Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !

Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !
Free to take part
We buy interesting old boards 60s/70s/early 80s in good condition. Email alasdairlindsay75@gmail.com . Also wanted - Surfing UK , British Surfer and Surf Insight magazines .
Above photo - copyright Rennie Ellis photographer archive

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Chris Ash 60s photos

You may remember seeing some 60s skateboarding photos from North Devon surfer Chris Ash. Now we can see some of his classic old surfing photos - when diy wetsuits and empty lineups were the order of the day. I like the surfing wedding too.
 
Chris with his home-made wetsuit, 1966. `I made a big mistake, cut out 2 left sides ! Made of un-lined neoprene, so I had to coat it inside with talcum powder to get it on.`

 `my first board, which I got off the maker, Paul Blackwell`.
 `Harry`s woodie, a Morris Minor, at Redruth in 1966 `.
 `Landsend, 1967, looking down on the Torrey Canyon disaster. Clockwise from top left : "Ginger", my girlfriend Pat, Flipper Stacey, Merv Beard..... the last two formed Chapter Surfboards a few years later`.
 `Gwithian, 1967; my custom Bilbo (L) and Pat`s Bilbo popout (R). Pat was a very enthusiastic surfer - in fact she still meets up with her fellow surfer-girls for re-unions .` Great to see a photo of Gwithian/Godrevy from the 60s.
 `In 1968 I bought a Westcoast shortboard off Fitz in Woolacombe ; Merv and I had just seen Wayne Lynch and Nat Young surfing La Barre in France, this board re-created the Lynch board which we had examined in detail . Pat`s holding my old Bilbo, and the brand new Westcoast on the day I first tried it out.`
   Pat & Chris last week, holding the 1968 Westcoast.
 ` Riding the board at Putsborough`
 ` I found I could still hang five, even after losing 18 inches of board .`
 ` Pat & I married in 1970, & had an arch of boards at the church. Pete Evans with longboard (L) and Anthony Meryam (R) with long & short boards.`The board on the right has one of those Westcoast Surfboards type seahorses on.
  `Jim Elliott at Puts., early 70`s . This wave snapped his fin in half`.
 ` Perfect 6` offshore day at Bantham, early 70`s. No-one else out, had the place to myself, as happened a lot back then. Pat took the photo as I paddled out`.

 The board`s still in pretty good nick..... just like it`s owners ! Thanks to Chris and Pat Ash for sharing their photos and to Tony for sending them over.

2 comments:

  1. Can we have some more info on paul blackwell please,great article .

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  2. Great post, wonderful photo's and descriptions, if only I could have been there to experience empty line up's back in the day. Thanks to Chris and Pat for sharing them with readers of Al's blog, and Tony for all the work he does in getting them to Al ready for posting.

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