The history of Peter Crawford

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:17 am

Please stick to historical facts about the person, or well founded rumors, but no opinions (EI:I think George Greenough is great because he invented the spoon.) This does no good in attaining the history of the person.

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:14 pm

I never did the comps back in the 70's, so I never met or saw Peter surf, but having talked with guys that did; he must have been a pretty out-there character and untouchable in the water....

He was also one of the great surf photographers of his era.
http://www.switch-foot.com/view_photogr ... tive_id=88

A while back I was lucky enough to have been able to obtain 2 kneeboards that Peter and two mates carved from balsa in the 1970s.
The story I got was that he wanted to depict to two main strands of kneeboard design of the time; the 'spoon and the 'slab'.
both boards seem to have had a bit of use but had been restored by the time they got to me... Hart no doubt would be able to fill in some detail
as he appears to have had a hand in the restoration.

Here is the history as I know it of these boards as passed on to me by the previous owner;

"Just a ' knee-thing' or two from my back yard. Solid balsa.

Made in the 70's by Peter Crawford ( the surf photog), Malcolm McCloud and Rick Wright, (Father of Ozzie Wright.)

All these guys have shuffled off since....

Artwork ' 3 ' on the slab came from Peter before he would sell it to me, dont know why, it was his way to do things differently.Redwood trim at the rear.

He was a neighbour and was a hell of an entertainer ( nightly) with his slides and massive volumes of transparencies and pics from the 70/80/90's.

And accompanying long-winded tales to go with the pics.

Dont know if the boards are worth a walnut or should stay in the shed, they are more of a personal reminder of the guys I knew who made them."

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:21 pm

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:26 pm

hart · Post by **hart** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:14 pm

Andy

I've been waiting to see these pics

The last 3 pics show PC's personal ZOOM 3 that was shaped, laminated, glossed, sanded, polished and airbrushed by myself..

(ZOOM 3 replaced ZOOMS 1 and 2..naturally)

Rick Wright and the guys started carving it but only got a rough outline at best..

I thought the Flashpoint Surfing logo on the tail (deck) would've been a give-away

It also has PC's favourite Pink Floyd triangle on the nose (deck once more) next to the forward legrope plug

Great pics

hart

ps..you are aware Rick Wright passed away some time ago

Sparrow · Post by **Sparrow** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:53 pm

Hey Andy,
These are two gems mate

Love your work Bruce

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:22 pm

My god Bruce, those boards are MAGNIFICENT!

Thanks for sharing some history with us Lowrider. I knew PC through the mags back in the day. I will have to gather some info in the future, but I do know that he wore a collared shirt like a golf shirt under his wetsuit. Look at some old pics, the collar is visible.
Interesting character

Click on pic.

[albumimg]12611[/albumimg]

DYdamo · Post by **DYdamo** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:12 am

Mike,
the collared shirt is just an old school rashie

kidrock · Post by **kidrock** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:33 am

those boards are totally awesome.

Bill E. · Post by **Bill E.** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:06 pm

DYdamo wrote:Mike,
the collared shirt is just an old school rashie

Like wearing terry cloth socks under your duck feet!!

hart · Post by **hart** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:42 pm

PC (in my view) actually INVENTED the rashvest

He was wearing them from the early seventies under his wetsuits to stop neck and arm chaffing..

Glo-weave (US shirt company

) released their 'Wash and Wear' business shirt range (100% synthetic crap which didn't need ironing

such a cool 70's concept in itself

) in OZ at that time..and Peter was onto it

Anything cotton under a wettie would've added weight..so the 100% polyester made perfect sense to him

The rest of us got onto it a decade later

Just like RW said..some kneeboarders took us out of the box long before others

and now (ie the present) is no place to stop

hart

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:52 pm

And I used vasoline

kidrock · Post by **kidrock** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:42 am

a little too much info there, Mike.

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:35 pm

Bruce,

From the obvious craftsmanship, I shoulda realised your role was more than restoration

lowrider · Post by **lowrider** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:38 pm