The 70s were a really stagnant time in board design, for the most part. Once the whole down-rail “spear” thing caught on it became so ubiquitous that even the East Coast of the US was plagued with that misguided idea. Many of my friends were riding 7’6 -7’10 narrow tailed boards that were better suited for head+ California or Hawaii. Their surfing suffered greatly and some never progressed after that. You can’t turn those things in slow EC mush. They would just bog. I had been riding a 6’8" swallowtail with a fair bit of curve in the outline ('74-'77), but once I scored a 6’4" egg things really got a lot better for me.
Yes we had the same thing plague the East Coast of Australia, narrow tail mini gun type shapes, were slow and unresponsive. Stingers were the first designs when I was young I felt that things were on the up for me in the typical beach break waves I was subjected to. Small waves and how to enjoy them has been a life long quest.
I got caught with the “spear thing”…went from a classic 70’s twinfin to a 7’ 2" spear…bad mistake…I remember the twinnie as one of my best ever boards…a lesson learned the hard way= don’t follow trends…
" Morning of the Earth was made about a year after Sea of Joy,
in my opinion the surfing Wayne Lynch does in Sea of Joy is still a couple of years ahead of what Peterson was doing on similar stubbie boards."
..... thank you , it's not just ME , then ?!
on at least ONE wave , in that 1969 movie , on a small s-deck , he does a great floater [yes , a FLOATER , gents !] .... and ....it's on a fairly critical wave, that looks VERY much like Lance's left , in the spate of modern movies showing Indo ?? *
....did ,,anyone ELSE see that ?! I think it "may" even be featured in the 'Surfers Journal ' tom carroll and wayne lynch dvd also , from memory ??
Interesting to note that M.P. was reported to have said he watched footage of wayne lynch reversed [? in a mirror , maybe?] to perfect his cutback ... if you flip old photos of both of them [which you can do easily , with photo editing hardware , in this digital age] ...you will SEE it !!
cheers !
ben
* [ ....if it is NOT indo , perhaps it is mauritius , maldives , seychelles , sri lanka , reunion , or ??? ]