McCoys, Cheyne's, Zaps, wing keels and hulls

I guess its all about context. 

But I don't know how I let this lovely US built Greg Pautsch shaped 1983 McCoy tri fin go for a couple of hundred bucks.

"It seemed expensive at the time" I said. 

And it wasn't like I had to act quickly, it was literally for sale for months.

Sometimes you just want to kick yourself.

There has been a nice little run of very interesting McCoys coming onto the market in both Australia and the US. 

This extreme tear drop shape from 1984 would be one of the high points of the innovation period of surfboard design.

Oh my god! Look at that.

For the record, that fin is in backwards. 

Ben Lexan intended for the straight edge to be at the front and taper away at the back.

Placing it beside a contemporary short board shows just how extreme the really is.

The most controversial board to come on the market latley was this fine specimen.

Its a nice Cheyne model, bit it wasn't ridden by Cheyne.

Is it really worth 20 times as much as the first board from the same year?

Again, for the record, that fin is in backwards.....

Marty just sold another nice Cheyne model.

This one sold for a quarter the price so it goes to show, its the condition not the heritage that brings the big money.

But the most interesting board of all to come up of late was not even a McCoy at all.

It was one of the rare and revolutionary Hot Buttered hull designs that Cheyne worked on with Ben Lexan.

A personal rider that, if memory serves me correctly was used at Bells.

Isn't that the New Zealand flag.....?

Once again people, that fin is in backwards!

"Cheyne, I've told you one thousand time, the fin goes in this way!!"