Heres a rare Bilbo from the elusive guest shaper Danny Garland. This one's sent in by Jon, and its baby swallow tail and flyers must date it to around '74, towards the end of Bilbo's production. It bears Danny's personal emblem - a lady smoking a big spliff riding on an eagle. Danny has a bit of a reputation of being a rebel , dodging the law and the taxman , no stranger to drugs etc.... which all goes to make his boards more sought after today. Problem is they're hard to find. Danny's own label Space Gypsy was going through the mid 70s, made at St Merryn airfield at the same era as Tigger was working there, and Fluid Juice took over the Space Gypsy factory. Apparently Danny now lives in the Canaries.Danny and Tigger both starred in a 1976 Rod Sumpter film called Pipedreams 2 - does anyone have a copy ??
from Surf , 1976. Danny with team riders Nigel Semmens and Lenny Ingram.
Think, Danny now live in Canada? at least that is what he told me 4 yrs ago in Barbados!
ReplyDeleteIs he still surfing ? Would be good to get in touch with him about his board making days
ReplyDeleteAm really enjoying reading this blog and the piece on AR was very interesting last night!
ReplyDeleteI live in Brighton and went to school with Tim Mellors, of Custard Point fame and can remember his first surf session on a borrowed Atlantic surfboard. I was always more of a surf kayaker but I got to know a fair few of the Brighton surf mob in the late 70s.
Interested to read some much about Creamed Honey surfboards - I bought Ade Robins' old tear shaped CH - a shape I have not seen since and gave it to Pete at the British Surfing Museum when it came to Brighton a few years ago, not sure whether he still has it or passed it on - it was pretty battered from too many years on the Brighton beach dump!
I've got a white Bilbo board in one of our garages which I'll check over once my mate gets his stuff out from in front of it - I had to fit a new fin box and fin some years as my nephew snapped the original - much to my annoyance!
I've also got many of the Tube News, Surfscene and Wavelength magazines that have been featured though many more had to be thrown out when a burst water pipe reduced many to a paper mache mush!
My wife's father is from Bude and her great grandad's wooden belly board is in the local museum - he was part of the local lifeboat crew and his board was painted by him depicting a magnificent sailing ship under full sail.