perfect 60s surf wagon

  This would be my perfect 60s ride to the beach (if i owned one). Although not quite as beautiful as the ds saloon , it would make a more practical surf car. Its comfortable with super smooth air suspension for rough tracks to the beach, roomy enough to fit your mates in with the boards on the roofrack, stylish enough to stand out from the crowd of transporters in the car park , and good value for money, and should make a good  investment too. A classic reliable surf wagon.

who needs easter eggs ?!

Our local beach this morning  - Happy Easter !
photo by salt shots

...and in the evening , photo by Mike Newman / Ocean Image

Stolen Bilbo longboard !

 If anyone sees this board or gets offered it for sale please get in touch , it was recently stolen. Its a 10 ft x 23 in Bilbo longboard with very unusual pink foam. You cant miss it.

 The board was recently bought off ebay, but posted to the wrong address in the Braunton area where someone signed for it and then later denied all knowledge of the board. The board must be out there somewhere and should go back to its rightful owner. The police have been informed. Email info@rougholdglass.co.uk if you know anything. Thanks

Jon's boards part 3

Last year I featured a large part of Jon's great  collection on the blog, and here are a few more he has picked up since. This Dick Brewer was a part-ex from last year . Jon says the people who brought it in said they got it from a plumber who had got it off a rock star who owed him for some work on a boiler ! Classic history .    The board is originally from Hawaii, shaped by Steve Morgan (who now shapes for Hawaiian Island Creations) in the early 80s. Its got belly channels and is a classic pig inspired shape with that wide tail reminiscent of McCoy's Lazor Zaps. Great condition too, guess that rock star didnt surf much !

Mid to late 80s Surfboards Hawaii thruster with a bright sprayjob and plenty of volume.

This mini mal was made at Lightwave in Boscastle by Ben Bamford, in the mid 80s when a resurgence in bigger boards became a trickle and then a strong new market. Now there is almost every board imaginable in the lineup, from bellyboards, bodyboards, mini simmons, mats, standard shortboards and all sorts of different designs upto longboards both trad and progressive and SUP's. Back in the early 80s everyone was riding the same types of shortboard, and anyone riding older or bigger boards were dismissed as learners, kooks, or just generally uncool. This was very detramental to surfing and numbers in the water dropped because all but the best found shortboards hard going.
So boards like the Lightwave were the first in a long line bringing back the fun to an average surfers life.

Ben Bamford, 1983 photo Alex Williams

Sealion bellyboard

Rare Kon Tiki Waverider bellyboard. Jon wants to know more about this, but I can't help much as I've not seen one before. Made in England, with unusual squared off nose, and quite thick construction of wood with thin skins of ply top and bottom. 1960s ? (Actually Gavin -Traditional surfing co.  has left a comment saying he has one too, and hasnt seen another until now)-

Board for sale

A well preserved early 80s Simon Anderson thruster is for sale, made under licence in South Africa by Country Rhythm. A few of these Country Rhythms came over here at the time and they're well made boards. A classic board for any 80s collector. Nick bought it 12 years ago virtually unused - it had sat in a garage for many years. He has used it a little , and says theres a few dings on the rails, nothing major, and a pressure ding on the bottom .He's asking for offers - the board is in Bude, Cornwall , email nickyt33@hotmail.com  . Damion from boardcollector  has done a few posts about Energy and Country Rhythm, check them out.

This board is now sold and has joined a family of other Simon Andersons in Newquay. Another happy ending.

Tris kneeboard from Chops (another relic from the tip)

 I should start an SOS campaign (save our surfboards ) as people are still throwing away our surf heritage at local tips. Two boards that I know of were thrown away this week. This one I managed to buy, a 5'8 x 22 kneeboard made by Chops for Tris surfboards in around 1980. Its got hardly any scoop deck so would make a really nice stand up board today. Short and super wide with G&S star semi keel fins. Its also super light, even though it looks like its been part of a hedge for a while, with soil all over the tail. The underside should clean up nice though, you can't beat the quality of the work, so its definitely saveable with a bit of resto on nose and tail . Tris kneeboards from the 70s are a great rarity.
The other board thrown away, which I've been told by a reliable source, was a Carwyn Williams early 80s personal board in good condition  with Carwyn decals on both rails and Alder sponsers laminates. Probably a Crab Island I'd imagine. It was in the skip at St Erth tip on monday avo, but was picked out and put to one side, and then it vanished. Hopefully it has made it to a good home and didnt go back in the skip !!

