What makes the tracker outline different from an egg outline? Performance wise, which shape is better? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. --Michael
tracker outline? i’ve never heard of this…can you elaborate?
Bob McTavish worked with Morey-Pope on a model called the Tracker. I bought one used from Greg Liddle way back when he had his shop at Ventura Blvd and Reseda Blvd in the valley. I gave it to my brother for his first board and tried it out several times. It certainly had a wide, egg style outline. With the deep vee, in my opinion, it lacked the drive and compression of a more modern design, but it was revolutionary for it’s time and many transition boards sported the deep vee design concept. One just sold on E-Bay for about $200.00 (less shipping and minus the W.A.V.E. fin.)
tracker outline? i’ve never heard of this…can you elaborate? It’s a combination, thruster-SUV outline, watch for it around dawn, on a foggy morning. Their pouring out of New Castle. have fun
What makes the tracker outline different from an egg outline? Performance > wise, which shape is better? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. > --Michael Check out the new Surfer’s Journal for some photos (McTavish is holding one in a group photo) or check the site Harvard posted. These versions had flatter bottoms with a single fin near the tail. They have a racier outline than an egg with the wide point way forward, pinched nose, and a wide, large radius roundtail. The rails are not as parallel as an egg. These are probably later versions of the one John describes. You had to ride 'em short for maneuverability because of the distance between the exaggerated wide point and the fin.
click the link http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000069.html
Pretty much, although this one is a lot more eggy than the ones I was thinking of. These started Nat into the blob stage where he rode these 5’6" mind machines. Remember, Nat is a big guy so they bogged a lot. You had to be in the pocket the whole time and still you had to work them like crazy. Too bad they didn’t try hardening the edges and sticking two fins on the rails, the fish would have been born 5 years sooner…
I was also checking out some of the laser zap boards on that page. What the hell was going on there? A 5’ something board with a 19" tail? Has anyone ridden one of these? I was watching the Cheyne Horan Surfer’s Journal episode the other day. They were talking about how his choice of equipment cost him a lot of contests. After looking at some of the specs on those boards, I have even more respect for that guy as a surfer. To place number 2 in the world all those years (4?) and experimenting with all kinds of equipment is impressive. http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000112.html
After checking that link and exploring the site, I see that there were several models bearing the “Tracker” name. None of those are much like the Morey-Pope/McTavish Tracker I am familiar with.
The logo isn’t very clear but this is the board I was referring to… http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1859123288
I found this interview with McTavish and he states that he walked in to M-P’s factory and shaped this “dream machine” claiming that this was after “breaking away from Plastic Machines and deep vees.” Also identifies himself as “the vee-bottom guy.” The “Tracker” offered by M-P however, was definitely a deep vee. I really don’t know at this point which came first. Perhaps M-P decided on the “Tracker” model in an attempt to capitalize on the deep vee trend even though McTavish had already left that design in the dust? The photo in SJ (and with this article although it didn’t show up) definitely is a narrower design than the “Tracker” on E-Bay. http://www.santabarbarasurfing.com/src/mctvsh.html The Shortboard Revolution at Rincon excerpted from the Surfer’s Journal, written by Bob McTavish The following tale is an excerpt from “So How Come No One Asked Sooner?” by Bob McTavish, The Surfer’s Journal, v.4 n.3, Copyright (c) 1995. The article is one of three about the shortboard revolution, and the excerpts below deal solely with Bob’s comments on his experiences in Santa Barbara during the winter of 1967. Bruce Gabrielson has his own online perspective of the short board’s evolution that is worth a read. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late December, 1967 George Greenough and his mum had invited me to stay in their 40-room mansion in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. George was surrounded by toys of his own invention: a 60 mph go-kart powered by a Mercury outboard engine, a spacey customized Boston Whaler with fiberglass cowling, a cupboard full of movie cameras with bits and pieces falling off. And his cars! One had been used in a Batman movie. Another was an old black-and-white cop car, with mounted lights. We had fun in that monster, scaring hitchhikers after rock concerts. See them gulping down 10 hits of acid to avoid the bust! So there I was in California with all this new-found shortboard knowledge and no board. George lent me the one and only stand-up surfboard he’d ever made, a thing called “Baby.” It was about 8’6", with characteristic George straight tail rocker, reasonable nose rocker and wide, cut-off tail. I took to it with an electric planer and pointed the nose some more and took a few inches off so now it was 7’10". Oh yes, it was balsa and I hadn’t ridden a balsa since 1960. George took me surfing at the Channel Islands quite a bit for a couple of weeks. We would jet across the shipping lanes in his whaler, returning at night with dolphins playing in the luminescence beneath the hull. Insanely good waves! Then George put me in touch with Carl Pope, who, along with Tom Morey, had a factory in Ventura, just 15 minutes away. So I walked into Morey-Pope’s and made myself a new board. I still don’t know exactly what happened. It had something to do with being in a fresh environment, and breaking away from six months of Plastic Machines and deep-vees – In fact, I had developed a distaste for the mongrels by this time. It had something to do, too, with that narrow-nosed balsa I’d recently shaped. But whatever the reasons, I shaped that board at Morey-Pope’s with more freedom and feel than anything previous. And, people, I have to tell you, this was the one. This was it. This was the vision, realized: 8’ x 20 1/2", with a 14" nose, 13" tail, 2 3/4" thick, with a 5" square tail. The nose was gently pointed, and a soft rocker ran nose to tail. The fin was 10". The rails were low and rounded, turning edgier in the tail. The bottom was flat all the way through. People still say, “McTavish? Yeah, the vee-bottom guy.” But, by January, 1968, before shortboards had even really hit California, I’d finished with the deep vee. So! This red-hot board! And what happens to the surf? Rincon pumps for six weeks straight! Imagine: George on his 4’8", hi-tech spoon kneeboard, and me on my new 8’ lightweight Dream Machine. We were the only two guys in California on shortboards. We threw ourselves joyously into the Rincon testing grounds. After parking at a friend’s house on the point, we’d walk out front, wait for a lull, then streak out and around to Indicators. There never seemed to be any shortage of six- to eight-foot sets, and we were able to select carefully only the waves with the widest, biggest walls, allowing a shot at getting all the way through. There was some wonderful barrel action on the upper section, but the real thing didn’t begin until the wave began to wrap into the main point. I can picture it still: the bowl standing up a hundred feet ahead, with 30 or 40 guys scratching into position on the far side. Pump, carve, pump, carve, with our shortboards delivering enough speed, that nine times out of ten, we’d power through that sometimes impossible section that separates the outside and inside, overtaking the drop-ins and leaving them behind in a frothing mass as we hit the mellow wall of the inside cove. Then jam a huge roundhouse, rebound, a big reentry over the white water, maybe a tube section, then one last roller coaster near the highway. Again and again, for six weeks. One swell would taper off, only to be replaced by another. I had an absolutely superb board, a great guy to take me surfing each day, and a palace to live in. What an amazing time! In the car park everyday, guys would be all over my board. Good guys. John Bradbury was there, and I believe Al Merrick showed up one day. Rolf Aurness and his dad came over. Mike Perry checked it out. Steve Bigler arrived riding one of the boards he got off me in Australia a few months earlier. I was on to something big, and I knew it. I was a bit full of my self. For example, I did an interview with Duke Boyd from Surfing. Poor guy! He gave me the transcript and I read it on the beach at Rincon. I hated it. I threw it in the fire and said, “This is garbage. Out there is where it’s at,” pointing to the surf. I picked up my board and jogged up to Indicators. http://www.santabarbarasurfing.com/src/mctvsh.html