I guess this all stems from that “fish that isn’t a fish” thread. It got me searching for photos of various 70s shapes like fish, twinfins, etc.
Browsing through old magazines can get sidetracked by stuff you weren’t looking for, yet it rings a bell or puts another random thought in your head.
Whatever…
How about some evidence of who was an early proponent of ‘alternative’ materials, and when ?
This ad is from early 1971.
Once again, the forum structure prevents me from editing my first post, or attaching an image. Why’s that?
Typo in the first post. The year is actually 1972.
Whatever…
Here’s the scan. This is the foam Hansen used for their hollow “Stratoglas” boards.
Here’s an Aquajet hollow honeycomb twin fin. Early 1971. These were built with a plastic honeycomb material and molded as two halves later joined together.
Interesting, 'cos after seeing that cross section photo you put up I was wondering if they had used a sheet foam vaccum molded/formed for the Stratoglas boards - and voila, there it is.
Now, I'm thinking about the rest of the manufacturing process they would have used. The solid glass rails are the tricky part -
doc...
I have pics of the Aquajet process. I’ll put them up soon.
It appears that Hansen was using a uniform thickness of sheet foam sandwiched in the top and bottom shells. Around the same time, WAVE and Aquajet used shells with honeycomb sandwiched between glass laminations. I forgot which, but one of them started out using aluminum honeycomb and shortly switched over to a resin based product.
Three Hansen Stratoglas shapes from early 1971. A Lopez Bolt, a twinfin, and a beachbreak design. This was when Lopez was one of Hansen’s team riders, prior to the formation of the Bolt company. He signed on with Hansen some time in 1970.
Sammy, here is another 1972 add for “Unique Nautique” surfboards…
This one has already been posted elsewhere but what the heck? I think it belongs here, too…
In the Mar 71 issue of Surfer, Tom Morey did an article about prototype designs he’d dreamed up. He spoke about lubrication, air inducted/fan powered designs, and other hypothetical concepts. He actually had made one with air induction vents in the deck that were supposed to create an air cushion exiting out the bottom. It looked like this.
(deck view)
In the very next issue of the magazine, there’s a Bing ad with…
Air vents!! This is pretty much a stock twin fin, except there’s air vents that run from the deck to the bottom and a scooped out concave behind a ‘step’ in the bottom contour. The exit holes of the vents are centered where the concave starts.
Needless to say I’ve been studying and searching the absurdities of surfcraft design since my grom days of the late 60’s.
Tom and Lenny’s article was my version e=mc2 for surfing craft
plus they did it stoned on LSD,
what more could you ask for…
anyway below is a whole slew of other scans I did from my collection of magazines its shows the creativity that existed back then that many here didn’t have the fortune of living through.
Sammy there’s a classic design article about an air-injected board that brewer did for owl back then it’s one of my all time favorite pictures of owl…
here you go…
Gary Young Article
BK on a hollow
pingpong ball core
tuoraf construction
Honeycomb Shell
the tinkertail
jetstix
Con Stepdecks
Featherfin
Jeff Ho flextail
Keel fins at Sunset
Flexing fin for fishtail
Butterfly Fin
Modular Tails
Rocket Tail
Friction Free
Another one of my heros of the time, Rolf Arness. Have gun will travel was my halloween costume as a kid, I admired Rolf for choosing another path on alternative equipment and beating Nat on his home turf. Who can not appreciate his simple smile. Shaun Thomson duplicated this famous pose decades later.
Great Stuff!!! Keep it coming if you can. Thanks!
Goes to show, not much is new…
This one is just plain ‘board porn’. A Bahne balsa. ca. 1971
How much did aviso and salomon spend in R&D? Old is new again indeed.
in the words of ol' monty burns .....
"EXXXXCELLLLENTTTTT !!!! "
good on you oneula and sammy !!
i guess you guys are all lucky that I don't have a scanner or computer of my own any more or else I'd be back in "chipfish61" days [OH GOD NO!] , sitting indoors on lovely sunny beach days , hunched over a computer and scanner for hours on end ..... and all for what ? to be told "chipper you wacker , you missed two days good surf while you were 'speaking ' to your imaginary friends again !!"
still, that said , it IS a pity all those photos from my 'photobucket' stash crashed ...10,000 posts worth of photos gone forever ....sigh.... [that was about 4 years worth of [unpaid] work down the gurgler ....i definately missed a lot of waves in those 'swaylocks addict ' days !!]
so , bernie oneula , and Sammy [and billy ['balsa'] ....keep carrying the 'old surfing magazine photos ' torch for us eh ?!! .... [good on you , guys !!]
cheers !
ben
More random images.
A six pack of Bings from around 1964.
The Super Board by the Mirandon brothers. La Jolla Surfboards.
This old ad seemed worthy for this thread:
