happy christmas

Happy christmas everyone ! Thanks to all who have contributed to another great year of the blog with lots of new boards, finds and stories , and two successful surf meets ! Some real gems have been unearthed this year, and there have been some classic swells to ride them on. Heres to 2013.

Crest bellyboard

You may have seen this Crest bellyboard which the surfing museum is selling on ebay for some christmas fundraising. Pete at the museum knows alot about the Crest label (of Penzance)  and its history ,see below-

' This is a very special auction for an original Crest vintage wooden bellyboard - a true classic and the 'holy grail' of bellyboards as these are believed to be the first ever produced that had a brand. They were created in Cornwall by the late Ronald S Funnell originally using Gaboon plywood - he wrote the earliest known British surfing book 'The Art of Surf-Riding' that was first published in 1934. This board is in excellent condition, it looks like it has only ever had natural oil applied not varnish and measures the standard 4 foot long by 1 foot wide. The exact age of the board isn't known - but in Funnell's 1953 reprint of his book he says his boards were no longer available new.
Along with the bellyboard we are including a reproduction of the very rare original 1934 advert for the boards, which has been scanned and printed on a good quality canvas for wall hanging.

The Museum of British Surfing has a Crest bellyboard on display right now, and has others in its stored collection. This board and print have been donated for us to auction by a private collector who asked to remain anonymous - but we'd like to say a massive thank you for this very generous donation'. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-SURFBOARD-1930s-ADVERT-CREST-WOOD-BELLYBOARD-RARE-CLASSIC-/121039330784?pt=UK_Surfing&hash=item1c2e819de0
The museum also has a few Surf meet t-shirts left for sale, see other items.

 A couple on holiday in Newquay with their Crest bellyboard, 1950s /60s. (at Tolcarne ?)

Bellyboarders ,Newquay bay 1925

Boards for sale

  SOLD Haven of Bude ,north Cornwall singlefin in near immaculate original condition. Made in the early to mid 70s, it has the original Bilbo clear orange fin and the early Haven logo. No old repairs or obvious damage, no delam. Although it has a few light pressure dents on the deck from use its basically as good a Haven as you will find.No leash fitting . 6'10 x 20 x 3.

 Mid 70s singlefin by Bruce Palmer, made near Croyde, north Devon. This is a really nice shape by a national champion surfer/shaper. Not too much volume like some 70s boards and it surfs well. Nice and light, no delam and ready to surf. It has had some restoration on the tail and nose in black resin ; the tail was so delicate it needed a rebuild but is sorted now. Resin leash loop and strong original fin. £140 ono email traceyboyne@aol.com  ,its in Hayle.

Rare boards

 A few rarities which have surfaced lately. Some boards which I used to think were incredibly rare, like Bickers longboards, are beginning to crop up more regularly and we know of around 25 in existence now ; whereas this time last year we only knew of around half that. Every time I see another I'm stuck by how beautifully made they were , true English craftmanship . These boards were so strongly built that they are good survivors and hopefully a few more of them  are still out there somewhere.
This one is a beauty, probably a custom order with wooden nose and tail blocks and d-fin . Great colour designs too in tinted resin which must have taken a while to do. It was probably made around 1966. Jono who owns the board says it had  one owner from new, and was strapped to his relatives' garage ceiling in London for 40 odd years until he got it down and cleaned it up. More history on the board may be coming soon.

 Rare Ju by Paul Jury made in the late 60s. The qualityof these Ju boards is not as high as the bigger makers but they are very rare.

 Nice Creamed Honey by Kevin Cross with raspberry ripple acid drag, mid 70s .Great condition too, this one turned up in France

early 80s Rockit by Phil Clifford

Brightening up a cold winters day is this bolt of colour in the shape of a 1983 Rockit shaped in Newquay by Phil Clifford. Its a 2 1/2 fin, marking the transition from twinnies to thrusters , and is in great condition, as bright and fresh as when it left the factory 30 years ago. As Wavelength mag n0.2 says in 1982 '' Rockit surfboards aka Phil Clifford aka Vitamin Sea's demon ex sprayer has set up a 'small is beautiful' factory with the emphasis on total customisation''.
So set up in 1982, Rockit produced a small number of artful boards with some unusual designs and great sprays. One of Phil's signatures of the time was unusual design work in the tail, often with a few pairs of sharp flyers, and his double swallow tail - a narrow swallow set inside a wide one.
Don't know much about the story of this board apart from it must have been in someones attic for a long time, and it was brought down to the local surf shop for a part ex. Dimensions are 5'11 x 20 1/4.

Phil was one of the early 70s crew at Boscombe pier and Kimmeridge, and enjoyed J bay in the 70s. He worked at Vitamin Sea, then started making his Rockit boards in the early 80s and now works with Nigel Semmens . He still makes some Rockits today.

 

from wavelength no.2 1982

Double swallow tail

Another Rockit I found a couple of years ago at the tip, now in the Museum's collection

 

Saved from the landfill

Heres a couple of nice old boards, which shockingly had been thrown away ! but were saved before they reached their premature grave. This one was bought from a tip in north Devon, given some tlc by Roger R and is now in Paul's collection. Its a Freedom made in Jersey in the mid 70s by European champion Bobby Male , a shaper of some great boards. This one looks really clean, 6'8 with original fin. Far too good to chuck out !!

 

 Bobby Male, anchor point late 1970s

Jersey surfers, mid 60s, Bobby is seated far left

Pierre in France, with the help of his sniffer dogs, found this board in his local trash ! Made in Cornwall in the late 80s its a Local Hero by Graeme Bunt with classic logos and colours of the era. Looks in pretty good condition apart from the missing fin / no uv damage , still bright and light.

Thanks to Paul and Pierre. Keep em peeled -  you never know what you might find next !

A couple of blogs

A couple of good blogs which are definitely worth a look . The first is by fellow UK collector 'Aussie Pete' who has contributed to my blog before and is a regular at the surf meets. He is now putting his impressive collection on his own blog , check it out -  www.surfboardcollector.blogspot.co.uk .
Also a good site is www.allsurfmagazines.com by Al Hunt, who has amassed an incredible 16,500+ surf mags and covers from all over the world, and has a lot of the early UK surf magazines with photos of all covers on his site. A great graphic design archive. Here below are some of his covers from non-surf mags.