Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !

Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !
Free to take part
We buy interesting old boards 60s/70s/early 80s in good condition. Email alasdairlindsay75@gmail.com . Also wanted - Surfing UK , British Surfer and Surf Insight magazines .
Above photo - copyright Rennie Ellis photographer archive

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Hollow wooden 8'10

When I hear about a hollow wood vintage longboard I imagine those long thin paddleboards or kookboxes that the lifeguards used to use for rescues, paddle races and early stand up surfing . Or the square railed boards that were built from magazine plans in the early 60s.
But this board is later, more refined and would handle a lot better on a wave . The rails are solid wood and rounded, with a bit of down rail , and the deck and underside are long sheets of ply. Its a well made board and was nicely finished with a strong deck  ; it must have taken many man hours to produce ! But now it needs some tlc, as all the varnish is peeling and the rails need a bit of repair .
Im thinking that this board must have been made in the late 60s or 70s . The finbox and leash plug look mid / late 70s but they may have been retrofitted . The board has gone through a few alterations and repairs . Longboards from the 70s are very rare, as it was out of fashion then. Perhaps if you wanted a longboard in the 70s you had to make it yourself ! And thats what this guy did , probably in Cornwall since it was found here . It looks like it had a solid wood fin, early 70s style but it has been broken off. The board dimensions are 8'10 x 23 . An interesting and unusual board. It has a rudimentary screw drain plug near the nose; I think the drain plug could originally have been where the leash plug is now.






Early lifeguards in Jersey, with a balsa and ply longboard, early 60s
Jersey surfing on hollow boards

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