old photos and some Bilbos

 Some nice late 60s photos of Barry Ginman-Trout with his Bilbo board and 1st generation wetsuits.

 Not sure why this is censored -some nudie surfing mabye,..nice bilbo though

 Waxing up is Geoff Lawton who made South Coast surfboards in Plymouth

 Some Bilbos which have turned up recently

 Bilbo promotional tour in France 1966 (?) ,Rod Sumpter checking boards ; below Bob Head and Doug Wilson .

Newquay happenings

Two good vintage surf events coming up so put these dates in your diary/ on your wall or mabye just remember them if you're a clever sort. Coming up first is the Revolver singlefin Shoot Out on 4th June, a fun contest on vintage single fins be it logs, 70s or early 80s. Free entry for 32 places, down at Little Fistral.. If you dont win you can just blame your board. Sounds like a good event ask Gee for details - info@revolversurf.co.uk .

I'm obviously looking forward to this one after our great surf meet last year. Kindly hosted again by Lusty Glaze in Newquay , the 2nd Vintage Surf Meet is on sat 14th july 10 am - 1.30 pm. Along the same lines as last year but its likely to be bigger this year. Turn up with your boards, grab a space and enjoy the visuals, and mabye make or spend a quid or two. Thanks to Nick Radford www.frootful.co.uk  for doing another great poster , this one with John's old car in. Posters will be available soon . More on these and other stuff about the meet nearer the time...

NOW SOLDHere's a tempter - Gee at Revolver just got this classic Chris Jones 6'1 in. Shaped in the early-mid 80s for Vit Sea , 2 1/2 fin set up and clean with a sharp spray. Enquire at geepiper@yahoo.co.uk

Ocean Magic stinger

Ocean Magic made quite a few stingers in the mid-late 70s, and Paul's one by Pete McAllum must be one of the best survivors, in virtually unused condition. When Nigel Semmens was 18 he took a trip to Hawaii, and came back with a Ben Aipa stinger shaped specially for him. Templates were taken and the design was adapted to British waves. This board probably dates to around 1977, built for the more powerful waves and reefs. Paul spotted it on a south coast surf shop 2nd hand rack a couple of years ago - a nice find! Its 7'2 x 19 x 2 3/4. Got a couple of classic stickers ,a BSA 1980 and a' Hot Streak 'surfleash - strap one on !

OM crew Pete and Nigel (looking casual) 1980

Nigel at leven '78/'79

3/4 of a Space Gypsy

Boards on the Space Gypsy label seem to be as elusive as the man who made them. After years of waiting for one to turn up, I was donated this board recently by Gee, who knew of its rarity, but also what a project board it was. Of course originally it had another foot or so of tail with a single fin and probably a narrow delicate swallow tail. Problem is -as you can see - someone converted (chopped, hacked whatever you want to call it !) it to a twin in in the early 80s . It now needs a tail rebuild, god knows what that will cost or how succesful it will be, but I've been told it can be done.

Space Gypsy has been regarded as an underground collectable label for 15 or 20 years, and a couple of mags in the late 90s wrote about them being rare and sought after. Danny Garland was shaping them at a farm near Watergate bay in 1976, and a year later moved in after Tigger to a space at St Merryn airfield . After Danny left , Adrian Phillips and Fluid Juice moved in .
The boards were thin and light, with little volume at the rails ;cool sprays (see above) and fades , and the logo was like a mix of Dick Van Straalen and Jimi Hendrix.
Danny was a stylish surfer too, starring in Rod Sumpters 'Pipedreams 2' of 1976 , showing footage of him and Tigger surfing favourite north Cornwall spots. He also worked for Bilbo in the early 70s making a few signature models.A young Nigel Semmens and Lenny Ingram were team riders.  Then by the late 70s he hits the road, finishes board production, and goes abroad. Rumours linger about drugs charges, tax evasion and, but noone knows the definitive story..............

Billy Cowie at the Space Gypsy factory, 1976

This Space Gypsy turned up on ebay a few years ago. Also had been messed about with fcs added.

1976

Danny surfing abroad late 80s

Chandler's quiver section from North Shore, 1987. Classic characters included Laird Hamilton as power-hungry Lance Berkhard , Gerry Lopez as head of da hui and Occy as a squeaky gremmie, basically playing himself. 80s gold.

boards for sale

NOW SOLD Classic early 80s Quad made by Nigel Semmens at Ocean Magic Newquay. This must be one of the best survivors from the original 'quad squad'. It has been surfed a bit over the years but is still in great condition and ready to get back in the water. 6'1 x 20 1/4

Nigel Woodcock 1983. Photo alex williams

Izzi is selling this Town & Country made in the early 80s by Colin Ladhams in Australia. Twin fin plus fin box, and it originally had a tiny pair of trailer fins too.Looks like it was a West suits team riders board, so its got some interesting history. Tail needs repaired, apart from that it looks fine. Offer closest to £85 gets it ,email thewarburtons@hotmail.com ,and Izzi can get some money together for a new board.
Izzi has written this song and made the vid below too - age 10 !

  

revolver

Visited Revolver thinking - I'll just go for a look probably won't buy anything. Walked out with a board , some old mags and a fin ! Was tempted to get more.

Rare AW singlefin, not seen one of these before. Shaped by Anthony Ward at Croyde between '73-,'75.

Original old stock early 70's Bilbo fins as new.

Karma twin fin .Made at Cromer.

Surfboards Australia garage find

A seasoned board collector should be able to spot  fibreglass treasure in almost any situation - whether driving down the shops, going for a walk in the countryside, walking past a skip, or as happened to Jason - getting his van repaired down the local garage....
''I took my trusty camper-van to have a new fan belt fitted and ending up coming out with a vintage surfboard! I thought the recent price hike in vintage surfboards (caused by someone going on the Antique's Roadshow,sorry!) had left me behind, but I have had my faith restord that there are a few old gems still around, in fact there was a battered 'Creamed Honey' and a home made thruster there as well. I paid what a car machanic gets paid an hour, so it wasn't that cheap!! But I reckon it was heading for the land fill and with such a great logo that wouldn't have been right. I know nothing about this board apart from a quick bit of research that points towards it may have been made by G&S around 1968-1970, can any of your blog watcher's throw any light on it?''

Good find there Jay, nice board, I love the logo which is very British empire . Whether the average Aussie Gremmie of the time liked it who knows ? This model is called the '3A round tail' made in 1969/70 by 'Surfboards Australia' -who were actually Gordon &Smith's Australian factory at Caringbah, NSW. G&S Aus was set up by Floyd Smith (of G&S USA)  in 1965 and kept going till 1983. The shaper of this board was likely to be Floyd himself or Wayne Williams. I like the classic trasitional era fin which has done well to survive its time in the garage. Thanks to Surf Research Australia for most of the info here.

If you're sitting at work bored with half an hour to spare - this is a good interview with Floyd Smith about his early days of surfing and shaping.

 It seems to be G&S month for Jay - heres a sub 6 footer he got off the back of his antiques roadshow appearance. An early 70s eggy/piggy model.

MP was a master on these short singlefins.