1970s Tris bellyboard

 This is a very rare Tris bellyboard which Ryan brought to the surf meet in September. Its so rare I think Tris only made two, a custom order for a pair of brothers in the mid 70s. I don't think the whereabouts of the other one is known. Its a beautiful little board and looks fun in the right waves. Lots of volume up front and slightly scooped out deck . Unusual that it has a quite thick wooden fin but I guess they wanted to put something robust on there. The board is in great condition, still nice an light, and has been hanging up in a Cornish cafe for years !

Ryan with the board at the September surf meet

A nice pair at the Tris shop , artwork and photo by Neil Wernham

Above - Johnny Manetta ,  below a rack of rare airbrushed Tris from way back in the 70s. Unusual Tris logo on them. Neil's artwork was out there - very creative and technically brilliant.

Another 70s UK boardmaker known for great artwork was Tigger Newling's Jolly Good label , with artwork by Nancy Dinmore, glassed by Tris. Above is a Jolly Good . These are super rare today though.

 This gorgeous Tris fish turned up on ebay a couple of months ago. Unbelievable condition, made around 1974 and 6ft long . Nice rainbow fin too which has featured on a few Tris of this era.

Museum of British Surfing surf meet

 Great weekend at the museum of British Surfing . Thanks to Ryan Maddocks for organising the film night on saturday. The Surf meet and auction on sunday was busy and had a great friendly vibe. Thanks to Maggie Gladwell, Tony and Pat Cope, Kevin Cook and all the other volunteers for making such a big contribution to the day . The boards as ever were fantastic.

 Rare wave graffiti paipo

 Auctioneers for the day Tony and Kevin

 Rare Tiki v bottom

 Stunning space man spray on one of Henry's boards

 The fantastic and hard working tea ladies.

 Ryan ,Matt and Martin

 Martin's longboarder sculpture which sold within minutes

 In the auction room. There were 21 lots with some good sales, although sales suffered because of high reserves.

 Busy day at the museum, lovely boards everywhere

 Rare and quirky Tris bellyboad caught everyones eye

 70s pinball in the museum

 Some of Shaun's ever growing collection of airbrushed boards including an incredible Space Gypsy restoration by Stuart Dykes, see above and below -

Surfboard auction catalogue

Here is a link to the catalogue for this sunday's board auction -

http://www.mortehoepc.co.uk/Surfboard%20Auction%20Catalogue.pdf

British bellyboarding at its best

A classic from John Isaac

Some boards survive better than others

 I was stoked to hear from Paulo in Portugal , who wrote that he has the very same Freedom pictured above in the classic 70s photo with Steve Harewood . I've always loved this board and wondered if it was still around ; however I was a little gutted to see Paulo's photos of what it looks like now ! See below.
Paulo was given it by a friend 20 years ago, so it has been in Portugal a long time . With a hell of a lot of sun and water damage, Paulo asks is it worth restoring ? Its debateable !

 Luckily I was able to buy this 6'6 Freedom around 10 years ago, a sister board to the one above, and possibly even the one behind Steve in the photo. Although its been surfed quite a lot, its still almost as good as new and one of my favourites. Its amazing how different boards' fates can be !!

Quo Vadis surfboards (Tris in Lacanau, France)

Thanks to Jean-Pierre for sending in photos of his beautiful Quo Vadis singlefin. Quo Vadis were essentially Tris surfboards, but made in France. How did this come about ?
Well the story goes that in 1978 Philip O'Loughlin, an Australian living in Lacanau-Ocean ordered a batch of boards from Tris surfboards (at that time Johnny Manetta and Chops Lascalles were heading Tris as Tris Cokes had sold up his share) . Philip owned Lacanau's first surf shop Lacanau Lou, which had ran from approx 1973 I think. UK boards had a very good reputation in France.
Philip wanted around 70-80 boards and arranged for the Tris guys to come down and shape at Lacanau, supplying all the materials and equipment in a factory converted from an abbatoir nicknamed 'The Ranch' . Chops and Johnny shaped, and Teep sanded, finished and made fins . Chops, although a great surfer , had not got a lot of shaping under his belt at this point, but these French boards were a good opportunity to improve his skills under the watchful eye of Johnny.
Jean Pierre has also written abou Quo Vadis on his French surf blog - http://surffrancecollection.blogspot.fr/

''Chops, Philipe and myself named the boards Quo Vadis, Latin for 'where are you going' and I designed this beautiful flowing broad s shape with the words Quo Vadis on it. It became quite sought after. In fact, Chops and myself carried on using the logo when we got back to England.''
''The surfboards looked absolutely stunning in the new showroom in Lacanau-Ocean .It was very French, very avant garde ;all polished glass and steel,  with rows of the beautiful Quo Vadis surfboards. I was quite proud of that trip'' From 'Looking for something to find'' by Johnny Manetta, which makes a good read with lots of great Cornish surf history.

Lacanau Lou , trade show? with Quo Vadis board/ boards on the rack. Late 70s

Johnny Manetta at the factory/ showroom with a lovely Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis swallow tail, owned by Jean Pierre's friend Gerard in Lacanau.

It seems the Quo Vadis mainly had ply fins

Beautiful boards in the stylish French showroom

Factory at the Ranch, Johnny and Teep

Tris crew on a French surf trip, early 70s.

 Chops back in Cornwall with some S boards , photos by John Conway, 1978/9