Space Gypsy by Rumpelstiltskin

 Finding any Space Gypsy is an event, with them being so rare ; but this one is especially interesting because it could have been Danny Garland's personal board (mabye ...). I bought it off Ally, who owned it for 20 years and picked it up in South Wales. Ally says Danny was seeing a girl in that area for a while and so would come up to surf the Mumbles etc. So there could be a link there.
Also , usually Space Gypsies are 'designed and shaped by Danny Garland' but this one is by 'Rumpelstilskin' out of the fairy story, mabye his nickname or something, and the sort of thing you might put your own board for a laugh if it wasnt going to be a stock board. The board is also very narrow for the time, less than 19 inches wide and a dimension Danny favoured in juicy waves. It also has beautiful custom artwork, afterburner spray and custom fin, all repeating the Rumpelstiltskin name and 'space is the place' hand drawn decals, which is also the name of a track by way out jazz musician Sun Ra from the early 70s. All this leans towards it being quite a special Space Gypsy. Its 6'8 x 18 1/2 x 3 .

 The board was made in 1977 at the old airbase, St Merryn ( where Fluid Juice are today ). Space Gypsy were Danny Garland designer and shaper , and Chris Evans glasser and finisher. Chris was from Angelsey and before had made his own Wasp surfboards there. Danny was a talented surfer and favoured the breaks of Constantine and nearby reefs, ie Tigger Newling country. Danny's shaping began while working for Bob Cooper in Coff's harbour, Australia in the mid 70s , where guys liked what he was doing for Bob and ordered some custom boards from Danny - the first Space Gypsys. When he came back home he set up at the old Outer limits factory near Watergate bay and was making Space Gypsys over here. He would spend summers at Watergate and later St Merryn making boards, and winters abroad - this must have lasted two or three years because in the late 70s he took off abroad and has been mostly abroad ever since , living in quite a few countries. He was shaping twin fins under his own label in the U.S. for a while in the early 80s. Stories abound about him but I'm not going to get into them here. I guess the term is local legend !

 This board is featured in the Space Gypsy ad in Surf magazine summer 1977. Its on the floor in front of Danny Garland.

Beautiful hand drawn and coloured dragon, signed Rumpelstiltskin again . Thanks to Paul for pointing out its  from a Roger Dean artwork below from his book Dragons dream of 1975. It would have been traced from the book, coloured and then glassed over.

 

  rocket thrusters , necessary on any space ship

 Custom made fin for the board, also by Rumpelstiltskin

 Surf, 1976

The board has a flat deck with a trianglar profile to the rails, rounded at the rail. Ally said this was so more drugs could be packed in the centre of the board ha ha..

 Danny shaping, Atlantic surfer no.2 late 70s.