random photos

These are some photos I had saved on file for future use ; but there are enough of them to make a post of their own. Any credits I have missed out please let me know.

Freedom surfboards in the late 70s with a sweet swallowtail , and distinguished visitor Rick Griffin on the right.

British health and efficiency mag from 1974, cant make out the logo of the board though.

Sennen surfers, late 70s

Original Pure Juice advertising leaflet . These were made by Phil 'Jay' Jenkins, plus guest shaper Kevin Cross on a few . Thanks to Alex for the pic.

Austin Healey ' hardtop' surfwagon in South Africa

A lineup of great characters . We were very sad to lose Chops this year.

Pete Sandy and his Friendly Bear by Bob Head . Photo Alex Williams.

A very rare order form from Acorn surfboards, Swansea, late 60s.

Tiki singlefin with a Hewitt bros artwork

John Baxendale's photo of a North West surf club outing, late 60s. A great image of moggies and long raking fins.

A reader sent in this photo of his dad in the 70s and asked if I could make out the logo of his board . I couldn't -  can you ? The one one the floor is a Tris.

Airbush on a Kneetrembler kneeboard bought by Andy at Phil Jays in London in the 70s. Not a lot is known about Kneetrembler boards. They made stand up boards as well as kneeboards and were producing in the mid 70s.

Some classic 70s sticks here , including a nice Space Gypsy .Pat Kieran in the hat ,photo by David Lawley, North West surf club.

A rare Kon Tiki waverider, still in original packaging ! Made of Balsa it states ' on the wave rider no child can sink !'  . Nothing to say a child could get knocked off it by waves.

Vans of Pembrokshire surf club, possibly at Easky . John Hall's boards, and Bedford van.

A great workshop shot of Bob Powers surfboards early 60s, photo Jean Yeo.

Skewjack singlefin by Chris Tyler

 This is a rare recent find for Alex , an early 70s singlefin made at Skewjack near Sennen by Chris Tyler. Skewjack was a notorious surf camp /hostel which I have written about here  . So far only two Skewjack boards have surfaced in recent years, so theyre pretty rare and Chris Tyler can't have shaped a lot. Whereas the other Skejack board is a 1st gen. twin fin, this one is a narrow diamond tail (1972/73) , a shape that was in fashion just before swallow tails became popular. It is signed Chris Tyler for Simon, and is approx 7ft long.

 Chris Tyler at Skewjack

 From the Skewjack early- mid 70s brochure . Another Skewjack board can be seen with the same logo and yellow rails.

Sennen lifeguards were often also surf instructors for Skewjack visitors. Here are Dave Curl, Jeremy Gilbert and Harvey Hoare , with a Bickers , Bilbo and unknown possibly another Bilbo - good summer boards.

Earlier and much larger logo, a stunning piece of artwork.

1971, from British surfer magazine


70s Sennen surf scene filmed by John Adams and Geoff De Vaney

Atlas Woods singlefin by Pete Moony McAllum

This is Ryan's Atlas Woods, which was bought earlier this year off ebay by Stephane. He bought it because it was an interesting looking early 70s board , and cheap for what it was, but thought it had no UK connection. When he got it though, he could just make out the shapers name - Pete McAllum - as you all know a very important Kiwi shaper who came over to Cornwall in the late 60s , started his own board labels including Stuart in St Ives , and of course Ocean Magic.
So this was a very interesting find. The board would have been made around 1971 - in between the time Pete was shaping at Bilbo around 1970-1 , and later starting Ocean Magic around '73. So it looks like Pete went back to New Zealand for a while, shaped some boards for Atlas Woods (an offshoot of Gordon Woods in Australia) and then returned to the UK. Either this was his personal board he brought back with him / or it was part of a batch of boards he made with Atlas Woods logos which ended up for sale at the London Surf Centre around 1971 (see ad below).
The board is a classic s deck of the time, 6ft 6 x 20 inches wide , with large adjustable Aussie made fin and box.

1971 ad from British Surfer

Great photo of Pete McAllum and Nigel Semmens, 1980

Gordon Woods publicity shot, 1968 Brookvale ,Australia.

Circle one by Jeff Townsley

 Here's a classic and beautiful Circle One singlefin, made in Exeter, Devon by Jeff Townsley. It has classic Circle One design, sleek airbrush by Jeff, plenty of float in the board and a finger thick wooden fin ; mini stinger tail going into a small swallowtail. Jeff was a prolific and creative shaper in the 70s and produced some really beautiful and sometimes unusual looking boards. Dims are 6'10 x 20 1/4 , and this one is leaving our shores and going home with Stephane to Biarritz. There will be plenty of British boards at Stephane's house to keep it company.

Stephane and his board, photo by Alex Williams.
It was good to surf with Stephane and Ryan last week.

 Jeff's work in the 70s above ,and 80s below.

Celtic singlefin by Roger Lyndon , early 70s

 Photos at last month's surf meet of a very rare UK surfboard make, Celtic surfboards by New Zealander Roger Lyndon, made in North Devon. This board owned by CJ is the only known one at the moment . If youve got one too send in a few photos !

Below - the story of Roger Lyndon and Celtic surf boards by Tony Cope --

" A few years ago Chris Jones mentioned that he had a board tucked away at his works that he knew nothing about. It had two CELTIC logos on it but strangely, both were upside-down . I`d never seen a Celtic logo, but an image came up of Roger Lyndon, 45 years ago .
At the end of `69 Westcoast Surfboards in Woolacombe got an invitation to the Irish Championships at Rossnowlagh, and 3 of us decided to go, Roger Lyndon ( NZ ), Terry Hansen ( AUS ) and me. Roger said he would like to find his ancestry while over there, as his surname was Irish. So over the two weeks we were finding points and reefs just prior to the beach-break contest, while he took time out to research his roots. He later talked about the impact the trip had on him, and said that with Westcoast breaking up, he would use up the remaining logos on a few more boards, then start his own label. It would be CELTIC , in honour of his ancestors, but put on upside-down in honour of his down-under homeland.
Fast forward to last month`s board meet in Braunton : Chris said he would loan us his CELTIC, and Gray Looker kindly offered to bring it up from Newquay . CJ : " Many years ago a fella I knew popped in the shop to pick up his new board, and he had the Celtic with him. I just thought it was an unusual board and a vee bottom which I got on well with, so I made him an offer and the deal was done. Simple as that really, I hadn't searched for one or anything like that. I didn't know who made it or anything, I was just attracted to it ! "
In 1970 the old Westcoast factory ( Wooden stables in South St. Woolacombe ) was returned to it`s owners as the lease ran out .
 Kevin Cross : " Roger rented a little stone farmer`s building for a workshop, in a field beside the road going into Mortehoe . "
Roger made boards and showed his own-make surf film around N Devon for a few years more, then returned to NZ in 1975, when he did the water filming for the NZ surf movie " The Old Men On The Point " in his home town of Piha, 30 minutes from Auckland. Further back, in 1968 he appeared in the surf film " Children Of The Sun", which covers the last days of NZ and Oz longboarding and the genesis of the shortboards. The guys on the NZ vintage board site are kindly trying to find Roger now, if they do we`ll get the full story no doubt ! "

 The Irish championships, 1969 . l to r Rod Sumpter, Tony Cope, Terry Hansen, Roger Lyndon.

Competitors cars at the Sand House hotel, Rossnowlagh. Rogers Ford Anglia is 2nd from left.

Thanks to Tony Cope and Chris Jones. Roger if you see this it would be good to hear more about the days of Celtic.