This little singlefin was the second Cheyne model Chris Jones shaped - the board is signed CJ - CH2, and was made in late 1981. Cheyne was riding a similar looking board at the Gul Alder pro-am that summer in Newquay (where he came 1st= with Rabbit), so Chris would have had first hand experience of the shape and spray and mabye took direct measurements off it. Chris' boss Tad Ciastula set up the 'Cheyne Horan model' deal with Cheyne probably during that contest in '81 and Chris was the main Vit Sea shaper to produce them. Chris was also a judge during the contest. The Cheyne models were produced from late '81 till around '83 - not sure how many were made but I've seen six that still survive. As time went on the sprays got more radical; this is a pretty tame spray in comparison but mirrors what Cheyne was riding that year.
The board is still really light, its got the needle nose with a big wide tail with three pairs of aggressive stingers going into a pretty rounded swallow tail (like McCoy's of the era). The big width of the tail gives a clear message that this is a board to be ridden from the tail, and Cheyne was perhaps the first pro surfer to ride shortboards this way, the others would be shifting their weight up towards the wide point 70s style as the wave dictated and then back to do manouvres . Cheyne's back foot was usually glued to the tail - except in barrels -a pioneer of modern shortboard surfing. The single fin is true to Cheyne's contest boards; most of the UK made models tended to be twin fins. It's 5'8 x 20 x 2 1/2. It was a buy it now on ebay...blink and you'd miss it. Since I returned my last Cheyne Horan back to its original owner I've been on the lookout for another one.
Photos of Cheyne at the '81 Gul Alder contest Fistral. Photos Alex Williams and Ben Liddell.
1982
Cheyne taking off at Fistral '82 or '83. Photo Mark Meyers.
1981 Newquay by Alex Williams
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