Creamed Honeys

summer 1976

Australian legend boardmaker Kevin Cross worked under a few labels when he lived in Braunton. The most famous was Creamed Honey, which ran from around '72/'73 to '76 ,and at the same time he produced a small number of boards for his budget label Silverwings. Just before going back to Oz in '76 he made some 'Kevin Cross Surfboards' with the rainbow wave logo.





But something I found out only recently was that Kevin had a label before Creamed Honey. It was called Kejo surfboards and was formed by Kevin and John Hall - hence the name. This was in the very early 70s and they were the first boards they made in Braunton before Kevin started Creamed Honey and John went to shape for Tiki. Woolacome surfer (at the time) Tony Cope remembers having a Kejo made for him - a 6'3 'sideslipper' with flat rocker, big nose kick, down rails and a tiny fin in a 'paper jam' box. Kevin, John and fellow Aussie Ron Corthers first arrived in Woolacombe in 1969 and quickly scoped out a market for their boardmaking. They were soon some of the most prolific shapers in north devon with a reputation for quality. They both live in Australia again now, and Kevin lives in Agnes water on the Queensland coast, where his old friend Bruce Palmer lives too. John lives on the south coast of NSW.






Remember to look out for Kejos - they have a map of Oz on the logo and are super rare.








This early 70s diamond tail is in Henry's collection, probably shaped by Kevin , with the first Creamed Honey logo.

A couple more Honeys, both diamond tails again belonging to Shaun. The one on the left looks a nice shape, and that spray was used a few times; a really clean board, and the one on the right is of for restoration back to its former glory. Both by Kevin.

This is quite an unusual Phil Jay designed by Kevin Cross - but not necessarily shaped by him. Its a mid 70s gunny model with solid colour tint on the deck - which hides the stringer, and was a technique Kevin used sometimes in the mid 70s. Great colour. Recently found by Shaun in Falmouth. Phil Jay had a factory in north devon and a great shop in London.

Jay surf shop Wandsworth London early 70s

Kevin with a stack of Creamed Honeys, mainly shaped by Dick Harvey for the Watergate bay surf shop.

Kevin with cheeky stinger

Pipe a couple of days ago -pretty heavy

old postcards

Perranporth 1922 with boards made by the local coffin builder.

Droskyn

1932 Newquay

Perranporth again.

Severn bore long before it was ridden

The Aegir tidal bore on the river Trent. A tempting righthander

this movie is called Seaflight from the late 70s ;check out that soundtrack and larry bertlemann

Tiki double stringer

Paul has sent in photos of his Tiki singlefin, which although a bit battered is a pretty special board. Tiki founder Tim Heyland was riding a very similar board in the early 70s, as the photo of him below shows. Both boards have double sloping stringers and the strange parrot logo (or kookaburra ?) which I personally haven't seen before. I've seen quite a lot of Tikis with their standard parrot head logo but this one is different. Is this another of Tim's (or the Tiki crew's ) personal boards ? Doesn't look like a stock board with those stringers and the radical teardrop shape, with early fish tail - probably made in the first couple of years the swallow tail hit the UK - 1972 -73. But the cloth on the deck has such a coarse weave it kind of looks older. Hopefully Tim can shed some light on the board - I'll add some info if he gets back to me. The fin shape is quite unusual too - the board has a big feeling of experimentation, of the shaper trying out new designs and plan shapes, surfing the board himself and finding out what works best.
What do you think ?

Tim Heyland, early 70s BSA archives

London underground 50s time capsule

I love seeing discoveries like this-
Recent renovations at the Notting Hill gate tube station have uncovered these mid-century posters. The posters were located in a non-public area and date from c1956 - 1959 when the station’s lifts were removed and replaced by escalators. Mike Ashworth, who is the Design and Heritage Manager for London underground took the photos and says the area will never be open to the public as its very inaccesible - which is probably why its survived untouched for so long. The posters will be left as they are and the room closed up. A pretty cool glimpse back into the 50s. Photos copyright London underground.

i was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth

The last two live bands I've seen both played this track. The who's music is alive and well in little old Hayle. Dig Pete Townsend's jackets

80s collection

Here's what a surf shop rack looked like in the 80s. This collecion belongs to Australian Matthew Maleham and includes some real Aussie classics from the era. Its been a while since we had some 80s boards on the blog so here's some welcome day glo, channels and multi fin set ups.
Cheers to Matthew for sending in the pics, love the boards and sprays and especially the jet fins on the Simon Anderson Nectar.

Bilbos

A good few thousand Bilbos were made between their birth in 1965 and demise in 1973/74 ,so finding one these days still isn't that difficult. What is difficult though is finding a clean one - the result of little use during its life, dry storage and no unfortunate accidents. Here are some old Bilbos in about as good condition as you will find.

10 footer circa 1966, this one is owned by Justin who sold a Bilbo on the blog last week. Nice competition stripes on this one.

Transitional Bilbo, around 8 1/2 ft, shaped by the great Bill Bailey in around 1967. Check out that chunky stringer - and also the width of the board, pretty wide mabye to make up for the drop in length. The fin is one of the rare and quite brittle 1st generation of Bilbo plastic removeable fins. From Henry's collection.

Another transitional Bilbo along the lines of the CJ model. This one is 8ft and stringerless to try to save weight , from around 1968. This is also owned by Justin and may be up for sale. Very clean and probably a fun ride.

1972 Surf Insight ad



Into the shortboard era with this nice roundtail from around 1971 and around 7 ft long. It uses Bilbo's more successful later fin system and could have been shaped by any of the strong team of shapers at the time. Could be by CJ, Pete McAllum or Alan MacBride. Those lines across it are tape residue Henry hasn't got round to cleaning off yet.

1972 Chris Jones and Brian Schofield


early 70s diamond tail Bilbo, pretty much in as perfect original state as you will find. Thrown away by its original owner and now happily resides in Jason's collection.