Friendly Bear longboard by Bob Head !

 Well its happened - after quite a few years of wondering if I'd ever see a Friendly Bear malibu - here one is ! It has been in the same ownership since the 60s along with a later Bilbo longboard , and they have both been stored in a garage rafters, out of reach and covered with dust. This is their first glimpse of daylight for years.
A Friendly Bear is an iconic board - especially for Newquay surfers - because it marks the very beginning of Malibu manufacture in the town. We are back in 1963 or '64 , and the shaper is of course Bob Head , and the 'factory' a disused chicken shack at Mawgan Porth. The only other longboard maker in the town is Bill Bailey , and slightly later Fred Bickers - all legendary names from the roots of Newquay surfing.

 The board features a wide hardwood stringer for strength , coarse weave fibreglass ,which also covers the large ply d fin , and a small, basic and hardly legible logo, possibly made from letraset type letters put on tissue paper and glassed over. The easiest part of the logo to read is 'Friendly Bear Surfboards' and I think it includes Bob's name and address there too. Bob may have got the blank from Bill, who had started blowing his own in a caravan in Redruth (!) with varying degrees of success.

 Bob arrived from Australia in April 1962 to work the beaches around Newquay with fellow Aussie lifeguards from Avalon SLSC - Ian Tiley, John Campbell and Warren Mitchell. Bob and John had brought their boards with them , and were happy to see that Cornwall offered a good variety of empty waves.
But the local surfing bug was growing, and in 1963 Bob (and independently Bill Bailey) decided to make some boards to meet the growing demand . Bill's label was called Bailey Malibu boards and Bob's was Friendly Bear. Bob like Bill hadn't made boards before but sensed a good opportunity to make some cash. He relied on his years of experience surfing in Oz and his own Australian board to help him shape.
At this time Bob, and Hawaiian/American Jack Lydgate were the best surfers in Newquay, idolised by a generation of teenagers and gremmies who took up the sport .Bob was a powerful paddler, and stylish surfer with strong carving turns .
Before long , Bob would get together with Bill Bailey , Freddie Blight and Doug Wilson to start our most famous label of the 60s -  Bilbo surfboards , which started production in early 1965 - and the rest is history !
Just think - when this board was made there may only have been 20 or 30 logo'd malibus made in Britain , mabye even less !

 Bill Bailey, Doug Wilson  and Bob Head ,September 1962, Mawgan Porth

Another Tris from the tip

 Another nice Tris rescued from the tip. This is the fourth Tris saved from there in the last few years, and like most of the others its far too good to throw away. The underside has a few scrapes but the deck is perfect, and its a nice Hillsey shape from around 1981 with double flyers , and an unusually raked back fin.
I must sound like a regular Stig of the dump , but its not got that bad - theres an outlet near me that sells stuff rescued from there. Dimensions are 6'3 x 19 3/4.
Up in Devon the surfing museum has recently got a couple of beauties which were bound for the tip ,  the Bill Bailey longboard and Bickers paipo.

 The cat approves

Bargains

 The good thing about old surfing stuff is that most people put hardly any value on it. Its not unknown for decent boards to be sold at car boot sales for £5 - £10 because they are 'out dated' , dinged or just plain dirty. So if youre there at the right time and place you can score a good find. Boards are still being taken to the tip too - some incredibly rare and important.
This Tiki was a recent buy off ebay - not the easiest place to get a bargain , but it does happen. This one was £75 buy it now, so i went for it, partly because the shape looked pretty interesting, and also because it was a looker . Ive always been a sucker for a nice green tint, and the airbrushing and parrot logo are classic too.

 The seller said he got it in Wales in 1969, which would make it a very progressive board for the time. It has no clumsy s-deck which is a big bonus ; its light, thin and wide and looks a blast so Im looking forward to taking it out. The fin is definitely late 60s/ 1970 era , one of those Australian made slotted finboxes - copied from Waveset fins made in the US from around 1968. The build quality of the board is really beautiful ,and its still in great condition. No shapers name though. Dimensions are 6'8 x 22 x 2 1/4.

Wave Eater 1 logo

Waveset adjustable fin

Funny little decal of a long nosed surfer about to get eaten . Ring any bells ? 

