Another board recently picked up that I’d appreciate some background on is shown in the attached images. It is a battered vintage longboard, probably dated circa mid-1960s, about 9’ 4" in length, that appears to have been painted red at some time in the distant past; it has a curious large red spot painted under its nose. My initial research informs me that this board is probably a Kimo McVay-marketed common pop-out, stemming from the post-1965 “Team Duke” commercialised exploitation of the Duke’s famous name and rep. However, if anyone has any additional info on it, or anything of possible relevance on it, I’d certainly like to hear from you. It’s pretty battered, but was brought over to California from Hawaii, after it had been sitting in someone’s attic in Kaua’i for several decades. Nothing of any intrinsic value, certainly, but still an apparent curious relic of the pop-out period of the mid to late 60s. [My personal take on old boards, incidentally, is essentially that of a historian. I am as equally interested in common, garden-variety boards (pop-outs included) as I am in absolutely beautiful benchmark designs shaped by famous or well-known board makers. Thanks in advance for any insights anyone may have on the “Team Duke”/McVay products such as this.
Is this the same board that was on ebay ? If so, just out of curiosity what did it bid up to ? As far as any info on your board, call the corp. headquarters to Dukes restaurants. I was over in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and had lunch at the one in Waikiki. I was looking at the memorablia and started talking to a guy who works there he was telling me that they have a person does nothing but authenticate, research, and purchase items ffor their restaurants. Hope this helps, if you sell it to them my commision is 70 %.
Yep. That’s the same board you refer to. There were a few bidders in the first days of that eBay auction who were under the impression that this was a special board that the Duke actually had some personal or direct association with (i.e. shaping, inspiring, forming, influencing, or whatever) and thereby some excitement was created during that auction by less knowledgeable bidders. In real fact, it is doubtless a grade-Z garden variety, mass-marketed board that the Kimo McVay marketing people simply slapped the Duke’s name on and sold through Sears Roebuck & Co. As such, it is nothing special, but as I said, even the dross boards are of significance to me, being something of a historian with an archeological bent. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all of equal interest, all being artifacts produced by opposed-thumb higher primates (heh-heh) who surf or are associated with surfing in some manner or other. Thanks for the suggestion about getting in touch with the Duke’s restaurant organisation to look into this. Since my normal resale ‘mark-up’ is also at or near the 70th percentile, your commission should prove no problemo (just kidding, of course, as I am not in this to sell or resell boards)! Just a doddering old tyro academician searching for clues under delaminations and dings. Appreciate your return on my query! (PS: I believe the final price for it was in the mid $300 range–far too much, considering its actual value, but what the hell, there are worse ways to waste one’s money–like $280 billion to fund faulty ‘Starwars’ strategic anti-missile systems, while our guys in Iraq are shorted on critically important body & Humvee armour…). Cheers. (BTW, One other picture of the board is attached).
Ah…Dextra, eh? Thanks for that information. I’m pretty certain this is a mid-to-late 60s board, but you are kee-reckt about its sad condition. That board’s been through several normal board wear-cycles! I’ll probably attempt a restoration on it later this spring to heal its more substantial wounds, at least.
Hi Gordon: The answer to that is not yet clear, as the board is still in transit to me. I should have that information and a few more bits of more useful insight after it arrives (within a week or so), and I’ve taken some time to look at it closely. It’s hard to figure from detailed examination of the few images I have of it to date, although that severe lateral crack (more like ‘chasm’) on underside, across the board’s width just ahead of the skeg, is puzzling and makes me wonder about the stringer. Also hard to tell if the yellow underside is pigmented or simply severe sun-induced opacity of the glassing/foam with age & use (no clear sign of stringer details in the images posted, which are the only ones I have of it yet). I’ll definitely post a picture of it once I’ve finished ‘restoring’ it, and may post a few more that are revealing of detail immediately after it arrives here. Surfboard archeology…yoiks! Ya gotta love it!
Here is a good one that would require some VERY light and VERY minor restoration to it. Might want to get rid of the fin - as it’s been hammered pretty bad from its original state. I got a funny feeling that this guy is just listing it to get an idea of what he can get for it though.
