North sea surfers

This is a good little site about the pioneers of lincolnshire surfing here
I saw it recently and it has some classic old photos of the crew and old boards, many of which were bought in Cornwall and Devon like Bilbo, Tiki etc and the board below looks like the surfing museum's Weber from Phil Jay's in London. Its amazing when you think just how many pockets of surf culture there were back in the early 70s. Above - Cleethorpes surf crew with a wide variety of surf craft, early 70s.

East coast dude Brian Webster

10 foot Bilbos at Sutton on Sea

Bilbo singlefin

Nice Bilbo shortboard from around 1969/70, a simple shape but looks sweet. No stringer just a line of glue, and this one has the B logo which was apparently inspired by the London clothes shop Biba. There were only a few bilbos with the full biba style lettering as the guys didn't dig the logo and agreed to just use the B, I think CJ told me this a while back. The leash plug wouldn't have been original. This ones from the Gul collection, photos by Alex.

Full flower power logo 1969

Unused '67/'68 transfer decal for the Welsh Bilbo shop run by Dave Friar

tris

got in last night at Godrevy (above) on my cruise liner of a board the good ship Tris. She's a big old girl, 7'4 ,heavy and I'm sure almost 4 inches thick ! But good fun, motors through mush and is a pure and unpretentious wave rider. Built to last a lifetime too.

Stranger

This is a piece I did a few years back with the excellent Stranger magazine. I guess it opened my eyes to the fact it would be good to start a website or blog about the boards and have them online and being enjoyed not just stuck in the attic. At the time I didn't imagine so many other owners of old boards would get involved too which has made the blog much better so thanks to all who have helped so far..
The photos are by Kirstin Prisk and layout by Alex and Ross at A-side studio .Words by Helen at Stranger .

I later found out this was an Alias by Chris Jones

Heatwave in november

Here's a make we haven't had on the blog before - a Heatwave made in Cornwall by J Pellow in the early 80s. Its got a twin fin plus fin box set up and some cool artwork of the era, lazor zap style chevrons. I remember buying this board at a car boot for the grand sum of £7 and later sold it on to Myles. It measures 5'9 x 19 1/4. Anyone else remember Heatwaves ?

strange tails

Whatever floats your boat - there are some wierd tail designs around from back in the day, all which seem to work to a degree. But as in the case of Fitz and Cheyne Horan when you're that damn talented you can ride just about anything and still be a class act. Above - one of the Mirandon brothers with twin pin. Below - rare 70s fish tail Lopez Bolt spotted on the boardcollector site.

Fitz with cosmic quiver including screwdriver tail

Twin Pin from Hydrodynamica on Vimeo.

Alex's photos

Nigel Semmens ,Porthleven 1980

Alex Williams has sent a few photos from his extensive archive. Great shots, from around 1980 -82. This one above was shot the same session as the wipeout one of Keith Beddows at Porthleven 1980 that I put on the blog last month.
Alex remembers- 'Bantham was pumping so I drove to Leven and there was nobody out! So I called Nigel at the factory in Newquay and told him it was pumping, so he drove down
with Keith, Phil Northey. So I got a couple of hours shooting before sunset!
Then back to Bantham, it was late November. The lineup was from the same day.
The cutback shot of Nigel (top) on the same day at Porthleven but between sets, there were good lulls between the real sets.

Contest at Fistral with a young Griska Roberts and Paul Bassford.

Leven lineup 1980

Cornish and open Porthtowan 1982. Seated is French champ Frank Gomis.

Steve England , Porthtowan 1982

A couple more shots from the Cornish and Open from the same day as the other
shot.

The shot above has Paul Bassford , Nigel Semmons and with his back to cameras
Ian Thomson of Hot Generation surf boards made at the air field near
Constantine. Shot below is the same contestants with Johnny giving out heat time
etc.
Great to see the boards too, cheers Alex

Bilbo twin fin

Lovely twin fin from around 1980 when the Bilbo label was being resurrected. You don't see many of these 80s Bilbos though compared to other Newquay labels OM and Vit Sea. At 5'5 x 21 1/2 this one hovers between small fish and kneeboard, but with no scoop deck and plenty of volume fine to stand up surf if you're not a giant. This one is also outstanding condition wise and with beautiful fins, a little stunner. No shapers name but uses Clark foam. Cheers to Myles.

1981

Vic Hole with similar Bilbo 1981 Newquay Open contest

cheyne

Here's one of those elusive Cheyne Horan models shaped by Chris Jones. Based on Cheyne's McCoy lazor zaps and made under licence at Vit Sea in Newquay. Most of them had killer 80s sprays. This one looks like a twin fin, made in 1983 and is 5'9. Whether Cheyne got much money from them is anyones guess

360 at Sunset

Summer dreaming

Its that time of year again, winter is on the doorstep, with icy winds and cold heavy swells to keep many a surfer tucked up indoors waiting for the few sheltered sunny days. Summer seems like a distant memory, so take a look at these photos by Australian Rennie Ellis, shots of classic summers past. Although they're taken in Oz some have a British summer feel about them. Work from the Ellis estate. Above - back view ,Lorne 1968.

Lindy Hobbs, Lorne 1968

Boys with surfboard, Burleigh heads 1978

Four sunbathers ,Lorne 1968

Surfer with girl, Lorne 1968

Surfer boys and girls, Lorne 1975

Union jack, Lorne 1968