 Tiki factory, early 70s

1972 ad

Tiki Surf shop 1975

Simon emailed me photos of a recent bargain - this early Gul wetsuit in amazingly good condition. I doubt if its even been worn and its a proper museum piece.-
''It cost me £20 in an antiques shop in Dorchester today and the girl I paid just said "it's a bit cold to wear that at the moment" I said nothing and just grinned from ear to ear! What a find! I'm still grinning :-))''
Gul used this logo from the late 60s to the early 70s, and this suit is likely to be from c.1971/2. Interesting red areas on the legs to try to prevent knee wear . The suit looks pretty well made and well though out; and I bet it was quite warm too. Thanks to Simon for the photos

1972

One of Gul's earliest beaver tail suits

Buttons from ENCYCLOPEDIA of SURFING videos on Vimeo.

Sadly another surfing legend lost. Rest in peace Buttons .
A 70s stylemaster with plenty of radical moves in his repertoire

October surf meet Hossegor

 It looks like a great atmosphere at this late season surf meet organised by Pierre in Hossegor, Oct 6th. A sunny afternoon under the trees near the lake, beer and music, boards and old friends. Thanks to Stephane for the photos.
There were 80 boards and 20 of them were UK made - five of these were Stephane's own boards.

 The English /Jersey table - Chapter, 2 Tiki and 2 Freedom.

 Two Ocean Magic singlefins , one by Pete, one by Nigel.

 Longboard corner

 Bilbo made for France

Thanks to Stephane for the photos. Good to see the French vintage scene going strong !
Below -  France  in 1968.



French Revolution: 1968 from ENCYCLOPEDIA of SURFING videos on Vimeo.

Endless Summer Surfposium

The Endless summer exhibition in Truro is having an intruigingly named 'Surfposium' this saturday, which will include talks, a film show and other events.
The run down for the day is -
11-noon Surf fashion and style - with historian Julie Ripley. free
12 noon - meet the lenders.
2.30-3.30 - The Cornish Surfing Tribe - talk by Roger Mansfield . free
3.30 - 3.45 - Presentation of photography competition prizes.
6 - 7.30 -Surf films talk with Mark Kermode - sold out.

 Some photos of the Surfposium by Alex Williams. Above- Julie Ripley talk

 Gwyn Haslock with her trophies and bathing suits

 Bob Rudland with a paipo he made in 1965

Roger Mansfield talk . The photo is of Roger when he was a gremmie

Chris Evans - Wasp surfboards and Space Gypsy

Hi Alasdair,
 Will the real Rumpelstiltskin please stand up! 

Thanks for putting up the site - its great to see the old boards and logo's.
 The green Space Gypsy surfboard by Rumpelstiltskin was made by me - Chris Evans.

 It was one of the first boards I shaped whilst serving a wild apprenticeship with Danny Garland, in the summer of 1976. I was making the board for myself, so tried to make it pretty with the hand drawn decals and flames. The fin was a foam fiberglass sandwich to save weight. However I was worried about how it would go with such thin rails, so Danny kindly let me put it in with a consignment of stock boards, and I shaped myself a 'Stinger' instead. 

The art was ripped off from a Roger Dean album cover - traced off with ink onto some acid free tissue paper. I learned a lot from Danny that year and we had a crazy summer. We travelled to france together in 1977 and stayed with Gerard Dabbadie. I had met Gerard when competing in the European Surfing Championships at Hosseger, France as a junior in 1975. 
Gerard was a great surfer and he and his family were very kind to me. He had been making his Superfrog boards for a while and was happy to have Danny shape a few at his factory. I am pretty sure the Superfrog shaped by Danny on your site is one of the boards we made then. I think I finished it working with Gerard after Danny had gone back to England.

 Superfrog - shaped by Danny , finished by Chris .

I stayed on at Gerards folks place for a while and his Dad gave me a great great deal on the rent. In return for accommodation in my own little villa (with a Solex plus board racks to ride), I had to make six surfboards for his Dad to use as hire boards. I was stoked to have the practice with shaping without the pressure of a custom order, and had a great time pootling around on the Solex surfing the beachbreaks.

 The following summer I began making 'Wasp' surfboards in North Wales, where I had grown up surfing the local breaks. Tim DʼMel (the only other kid surfing in Rhosneiger back then) designed and drew up the logo for me.

