Late 70's/Early 80's Shapers

[albert]

Yesterday I had to rebuild my racks that hold all my boards in the garage, mostly because of the shotty craftsmanship I am known for when I built them in the first place. So I had to remove them all from the garage while I did the work. One thing I kept thinking about is how little I actually know about so many of the board I have acquired over the last few years.

Most of the boards I have in my collection, I am pretty confident, were built in the late 70s/early 80s, aussie made. Some of these are in good condition, some are in shambles. Some I know a lot about because the history has followed the board, some I know absolutely nothing about. Obviously I cant spend a lot of time finding out everything there is to know about these, lets face it, some of the stories are not very interesting. However, the opportunity to find out more about the boards and shapers that were working around that era in Australia I couldnt pass up.

What I want to know is more about who were the people making boards around that era? For example, I know that Neil Luke was making boards in Phillip Island around that time (and before) under the Island label (as he still does). I know that Albert Whiteman was getting his starts in the shaping scene. and of course Crozier was making oodles of boards. Who else was out there? Where they making a lot of boards? Am I missing someone's boards in my collection?

Any info would be greatly appreciated... lies and epic tales would be good too.

Thanks
Albert

[MALLEE BULL]

YOU NEED TO GET ONE OF PETER BERRY'S DESIGNER BOARDS

[grot]

Hey Albert, for sentimental value the old Barry Bennett boards are high on my list. They were probably earlier than the dates you've said but they got a lot of my crew into kneelo's during that time. Bought mine (orange scooped deck single fin) from my brother for 25 bucks with my first pay packet in 1975.

[Mike Fernandez]

Albert, this is one of the reasons I started all those "The history of..." threads in the Legends forum.
Three names from my limited American experience:
Steve Artis (Hot Buttered at the time I think)
Dale Ponsford
John and Peter Ware (Friar Tuck)
I bet you could get a ton of info from Dave Parkes.

[albert]

Albert, this is one of the reasons I started all those "The history of..." threads in the Legends forum.
Three names from my limited American experience:
Steve Artis (Hot Buttered at the time I think)
Dale Ponsford
John and Peter Ware (Friar Tuck)
I bet you could get a ton of info from Dave Parkes.

...And I do have a ton of info from David, I know a lot about John and Peter Ware, about everyone else that was shaping under the Friar Tuck logo out of Brookvale, but I want to know more... I wanna know more about who else was making boards back then!

[Tony Wales]

Albert, at the risk of being shot down in flames for getting it wrong I’ll throw the following info into the mix – other folk are welcome to correct inaccuracies

The shapers of note are - (apologies if I have overlooked anyone):

Dave Parkes – Eras: 80s, 90s, 00s
Peter & John Ware – Eras: 70s, 80s
Chris Crozier – Eras: 60s, 70s
Steve Artis – Eras: 70s, 80s
Albert Whiteman – Eras: 80s into 90s.
Dale Ponsford – Eras: 80s, 90s
Bruce Hart – Eras: 80s, 90s, 00s
Neil Luke – Eras: 70s, 80s, 80s, 00s
Mark Fitzpatrick (WA) – Eras: 80s
Craig McDonald – Eras: 70s, 80s
Peter Berry – Eras: 60s, 70s, 80s until abducted by aliens in flying saucers who suspected he was appropriating their intellectual property.

Many non kneelo shapers have flogged kneeboards over the years – especially during the kneelo boom of the 70s. Many trying to make cheaper versions of the Greenough spoons came up with foam shapes such as the Shane Surfboard’s “The Shoe”, other factories such as Bennets on the northern beaches of Sydney and Baron in Cronulla also did their own versions of spoons and “shoes”, still others such as Hayden's on the Sunshine Coast and Chris Bock from Sky Surfboards did Greenough shapes under licence – there are many old boards still in circulation from these “alternate” factories – it doesn’t mean they weren’t good shapers it just means that they weren’t the core/innovative kneelo shapers.

Local Heroes: Each local area has its own history of shapers, for example in the Cronulla area guys like Gary Birdsall and Peter Hurcombe were doing boards in the late 60s, The Baron factory in Taren Point also did many kneeboards. The prominent kneelo shapers in the Cronulla area were: Paul “The Bear” Burridge out of Gordon & Smith (G&S) and Emerald, John Waterworth out of G&S and Paul Armstrong at Express Surfboards. Jackson Surfboards have done kneeboards since the 60s but no one has ever taken them seriously as they were always (and still are) “knock offs” of other peoples shapes.

Finally: for the definitive word on the history of Aussie kneeboard shapes the guy to contact would be Mick Mock. – if you can track him down.

[Bumps]

Albert,

In WA there was Neil Bird for Murray Smith , Ross Smith at Santosha and Mark Fitzpatrick also at Murray Smith.

[albert]

Dave Parkes – Eras: 80s, 90s, 00s
Peter & John Ware – Eras: 70s, 80s
Chris Crozier – Eras: 60s, 70s
Steve Artis – Eras: 70s, 80s
Albert Whiteman – Eras: 80s into 90s.
Dale Ponsford – Eras: 80s, 90s
Bruce Hart – Eras: 80s, 90s, 00s
Neil Luke – Eras: 70s, 80s, 80s, 00s
Mark Fitzpatrick (WA) – Eras: 80s
Craig McDonald – Eras: 70s, 80s
Peter Berry – Eras: 60s, 70s, 80s until abducted by aliens in flying saucers who suspected he was appropriating their intellectual property.

