Surf film nights in the UK late 1960s

By Tony Cope

In the mid-60`s I used to surf in Devon & Cornwall often with Bob Groves & Bill Davies, and met the local surfers .One was Rod Sumpter, who had come back from a childhood in Aus., and was one of the best surfers in the world.Rod had starred in surf films made by Bob Evans ,Paul Witzig,

McGillivray & Freeman and others so he started showing copies of their work, as well as making his own. Naturally he asked about showing films on the South Coast , asking for a guarantee of an audience of at least 50 to make the trip worthwhile.
 We took it on, booked a hall in Southampton, then worried about what we had done.Can`t remember now what that first show was, but there were 5 clubs within 30 miles of So`ton, so home madeposters went out to all. On the night over 100 guys turned up so we did two shows. Most of the crowd saw the 7-30 show & then paid again to see the 9-00 too, which was a riot as everyone had a drink or two in between. The IoW boys somehow managed to catch the last ferry back !

Rod was more than pleased; as well as making some money he asked `can anyone give a travelling surfer a bed for the night ?`& guys were queuing up to oblige.
From then on he phoned up whenever he had a new film, either european ones he had made himself or international 60`s movies from Aus or USA, including ` Hot Generation`, `Evolution`, and `Free & Easy`.
Can`t remember which film it was for, but we once did a really big publicity campaign, and managed to fill Southampton Civic Centre
with guys coming from all over the place, even London .

I met `Fitz` Fitzgerald in 1967 while surfing Lynmouth. He was setting up Surfboards Inc. ( which later became Westcoast Surfboards ) in Woolcombe. We sat in a cafe afterwards and he asked if I wanted to live at his place on the sea front, surf competitions with his boards, & help with a surf film he was hoping to make. As he didn`t need me to mow foam or glass boards all day in his dark & dingy factory, it took all of 10 seconds to agree .

Thro` the 1968 winter Fitz posted reels of film back from Capetown, SA, where he was working for Clive Barber Surfboards.

 I went to London and bought the best equipment: a projector, screen, amp & speakers, then did some editing & sound recording, booked halls around N Devon, & had posters printed. Fitz called the film SURFAARI to reflect it`s SA origins.It showed the first short boards , 8` V-bottomed stubbies, being ridden at Elands Bay and places around Capetown.Fitz was astute enough to include footage of lions, hippos etc. so non-surfers would be attracted too.

When he got back in March `69 we put the music on it , using the Marisco Club`s sound equipment & their DJ, Chris Kauffman. Mick Lock, a surfer and the club`s owner, asked it was possible to turn the place into a ` surfer`s den `. I fixed a load of old boards ( which would now be worth a fortune ) round the walls, then bought some 8mm surf movies from SURFER mag in the USA and made a continuous loop film. Projected onto a wall from a shelf above the bar , it showed Dewey Weber & Co surfing in California. When the club opened many Woolacombe surfers, residents and holiday makers made the club their local .

 In June we started the Surfaari shows, doing 4 nights a week at surrounding surf villages.I used to visit each village 2 days before the show & fly-poster it . Illegal publicity was everwhere, but amazingly no-one complained about it. On the night I turned up in my Hillman Husky Estate an hour before the show to set out the seats, set up the equipment, take the money and get the show going. If Fitz wasn`t busy he came too and enjoyed telling the punters about SA . The first week or two a lot of locals turned up, so 2 shows a night were possible. From then until September there were enough visitors coming in for one full house each night, so with only the hall bills to pay we were making good money.

During the season Rod S. arranged to come down to Woolacombe to show another Aus film, but despite a big publicity campaign the audience numbers were lower than expected .When Rod asked if someone could provide a bed for the night there was no response . Simone was with him, but overnight she developed a cold and she ended up staying at my place for several days, while Rod went off up country in his Humber Super Snipe estate car to do more shows.

 The last time I saw Simone was at the North Cornish Contest at Widemouth on 11th July 1970.She was on her own, and fly-postered Bude for a Saturday night show.When the film was due to start there were only about a dozen or so of us there, and she hung on for a long time hoping more would arrive.It didn`t happen, and finally she cancelled the show. Some people were a bit upset by this and several said they wouldn`t be coming to any more surf films .

The best years of the travelling surf show seemed to be over.

Jantzen ad. from 1968, Corky Carroll, Simone and Rod Sumpter in Biarritz.CC has his Hobie `Mini` model ( his reaction to the Aus shortboard era was to take the mid foot or so out of a Malibu board ), RS has a full size Bilbo mal with a massive cross on it, made up with hundreds of little union jacks.
Another priceless board that might be in someone`s attic !

BBC cameraman filming the SLSA British surfing champs at Widemouth 1967, for a clip to go on the 6 o'clock news.