 'Top of the range' leash made from nylon rope and an old seat belt. proper job

 The board had a beautiful patina of soil, dings, bad repairs and my favourite , car filler. It still feels very light though.

From Surf magazine 1976.

coming soon..

Playmobil rips !!

The Green fly - Atlantic singlefin

There are loads of old boards around with little or no known history ; and getting one with a good or even competition history makes it a lot more interesting. But to have a board like this you either have to get the board from the original (or an early) owner and get the story attached / or have a board that has an easily indentified shape or graphics and get lucky !
This board , the Green Fly is an Atlantic of St Ives which Ryan has just had restored . A pretty interesting restoration which identified it as being an Atlantic from an unreadable logo, and also uncovered the Green Fly writing and artwork, which was previously hidden under paint. A cool result, but the green fly's history  was a puzzle which we didnt expect to solve. Until that is, I was cc'd in on an email from Jerry Bligh to Tony  where he happened to mention - '' Charles Williams made my next board called the Green Fly and i rode it in the first Welsh open championship with Chris Jones, Tigger Newling and James Williams in the final. The trophy is in my trophy case.''
I sat up and thought Green Fly - must be Ryan's board ! and asked Jerry for a bit more of its story. Ryan was of course stoked to hear of this. Jerry was a St Ives surfer and good friend of the Williams brothers. Before the Green Flys Jerry rode a 1966 James Williams longboard with Williams skeg. By the late 60s he was one of the bunch of very good St Ives surfers and an Atlantic teamrider. Jerry now lives in Fuerteventura.

Then I found some photos of Jerry actually riding the Green Fly at Porthmeor in British Surfer mag no5 from 1970 (thanks to Henry ) . What were the chances of that ?!

On speaking to Jerry it turns out there were two Green Flys. The first was made in 1968 also by Charles Williams and was completely green ( see photo below of the Welsh campionships , Jerry is holding it). This was a fave board of Jerry's and as well as winning a trophy in the Welsh, he also took it to France that year and surfed with Nat Young and Wayne Lynch.  Unfortunately this board was stolen a year later from the Porthmeor surfing assoc. board store along with a Bilbo tandem that Jerry rode with Kid Phillips (another St Ives local and Atlantic shaper also known as kid speed).

To replace the stolen one, Charles Williams made a new Green fly in the brand new Atlantic surfboard factory. As Tony says the shape is a take on the 1969-70 bing foil, the board which Keith Paull brought across in 1968 and influenced the surfing world with. This Green Fly is Ryan's one, made in 1969 or '70.
It has competition history too and must have had form because Jerry beat Rod Sumpter on it in the semis of the British champs at Porthtowan . Apart from that Jerry says there are many pictures and films with it in. 3sss films has the best films of it on Porthmeor beach (dont know if these films are available any more though).

Original paper jam fin. The fin would be jammed into the fin box with strips of newspaper, which would then swell up when they got wet and hold the fin tightly in place. That was the theory anywy. In practice many fins were lost, some just from a hard bottom turn. So paper jam fins are super rare today, well done to Ryan for getting this one restored back to original ( it had been glassed in ).

Ryan with the board before restoration . -''I bought this board along with an old Conway and a popout about 12 years ago from a friend for the princely sum of £10, it has been in the workshop until last year when I decided to get it out and restore it ! It was not a pretty sight, the bottom was completely covered in green paint and the fin had been glassed in.  I gave the board to Badger at homeblown and he set about sanding back the paint and found the green fly underneath. Once removing the glass around the fin we found the original paper jam fin, unfortunately the Atlantic decal on top is quite damaged due to the glass pulling away from the blank and leaving half of the decal on the glass ! ''

Charles Williams on a similar Atlantic, 1969/70.

1969/70

Thanks to Ryan , Jerry and as ever Tony for giving an old tired board a restoration and an identity !!