Where are they now?

I posted a photo from the OP Pro compeditors tent and wondered where those boards are now.



Rangi wrote-
I actually owned one of Occy's board from that period. I only have the top 12 inches now sitting in the shed.
My old man threw the bottom 3/4 out to the dump after it sat in the garage for so long.

i went to school with some kid who owned it and he knew i liked occy so he gave it to me. Liked was probably an understatement, i had two walls covered in surf mag cutouts of him surfing.
The board was beaten up and yellow. I spent months fixing it up and replacing a fin. In the end it even had car bog and car filler in the dings.

The problem was the glass was rather thin from all the sanding and i snapped it one day out at avoca beach while pig dogging in a small tube.
It sat in the corner of the garage in two bits until mum wanted the garage cleaned out.. so off went the board and all my tracks collection. I cried at the loss and even considered going to the local dump looking for it but dad said it would be buried by then. I imagine it would be a collectors item if i still had it.

It was shaped by Rusty Presiendorfer ( im sure it had his last name on the board, written for occy and was labelled as number 4. I take it that meant occys fourth model Rusty.
It had red fins. i think it had two and i had to replace one of the side ones. I am not exactly sure which period or contests he used this board but i do recall seeing some footage of occy out at some remote left hand Hawaiian reef break riding something that may have been it. The board had a red rusty logo and no other stickers when i got it.

I took an outline of the tail once and tried to copy the shape but it wasnt the same and never rode as good. Funny now, i see they do a reissue.
This thing was thick and wide.
i think well over 19 inches.
Square rails. super square edges at the bottom tail which sent off a nice spray on turns. It would pop out of he wave if you put a very hard turn in.
i think i saw that happen to occy too on the video. i think it actually had some vee running out from the back fin but was probably flat in front of the fins.

I recall in a magazine back from the day that the boards where "flat fat and forgiving".
I still have the nose and i will take a pic and send it to you if you like.
obviously its not for sale or anything but id like you to know about it, seeing as you asked what happened to these boards!

cheers

Rangi.



One thing though. i think it said not "for occy" but mark occhilupo.
the preseindorfer name is on the rice paper logo so maybe was not on the stringer/fin area.
i looked at some of the pictures on the net for the 84 copies and they dont have the same blockyness in the rails.
i guess he pulled them down a bit.

I worked out that i got this board in 1991. i dont know how long the guy that gave it to me had it or how he got it but he was from umina beach. he was from a broken home and i let him stay at my place, he saw my occy wall photo collage and said he had one of his boards..its beaten up, you can have it.
I couldnt believe he was telling the truth till i read the pencil.
You can see the red resin chop strand you buy for repairing car panels and the white paint that i ended up painting it all over.
more mojo than a beat up guitar.

On another note there was an Al Merrick Curren epoxy model that came out a few years after i got this board.
my mate got one that was gold spray like a gibson gold top.
i think by the shape of it that it was not moulded off one of the mid 80s boards though but probably a current 90s board.
i think they had a few pro model boards running at the time with the idea being that you could try one out at the surfshop before you buy.
The problem with those boards though was that they had wooden laminate that once it began splitting it would keep running up the rail.

Thanks for doing the website. I enjoy reading a bit of australian surfing/board history.
cheers,

Rangi