No. Foam stringers were not “popular” in '54.
Highly unlikely. Foam in surfboards was virtually unheard of in 1954. Some (like Simmons) had experimented with styrofoam, but poly foam didn’t come into use until around 1957.
So does that mean this board is way ahead of its time or maybe the pic is a hoax in some way ??
the shadows of the girl and the buildings in the background match but that doesn’t mean the board hasn’t been altered in some way…
You can just see her fingertips under the bottom rail, can you carry a wooden board like that ?
i thought they were heavy and with the roll in the hull it would be fairly thick too…?
Like I said … look at those thighs. She could probably twirl half of todays ASP pros around like a baton while in a march step. Her knees show she is holding a little bit of weight but I’m nearly certain it must have felt like 1# eps compared to the koa logs. That is one reason she is so smilingly stoked perhaps.
Difficult for me to focus on that fin because her curves seem to have as much if not more inspiration. xo
“I don’t know if it is true, but have heard that he was the first to use a fin on a surfboard. Have you heard of any in use before 1935?”
Thats a big YES. Some of the crew who were mutineres from that famouse ship the Bounty who settled on Pitcairn Island were seen riding waves on boards that were described as rounded in the front, tapering back to a square tail and having a fin or small keel on the bottom of the board running down the middle. This report/description was giving by a ships captain or crew member sometime in the early 1800’s after landing on the island and witnessing the inhabatants riding waves. I saw this story in a Surfers Journal. Some might argue about fin shapes or design but the truth is the fin, scag, keel, whatever you want to call it was invented alomst 150 years before Blake or Brown but it just happend to take place on a remote island where it was eventually lost in time.
Why on earth would it be a hoax? Did you see johnmellor’s post.
He wrote:
“Jean Seagraves is shown modeling the 1955 balsa swallow tail which was a
cleaned up version of Bob Simmons’ personal square tail. Tom Blake
reshaped it - “streamlining” and adding the swallow tail.”
The board was apparently built in 1955 out of balsa wood. I don’t understand what all the speculation and questions are about. It’s a balsa board from 1955. Simple as that.
Yeah dude; The haole girl gotta big a$$ and the thunder thighs to go with it. If you were more interested in my opinion of the wahine you should have said so. My comments on the board were based on observation of your posted pic, which I have seen before. The second photo most likly pre-dates the first. The board in the second photo was probably an existing Balsa board that was cut off at the tail and a scrarffed on Balsa nose added, re-shaped. As far as what the “read it in a magazine” types think; I could care less,
If you grind the same axe long enough, does the head just disintegrate?
(That’s a rhetorical question)
That’s what it says in the book anyway. Here is another pic of a woman carrying a heavier board… solid wood I assume. I think this photo was taken in the late 30s or early 40s.
This is similar to another picture of the Simmonese Twins Bobbi and Bobbsy, I have seen from the same time period...
I have often wondered if the photo could have been faked - something about it looks amiss to me. Boats of that era just didn't have that relaxed rocker you see here - and if you look at the shadows, they seem somehow inconsistent. Plus, that bathing suit, the famous "Makaha Wedgie", didn't come out until the mid 60's.
Yeah, Jean for me, the curves more resemble the board. Gene Rod n berries for Ding dong. It isn’t a twin tunnel fin I notice.
Would anyone have a reference to the SJ article? Be stoked to check that one out.
Many thanks,
sj winter 2011<this is the issue…
>Preeminent marine hull designer/builder
JOE QUIGG
redefines the roots of modern surfing
"when I die ,nobody's gonna be here to tell you what I just told you"<---------------
---------that is the title.
…ambrose…
Thank you sir. I’ll look forward to some reading.
Here’s the link to the forementionned article on Joe Quigg…
https://www.surfersjournal.com/feature/archivist-turning-points/
Aloha