At one stage or another I have come accross boards from almost all of these shapers, the only exceptions are Peter Berry boards and Bruce Hart boards. Peter Berry boards are hard to find no matter what, and getting someone to let go of them is even harder. Anyone wanna trade?

But I had no idea Bruce was making boards back then.

Bruce, when did you start making boards? I havent come accross any real old ones of yours yet... did you shape under flashpoint back then? or did you shape under someone else's label?

[hart]

Tony, you've done quite a good job putting that list together

Local Heroes: Each local area has its own history of shapers, for example in the Cronulla area guys like Gary Birdsall and Peter Hurcombe were doing boards in the late 60s

BTW I have a 1958 Birdsall (Gary dated it himself) in absolutely mint condition..next oldest is a 1966 Barry Bennett from the same factory in Harbord Road, Brookvale that Barry still owns (and works in) today

Regards

hart

[hart]

But I had no idea Bruce was making boards back then.

Bruce, when did you start making boards? I havent come accross any real old ones of yours yet... did you shape under flashpoint back then? or did you shape under someone else's label

Albert I have been 'making' boards since 1974 when I shaped and laminated my first single-fin slab

My first professional shape however (like when someone else paid me to do it) was in 1980 at Mc Grigors in Harbord Road

I shaped professionally for Chris Crozier, Mc Grigor and Bennett for the next 5 years until Crozier's (untimely) death

Flashpoint Surfing was created in 1985 to continue the philosophy that Crozier had instilled within me and to allow the Crawford/ Dee Why kneeboard influence to remain in the professional surfboard market

Since then, I have also shaped for Hot Buttered, Aloha and Warner Surfboards

This year (2008) is my 34th consecutive year of working in the Surfboard Industry in Harbord Road, Brookvale and I am stoked to have produced quality kneeboards for each and every one of those years

Regards

hart

[albert]

Thanks Bruce.



If you ever run into one of your boards from your early years in shaping I would be absolutely wrapped to get my hands on one or two. Please let me know if any of them cross your radar anytime soon.

Thanks again

[stevea]

The only ommission that i can see is Wayne Hutch who shaped Sundancer then Kneon for some awesome kneeboard surfers most notably Simon ,the industry lost a great craftsman when Wayne left to work as a surf guide in Samoa ,where are you now Wayne?

[jamie]

A couple more that were pretty significant.
Simon Anderson - original shaper designer of the thruster, shaped boards that were ridden by Ken Horton and southside character Mark Garnett amongst others.
Steve Zoeller who worked for Simon at Energy Surfboards and ended up buying the brand and business was good shaper and kneelo.
I used to go down to the Energy shop in Narrabeen back in the 80's and check out their boards. I was at school at the time and always wanted an Energy kneelo - never got one!
Peter Stanton didnt shape any boards(i dont think) but he did some pretty good sprays on the Energy boards of this era, and if you can find one it would be a keeper. he was a pretty good kneelo too.

Rodney Ball was another stand up shaper who designed and shaped some kneelos in the late 70's and early 80's in Harboard Road. He was the well known for shaping ski tails(reverse curves)and did some on his kneelboards that should have been before they were seen on Friar tucks, Energy and Hardware more recently.He also used to shape a groove similar to the one on snow skis down the stringer that was 3 inches wide and went the length of the board. I went out with his sister in the early 90's and took her up to the byron bay contest in about 1992. The good old days up to byron and back for a 3 day weekend.

Pete Daniel at Mona Vale was another shaper of fine kneelos, Nov road his boards for a while their - so Labert you would be lucky to get your arm around one, and Nov got em glassed so light you would be lucky if one lasted till now and we are talking late 80's by now.


Greg Geddes has never shaped commercially but must have done close to 50 boards since about 1980. Most of his shapes have derived from a Pete Berry board he won in 1983 that he still owns. His use of doona covers with Walt Disney characters as amedium to decorate boards makes him note worthy.

[southpeakbrad]

Hi Albert,

I'll mention a couple of standup shapers who were not widely known but made good kneeboards (at the time) because I wasn't really aware of dedicated kneeboard shapers. Dean Cleary was a great kneeboarder in the 70s in Huntington but I think he may have started shaping once he went to South Africa. Others can correct me on this..

Mid-late 70s Ron Lingenfelter (SeaSki) in Huntington was a good shaper and made nice fishes. Here's one he made for me:
album_showpage.php?pic_id=15414

And Glen Mcfee (Pure Fun) in SF in the 80s was making kneeboards that worked just fine. George Bredehoft was doing computer kneeboard templates that allowed us to make small changes to previous shapes as needed.

[albert]

The only ommission that i can see is Wayne Hutch who shaped Sundancer then Kneon for some awesome kneeboard surfers most notably Simon ,the industry lost a great craftsman when Wayne left to work as a surf guide in Samoa ,where are you now Wayne?

Wayne made a few Hot Buttered kneeboards too didnt he?

I know because I got one in my garage...