surfresearch.com.au  pods for primates*

Surfboard Exhibition - 100 Boards - 100 Images - 100 Stories - Gerringong Town Hall, South Coast, NSW - One Day Only - SUNDAY 13th DECEMBER 2009. 9.00 am - 4.30 pm "A splendid time is guaranteed for all." Contact: Geoff Cater (02) 44487490 geoff@surfresearch.com.au - ADMISSION: $0 (FREE, NOTHING, ZERO) -

catalogue history references appendix

* Bob McTavish's articles Pods for Primates : Part 1 and  Pods for Primates : Part 2 were published by TRACKS magazine, April (#31) and May (#32) 1973. Image left: Surf International Magazine  Volume 1 Number 12, circa 1969. Cover photograph by John Witzig: Bob McTavish and Little Red, Honolua Bay,  Maui, December 1967.

Bruce White and San Juan Egg, 1972.

Ken Grieves (not)

Geoff Fox

John McInnes

Paul Flack

From: Phillips, H: Surfing Beaches of Sydney N.S.W. Photographer, Printer and Publisher 99 Victoria Avenue Willoghby, NSW, 1930. Soft cover, 24 pages, black and white photographs. Review The item is not dated but has one photograph at Bondi dated March 22nd, 1930.

The Source
Possibly printed in SURF International magazine, in colour, circa 1968.
Possibly Volume 1, Number 4.
A colour version was the cover shot for Surf International, Volume 1, Number 12, circa 1969.
A black and white copy printed in Honi Soit, Sydney University, circa 1971.

The Surfer
Bob McTavish

The Surfboard
Ted Spencer's Little Red,
Shaped by Ted Spencer and Bob McTavish at Keyo Surfboards, mid 1967
8ft 4" x 23" stringered rounded pintail, red Greenough fin.
Clear deck, red gel coat on bottom.
First place in the Windansea Contest, Palm Beach, Sydney October 1967.

Nat Young and Bob McTavish's testing of the Short Board/Vee-Bottom theory in Hawaii, November-December 1967, has been extensively recorded in film (Paul Witzig : Hot Generationand Eric Blum The Fantastic Plastic Machine), books, magazines, web pages and mythology.

Documented, deified, disputed, despised and dismissed as the 'Short Board Revolution', the boards taken to Hawaii in the winter of 1967 by Bob McTavish, Nat Young, Ted Spencer, Peter Drouyn and other Australian surfers were in fact 'Gunned' versions of the designs developed for Australian surf.

Between February  and November 1967 intensive competition between Sydney manufacturers and their stable of surfer/shapers (primarily Midget Farrelly (Surfboards), Palm Beach and Bob McTavish at Keyo Surfboards, Brookvale) saw length reduce from 9 ft to 7ft.

Variations of Ted Spencer's board were to be the dominant design in Australia for the next twelve months.

Errata
The board details were previously described on this page as...
Ted Spencer's 'Little Red',  8ft 9" x 22" stringerless rounded pintail. Possibly Shane Surfboards.
and noted...
The board itself, however, broke in two at the Honolua Bay sessions.
These details were taken from multiple viewings of Paul Witzig's  Hot Generation
and Bob McTavish's account of the Honolua Bay sessions,
"A plastic drinking straw...."    SURF INTERNATIONAL Vol. 1. No. 3  February - March 1968  Page 11.

In November 2003 Ted Spencer emailed...
For what it's worth, so called Little Red board was 8'4" in length single stringer 23" wide and was shaped by Bob McTavish and I at Keyo Surfboards in Brookvale Australia.
It didn't break badly in Hawaii and I took it back to OZ.      Regards, Ted.

Many thanks to Ted Spencer for this invaluable contribution.

Ted Spencer, Little Red, Lahina, Maui, December 1967.
Photograph by John Witzig
From Nat : History, pages 98 - 99.

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The Source
Harris, Reg. S.: The History of Manly Life Saving Club 1911-1961
Published by Manly Life Saving Club, NSW  Printed by Publicity Press Ltd. 1961.
Page Forty-four (uncredited)

The Surfers (Left to right) :
M.B."Bossy" Sutton,
Geoff. Cohen - was the first Manly S.L.S.C. member killed in World War II and his board became the club's War Honour Roll.
Harry Wicke  - was Australian Surfboard Champion in 1939-1940.
Jim Austin,
Lou Morath - came third in the Australian Titles and represented Australia at the Pacific Games in Honolulu in 1939.
Ken Simpson - was awarded a D.F.C. for service with the R.A.A.F.and was also killed in the war.

The Surfboards
In the centre are the tails of two timber framed/plywood covered boards based on Tom Blake's Hollow design, circa 1934.
The othes are solid wood Alaia ('Church Windows' in Australia, 'Gothics' in mainland USA) of similar design to the board used in Australia by Duke Kahanamoku in 1915. All the boards were finless.
Geoff. Cohen's board is still with the Manly Surf Life Saving Club.
Lou Morath's board (#105)  is 8 ft 8" x 23 1/2" exists in original condition and is held by the Balmoral Beach Club, Sydney.