I found this Gordon and Smith 7’ ft board in Phoenix. #9607
Any guess on what year. It has a screw in fin and no leash plug.
And why did some board manufactures back then have that darker diamond pattern on the deck? Was it a heavier glass? and for what purpose? Eliminate board flex?
Cool board. Nice find. I’d surf it.
That may be a volan deck patch. Deck patches were and are still used to reinforce the deck in the high traffic areas. That one is way forward so someone probably intended to surf the board from there.
that board is awesome
1969
Some of those short high volume boards were still being knee paddled by some of my lighter friends.
Might be a knee patch.
It IS a knee patch. For some time after boards decreased in size, many manufacturers kept adding those even though it was becoming more and more difficult to knee-paddle those “submarines”. Looks like knee-paddling was a big part of surfing up to 1967 and a lot of people just didn’t understand what was going on with the “short boards”. I do remember a guy asking (in Surfer Mag, “letters to the editor”) for Corky Caroll to explain how to knee-paddle his Hobie “Mini Model”.
Some of those patches were artistically cut in the shape of a flower, a butterfly… Hippie years, you know.
Such boards are what I primarily look for in my small collection: it was about that time that I started surfing and those new boards made me dream…
Great infromation guys, thanks! Can’t wait to try it out in the next couple months!
Balsa and thrailkill are correct. That’s a knee patch and the board is probably from early 1969. It has a WAVESET fin that looks to be in excellent condition. By the end of '69, they began using a different fin system.
Hey! What’s that dog doing in the background?
Mrs. Rattie is one nasty sick dog!
Isn’t that called “nose riding”?
oooh good one! 
Title of post should be Hot Carl
What a coinsidence. This thread and finding a stash of long lost photos.
It has been a long time. I can’t say if that board was one of mine or not. It’s pretty clean, probably not. But it could have been.
When Big Surf opened in 1969 I was making regular trips to San Diego and persuing the surfing life style with reckless enthusiasim. Or as much as possible being a semi clueless Zonie. The trips were made in my 1960 VW panel and took about 8 hours from Phoenix College to Pacific Beach. I made the crossing on Interstate 8 more times than I can count. Interstate 8 was still being built. From the Yuma border west the freway stopped at each little town (think El Centro) and you drove down through the center of town and got back onthe freeway at the other end. You could still see the old plank road in the dunes. The drive took you through Alpine and Spring Valley on old US 80 before becoming a freeway somewhere out past El Cajon. Every trip an adventure.
For a while there were a few $$$ to be made bringing used boards back from the coast and selling them in the parking lot at Big Surf. My primary sources for boards were Select Surf Shop and from Bill Andrews at the newly opened PB Surf Shop. The transition to short boards was in full gear and it seamed the boards got shorter by 6" every 6 months. Hot Curls in the 8’+ range were plentyfull as were the G&S Magics a bit later. A 7’ Magic was a great board for the mushburger waves of Big Surf.
I hauled quite a few boards to Phoenix and used the profits to finance my travels. After a while, some older guys I knew opened the Rendevous Surf Shop and began selling G&S boards at a retail level.
The used board market fizzled out. A few friends and I thought perhaps we could build boards in Phoenix and “corner the market”. We bought blanks from Mitches in La Jolla and began shaping boards in a back yard. The boards were more carved than shaped. Sanding blocks, surforms and a vibrating sander. I was working for Big Surf at the time as the ding repair guy and the glassing task fell to me as the most “experienced”. I don’t have to tell you that patching dings is not the same as glassing a whole board. Volan glass and heavy pigment was the MO. Needless to say the project was a qualified disaster and production was stopped after the first two boards.
The older guys will recall going to a party at the beach and someone, at some point handig them that big green gallon of Red Mountian Wine…game on. For that time period a gallon of Red Mountian was synomus California, beach party, surfers, surfing, the package. It was an iconic symbol of the ggod time life at the beach. This was not lost on the Zonie kids who had been to the coast, ended up at a party at the beach, and had been handed the big jug.
So I became a wine importer. Unstead of a 10-15% mark up on a used board, you could double your $$$ on a gallon of Red Mountian. The biggest problem was aquisition. At 19 years old and late bloomer I had no chance of using a fake ID. Hell, I was still getting carded at 30. Standing on the side of Criscola’s Liquior in PB and asking a friendly face, Hey would you buy use some wine? Yea sure kid. How much do you want. Oh…how about 12 gallons. 12 gallons WTF???. If you worked the area, at the right time and place, you could accumilate up to 20 gallons for the haul back. It was part of the price you paid for being a surfer in Arizona.
I found a some of pictures while cleaning up after a recent flood. You guys who were in San Diego in the late 60’s and early 70’s will recall two landmarks, Maynards for breakfast on Sunday, Mexican, spigetti dinner and abalone dinner. Cheaps eats for a traveling grom. For a while I was able to stash my board in the apartment over what is now Kono’s. At that time it was Hamels Surfboards. I rented the small storeroom to stash equuipment and sleep in when I was in town. What a great time to be alive.
Who shaped the boards for Hamel Surfboards? I don’t believe Dan or Ray did any shaping. As I recall they were narrow, hard down rail boards.
Does anyone know anything about the Underground Surfboards label. I bought one a PB Surf Shop and rode it until it snaped in Santa Cruz one winter. I posted the only two pictures. I was told by someone that Underground was a lable used when a board had problems with the shape or was an experiment. The f*#k ups from the G&S factory…I’ve never known the real story. I did like the board.
Well I hope you enjoyed my stroll down memory lane and enjoy the old photo.
Cheers,
dgsaz
If you read my post above it will be obvious that I did not have spell check and did not proof read before I hit publish.
The message is the same.
dgsaz
“Who shaped the surfboards for Hammels”
Ron Cunningham…If my foggie memory of those times and are correct. Cool pictures especially the one of Maynard’s.
lovin’ the rocker shot!
What a gr8 retrospective!
I defer to Thrailkill’s dating on the board. He would know!
And yeah, that thing looks unreal. I bet it is going to surf reeeeally well, even with that twangy W.A.V.E. set fin, which it is a miracle it hasn’t snapped, but maybe that’s becuz it sat for an eternity not being used.
Go ride it and report back if you have time!
Frick’in dog. lol
I think I’m going to take the W.A.V.E. set fin off and make a mold from it and replicate it. Maybe a 3D printer could make a copy.
I don’t wanna snap it, going to try to hang on to it, it’s too rare of a fin.
When I picked up the Gordon and Smith Hot Curl the guy gave we this cool Russell Board. It’s 6ft with a cool a Russell graphic. “Russell Surfboards by The Brotherhood” Shaped by Bruce Jones. Check out the strange rough fiberglass fin!
Fin was made with fiberglass mat. Less expensive way to make an all glass fin, but the stuff tends to be ‘dead’ as far as flex and springy-ness. Some low cost fins were made with mat cores and finished with a couple layers of cloth, back in the day.
