G’Day!
I’ve read alot about trackers performing shotty.
I relise a whole lot of things made these boards ride pretty shotty but was the main problem having the fin waaay to far forward? all that rail behind your foot can’t have been a good thing?
Has anyone got Tracker photos, stories etc.
I ask because i think there pretty cool, espicelly in innermost limits of pure fun.
Found these in the archives.
Platty’s AWESOME job on an old tracker…
Another of Platty’s.
“TripperHarrison’s”…
and these at surfresearch.com.au
hi Josh !
I wonder …was " [The ?] Tracker" just the name that Aussies gave to this particular outline ?
What was it called everywhere else ?
…Because , I reckon these “thumb” boards , and Bunker Spreckles’ board on the cover of the Art Brewer photo book , would also have “tracked” pretty well !!
ben
Thanks for those pictures chip. I think we aussies were the only ones riding trackers, Hawaiins were on pocket rockets and i think the seps may have been on tear drops a little later.
was the tracker a combination perhaps of after McT and co went to Maui and saw the pocket rocket pintails and combined the pins with the template vee ‘stubby’?.
wish i could have been in the flesh in 68’.
Thanks for those pictures chip. I think we aussies were the only ones riding trackers, Hawaiins were on pocket rockets and i think the seps may have been on tear drops a little later.
was the tracker a combination perhaps of after McT and co went to Maui and saw the pocket rocket pintails and combined the pins with the template vee ‘stubby’?.
wish i could have been in the flesh in 68’.
"…paging "Platty " …come in , Dave … over "
ben
Mean while everyone was struggling on trackers, pocket rockets and tear drops. George Greenough and mate Ted Spencer were ripping on sub 5’5" designs!!!
see avatar shots…
w-e-l-l …
GEORGE was , anyway !!! [no nursed turns from HIM , that’s for SURE !!]
Ted was …er…experimenting …
watch closely what that board he is riding is REALLY doing , at Angourie . [slo-mo setting helps]. Hats off to him for attempting it , though …
cheers !
ben
watch closely what that board he is riding is REALLY doing , at Angourie . [slo-mo setting helps]. Hats off to him for attempting it , though …
only really in that fatter right. when it was hollow he was RIPPING! imo
Yes well, Trackers? I think they started calling them trackers because that is all they would do. Track in a straight line. I tried surfing the Hohensee pictured. It was fine in a straight line. It would not break out of trim.
I would think the fins were placed that far foward in an attempt to loosen them up. If the fin was placed further back you could probably pivot turn them. But this was the late 60’s. The pivot style turn was ancient history. We wanted speed. Down the line speed.
Idealy to turn a board you need your back foot over the fin. The tails on these boards are so narrow. The fin needs to be foward so that you have enough board to put your foot on.
You are right Josh. They do look good. Shame about the ride.
The clear board is a Shane. The other one is a WM same brand as the the 3 colour restoration pictured. platty.
…and the rails , Dave ? 50/50 mal rails , or …?
Belly or vee bottom , or relatively flat ?
…do you have a shot of the Shane’s bottom ? fin ? [please?]
cheers !
ben
Thanks for your reply Dave!
I was really intrigued after watching a few guys surf them at Evans Head in Innermost Limits.
I also read another article in an older Australian Longboarding which had a Will Walace 6’11" that was the design after trackers. it looked a bit more user frendly (thanks to the wide tail).
Cheers!
Josh.
i wonder if they got their name from the board mctavish built for morey pope 68-69 called the TRACKER…?
The Shane and the WM’s have pinched 50/50 rails.
The Hohensee has 50/50 through the mid section. The nose has 80/20. 80 being on the bottom. The tail is opposite to the nose.
All the boards have a rolled bottom.platty
i wonder if they got their name from the board mctavish built for morey pope 68-69 called the TRACKER…?
By the way, there was an ad in Surfer Mag back then showing that “Tracker” from the tail looking upwards, with a psychedelic splash all over the deck. Anybody remembers that one? Anybody still has that issue of Surfer and could post the photo? That would be great. (Just a little bit of nostalgia for those “transition area boards”, I guess…) Thanks a lot!
I knew I had this photo somewhere. It is from The History of surfing by Nat Young.
I don’t know it this Tracker could be classed the same as the Australian Trackers.platty.
Mean while everyone was struggling on trackers, pocket rockets and tear drops. George Greenough and mate Ted Spencer were ripping on sub 5'5" designs!!!see avatar shots…
Aloha Josh
I talk to Ted once in awhile. He is a Hare Krishna, here in Hawaii.
I don’t know it this Tracker could be classed the same as the Australian Trackers.platty.
No way. Mc Tavish’s/Morey-Pope “Tracker” was a short (for the days) wide-tailed heavily V-bottomed board.
Hi Bill!
Stoked you got to talk with Ted! I think he was one of the few Aussie guys originally who’s boards really worked in Hawaii.
I wonder what he’s up to these days.
Catchya!
Aloha Josh
There is a sort of offshoot of Hare Krishna’s here who the head guy is Jagat Guru sp? His real name is Chris Butler. The Butler family owned the A Frames at Rocky Point. His brother Bruce used to surf Pipe with us in the old days. He also used to sell iced down coconuts from a pedal cart at sunset.
Anyway… Ted is the personal assistant to Jagat Guru and has been for quite a while. Probably still is though I haven’t talked to him in about a year.
…would those be the same a-frames Hakman , ‘Buttons’, and Liddell emerged from more than a few times in ‘many classic moments’ in the 1970s , looking more than a little er glassy eyed and giggly ?
…just wondering …
ben
…there are some shots of Jeff in there, in the "Mr. Sunset " book , if them be da “A-frames”
