Yesterday's surf meet exceeded expectations in many ways. The weather was amazing, there was offshore surf down below, sixteen collectors came along to show their treasures, plus others who walked in with a board or two under their arm, many of which hadn't been surfed since the 70s. There was also a great turnout of people visiting the meet, with a good crew of surfers who started in the 60s and 70s, including four British champions no less. Rod Sumpter remarked what a surprisingly good turnout there was, and also how nice it was to be reunited with boards he shaped 45 years ago ! All the boards looked stunning so thanks to the collectors for making the effort.
Chris popped along and set out his bargain surf stall which included an original 60s Bilbo t-shirt
for £5, vintage fins for £2 and the incredible 'drag - chute' for £10. Dan was there with copies of the new Kook newspaper - get em while they're hot, and a few classic cars topped off the vintage vibe. There were loads of great stories about the old days, with promises of photos and info for the blog. As I was packing up an old gentleman wandered up with a photo of himself in 1957 with a hollow board he made, which turned out to be very similar to Alex's coffin board, which was at the meet for the old guy to look at.Another guy brought along a beautiful kevin Cross stinger with 70s wax still on it,which he didn't know what to do with but in the end decided to keep it. The only bad things I came away with were a sunburnt nose and Skelly's greasy fingerprints all over my hot buttered twin fin.
There will hopefully be a piece in Wavelength about the meet, and a short film by Wavedreamer - look out for those. Thanks to Gavin who sorted out the press release - and did a beautiful hand screened version of Nick's poster . Also thanks to Nick for the classic poster ,Sean for spreading the word in Newquay,Si for chauffering my boards and Dave at Lusty Glaze for letting us use the stunning site. I'm looking forward to next year !
The long distance award goes to Henry who left Kent at 3 am, got to Newquay,had a surf, went to the meet, had a surf and went home again !
I think everyone scored good waves after too. I had a lovely one on a Stuart of St Ives 1968 8 footer which I just bought and hadn't been surfed since the mid 90s.
Pete has done a nice review of the meet on the museum's facebook page
here
Every young grom needs a pin up. Before the introduction of the Reef girls in the early 90s, whose faces you never saw, these were the girls that graced the pages of UK surf mags in the early 80s. Big hair, small bikinis - if any - and unattainable - unless you were a pro surfer that is. I'm sure these images were etched on the brains of many an impressionable young (or old) grom.
Here's me in my element at the surf meet surrounded by some favourite boards, photo by Graham Looker. I have learnt a few things about this board since I bought it . Although a Graham Nile it was probably shaped by Aussie John Hall, who also did a lot of shaping at Tiki in Devon. This particular board was owned by Steve Daniel, one of the top British surfers of the late 70s/ early 80s and was his Porthleven stick in the mid -late 70s. Bet it could tell a few stories.
1973, Surf Insight
Some of the illustrious visitors to the meet included Rod Sumpter, Chris Jones, Roger Mansfield, Gwynedd Haslock, Rob Hendy of Hendy&Harber, and this lady, Yvonne Bickers, wife of the late cabinet maker and creator of legendary 60s longboards Fred Bickers. She is holding a Bickers longboard from around 1965, owned by Skelly and one of his coveted collection of Bickers boards. Where he finds them I don't know - right place at right time must have alot to do with it.
Here's my old mate Sean, glad he could make it along with his radical bright 80s collection. Everyone needed to wear shades in this area.
Yesterday's surf meet exceeded expectations in many ways. The weather was amazing, there was offshore surf down below, sixteen collectors came along to show their treasures, plus others who walked in with a board or two under their arm, many of which hadn't been surfed since the 70s. There was also a great turnout of people visiting the meet, with a good crew of surfers who started in the 60s and 70s, including four British champions no less. Rod Sumpter remarked what a surprisingly good turnout there was, and also how nice it was to be reunited with boards he shaped 45 years ago ! All the boards looked stunning so thanks to the collectors for making the effort.
some of the 60s /70s Newquay crew with a few collectors . photo Alex Williams.
view from the meet - a scorcher
The day of the surf meet is fast approaching, and collections across the south west are being dusted off, polished up - and in my case ding repaired. Sean's Roger Cooper above, obviously hasn't been down from the rafters for a while.....
The next problem is how to get large collections into small wagons - Jay has done pretty well here..
If all else fails - go a bit bonkers with the roof rack . There's apparently 76 logs on here, a world record in the 70s.
Beach cafe
South coast surf
Above Perranuthnoe
Allotments ,Longrock
Time for a surf meet update and here's a taster -above and below- of some of the boards which will be up for sale or swaps on sunday morning. The weather forecast's looking good so far, and there's a good number of collectors coming including full attendance from the Braunton crew - Skelly, Jay and Pete. So there's going to be some stunning and historically important British boards on show. It doesn't have to be 100% British though, I'm bringing a couple of Aussie boards. If you're bringing boards along its probably a good idea to get there before 9.30 to set up.
Kevin Cross with stinger. nice bottom. Photo by Graham Quick.
Ted at Fistral 1985 by Alex
Wayne in Australia has dug this board out from storage under his house. A Ted Deerhurst twin fin from around 1981 ish, and I was excited to see this as I thought it might be one of Lord Ted's personal boards . Wayne though has the explaination -
Ted around '79 photo by Wavejunkie
