: Board Collector: September 2011

Sacred Craft- Del Mar Show Grounds October 8th and 9th

Anouncment from Scott Bass of Scared Craft:
The upcoming Sacred Craft Consumer Surf Expo has something for everybody – even antique collectors. The Collectible Surfboard & Surf Memorabilia “Antique Roadshow” is modeled after PBS TV’s highly successful “Antique Roadshow” series.

“The power of the “Roadshow” lies in the ‘buried treasure concept,’” said Scott Bass, Expo Director. “Many of us possess, in our garage or attic, or perhaps under the house, a collectible surfboard; a board that for whatever reason holds intrinsic value above and beyond the value of a regular or ‘normal’ used surfboard. If the board has a strong provenance, well, this generally increases its value. Perhaps it was on the cover of a surf magazine, or George Greenough pulled into the barrel on it during filming of “Innermost Limits of Pure Fun.” Whatever the case, our appraisers want to see it.”

But ‘roadshow’ isn’t just about surfboards. Surf ‘paper’, as the experts refer to it, is also of import to the collectors and appraisers. Maybe you possess an old Rick Griffin surf movie poster from the Santa Monica Civic, or a Malibu Pro surf contest program, or perhaps a business card from Tom Blake or signed photo of Duke Kahanamoku Any item that you think may be worth something, the appraisers would love to see it, and to help you better understand its provenance and possible market value. The more information you can bring to the discussion, the more accurate the appraisal.

We all probably have a bit of buried treasure; we just may not know it! The Collectible Surfboard “Antique Roadshow” appraisals will visit the Del Mar Fairgrounds one day only, on Saturday October 8 from 10am-4pm as a part of the 2-day Sacred Consumer Surfboard Expo. Expert appraisers, including Bird Huffman from Bird’s Surf Shed and experts from the Surfing Heritage Foundation California Surf Museum, and Damion from Boardcollector.com will be on hand for surfboards, surf ‘paper’, surf posters, surf magazines, surf art, surf books and surf memorabilia.Please bring out your surf collectibles for appraisal – and a great time.

Saturday only Oct 8 10am -4pm!

Martin Potter's Twin - Part 2

One of Martin Potter's "The Saint" twinies shaped by Glen Pang.

Martin Potter's Twin

Probably one of the most recognizable twin fins of my generation belonged to the then 16 year old Martin Potters. His green and yellow splash T&C. To me one of the most memorable and enduring twin fins of the modern era. It is ironic that Martin became famous on this twin fin because it was partly his explosive style and mastery of the new Thruster design that hastened the end of the twin fin / single fin period.

It does happen, it just doesn't happen very often. Part 3.

Rarely does a place live up to and exceed your expectations.

It does happen, it just doesn't happen very often.

Hossegor today at lunch time was sunny, off shore and solid.

Sorry about the phone pic, you get the message.

Snapper rocks?

I was sleeping on the plane when I was woken up for landing. I lifted the blind to see what I thought was a familiar sight, Coolangatta, Snapper Rocks and the beginning of the Gold Coast.

I said to myself, "damn the superbank is flat today".

Then I realized I was landing in Chicago and I was looking at Lake Michigan.

Energy thruster: the original 3 fin thruster- Part 5

Surely one of the most interesting Energy thrusters of all time is this 5'10", shaped by Simon on the North Shore in 1981, during the first season that he took the new design to Hawaii. This board was latter used by Becky Benson to win the '81 OP pro in Huntington. It looks to have a much narrower tail than any other thruster Simon shaped in 1980 / 81. I'd be fascinated to learn who did the air brush spray job because it is nothing like anything I've seen come out of the Energy or Nectar factories. Of particular interest to me is the hand done Energy triangle logo. I'm not surprised Simon didn't have any rice paper transfers on him in Hawaii, I know I wouldn't have packed any if I were him.

Surely one of the least interesting Energy thrusters of all time is this 6'0" of mine. Plain as she is, I still love her. In fantastic condition for its age it has all the features you'd want in a first generation Thruster created by Simon Anderson, it is the shape that has set the pace for modern surfboard design for the past two generations. Wide tailed wing squash with unique angled channels on the bottom with no less than 8 "Energy" and "Simon Anderson Model" labels.

