Long story short, I (a complete non-surfer) randomly came into possession of a surfboard. Couldn’t tell you anything about its past other than it had been used as decoration in a retail store for at least the last 10-15 years.
It’s about 6’ long. I can’t seem to find any type of serial number or maker markings on it. Please don’t mind my messy shed.
It has an intact fin and a wrist strap attached to it, which leads me to believe it was actually used at some point.
I would love to know a little bit about it. Feels weird to just give it away. Maybe it means something to someone? Don’t think it’s worth money but who knows…this isn’t my world!
Also, sorry for the tag situation. It made me pick two and there weren’t two that made sense. sigh
Are you in Cali?There was a shop in LaJolla called La Jolla surf systems,I suspect they made it.Probably in the 70s.Cool fin.Let me know if you want to sell it.It’s kinda cool…
Good to know! Helps me out a little with where it came from. Not much info about Surf Systems out there, sadly.
I’m in MD but I assume you can ship anything, right? I would rather see it get into the hands of someone who will either restore it/use it or actually appreciate its history. I’m the last person on earth who deserves to have this thing…I feel awful that it’s just sitting in my garage.
I would be down to sell so I could see it go to a good home, but (like I said) I have no idea how to get a board from MD to wherever you are! I’m all ears!
Hi there, very cool board, and as we all know, red boards go faster!
Bill isn’t logging in these days, but in a recent conversation he passed along some basic information about this board.
This board was made in about 1970-1971 in the Bill Thrailkill’s Surf Systems factory in North County, San Diego.
It was either shaped by Bill Thrailkill (less likely) or Richard Templin (More likely as he was doing most of the production shaping at that time).
Interestingly, it would have been glassed by David Burnham, who you may have read from other Bill T stories was the first person to take the Lightning Bolt logo and tilt it 1/2" off the stringer rather than placing it straight with the bolt tips touching the stringer. Bill reports that David had an eye for stuff like that, and that slight angle appealed to his aesthetic sense. This became the standard Lightning Bolt logo placement.
The foam on this board would not have been Clark. Bill reports that this blank would have been blown by Jack Popov, who’d left Clark Foam to make blanks for Hansen. Jack Popov’s shop unit was connected to the Surf Systems shop building in back.
Pretty board, and looks like a nice template! If you stand it up straight so that the outline of the board can be seen clearly, I bet Bill would be able to identify the template it came from, and there is not a zero chance that the template used would have matched up with those used on the Surf Systems early contracted Lightning Bolts. This last part is only my own speculation, and would need to be referred to Bill for any confirmation.
Given the fact that I will sadly never use this beautiful board, I would like to see this go to a good home. Any idea of worth and where/how to get it into good hands? I’m guessing this could be restored…
I would rather see it get into the hands of someone who will either restore it/use it or actually appreciate its history. I’m the last person on earth who deserves to have this thing…I feel awful that it’s just sitting in my garage.
