A friend of mine got ahold of this board. Let me know what you all think.
Thanks Bill, I appreciate it.
PHOTO'S PLEASE.
Sorry, I was having trouble uploading the photos.
The stringer says “SHAPED FOR JOSE’
SOUTO BY KEN BRADSHAW - HAWAII-'77”
well, at least you know the fins aren't original...
nice looking board though. in great shape.
The shaper’s name and year it was built are right there on the stringer. What more do you need to know?
The photos make it hard to see what was done with the fins. But, it’s safe to say that they were not on the board in '77.
Shaped by Ken Bradshaw in Hawaii....in 1977? Some one turned it into a trifin. Jose Souto that would be one of your boys from Brazil, hence you finding it in your neighborhood. Who is Jose Souto?
I suspect that the fins are original to the board. I was sending tri fins to Hawaii in 1971, and I know plenty were being built locally.
Thanks for the info so far. I had questions about the fins, although they LOOK original, as far as the glassing/color goes. Does anyone know who Jose’ Souto is? I’m in SoCal so I don’t know. How long did Ken Bradshaw shape for Bolt? Did he actually do the shaping? How many(approx.) of these(his) boards are out there?
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can you elaborate please Bill? i'm really interested to hear about tri-fins from those times.
what kinds of boards did they get put on? how big were the fins? the pics above show side
fins that are toed and canted. what were you guys doing?
The side fins were small, 2 inches, set parallel to the stringer, in what people call a ''widowmaker'' setup today. No toe, or cant. The fins were removable, and I did have canted fins available, as a novelty. The general rule I developed was ''the closer a fin is to the rail, the smaller it MUST BE, in order to reduce tracking.'' I never put tri-fins on a gun, only wider tail boards, for steeper juicier waves. Otherwise the boards were single fins.
Well, that board has what appears to be a standard thruster configuration. So, if it was really built in '77, those fins cannot be original. Any chance it’s a 7’7"? That would explain the numbers and date it more in the early 80s.
I know that tri fins were around in the 70s. John Mel tried to talk me into one when I lived in Santa Cruz. I opted for a tried and true round pin single fin. His tris also had the small sidebite style fins. Glassed on.
The pictures aren’t really that much help in seeing the fins well, but it sure looks like a typical thruster setup, to me. So, either it was modified, or it’s not from 1977.
Instead of speculation have Bill Barnfield ask Bradshaw?
I never saw a thuster on a pin tail like the one pictured.
Owl Chapman still makes them with single fins with the same out line pictured.
Looks like the best thing to do is grind off the fins and put in a single fin respecting the era!
Board is 8’ 9". I’m trying to get better pictures of the fins. What style fin would have been on it originally? (owner wants to return it to origianl)
Sammy, Surfding,
As a point of interest, I did my first tri fin, as what is termed a ''thruster setup'', in 1964. Terry Hall, who posts here as Ollie, can confirm, having ridden the board at that time. I've even seen photo's, dating from the late 30's, of planks with 3 small half moon fins across the ''stern.'' The concept has been around quite a few years. Well before 1977.
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I don’t know about the fins, but what sure looks like it was added later is the leash-plug. Definitely not a pro job, IMHO.
yeah, the leash plug was a hack job for sure.
Sorry I have been out of touch so long guys. But I am in the middle of several projects that didn’t get done before the surf arrived! Now I am burning the midnight oil, trying to get caught up. Current project is refinishing my saiboat. I will post some pictures when I get a chance…
But to the question at hand… I will talk to Ken when I get a chance and see if he can shed some light on this board.