From PhiI Edwards to Tom Curren, the best surfer in the world rode boards that the typical surfer should have had under his feet as well. But the past decade of pro surfing has, thanks to the SIop Factor, pared down the average size and weight of the top surfers with a ruthless evolutionary purge. Once, Thundderlizards like Simon Anderson and Ian Cairns strode through the pageantry, and average weights were up around 170 pounds. Today, with a climactic shift from

Sunset to Sao Paulo, the scene is fraught with compact little Saurian roosters, 125 to 130 pounds, riding short, ultra-thin, hyper- rockered miniaturized surfboards. Dave Parmenter referred to a trend in which the best surfers in the world had shrunk from the big blokes who pioneered pro surfing, twin fins, deeper tube-riding, and Thrusters-Mark Richards, Shaun Tomson, Ian Cairns, Simon Anderson-to a new era where pro surfers were specialized to the size of gymnasts. The pro surfers of the early 1990s were uniformly small, light, strong, and very fast, and the surfboards designed for them were almost impossibly thin and narrow. And almost impossible for the average surfer to ride.

The Thrust of the Thruster Australian surfer and board designer Simon Anderson proved that it's possible to be too good of a bloke. In 1980, Anderson crafted his Thruster surfboard, a square- tailer fitted with three, small like-sized fins designed to boost the thrust in the board's turns. He promptly scored several contest wins atop his tri-fin, and then won the 1981 Surfabout championship. Yet Anderson neglected to patent his tri-fin design, and it became a gift to the surfing world. The Thruster was adopted and then advanced by shapers around the surfing world. Al Merrick of Santa Barbara added much of the fine-tuning to the tri-fin design; as he admitted in 1987: "I'm a designer but I haven't discovered anything," Merrick was quoted in Matt Warshaw's The Encyclopedia oI Surfing. "I'm just using what's been around before and I'm sure I'Il take more ideas from somebody in the future"' By the mid-1980s, the Thruster was the board of choice for most every surfer around the globe. In 1986, Tom Curren won the first of three world titles riding a Channel lslands

Thruster shaped by Merrick, winning again in 1987 and 1990' Curren's style set professional surfing on a path it's still following in the 2000s, but his stance went straight back to the mode established by Miki Dora in the l960s: Keep the arms low, the upper body quiet, and let the board do all the moving and talking' Curren's surfing was incredibly smooth, fast, and deep, and his preternatural wave judgment and ocean knowledge inspired writer Derek Hynd to stand up in front of everyone at a Steamer Lane surf contest in the 1990s and proclaim, "Tom Curren is the ocean!" The cutting-edge Thruster shortboard became more refined under the hands of shapers like Merrick and Rusty Preisendorfer in California and the rest is history.

pics and text from Surfboard: Art Style Stoke by Ben Marcus

Number Crunch

I'm stoked to let you know that today we have had our 200,000th unique visitor to the site.

Thank you all for visiting!

The bad news is I now have passed the 1000 mark of unread emails.

Please don't stop writing!

damion@boardcollector.com

I appreciate you contacting to me and I endeavor to get back to you when I can which, truthfully, is when I'm on the toilet, stuck in traffic or waiting in line for a coffee / to check in at the airport / to get my car repaired etc.

I literally started this blog it when my generally patient and supportive wife became sick of me talking to her about late 70's early 80's surfboards and said 'isnt there someone else you can talk to about this?'

Embarrassed, I said 'I don't know, I don't think so, I'll try starting a blog.......'

Nectar Thruster- Part 4.

I'm pleased to share with you my recently acquired 6'2" rounded square tail single flyer, early 80's Nectar Thruster. Not shaped by Gary Mac Nabb but by Art Collier. Sadly a bit of water has gotten under the glass on the deck but the important 'business' side of the board and fins are all in great nick.

I used to be fascinated by the Nectar's in this ad for a La Jolla surf shop. The '3 fin thruster' logo was so familiar but the Nectar decal was just so completely foreign.

I think 8 Simon Anderson thrusters maybe enough.

Maybe.....

My board is a nice start but its nothing compared to Vince from Hermossa stack of Nectar's.

Nectar Thruster- Part 3.

Randy Rarick (via Tim from Kona) has shared pics of his early 80's Gary MacNabb shaped Nectar Thruster. Identical in every way to Simon Anderson's Energy Thrusters of the same time from what I understand. The Thruster is, by definition, a surfboard with three fins of equal size and this was the first model ever offered in the US.

I like the way Energy Thrusters mostly all have a certain aesthetic look by way of Simon's brothers deck and rail sprays, so too do Nectar's of the same period all have similar fade rail sprays with a break detail 2/3's up the rail.

Another thing I always admired about Nectar Thrusters v's Energy Thrusters was the way Nectar's always seemed to have rear fin boxes. I thought it was so the surfer could adjust the position of the rear fin to make it stiffer or looser depending on conditions. I've recently been told it was because the sander's and polisher's couldn't get their machines in between the 3 fins!

I love the custom airbrushed glassed in fin set up on these Nectars.

You don't see that anymore.....

Aloha Zen