So, I’m not sure why I got the urge to post this now, but here it is anyway… Maybe the rest of you will want to share your similar stories about a favorite used board that you’ve come across.
A couple of years ago, I was in one of the local surf shops looking for a leash or something. As a matter of habit, I walked over and perused the used boards section to see if there was anything in there that interested me and seemed like a good deal. I ended up coming across this:
A 7’4" Andreini pintail gun. It’s got the classic beak nose and down rail of the mid-70s-style guns. It also has a really beautiful balsa wedge stringer. The board was in great shape (this picture doesn’t do it justice), it’s got very little discoloration or dings (just some dirty wax) and seemed like a fair deal; I think I ended up paying about $125 for it.
Over the next few months, I rode the board a few times and discovered, to my delight, that the board was actually pretty fun to ride when the surf had some juice.
At some point during that first winter (and after riding the board a few times), I was down at Kirk Putnam’s place picking up a new board or talking shop and I remembered that I had the board in the truck. I knew Kirk was friends with Marc Andreini so I figured he’d want to check out the board.
So, I pull it out and show it to Kirk. He takes a quick look at it and goes, “Oh yeah, I know that board.” I’m thinking, “Oh, he knows who it belonged to…” but instead he says, “I helped make that board when I worked in Marc and Renny’s shop in Santa Barbara. In fact, I’m pretty sure I sanded it, polished it and finned it,” or something along those lines.
He then disappears back into the garage and emerges with a framed picture in his hands. “Here’s a picture from Marc and Renny’s old shop with a bunch of those boards in the racks. Yours is probably one of the ones in the foreground. This photo is from about '76. I remember those boards because we didn’t do many of them with the wedge stringer.”
