I’m taking the liberty (while all moderators are camping, zonked out, or unpacking) to post this little gem found on the Resource/Welcome page.
From Garth Robinson:
Ahoy there fellow waveriders. This here surfboard is a combined effort between a talented American shaper and a variety of J-Bay personalities. It goes something like this:
• Having fallen hook, line and sinker for anything retro, after growing jaded and bored with the current over-commercialised state of surfing and surfboards, I now only ride a variety of classic old shapes. So far I have made the move from modern thrusters to a Tommy Peterson Fireball Fish and then onto a Skip Frye replica created by J-Bay’s Robin Fletcher-Evans and then onto a 9’ Harbour Cali-Gun given to me by Terry Sims. After many down-the-line sessions at Point my quiver has started to look pretty stuffed up and the time had arrived for a new stick to join the rack. I turned to the Internet for inspiration and somehow came across the name Greg Alder being associated with shaping a great Steve Lis style fish (on Swaylocks if I recall correctly). Then I saw Greg was going off to Africa to do Peace Corps work in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho. Well hey, I live in J-Bay and that’s not too far from Lesotho and so it all began. I got in touch with Greg, originally with the idea of taking all the materials to Lesotho so he could create the board in a mud hut up in the mountains. After checking out the logistics I eventually settled with Greg coming down the J-Bay to do the shaping.
• We enlisted the help of J-Bay legend Des Sawyer who graciously allowed Greg full use of his tools and shaping bay. One fine Sunday (when Greg should have been surfing the epic waves at Supers) I dragged him into the bay and he ploughed foam until he emerged whitened and sweating a few hours later with the perfectly foiled form I was after. I had asked him for a classic shape but with as much bouyancy as possible so this board can last me into old age and the associated extra weight. He got it bang on the button. Greg had to head straight back to the hills as he was teaching English at a rural school and had to get back to work. He would not accept any payment for shaping the stick, happy with having had a few surfs using my old boards and wetsuits. Thanks Greg!
• Then it was on to Mikey Meyer’s factory where he kindly allowed me to use his sanding bay to do the airbrushing. I was amping to try out my new Iwata and compressor and got stuck in taping up the design. Of course I went too big with the tape-up and once I started to spray and put back the masking tape I realised it was turning into a disaster - the masking tape was peeling up and underspray was taking place. So onto plan 2 and a change of design helped resolve the underspray. When it came to the top deck I used cardboard masks held in place with pins, which worked perfectly. By the way if you’re wondering why I went for flowers it’s because my wife won’t let me keep my boards in the house unless there are flowers on them - she’s a bit of a modern day hippy bless her soul.
• Okay, then it was up to Mikey’s glasser to lay the 6/6/4 glassing (paid for by me designing a decal for Mikey) after which it went next door to South Africa’s only black surfboard shaper Paul Jeggels. Paul is a legend in J-Bay, having risen through the ranks to becoming one of the town’s surfing success stories. He is the Man when it comes to restoration and fancy retro tricks. I enlisted his help with creating the ply fins, doing the gloss coat and laying up the roving leash loop.
And that was the combined effort involved, resulting in one fine Flower Power Fish made for the long walls of J-Bay. I am yet to ride her as I am waiting for the Perfect Day to come along. Right now it’s tiny and onshore but a pulse is expected for midweek so I am keeping my fingers crossed. This frustration is killing me!
So a big Thank You to all those who helped to make this little project a big success. I owe all you guys big time!
Paul’s fine choice of plywood, overnight resin soaking and patient lay-ups helped ensure a perfect fin result.
Bottom deck was sprayed first, meant to have a dark background originally but due to tape lifting I gave that a miss.
Check out the toe-in, this baby is going to fly when she gets pumped rail-to-rail!
The old-style roving leash loop, much nicer than those modern bath plugs…
A toast to Greg, Des, Mikey and Paul for all their hard work. As you can plainly see I am totally stoked, or was that the red wine kicking in?
