Probably not the original fin. It appears to be lexan.
We were shipping all boards with glass fins at this time.
Larry did a G&S ad that read “Narrow Boards and Glass Fins”
That would have applied to the Inter-Islands also.How wide is this board? Probably 20 1/2?
Larry was riding an Inter-Island himself in the fall of '69. I was shocked to see him riding it one day at Tourmelaine when I had returned from a road trip. He rode it for quite a while. This was an era when the big manufacturers had image problems.
Also, I’m curious about the similarity between the G and S fin system and the FU “Vari Glass” system, as it was originally called. If you look at this ad (the other part of the aforementioned ad) you can see that it’s almost identical to the FU system except for the extra bit at rear/bottom. If you cut that part off, it would look like a standard FU fin. was it mere coincidence that the two fin systems were so similar? Or, was there a little bit of “cross-pollination” going on ? I mean, it makes me wonder if there was some collaboration or maybe even a bit of ‘borrowing’.
Additionally, all the G and S proprietary boxes I’ve seen were white. So, if the box in that Inter Island is black would that indicate it’s actually an FU?
Like BalsaBill said, it was a time when major labels carried a stigma, of sorts. Plus, if you’re doing more than one label out of the same building, why not have production shapers use some of the same templates, cross-brand? The buying public was no smarter then, than it is today. A kid might walk into a shop, browse the board rack and opt for a board just because of the label. Even if he saw two that were identical, the backlash against the ‘biggies’ would make him opt for a lesser known label.
As I remember all the G&S boxes were white. And believe me there weren’t many of them. The fins were not interchangeable. The fin had to be fit to the box in each board. The dealers would get the boards in, take all the fins and put them in the counter, and when they sold a board they would just grab a fin and it wouldn’t fit. And we’d get a phone call.
The first fins didn’t have the screw. We would jam a piece of matchbook cardboard in the box to hold the fin snug. Larry and I were down surfing at the Cliffs one day. I took off on a wave and I started hearing some clanking under my board. It was ok when I was in trim but when I went into a cutback I would hear a nose and another one when I pulled back into trim. The fin had come loose and was only being held in with the pin in front. You know what a hassle it is to get down to the Cliffs and here I was with a dysfunctional board. After that Larry came up with the screw and plate (which I’d forgotten about until I saw that ad) but we still had the interchangeability problem.
I think Larry may have called in Karl Pope and Bill Bahne to look at the boxes. Karl came down with Blinky and they stayed at my apartment. Karl had a new hollow glass fin that he was pushing. He told Larry, “You’ll never have interchangeability with parallel sides”. Karl never got his new fins off the ground after that. They were pretty cool though. They were hollow with chambers for strength. I had actually made a sales trip for him on the East Coast and showed the fins to some manufacturers. Bob White and Surf Jet/Design One are builders I remember calling on.
Bill Bahne was closer of course and it seemed like he was coming down there quite a bit. He came up with the bowed sides to take care of the interchangeability aspect. I’m sure he had been working on something similar. He and Larry were friends and they worked pretty close on the deal. I think Larry may have had the idea but it never would have worked without Bahne’s engineering.
You’ll notice the fins in the ad were not glossed. We were selling a lot of sanded finish boards at the time too.
Just read SammyA’s comment which will appear above while I’m typing this.
Yes. Absolutely right. Another reason for the other brands, (Surfboards Australia and Inter Island) was so we could sell more that one dealer in a town. We already had a G&S dealer in every major town so if we wanted to sell the other good store in a town we’d sell them SA’s or Inter Islands. I say we, but although I was the G&S guy, Warren Bolster was the SA guy and Jim Bull was the Inter Island guy. There was quite a bit of inhouse competition between the brands.
Of course this was a great theory and it worked for awhile.
We tried to keep the boards looking different. But the board you’ve got is definately a Gypsy. I was wrong about the width. They were 19 or so. The East Coast versions of all the boards were about a half inch wider at my suggestion. I had a Magic Ryder and a Gypsy that I was riding in the Fall or '69. 20 1/2 and 19 1/2.
I have some films of guys riding these boards (including Skip riding a Gypsy) at Crystal Pier. I showed them at the recent G&S 50 yr reunion. I’ll get them on Youtube and post a link on here so you can see how these boards rode.
