Ordered the DVD this summer and I've been hooked ever since. Don't think I've ever seen anyone go faster then Wayne Lynch does in tha sunset seen, amazing surfing allround. I can see how the the boards and surfers in this movie have been inspirational for US shapers and surfers. Shame Tracks magazines from this period arent available.
The yellow board Wayne surfs actually reminds me a lot og Geof Mcoys longer nuggets, regarding outline and volume distrubitione. The board seems to be ridden from the tail compared to the board ridden at "castles" which looks a lot like early Liddle displacement hulls, and he turns and trims them from center.
Comparing the footage and reading Nat Young´s biography side by side it would be interesting to know if Wayne followed Nat's direction regarding the Cabell inspired low soft railed and fairly flat bottomed boards he claimed he did his best surfing on in the early seventies. What kind of rails and bottom contours did Waynes boards have before he started exploring the keelfin board together with Pat Morgan while hiding out in Victoria.
Seems that neither Nat or Mctavish where that fond of displacement hulls after being exposed to the Lopez cabell rails. Best surfing I've seen from Nat is in that same movie, in OZ wearing yellow boardshorts. Rely intrigued by the board he surfs in that scene, pretty sure about the rails, but what about the bottom contours. Was he still using as much roll as before or are the as flat as Cabells boards...
Here is a description of Nat’s boards from the time:
1971 Nat Pintail heavily influenced by Joey Cabell (Hawaii) this design featured a compressed pintail gun template, 2nd phase concave bottom, soft box rails with a hard edge, large nose lift and a small Greenough single fin. Early models for Bennett Surfboards, Byron Bay models often featured grey/blue pigment laminate, later Sydney models had sprayed blanks.These boards were manufactured till 1980. F Morning of the Earth.
Here is the Mctavsih comment regarding hulls I was referring to:
"McTavish recalled the Hull in the second of his 1973 design retrospectives for **Tracks Magazine**, **Pods for Primates Part 2**:
**"**(circa 1969)** Meanwhile in Australia we were going the opposite direction, the boards were getting short, the rails softer and softer, this is when the Greenough hulls took on with very high rails in the front turning down at the tail.**This is when Ted Spencer was making white kites (White Kites) at Shanes (Shane Surfboards) with a**soft rail all the way thru.**David Treloar was making soft rail foils at Nippers (Nipper Williams Surfboards).**These boards you could really bank them over on the rail but when you got them over they did nothing."**
I got got my hands on the movie some years back and also really enjoyed watching it, the surfing of Wayne at Castles, is the best footage I have seen of someone on an egg shaped board. He is so fluid on that thing just looks like he is having so much fun on it, compared to the much glorified section of M.P. in Morning of the Earth on similar equipement, Wayne leaves Michael in the dust.
As for the board that Nat was riding it looks like a small square tail or round tail he is getting some great projection on that thing, the pin tails he went on to ride killed his power as they required more finese and less brutal aggression.
I also enjoyed watching the 1970 world titles section, I thought Nat looked loose on that small board he was riding, It may not have suited the sloppy waves of Victoria, but if the contest was held in Sydney in which the board would have been better suited, the super shortboard era of that time would have lasted alot longer.
Finally the section in Kauai where Lynch is surfing that big lefthander, years ago I was in G land and I met a guy who watched that session from the beach and he was telling me how much it blew his mind seeing someone rip big waves like that, he was saying how he and his friends still were talking about that day.
Have to agree with yoou regarding MP scene at kirra vesrus Wayne at castles, then again I’m a goofyfoot. Would be so great to find out what kind of rails and bottom are on that board Wayne is surfing. Same goes for that board nat is surfing with the yellow trunks. And yes Nat’s surfing is also better in that scene and the tail and outline look different than his morning of the earth pintail IMHO. Trying to find some pix to post, here is one of Waynes board from that period.
Yeah that is some of the best short board surfing I have seen of Nat. For a breif period i once owned the board that Nat is riding at Jefferies Bay that stange looking yellow shoe with the turned up nose, I can tell you it had ultra hard low rails and a flat bottom nearly no tail lift, no wonder he was struggling, i dont know if that is the same board Wayne is surfing at Tamarin Bay I dont think it is. Midget looked like he was riding the most functional equipment in the movie.
No disrespect to anyone, but Waynes surfing at castles is so darn agressive compared to a most "hull" surfing on the web. IMHO he is one of the geratest of all time and the waves are powerfull compared to CA waves, but the rails don't look as knifey/bladed and fuller than Liddles for example. Even though Wayne is really creating a lot of speed himself and the wave is powerfull,I've never seen wide tailed stubbies or any surfboard go that fast! He is in no way "nursing" his cutbacks like gamboa has to do on the softer malibu waves with his baldey ?hulls
What am I getting at? Well maybe, that board has less roll and fuller and lower rails than most "hulls" around these days? Waynes, Nat's, MP's and GG's surfing was the catalyst for the hull movement in CA, but did Wayne actually ride super bladed boards in his prime?
Are the extreme hulls more rooted in Liddles/Gross boards than the Oz contemporaries of the early seventies?
I love the feeling of surfing a displacement hull, just wonderinng how far you can tweak these things before you lose that feel? What would be the minimum amount of roll and rails shape in a WIDE tailed single? More length and less roll translates in more down the line speed/drive correct? If you have a short stubbie with lots of roll you need either a powerfull wave or plenty of tail width and fin to get the same projection down the line?
Thinking of either scaling up that sea of joy board I posted or making a version of the boards Chris Brock was surfing in MOTE and Sea of Joy. Similar to Hilbers geebee's and Liddles buritto's but with fuller rails and less roll..