Yes, that’s a nice example; thanks for bringing this one to our attention. That ‘Reserve Not Yet Met’ schtick can be a real okole-wiper, though (as you aptly note)! My own observations of eBay auctions have suggested in past that, ironically enough, setting a reserve on valuable (or at least objects perceived by the seller to be valuable) items tends to discourage many otherwise interested bidders and scared them away. Conversely, I’ve also noted that sellers who auction off signigicant items without setting a reserve frequently tend to do as good or better than those who ostensibly want to ‘protect’ their investment with reserves. Speaking subjectively, I hate eBay ‘fishers’ who are more interested in testing the waters for high bidding frenzy activity than anything else, but I keep dutifully reminding myself that this is the American system at work…sigh!
As for repairing, I have the time, but the ‘skills’ part of the matter will remain uncertain until the jury is back in from deliberations. I picked up my meager abilities in use of glassfibre & polymer materials from small restorative projects repairing fiberglass flight helmet shells for museum displays, not from studying complex board repair techniques under a SoCal Kahuna Pa’pa He’ena’lu!
I acquired a Duke pop out back in 1984 or so that was probably built in the early 60’s. It is in excellent shape. I should display it somewhere as it felt real corky the one time I rode it at Malibu. I don’t know if Dukes in Malibu would want to display it but that would be great if they would. Or maybe the Beach House in Santa Barbara or in Kirk Putnam’s garage!!
Hi Roger (I’m tempted to say, “Roger that!”, but I’ll resist the urge, heh-heh). Interesting about your 60s era Duke pop-out. Do you have any pictures of it handy that you can run by us? I’d be interested in seeing it, if you do. Mahalos.
The board is residing in my daughters rafters in Shelter Cove, Calif. It was going to hang in her restaurant there, but somehow it never got done. I will be bringing it back sometime this year and will post some pics then.
Interesting to see that Duke Kahanamoku longboard auction you referred to ended just now with a “reserve not met” status, despite an actual bid of $610 plus (due to a seller’s reserve of–I estimate–about $900!). While it’s a clean board in apparent good visual condition, I wonder how much the seller actually knows about the Kimo McVay marketing schtick of the 60s (regarding commercialisation of the Duke’s name). As a nice old mid-to-late-60s garden variety pop-out in nice physical condition, I’d have to draw the line for it (myself) at about $500-$600; doubtless many of you (on the forum) would find for a far lower ‘upper end’ valuation on it. I think your original observation about the seller’s ‘fishing’ for saleable value was spot-on, Brian! Nice board, but too many $$$, methinks!
Contacted seller to discuss the board and his apparent rather high reserve. The following is a quote from his response, via email:
"Howdy-I am well aware of these boards’ history.This board was given to me as a youngster by Butch Van Artsdalen when Duke and the team came to San Diego
in the early sixties. My brother was a teammate on the Windansea Surf Club in La Jolla. Butch was a regular at our house. $700 for it is not what I would call a good deal for me. (This board was signed by Duke and Butch,Joey Cabell, Paul Straugh, and Fred Hemmings but over the years the autographs faded away. My younger brother cut the fin in
'70)."
(Larry)
I suggested he relist the board with this additional information added to its eBay description, but can’t figure why he didn’t do so at the outset. If the autographs had not faded away (as he says), the provenance of it would indeed be considerably higher as a simular curiosity of that period.
You can find some of the boards in the surf museum in Oahu
we used to spend summers on the islands. Dad had all the rental concessions use Dextra boards as all the tourists would go home and buy a Dextra at their local department stores
The Kahanamoku family are still making great surfboards I saw one about a year ago hand shaped longboard balsa and redwood stringers glassed on fin a real beauty. Then about 2 weeks ago I saw a Kahanmoku short board it was a beauty looked likes it rips.! The guy that owned it, told me he had it customed made from the Kahanamoku family! They have a shop in El Segundo Ca,
The popout shown in the first post was made by Ventura International Plastics. They also made Tiki popouts and a couple of other labels of the mid 60s. The only boards of the 60s bearing the Kahanamoku name that were not popouts are the ones made at the Greg Noll factory. That venture was short lived and spanned about two years, roughly 1966-67. The current label using the Kahanamoku name in El Segundo is Kahanamoku Swimboat. There is no connection between that old popout and the current label, other than the namesake.
As far as I know, the only ‘side’ labels made at the Dextra factory were the Royal Hawaiian, Cutlass, and Healthways. The Healthways label was a contract from Sears department stores.