Makes sense that you’d market different labels to shops in the same town. I’d forgotten that SA was around at that time.
I met Warren Bolster in the Summer of '69 when he was on Cape Cod repping the SA label. I was in one of the shops one day when he came in all excited because he’d sold his first photo to a magazine.
At the time, the G and S “Magic” was probably the most common board in the water, followed closely by the Weber Ski. The way I recall it, Jasper’s sold Weber, and Ken’s was the G and S dealer.
I saw the major label “stigma” comment earlier and just didn’t pick up on the meaning (probably before coffee this morning). Got it now - and thanks again to both of you (Sammy and Bill). Oh yeah - and, I’d love to see that video Bill.
Jasper’s was our G&S dealer too, He also sold Plastic Fantastic. The shop was in the back of an Esso station and had a sand floor. He sold a lot of boards for us. Mike Houghton was the owner and his Dad had founded the publishing co, Houghton/Miflin. Every one who went to school has had a Houghton/Miflin book at one time.
I’d call a couple of days before I’d be there and tell Mike to make sure he told his Mom I was coming into town. She’d start the clam chowder and it would be ready when I got there. Best I’ve ever had before or since. She’d go and dig the clams herself. She said the chowder had to have three kinds of clams: Steamers, quohogs and sea clams chopped up. She had a special place she’d go to buy the sea clams.
She’d let it simmer for a day and then add the milk (condensed milk and regular milk she said that was another secret part of the recipe). It was the best in the world. Bar none.
I stand corrected. I do recall they sold Plastics, too. Gary Chapman came through that Summer, as well. A guy named Kevin Foley also worked there. he wound up being the manager for a while.
A buddy and I sort of camped out back that Summer, in a van.
Here’s a shot from Doc. Sand floor and brand new shipment of Webers, fresh off the truck. July, 1969.
Yes Kevin was the manager. Actually he was the only employee as I remember.
Saw Gary Chapman there that summer. Great guy.
Yes I lived in a van out back too when I was in town. The good old days.
Our dealer had been Nauset Surf Shop. Jess Kithcart was the manager. He stopped in the shop to see me a while back. When they closed I was given the job of picking our new dealer. The choice was Jaspers or Ken’s. Ken had a lot of brands and all Jasper had was Webers at the time. He picked up the Plastics later. It was a no brainer for me. Even though the shop was a garage with a sand floor, I knew they could sell a lot of boards. And they did.
Hey glad to see this thread - here’s another G&S/Inter Island altho the shape is slightly different. It has the WAVE fin box. I just scraped a ton of old wax off it. It’s about 8’4" x 23" X 1.5" ?? So maybe it’s a bit older than the red one above? No leash plug either.
Definitely older than the previous one. Pretty clean, too. 8’4" would make me guess it’s late '68 or early '69 vintage. I can see plenty of deck dents. Any dings?
There’s a gaping hole at the tail point which needs repair. Several dings along the rails have been repaired over the years. No real dings on the top or bottom other than the dents on top.
It hasn’t been ridden in at least 10 years - a friend of mine was learning to surf on it in 1998 or so - I think that was the last time it got wet.
Was thinking about getting it repaired/restored - after reading this thread it got me off my butt to scrape off all the wax & clean it up & see what’s up with it.
I think with the tail repaired it would be watertight.
Consider yourself lucky that it still has the fin. Most of those molded WAVESET fins died years ago. I’ve seen near mint WAVESET fins sell for $200. They’re getting to be really rare.
I’d say a 1 in 5 or 1 in 6 chance that it was shaped by Paul. He was the head shaper overseeing 4 or 5 other shapers. This would have been before John Holly who came in during the Magic and the next phase of Hot Curls.
Shaper could be Dennis Benadum too.
This was just before I went on the road full time for G&S.
Also I’m thinking this board is definately pre '69 based on a lot of factors: Size, shape, etc. By Fall '68 everything was roundtails.
I had a Hot Curl pintail in the summer of '68. Lost it going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. Never saw it again.
Pinlines by Sam Cody for sure. Hey Sam I know you’re lurking out there. Who else could have shaped this? Email me if you want. (Sam’s kind of shy about forums like this).
