We buy interesting old boards 60s/70s/early 80s in good condition. Email alasdairlindsay75@gmail.com . Also wanted - Surfing UK , British Surfer and Surf Insight magazines . Above photo - copyright Rennie Ellis photographer archive
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Martin Richard of Newquay singlefin
Martin Richard surfboards were shaped by one of the legends of the Newquay surf scene Martin 'gearbox' Geary. MR was his first label in Newquay lasting from 1967 to 1969, so pretty scarce today. This 7'5 x 19 3/4 probably dates to around 1968, half way through the transitional period of the late 60s, based upon what the Aussies were riding in films like Evolution. It has a early patent pending Bilbo fin and fin box- not as nice a finish as their later clear ones. The board is one of the nicest MR's I've seen ,with full red tint on rails and underside, green pinline and red glue stringer ;and the trippy logo is classic late 60s. After MR Martin worked for Bilbo for a bit, and then started the sought after and equally rare Outer Limits label through the 70s, also shaping at Piran later in the decade. In the early 80s he was working with Nigel Semmens at Ocean Magic doing airbrushing .More recently he has suffered from bad arthritis in his hands and now makes small model surfboards.
Tony says about the board - In this case a copy of a Bing Foil brought to GB in 1968 by the new Australian Champ
Keith Paull, who went to Cal first to shape the board for them to copy, then
came to Cornwall. He used it at Porthtowan in the Cornish & Open, then
in Jersey at the Europeans ,then filmed in France with Mark Martinson and
Robert August for McGillivray and Freeman .Everybody ran a tape measure over it, photographed every detail, then made copies.For a few months we
were cutting edge, making the latest shape boards at the same time as Aus
and Cal were.
Martinson later wrote in SURFER mag `When we saw what Paull was riding we were sick.
When we tried it out we realised the boards we had brought with us from Cal were obsolete.
In the Bing foil ad of Keith Paull above you can see just how
far forward the fin was...... just like the MR copy.
The MR board is a copy of Keith Paul`s 1968 green BING which he used at the Porthtowan contest & the European contest in Jersey. We all measured it up! He gave me his `Peter Clarke Surfboards Sydney` business card (!), pink & blue psychedelic swirls, which is now with the Museum of British Surfing in N Devon.
I have just been given a board for my 9 year old son to start on. Unfortunately it has no fin or leash. I have tried my local shops but it appears the board is 'too vintage'! It is a Martin Richard Surfboards of Newquay with a single fin. I can provide pics if required. But does anyone know where I could get a fin?
Does anyone know how much one of these would cost? my dads been sitting on one for years and I’ve been trying to do some research for him to see how much they’d be worth
I met these guys in Newquay in 1970. They shaped a single fin for me based off a template of my girlfriend's surfboard from Hawaii. I am not English. I am American and was 18 at the time finishing up my last year of High School. We were military brats. My friend Willie Byerly was from Guam and he had them shape a board for him as well. He brought the pair something that made their boards better and lighter. A squeegee used for laminating. They took right to it. Loved it. I came back that summer and they let me crash in the farmer's barn where they shaped and glassed above and near Watergate Bay. The farmer wasn't thrilled so I camped on a grassy ledge on the cliff at Watergate Bay for the rest of my stay. My board was red and had an Indian in full headdress on the deck. The deck was clear but was not hot coated or glossed for lightness. I took my last surf trip in the UK to Little Haven, Wales and surfed the break north of there. I ran out of money to get home so I put my board for sale on consignment in Swansea at the Bilbo Surf Shop. Those dicks sold it and pocketed the cash. A kind older man handed me 10 pounds while I was camping out waiting for the board to be sold. I tried to give it back but he insisted I have it. I used the money to take an express train back to Gerrards Cross. A week later I was in Santa Cruz, CA were I lived and surfed for 35 years. Martin and Richards were great guys and I am lucky to have known them and spend time in Newquay.
The MR board is a copy of Keith Paul`s 1968 green BING which he used at the Porthtowan contest & the European contest in Jersey. We all measured it up! He gave me his `Peter Clarke Surfboards Sydney` business card (!), pink & blue psychedelic swirls, which is now with the Museum of British Surfing in N Devon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony, good to hear where the design behind the MR came from, cheers Al
ReplyDeleteI have just been given a board for my 9 year old son to start on. Unfortunately it has no fin or leash. I have tried my local shops but it appears the board is 'too vintage'! It is a Martin Richard Surfboards of Newquay with a single fin. I can provide pics if required. But does anyone know where I could get a fin?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how much one of these would cost? my dads been sitting on one for years and I’ve been trying to do some research for him to see how much they’d be worth
ReplyDeleteI met these guys in Newquay in 1970. They shaped a single fin for me based off a template of my girlfriend's surfboard from Hawaii. I am not English. I am American and was 18 at the time finishing up my last year of High School. We were military brats. My friend Willie Byerly was from Guam and he had them shape a board for him as well. He brought the pair something that made their boards better and lighter. A squeegee used for laminating. They took right to it. Loved it. I came back that summer and they let me crash in the farmer's barn where they shaped and glassed above and near Watergate Bay. The farmer wasn't thrilled so I camped on a grassy ledge on the cliff at Watergate Bay for the rest of my stay. My board was red and had an Indian in full headdress on the deck. The deck was clear but was not hot coated or glossed for lightness. I took my last surf trip in the UK to Little Haven, Wales and surfed the break north of there. I ran out of money to get home so I put my board for sale on consignment in Swansea at the Bilbo Surf Shop. Those dicks sold it and pocketed the cash. A kind older man handed me 10 pounds while I was camping out waiting for the board to be sold. I tried to give it back but he insisted I have it. I used the money to take an express train back to Gerrards Cross. A week later I was in Santa Cruz, CA were I lived and surfed for 35 years. Martin and Richards were great guys and I am lucky to have known them and spend time in Newquay.
ReplyDelete