INTER-ISLAND (surfboards): Mike Diffenderfer and Dick Brewer among others shaped for this brand. Reno Abellira, Kimo Hollinger, Conrad Cahna and other hawaiian stylish surfed these boards. The operation lasted all the 60s decade. From Hawaii.
We were making Inter Islands at the G & S factory in San Diego in '69-'70 or so.
We only had a few dealers. Bob Heinz started out being the “brand
manager” with Butch Van Artsdalen being the team rider.
Larry had Dick Brewer shape some prototypes in late summer of '69. Hynson stopped by and shaped a couple of his new downrailer designs for the brand.
Reno Abilera was a team rider. I’m sure SammyA will post the ad of the exagerated rockered board Reno surfed at Huntington in '69 before this thread is done.
When I got back from the East Coast summer push in '69 I went straight to Larry’s house for dinner and Reno was there. Reno only ate vegetables but Gayle grilled up a steak for me.
Larry even rode an Inter Island himself for awhile. Sam Cody, G&S glosser, told me he had one back then.
We only had a couple of East Coast dealers, Reef Surf Shop in Margate, NJ and Finigan and Roberts in Bethesda/Ocean City come to mind.
The boards were basically G&S’s with a different label.The outlines were a little different.
We were also making Surfboards Australia at the same time.
Inter-island Surfboards were originally by Mickey Lake, Joe Kuala, Sparky and John Kelly Jr. in Hawaii. http://www.inter-island.com/. Through the years a who’s who of shapers have worked with them, including Mike Diffenderfer and Dick Brewer.
Barry Morrison owns the label right now. Barry rides a lot of Brewer longboards, and is a great guy. Jim Phillips and Glenn Miyasaki have been shaping boards for them and we’re all hoping Sparky gets back into shaping. I’m pretty sure you can get a custom Brewer with the Inter-island logo from Barry.
There was a thread on this same subject previously, and that thread, along with the information relayed here pretty much cover the subject. For me, the easy way to identify the boards made in San Diego had laminates that read "Inter Island Surfboards, while those that trace back to the original shop read “Inter Island Surf Shop”. The laminate on the board here is one that I have only seen on the boards made in San Diego. The original shop went underground in the mid=1960’s and not many, if any, “transition” or short boards were made.
There are photographs of new boards on the current Inter Island Surf Shop site, and those shaped by Jim Phillips are exceptionally nice and well worth taking a look at.
IMHO, the Inter Island Surf Shop logo is one of the best ever used on a surfboard.
So, in short, this board was made in San Diego, late 60's very early 70's, in the G&S factory?
For me it's a great deal to have found such a board, I'm a 37 years old longboarder and I prize surf history very much. Also, as you might understand, it's not at all common to find this kind of surf memorabilia here in Portugal, as we have a very young surf culture (surfing boomed in the mid 80's).
For you to have an idea it cost me less than a new pair of boardshorts. Now I'm going to have dings fixed and then surf it.
