more ebay boards

Heres some more nice boards which went through ebay recently, a 6'8 bilbo , a 6'10 Haven of Bude and a 7'3 Kevin Cross , all singlefins.

The Gul collection

The Gul collection is always a good place to see old boards, its just off the A30 at Bodmin and you can walk in and see them in the huge entrance hall. There's about 35 boards and they're restored and well displayed. Highlights include Creamed Honeys, Ocean magic, Zippy sticks, john Conways and lots of Bilbos including Rod Sumpters union jack model. The Sumpter model was apparently owned by a farmer in Hayle before Gul acquired it !Well worth a visit ; buy British and support companies like Gul.

French board collector

Stephane from Biarritz has emailed these pics of a couple of vintage British boards in his collection. They are a Tiki single fin from the mid 70s, and an Atlantic Crossing single fin which I have never heard of but he thinks is a British board - does anyone else know anything about Atlantic Crossing boards ?? They are both in great condition and Stephane says he sees quite a few vintage British boards down where he lives. I guess the decades of Brit surf trips and the early exporting to France by companies like Bilbo have made their mark. Thanks for the photos Stephane.

The Tiki photos are from the early 70s; in the colour photo the guy is holding a Tiki pig with parrot logo which looks like the board that was on ebay last month - same board ??

King of the groms 2009

Although this blog focuses on the past here's a quick glimpse into pro surfing's future, 15 year old Brazilian Gabriel Medina winning the groms title of the Quiksilver France pro last week. Amazing airs and two 10s in the finals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rya5HccCA&feature=fvsr

Bilbo longboard circa 1967

One sunny afternoon my girlfiend and I were having a nice walk along a creek and I looked up into a garden coming down to the shore and saw this Bilbo under some branches. It had a layer of old paint on it but I could see the logo and it was basically in good shape. It was tied onto a rack at an angle and seemed to be some sort of garden rubbish chute. It wasn't being looked after and for a while we thought about 'liberating' it but I've always been uncomfortable about bad karma so went and asked the owner if they'd like to sell it. The lady who answered the door was convinced it was a windsurf board and said the sail was missing so she was surprised I wanted it and that she'd ask her husband later. A year passed. Again I visited the house and left a note with an offer, which was accepted and I picked the board up.

It needed a lot of tlc but was built like a tank, and before I finished the restoration I sold it to my friend Nick to do up and enjoy as he logs more than me. I decided I didn't need two bilbo longboards and didnt have the space, hopefully Nick will keep it as these really are boards for life. Nick has a blog at http://www.frootful.blogspot.com/ www.kirstinprisk.com

North Shore 1987 Chandler's old boards

I still remember the first time I saw North Shore, it was on tv one saturday morning and I sat as a young grom glued to it and loving every minute. Back in those days there was virtually no surfing on tv in the UK.

It was hugely influential to me at the time, and I loved the clip shown below, when Rick gets to work his way through Chandler's quiver from ancient koa wood boards through to singles, twins and 80s thrusters. It could even have been the defining moment that sparked my board collecting; I wanted to experience lots of different boards.

The film included a young Occy, Laird Hamilton and Gerry Lopez amongst many surf stars and although Kelly Slater calls it a cheesy flick it has plenty of fans. Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JzZDcpZIYc&feature=related

Tris 70s twin fin by Chops

I spotted this board on the excellent Aussie site http://www.boardcollector.com/ .Its a beautiful late 70s Tris twin fin shaped by Pete chops Lascalles .Pete came over to live in St Agnes from Australia in the late 70s, and brought with him a lot of shaping experience, and was also a poweful surfer in the line up. He'd been a regional champion back in Queensland.

Quiver shots

Here are some shots taken a couple of years ago by Kirstin Prisk for the excellent Stranger magazine , for a piece called Story Boards , about the wierd and unlikely places I'd found boards and also to have a look at the collection. It was great to get a professional like Kirstin in and he took 100s of shots; luckily the sun was shining and the boards looked 'jolly good'. http://www.kirstinprisk.com/ http://www.stranger-mag.com/

Surfing heritage foundation vid

Someone's sneaked into my shed and taken a film of my boards ! Just wait till I get hold of him.....okay no its the surfing heritage foundation, no drooling please.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YtchrIWE9A

Tom Hoye 80s gun for British surfer Rob Ward

Rob Ward at Jeffrey's bay in the mid 70s

Tom Hoye in 1970

You don't see these in Cornwall every day ! Its a mid 1980s five fin gun made for big wave charger and adventurer Rob Ward, who grew up on the isle of Wight. The board was made by top Californian surfer turned experimental shaper Tom Hoye, who had settled in Margaret river by this time and had a long shaping relationship with Ward. Hoye is known for making unusual and forward thinking big wave boards in the late 70s and 80s and not many still survive.

Rob was a true adventurer and surfed big waves across the world from the 70s till the 90s, and did a surfing circumnavigation of the world in his self built yacht Orinoco flo. He settled in Newquay for a while in the 80s and has now emigrated to Australia.

The board has huge rocker for dealing with chop on big faces and looks to have been surfed alot ;I bet it could tell a few stories ! The dimensions are 8'6 x 19 1/4 x 3 .The board will soon be going into the British surfing museum's collection where it will be well preserved. There's a section about Rob in Roger Mansfield's book The Surfing Tribe p.152-3.

New arrivals, new projects....

A couple of new arrivals to the collection which as usual will need a bit of tlc, an 80s 6'1 Tris by Martin Wright, and a 6'8 circa 1970 snub nose backyard board with some great artwork, built like a tank and probably a force to be reckoned with out on the water.

Also half way through restoration is this beautiful Hayden singlefin from the late 60s, with its Greenough style fin; actually George was working with Hayden at the time making his amazing clear kneeboards. This board had some pretty heavy handed repairs with red resin and the previous owner also painted resin on the underside which I am taking back and repolishing, but its still got a few hours work left. Its a very elegant 6'11 built for Queenslands fast points.

Surf mags

In the 60s Britain didn't have any major surf magazines ( until Rod Sumpter brought out British Surfer in '69 ) so Surfer , the top US mag was highly prized by mail order and also imported and sold from Doug Wilson's shop in Newquay. British surfers and shapers could now keep up with all the latest trends from abroad.