Early 70’s a guy would come down the coast from around Watsonville or thereabouts with stacks of glass mat fins… usually light yellow and light blue…cheap stuff! We would buy a bunch. They were crap and would chunk out none too soon.
And yes… there IS NO FLEX PATTERN because the strands go every which way. You may as well tried surfing a jacuzzi which were popped out of the same material.
The only thing good about that fin is the outline.
They’re also a PITA to foil, compared to regular cloth fins. No layers to use as a guide.
Here are some photos from the G&S factory taken in the Spring of '69, which, as Bill T. said, is when that board was made.
The “Hot Curl” was one of our best selling models. The top model was the “Magic” shown below being glossed by Jose Cota.
Notice that your board has quite a bit of extra nose rocker which indicates to me it was a team board or a “personal” (built for one of the guys in the factory). They would get that extra rocker, believe it or not, by putting some weight on the nose when it was glassed. A case of tape usually worked just fine. This was possible because the board didn’t have a stringer just a glue line. My Magic that I took to the East Coast that Summer had extra rocker like that (and very thin rails).
And here’s Skip Frye testing out some of his prototypes from the era Notice how he easily knee paddles his blade thin 7’6"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQK0Ary5h0E
dgsaz,
I remember that shop in Phoenix but not by name. I had to stop there on the way back from the East Coast to try and collect some money. I got there late and night and had to hang around until they opened the next day. I didn’t get the money and wasted a day I could have been surfing in SD.
Those Underground boards, oh yeah. I remember now. Pretty sure John Holley shaped them That was just a way to try and penetrate the backyard board market. In '69 the major brands took a big hit for being too “establishment.” There were only a very few of them made. They had a marijuana leaf design in the logo and I think Chuck Edwall did the artwork.
I spent most of the Summer of '69 on Cape Cod. The most common boards in the water were the G and S Magic and Weber Ski. One of the Weeks brothers had a Weber that was given to him by Nat Young. Young had swung through earlier that year and snapped his board in half. So, he gave it to a local guy. It was either Rick or Gordon Weeks. I don’t recall which. Jaspers was the Weber dealer then, and I think Nauset Surf sold G and S. Do you know, Bill?
I spent most of the Summer of '69 on Cape Cod. The most common boards in the water were the G and S Magic and Weber Ski. One of the Weeks brothers had a Weber that was given to him by Nat Young. Young had swung through earlier that year and snapped his board in half. So, he gave it to a local guy. It was either Rick or Gordon Weeks. I don’t recall which. Jaspers was the Weber dealer then, and I think Nauset Surf sold G and S. Do you know, Bill?
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Sammy A
Gordon and Ricky were both hot surfers. I don’t know which one got the board from Nat. Ricky was one of the best surfers on Cape Cod. I’ve got films of him on a G&S twin fin that I’ll digitize someday. Ricky was a Jaspers Team Rider and had his pick of whatever Mike (Jaspers Surf Shop) was selling. Which also included Plastic Fantastic later on.
Gordon was a bit younger. Gordon has worked for me as a sales rep off and on over the years but I haven’t seen or talked to him in about 15 years maybe. Ricky, haven’t seen him in a long time. Last I heard he owned a bar on the Cape called “Rick’s Outer Bar.”
Nauset was the dealer when I started with G&S but the banker who had bought the shop owed us money and then he closed up.
Jess Kithcart, who ran the shop for him, has stopped in to my shop in the last few years.
When Nauset closed I was given the job to find a new dealer. There were two choices: One was a shop that had just opened up in a little shopping center. It was a nice little store. It was owned by a cop, as I remember. He had picked up a lot of brands, Hansen among them. Jaspers was in the back of Tommy’s Esso station. Had sand floors and occupied the area once used for changing oil. Mike (owner of Jaspers) only had Weber at the time. Jaspers had a lot of soul. The other shop was more of a “store.”
I called Larry Gordon and told him my call. He agreed and we went with Jaspers.
I don’t remember the exact year we switched from Nauset to Jaspers. In '69, the Magic year, we were probably still selling through Nauset.
Great shot. What a crew.
Do you know who Jasper was? (trick question)
delete double post
The owner’s dog?
I could always call Doc and ask him, but I won’t cheat.
BTW…I’ve been trying to find some pics from Jaspers that I thought I’d saved. They were on Doc’s, and another friend’s, website but damned if I can find them. I’ll keep looking and post if they turn up.
I know it was a dog, I think it was Tommy’s dog. Tommy owned the Esso station.
The Rendezvous Surf Shop was named as a tip of the hat to the Rendezvous Ballroom up in Newport.The guy who ran the place was Steve Cepello, who later became Steve Strong the pro-wrestler.
Steve was a good artist and was commissioned by Jesse Ventura to paint the official goveners portrait. He surfed well for a man of his size.
There was another shop north of the Rendezvous but I can not recall the same. Does anyone know who supplied all the boards to Big Surf? The rurmor was they were a big bulk build by Hansen.
I asked Bill Andrews about the Underground Surfboards and he could not recall much of the back story. He said there was another backyard brand called Joint Effort that sounds like the John Holly boards. Funny old trivia
dgsaz
Exactly… that’s why I didn’t include foil in my ‘glowing’ evaluation. The guy that made & sold them to us told us he had a jig of some sort that had two basic angles (flat, then another angle behind that to taper to the trailing edge). He then just rounded off the leading edge… there was NO foil really, no chord, no nothing. When I said crappy, I meant “really crappy”… but they were cheeep and boss man told me to buy them.
I love the blank truck… it would be cool to have a setup like that, but I’d never make it home goin thru the pass at Gaviota!