and put the design into production.

Kelly at Trestles. Obviously being limited by his equipment.

Dan Reynolds. Equally hopeless, according to Bob.

I have been lucky enough to find an original 1983 Bob Hurley shaped twin fin similar to the original Rab 111 design. 6'3", single fly swallow tail twin fin.

It was a bit rough when I found it but its patched up OK and is now ready to be put to the test.

What ever is old seems to be new again.

From Surfline

Bob Hurley for Mickey. USA. 1983
I'm told Bob says Mickey is Mickey Nielson, star of the movie North Shore and 80's Team Quiksilver rider.

Bob wrote- Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Bob and Wayne at this years Hurley Pro with a modern replica of the Rabbit Hot Stuff twin

same proportions, same set up.

Wish list. Part 3. Houston we have a problem.

3 twin fin surfboards for sale on the internet.

Eberly and Schroff.

Single fly swallow and rounded square.

For sale in Houston, therein lies the problem.

The good news is these boards are still out there and available.

China = China plate. Plate = Mate.

Put it on a rail mate!

Nectar twin fin. Part 2

This Saturday I saw this nice second hand 2012 model Nectar double fly swallow tail that has almost exactly the same tail set up as my old Nectar twin fin.

Which to me emphasizes the point of this writing this blog.

That point is to explore and evaluate designs from the past to see if and how they are relevant to the boards we ride today.

Although the tail is almost the same its very interesting to note how the wide point has dropped down the board significantly.