I am wondering about my old Phillips surfboard. It is about 9’ I would say, and with a glassed-on skeg. It is a Jim Phillips board made in Cranston, RI. Any suggestions about it? Worth, date, rareness? Thanks.
You’ve come to the right place, I think… wait for a while and the answer will appear.
Where did you get the board. Jim did shape up here in RI back in the day. Did you get the board in RI?
I worked for Jim in the Cranston factory in 1968 (I think…what year as Woodstock?).Phillips Surfboards was actually owned by a guy named Charlie Phillips but it was all about Jim…he was the master.Most folks would probably find it hard to beleive that boards of this quality came from little ol Rhode Island but it was a full on factory that built a lot of boards.We glued up our own blanks,had a profile machine that Jim designed,and if I remember correctly the blanks were blown by Hansen.My first pro job and I was stoked to live in the boiler room and work for lunch money.Jim where are you?Who was the glasser we used to terrorize? R. Brucker
Roger, the glasser was Lennie Topp and his dad’s license plate was Pop Topp. And to the value of the board, if in good shape 600.00 upwards
Jimbo, I just wanted to say,…you da man! And next time I see pat curren diggin’ through the dumpster at bahne for glass scraps, and gluein’ up for tail blacks in your room, I’m gonna…by him breakfast!!!
I can’t wait for Sunday morning. It will be a couple feet overhead, or head high at least, and I am going to take out my new Jim Phillips 8,2 pintail, roundnose, hard-to-name board at Swamis. The thing is a rocket. I can’t wait. If you see me, say hi. The board is white, with volan cloth, so it has a slightly greenish tint, of course, and one tiny little label next to the leash loop that says Jim Phillips. pin tail, rounded nose with a slight point, tapered rails on the deck. Just an amazing board. I’ve only ridden it twice, once at head high San Onofre (without a leash—oops) and once in two foot surf in which is was surprisingly FAST even in small surf. I think there is some magic in that board. And holy smokes! It actually duck dives. If you want to try it, just ask. I’ll say yes.
Fairmont its funny but that sounds exactly like the shapes Jim was doing back in Rhode Island.Probably the main differance was that jim designed the profile machine to cut an"S" deck which took weight out of the nose and put thickness under your belly where it was needed.Jim was always da man.It still pisses me off that he has never gotten the attention from the “surf” media that he deserves. R. Brucker
Two things: One, shapers get attention by spending a hundred grand to put a top-name pro under contract for a couple years. If that pro shoots to the top then the shaper is legendary. OR, a shaper takes his chances with a grom or two that he thinks will turn into something someday, scores them a few free boards per year (which is money out of pocket over several years), and if the kid stays off drugs, works hard, gets really good, then the shaper’s name is spread again. It’s all MARKETING! Most shapers just love to shape and want to make a good living at it. Scraping up extra money to invest in another human being is a very big risk, that I am sure many shapers tried and failed. I mean, someone backed Todd Martin once. He could have had the world in his hands, but look what happened (jail). Second, I took the Phillips 8,2 out at Swamis today, and took a huge slice of humble pie. It was a lot to swallow. I took off on my first wave. It was about a foot overhead. Three guys were going right, so I thought I would take off left on a late drop. No big deal. Well, one of the guys was going left. Not only did he have priority by location, he was up a split second before I was. Anyway, I dropped, and when I realized what I had done (about half way down the face) I tried to do a sharp bottom turn to punch back through. But an 8,2 single fin is not a 6,8 swallow tail (what I’m used to) and I fell right off the back of my board, which shot straight out. The board not only prevented him from bottom turning around the section, but he rode right across my board and wiped out. I felt like a HUGE KOOK. I drew in my board, and paddled in about twenty yards to where he was and said, “Dude, I’m so sorry. That was a huge kook move. I thought you were going right. I owe you one. If your board is dinged I’ll pay for it. Man, I’m really sorry about that.” Then I paddled back out feeling like the world’s biggest kook. I had to sit there and listen to him discuss it with his friends. Then I heard one of his buddies ask, “Does he have any friends surfing with him?” That’s when I thought, “ah crap, things might get ugly.” But nothing happened. I sat around letting waves go by for about thirty minutes, and then a six footer found me. I rode it all the way in, paddled back out, feeling much better, and then caught another five or six. The board rides great. Catches waves as easily as my ten foot noserider. It hardly has any rocker to it. Very smooth. It now has a small shatter on the rail from my close encounter, but nothing that will leak. So, again, I have to always remind myself that when someone pulls a kook move on me, I have to let it go, because sooner or later I’ll do it too. Luckily it doesn’t happen very often, maybe once a year, but that’s enough. Humility is good for the soul.
Oh yeah, it has an S-deck on it, so it does all you said and more. One of the best boards I ever owned. I still think it will work better at Cardiff Reef than Swamis (more open face at Cardiff), but they were running a contest there (A Swamis Surf Association contest, if you can believe it).
take a deep breath and medicate
uuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
uuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Now, double dose. Namaste
Hey Fairmont I have been trying to find an old buddy (Sid Madden).He ruled Swamis in the early seventies.He used to shape for Sunset and did one of the first longboard plugs for Clark when biggies started coming back into favor.Any help appreciated.Thanks R. Brucker
I’ll ask around next time I surf there. The locals all seem to know each other and hang out religiously every Saturday and Sunday morning at the top of the stairs. Sid Madden? Yeah, I’ll ask.
Thanks Fairmont.