He was studying graphics at the time, and nowadays lives in Sydney and produces TV commercials for high profile clients. I designed a shape called the 'Atlantic Seed', a double wing round pin, with concave 'V' in the tail, shaped slightly longer and wider than average for the time, to compensate for the sloppy waves that we usually surfed in.

Tim D'Mel with Space Gypsy stinger, left, and Chris Evans with Wasp 'Atlantic Seed' right

(This Space Gypsy stinger came up on ebay a couple of years ago. The seller was in Anglesey so it must be Tim D'Mel's old board.)


My shaping room was an old pig sty and glassing was done in a spare bedroom in my flat! When the family living upstairs started getting respiratory problems they got the local council onto me and that was the end of that.

 Sequence of Chris on the 'Atlantic Seed 'at Broadbeach, Rhosneiger  - Anglesey 1977

In 1978 I moved the business down to Cornwall and set up my workshop in an old stone farm building near Padstow.

These were my 'halcyon days', living in an old wooden gypsy caravan just behind the dunes at Constantine beach. Surfing the reef, getting around on an old honda 90 'noddy bike' and living my dream of shaping boards

  Shaping

Wasp Coca Cola 

 There were no long blanks available for Dibbsey's mal, so an extra bit of foam was glued on to the tail ,joined where the fin sits

 One of my own boards by the old gypsy caravan.

 Wasp twin keel kneeboard

Neil Llewelyn with Wasp quiver

 A Wasp for Mike Conlan (champion surfer and entrepreneur)

The years I spent surfing and partying with the local crew around St. Merryn were the best of times. Winters were spent traveling south through Europe, Morocco and the Canary Islands. Eventually Thatcher's England got too damn cold, so I headed off to Australia in 1981.

These photos are of the last board I made in St. Merryn in 1980. This was the board I brought to Oz in 1981. It started life as a single fin rounded pintail, but a few leash pulls inspired me to cut it down to a rounded square tail and a thruster fin set up. As you can see its had a hard life.

Me waxing up on arrival to the Gold Coast 1981

This is the round pin board I was riding in the last summer I spent in Cornwall. The wasp painting was done by Dave 'Sprout' with ink and acrylics directly onto the board before the gloss coat. 'Sprout' is still a productive artist living around St.Merryn.

I sold this board to James Ewart just before I left Cornwall. I had been stoked with the way the board went - it was lightweight for its day and had a shorter, wider fin than the one pictured. Although I used the same templates, the board I made to bring to Oz was built heavier and thicker, and was never as good as the board I sold to James.

26 years later I travelled back to England for the first time. James had been in touch by email and told me he still had my old 'Wasp'. It had been in storage for years and was now on display at the Trevone Head Backpackers Hostel. Unfortunately James was out of the country at the time, but said I could go and pick the board up. In one amazing day I travelled down to Cornwall, retrieved my board, and was helped out by Adrian at 'Fluid Juice' with a new fin. Adrian still had my old sanding racks outside his factory! That afternoon I looked up my old mate Ritchie Mannifield and went for a surf at 'Booby's' on the old 'Wasp'. It was like going back in time, not much had changed around Constantine in all those years, as it is a Heritage area. Later that day, we visited 'Sprout' who had painted the wasp. He was living above our old pub 'The Farmers Arms', and he was busy painting a landscape. The day ended perfectly in an old Cornish pub where we were joined by another old local, Dave Bruce, for Cuban cigars and lashings of real ale. On my way back to Australia I surfed the 'Wasp' in Sri Lanka and occasionally still take it out for a spin here.

The old Wasp in Sri Lanka


Australia has been good to me - had a career here for a while as a graphic artist, working mostly in the surf wear industry peaking with Billabong in the mid 90's These days I live on the border of QLD and NSW mostly surfing the northern NSW coast with occasional surfaris overseas. Still interested in shaping, but lean more towards sculpture and playing cronky old blues on a slide guitar. Cheers - evo

A highlight of my surfing career, going for a surf with Mark Richards at Cloudbreak, mid 90s

Recent foam sculpture for the TV series ʻIʼm a celebrity get me outta here, which is filmed near to where I live.

Thanks so much to Chris for taking the time and effort to share his stories and photos, and especially unmasking the mysterious Rumpelstiltskin !
Now we all know about Wasp surfboards it would be good to find one ; mabye a nice rounded pin or moontail kneeboard . Chris is youre ever back in the UK you're welcome to have your first surf on the Rumpelstiltskin - if you want to !