Just bought this on a whim to ride, but I'm curious if anyone knows much about the origin of the board. I was told it might be from 1974 because of some numbers ("74") on the stringer, but I'm not sure that's what those are referring to.
Ok - no luck attaching images. Is there some trick to that? Normally, I am very much computer literate, but nothing seems to be working.
Would that particular board be 7’4" in length? Beyond that, I can’t help with the board ID, but to post photos of it your images have to be hosted somewhere else online (a blog, website, flickr, photobucket, snapfish etc.). Right click on your image in the host site, go to properties, and copy the URL. Use the insert/edit image tab above the text window here on sways to paste the URL into. Kind of a run-around but . . .
Many thanks! I had no idea you couldn’t post photos directly from your PC - quite odd.
As for the length, I haven’t put a tape on it, but that sounds close - it’s definitely in the 7 something range. Good guess - you could be quite right. In any event, the “74” number is preceded by possibly a letter and 4 other numbers. Now that I know how to post photos, I’ll just throw some up.
Thanks again camplus!
What you can’t see in my crappy photos are the hard rails running the entire length of the board, the weird almost s-deck thing going on (tons of thickness in the middle, with foam taken off the nose and tail deckside), and the pretty significant nose rocker coming off an otherwise extremely flat bottom rocker. Kind of a strange looking shape.
Info on the deck tail section along the stringer are 7830 P (or an R) 74.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the URL for the thumbnails and full-size photos are different. If you want to post larger photos, grab the URL from the larger images. Nice looking board though - love those retro single-fins.
Fixed! Thanks again.
I’m noticing that the board looks much better in person - bad lighting I suppose. There is even the appearance of a big ding in the photo (on the rail) that doesn’t actually exist on the board - must be a reflection or something.
There’s a couple of guys here who know quite a bit about those. I think Bill Thrailkill is one. There have been a few discussions about that brand name, here.
You should do a search on this forum for “Inter Island”.
Diamond tail + FU fin box + no leash plug = Built around '73 or '74. It was rare to see a board after '74 without a plug or some other means of leash attachment.
Also, a good chance that board was built at the Gordon and Smith factory in SD.
How about pictures that show the entire outline, deck and bottom?
One more…
Your Inter-Island was built by Gordon & Smith, the label say Inter-Island Surfboards, the original boards from Hawaii had Inter-Island Surf Shop in the logo
Fascinating - thanks Jim.
Anyway, a couple more shots in case anyone cares/wants to see them:
Yes.
Funny, how the G and S versions had “Hawaii” on the laminate. Even though they were built in SD.
Jim is spot on regarding the logo. When the "Inter Island Surfboards" were being made in San Diego, I regarded it as blasphemy.
Checking the Inter Island Surf Shop site, there is some nice new Inter Island's by Mr. Phllips. A nice colloboration.
I hope it isn’t blasphemy that the customs they have me do for the mainland are shaped and glassed in San Diego.
45 years ago, as a 16-17 year old gremlin, I would go to Inter-Island for any reason to have a chance glimpse of some one in the factory doing something to surfboards.
The boards that I took to them for glassing came out like professional boards, except for my rookie shaping, I would bug Mickey Lake about me becoming a shaper for him. I guess persistence pays off, 45 years later I got the job !
Jim,
No reflection on you at all. It was not that the board building was not done in Hawaii. I remember being upset because the logo had been changed to Surfboards, with no real connection to the original Mickey Lake, etc. I loved hitting their original shop and was in awe of the talent within those walls. Would just hang around and watch my friend, Nino, rub out the rails. I am pleased that Barry has taken good care of the label, and done so over the year's. My second board was an Inter Island Surf Shop, and to this day, the label brings back those memories of special day's of being young and a Surfer in Hawaii.
If Barry asked me which Shaper's I personally believed would be my choice to carry on with the Inter Island Label, Jim, your name would be at the top of the list. Where you build the board's does not matter to me, because you appear to have the same feeling's for the Label as I do. If I lived on the Mainland, I would definitely pay you a visit and ask you about making me a new Inter Island.
Mahalo's to you for the new Inter Island's.
Curious - would Inter-Island just license the label (the use of the laminate) with no say in the actual shape, or would they have control or input on what was being produced shape-wise by G&S?
Also, I’m kind of ignorant about things going on board-wise in the seventies - was a shape like this common? In person, the bottom is really almost completely flat with a sudden nose-flip. Haven’t had a chance to take it out yet, by I have my doubts about that sudden rocker transition.
At first Jim, I just thought you had an absolutely fabulous memory regarding the logo distinctions (but maybe you do), and then I see that you are shaping for them now!?
That board was made in the G&S factory probably around Fall of 1969-70. I was the G&S sales rep at that time.
Look at the rocker to tell the date. There was a short period of time when that type of rocker and the “s” deck were made. The G & S models at that time were the Gypsy, the Easy Ryder and the Magic Ryder.
The shape was typical of the boards coming out of the factory at that time.
The “P” probably means the board was shaped by Paul Bordieri. The 7 4 would probaby be the length. Not the year. When you measure it we’ll know.
Brewer shaped some prototypes and Reno Abilera was the team rider. You can see the ads in Surfer Magazine.
When I returned from an East Coast trip in 1969 I went to Larry Gordon’s house for dinner and Reno was there.
Nice pinlines by Sam Cody.
The finbox–In the fall of '69 we had our own fin box with fiberglass fins. Larry was fed up with the W.A.V.E. set system and the floppy plastic fins. Our system didn’t work too well so we started using the Bahne/Fins Unlimited box sometime in the fall of '69 or '70.
By the spring of '70 this board would have been obsolete.
Have fun riding it. They were very “sticky”.
Thanks for the additional info Bill.
The fin does appear to be plastic.
I’ll report back on how it rides if I remember - I think I’ll wait for a bit more swell though (doesn’t look like a board that will work well in small waves - but what do I know!?).