Thanks again to Tony for sharing his great memories, old posters and photographs. I'm amazed by how much of the 60s he can remember !

new finds

 A nice couple of recent finds, both from the mid 70s. An early Ocean Magic, possibly by Nigel Semmens, and a pea green Creamed Honey. As they say in Cornwall - 'andsome.

Carwyn Williams' 1984 Crab Island

 Alex Williams has had a great score finding this old 2 1/2 fin made in 1984 for his namesake Carwyn (no relation of course). I'd imagine most of Carwyn's boards were surfed to death so this is a pretty good survivor. Shaped by Craig Hughes who went on to shape Carwyn boards under the great Wave Graffitti label, its around 5'9 x 20 . Another classic channelled Crab Island with a beautiful spray and Alder and Carwyn decals.
This was an important time in Carwyn's development (and Welsh surfing because of him) .He was 19, had just won the Welsh, British and European juniour titles in 1983 ;and 1984 was when he turned pro and joined the newly formed European tour - finishing ranked 2nd in his first season ! He won the EPSA tour in 85 and again in '89. And in 1988 he gave himself and Welsh surfers a great boost by qualifying for the ASP world top 30, an amazing achievement considering he was skint most of the time !

 British team World titles, California 1984 with one of Carwyn's boards. photo Linda Sharp

 Carwyn and Simon Tucker 1984 Jersey. All these photos by Alex Williams

One of the best photos of the late 80s ! Carwyn at Hossegor by Alex Williams.

 In his classic white wetsuit, circa 1983, and below at Thurso. photos by Alex again.

Surf meet update and t-shirts

Its looking promising for a good turnout at this years vintage surf meet, with collectors coming from all over the south west , and a few trekking in from way up and 'cross country. Just to clarify - the meet is open to all vintage board owners/ surfers, and is free, so come on down with your boards, or just come for a browse. There should be some classic stuff up for sale or trade. Gee is bringing down a load of his vintage stock from Revolver, and Gavin from Traditional surf co. and Toyah from Bagabond will be there with some goodies too.

With some help from Nick at Frootful and Gavin at Traditional surfing co. we have produced a very limited run of 30 surf meet t-shirts, and 30 hand screened posters . The t-shirts are classic front pocket tees see below, available in navy or white ,sizes s-xl. (185 gsm fruit of the loom pocket tees). Price is £20 including mainland p&p , grab one quick its a very limited run, you can order it now or get one saved for the meet (£17 at meet); alasdairlindsay@aol.com . (note -The dark blue t doesn't actually have white stitching).

The posters will be hand screened one colour printed on high quality thick stock paper, similar to last years ( approx 29x39 cm) . The poster is £15 incl. mainland p&p.

t shirt close up. £17 / plus £3 p&p

Here are some images from last year's meet

1984 Crab Island quad by Paul Connibear

 Alex  has just got hold of a nice pair of Crab Islands both made 1984, when the company was producing cutting edge Welsh boards with a strong local following. This one is a 5'9 x 20 1/2 jet fin quad by Paul Connibear with channels, flyers and a killer stars and stripes spray. The quality of finishing and design on Crab Islands made them stand out at the time and obviously makes them sought after now. Pros like Brad Hockridge and the legendary Carwyn Willams put Crab Islands in the public eye and got plenty of coverage in the mags .

Pete Crab started Crab Island in 1977 in Swansea, named after a right hand reef at Langland. He had a quality stable of shapers by the early 80s including Craig Hughes, Con, and Glen Winton. Would be good to hear some stories/ see some photos of the company back then if anyone's got any ?

 In the Crab Island showroom 1984,photo Alex Williams

Brad Hockridge Brimms Ness 1982

Creamed Honeys for sale

 Here's a treat - two nice condition Creamed Honeys which by coincidence have both been emailed to me in the last couple of days-
NOW SOLD This one is a 7'11 x 21 x 2 1/2 diamond tail, shaped by Kevin Cross and dating to around 1975, really good condition by the look of it ; Rick the seller says the discolouration on the deck is just the old wax so will clean up a treat. He says it has a tiny ding on the point of the tail, (really tiny) but otherwise tidy.
The board is in Wandsworth ,London but Rick will travel over to Croyde or Kimmeridge regularly on good swells. A quality board, offers to rickwoollard@mac.com .

 NOW SOLD Robert is selling this Creamed Honey 7'2 x 19 1/2 , this is an early one, numbered no.136 and before the 'shaped by Kevin Cross' decal was used, so circa 1973 ? It has a couple of repaired dings as shown and a couple of minor pressure marks but is in very good nick overall, and has the unusual arrow artwork on the underside. Also you don't see many Creamed Honeys with original fibreglass fins, almost all of them are wooden. The board is in Aberdare,South Wales .A rare ealy shape, offers to ro-jones@talk21.com .