I have recently acquired a nice Overlin twin fin with wide round tail and full Union Jack (British flag) bottom.
Clear deck with cool Overlin logo. I’m guessing it’s early to mid 1970s.
Looking for history on Jim and Tom Overlin (Santa Cruz?) - who might have shaped this distinctive board, who it was shaped for, are the Overlins still around, got contacts??
Any answers gratefully received.
Peter Robinson
Director
The British Surfing Museum
[info@thesurfingmuseum.co.uk]
Peter,
Overlins were Dewey Weber factory ex pats that ended up in Santa Cruz building about 80 boards a week in the 70’s. Tom was the shaper/factory guy (good shaper too … in fact, Iggy taught Tom who taught Joey Thomas who taught me) and Jim managed the promotions West while Mike Grassley took care of the East. They had an arraingment with Haut at the time which provided each with boards out of the same factory. I think Tom lives in Oregon and I heard Jim passed away a few years ago.
I know more but will have to write it tomorrow. I have a couple good stories.
Just an aside…
Tom was the best goof ever to surf SantaCruz regularly, and on the leading edge of ripping in the late '60’s - early '70’s.
I always thought he could win any 4A contest those years, but maybe judging and personal issues came up.
Not liked by everyone, he treated the SF crowd OK.
I ride my bike by the Haut Shop (westside of Santa Cruz) on my way to work and you can still see the old Overlin Sign in the window of the factory. I’ll try to take a photo and post it in the next day or two.
Hey Steiny - nice current issue of Longboard. You must be proud. 
you bet but I am forbidden from discussing it:)
You’ve got a good one there Steiny, like Father like son.
“Steiny’s a quick study of fun”
Peter - Here’s a pic of a 7’ 2" Jim Overlin that I have:
Thanks for all the replies - so I guess it’s Tom Overlin shaped in Santa Cruz.
Anyone got an age or history for this particular board? It’s 5’ 8".
Pete
Photos below as attachments - hope you can see them.
Pix already up… see above
Here’s the old Overlin space at the Haut Shop
Looks like vintage '69, close to what I’ve seen Tom rip on.
I do remember his were usually glassons farther out on the rail, but deck is close
Interesting history on the Overlins. Here is one that I’ve had in my rack for some time. It was pretty tattered when I found it in a pawn shop. The WAVE Set fin box and “finger” fin was what caught my eye initially. Once I had more time to study it, the focus was the caliber of the pinline work. Back to back fine lines in green and dark blue. It seems that there was a talented pen and ink illustrator in the family too from the logo design details.
Tom Sterne
Apart from the great artwork on the bottom - mine has great pin lines also.
I’m surprised it’s as early as 1969 - seems very short for that era.
Keep the stories coming - if anyone recognises the board I’d really appreciate some history.
Aloha from England!
Pete
I think that little twin fin is '70s vintage. I had a 6’9" Jim Overlin with lines like the one Tomas shows in his photo, and with the Waveset box. It also had a very kicked-up nose on it … not exactly the perfect board for sloppy Jersey Shore beachbreak. But I bet it would have ripped at some of the breaks in and around Santa Cruz.
The shop had a half-dozen or more Overlins on display, all with that very streamlined shape, all single fins. This would have been in '68 or '69.
It had to be that vintage because it came with “Drop Acid Not Bombs” and “Make Love Not War” penciled in along the stringer … Wish I still had it.
Mike
Aussie V bottoms, 7’2" to 8’6" came out in '67.
Mini guns, like Downings, from 7-8’, came out in '68. Fred Hemmings, a big bloke, won WorldChamps in Puerto Rico in '68, on about a 8’6".
Twin fins for sure came out in '69, in SoCal, maybe mid '68.
World Champ Bells ‘70 was Rolf Arness, on a 7’ all downrailer.
My first board, a 6’ x 22.5, was made summer '68.
Jim Overlin was a big label in Belmar NJ in then late 60’s. They were sold out of a shop called “Sticks & Rags”
Most of them had these odd pointy flip up noses and odd writings on the stringers. A lot of the good locals rode them.
After Sticks and Rags closed Brian Fitzpatrick opened a shop on Main St. in Belmar called Forever Changes that sold
Tom Overlins. I had two Jim Overlins and one was weirder than the other.
Tomas - I love the pin line work on that board. Nice detail!
I’ve tried riding the Overlin that I have pictured a few times and it really didn’t go well at all. The forward 1/3 of it has a slight belly, the rails are mostly 50/50, and thickness stays right through tail. Hard to paddle and get into waves, and very slow once it does get going.
I bought used in Central Jersey about ten years ago. It probably came from one of the shops that are mentioned.
Best,
Herb
My twin fin has such a distinctive design on the bottom - full Union Jack - I’m hoping someone out there will remember it or put me in touch with Tom Overlin.
My guess it was made for someone like 1960s British Surfing champion Rodney Sumpter (of Endless Summer fame), who travelled to the USA and Hawaii to compete for Britain from the mid 1960s onwards…
If anyone is visiting the UK it will be on display at the Eden Project in Cornwall in July and August this year as part of an exhibition called ‘full circle’ - looking at how boards went from natural wood to toxic fibreglass & foam, and now the search for an eco friendly future.
The Eden Project have built a biodegradeable board from a managed balsa source, hemp coth and vegetable based resin.
This thread confirms my previous impression that there were quite a few Overlin (both Tom and Jim) boards in NJ. My dad and his friend (Carl Danish) had Jim Overlin boards. My first standup wave was on a weird transitional era Jim Overlin that had been put through the mill by the time I got my hands on it in as a grom in '84.
Then 2 years ago my friend gave me a Tom Overlin 5’8" twinnie that looks a lot like the Union Jack board. The tail isn’t as wide but it has that same hoggish outline and doesn’t ride very well. It’s a good piece to have in the collection but is better as a decoration.