70s 'Kneetrembler' kneeboard

Thanks to Andy for sending in photos of his Kneetrembler kneeboard ! Kneetrembler (definition of a kneetrembler is having sex standing up !) are one of those mysterious UK board makers that little is known about. They made full size singlefins as well as kneeboards, and sold from Phil Jay's surf shop. Hardly any seem to have been made so theyre very rare.
Andy says - ''I bought the board from Phil Jay's surf shop in London (I went in on the train and came back with the board) . At the time I was reading surf mags about George Greenough and wanted a kneeboard. The board has a great design on the underside of mabye George surveying the waves ?''

The board plan shape seems to follow the fish designs of Steve Lis rather than Greenough spoons , and the shapely but thick wooden fin is a British take on Greenough's designs. Its a lovely board though, dating from around '74 / '75. Its always good to have an artwork and this one is very good, especially the scene rather than the figure. The wave looks a bit like Pipeline !

Bennett foam supplied by Tiki in North Devon. Was Kneetrembler from Devon too ? Anyone know ?

This Kneetrembler is part of the museum's collection. I think Pete asked Phil Jay about where they came from but he wasnt sure.

Freedom surfboards film from 1985

This is a gem of a film shot in 1985 telling the story of Steve Harewood and Freedom surfboards, and also starring Bobby Male and Arlene Maltman. Theres some great footage from the 60s and 80s , and also Carwyn ripping at the pro am at the end of the film (orange and green board ).
If the sound doesnt work for the first couple of minutes dont worry it will come.

 Thanks to Gordon for sending in photos of his lovely 6'5 Freedom shaped by Steve Harewood in the mid 70s. Great spray and pinlining on it , and an unusual lightning bolt for a Freedom. The bird symbol on the bottom was usually used for their boards which went to the Freedom shop in Biarritz.

Ocean Magic star tail

Heres a nice late 70s Ocean Magic with rare star tail. Its 6'10 x 21 , probably shaped by Pete McAllum, although unusually its not signed so could be an early Semmens shape ? I'd say it dates to around '77. The star tail is pretty unusual , dropping down to a point with curved sides, unlike a bat tail which is a lot more angular and pointy on the rails. The board has an early pictorial OM logo, very cool and unfussy silhouette of a surfer doing a top turn (worryingly missing a hand poor chap ) and folky text. The deck panel has an original resin drag in blues and whites, masked and pinlined , quite an unusual feature going over the logo  ; and a light green tint on the rest of the deck. There is a star pattern at the star tail. I think originally there was a rubber leash plug , you can see the circle where its been . In all a cool old board with some unusual features .

Rare early 70s Tris Bonzer, acid wash and twin fin

Here are some more boards from Bill's collection, this time a lovely and varied trio made by Tris surfboards in Cornwall in the early 70s . These are all very interesting, rare and unusual Tris boards. This first one must date to around 1972/3 ,7ft long with acid wash, beautiful matching colour rainbow fin and narrow square tail with full length down rails. Shaped by Tris Cokes. Definitely one of their early ones, as the down or hard rails didnt last long, and the unusual narrow squared off tail looks early and in need of a swallow tail . The large logo is one of the favourites in old British boards, with a beautiful design by Keith Flack.

Great acid wash bottom using the same resin colours that made up the fin. Acid wash Tris boards are rare.

Another great rarity is this 7'4 bonzer with concaves. The Campbell brothers first invented Bonzers in 1970 - one of the first tri fin boards ; and by 1972 they were experimenting with concaves . This Tris was probably made after seeing one of the Campbell concave bonzers in a surfing mag ; so the Tris must date from late '72 or '73. Bonzers had the twin keel fins forward of the centre fin, and its a design that has successfully lasted in various forms over four decades !

To find a British bonzer from this era is like rocking horse sh1t . Tris made at least two , but whereabouts of others is not known , John Conway experimented with similar designs, and Jeff Townsley made some boards with the triangular twin keels. These were really just experiments and the boards didnt catch on over here.

Malcolm Campbell's 6'3 bonzer with concaves and wooden centre fin, 1972.

Another Tris bonzer from the early 70s, undergoing 'testing' .Does this board still exist ??

John Conway bonzer with similar concaves.

Yet another rare one is this 1st generation 5'10 twin fin from '71ish. This was made before the In Natural Flow logo and Keith Flack logo. The early tris logo can just be made out faintly on the nose. It is so feint that I didnt see the logo when I checked this board out at a local auction years ago, so let it slip through my fingers. Damn ! I think it only went for around £30 back then.
These early twin fins were very short lived, hard to surf and soon overtaken by longer sleeker singlefin boards with diamond , pin and swallow tails.

You can just see the logo in red pigment which has faded. It would originally have been similar to the logo on the sign below

thanks to Bil for sharing his boards and Johnny for the old Tris photos