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the catalogue #229

1968 Gordon Woods Tracker 8 ft Stringerless

#229

MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER: Gordon Woods Surfboards, 208 Harbord Road Brookvale NSW
SHAPER: Unknown
DESIGN: Tracker
DESIGNER: Bob McTavish / Nat Young

SPECIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION
Stringerless foam blank
Volan glass with 2 inch overlap
Oval kneel patch.
Resin centre pinline
Removable molded fin and fin box.

DIMENSIONS

*Length :*	8	ft	0	inches	*L2:*	7ft 11''
*Width :*	23	inches		*Wide Point :*	+ve 10	inches
*Nose :*	17 1/2	inches		*Tail :*	12 1/2	inches
*Thickness :*	3	inches		*Pod :*	4	inches
*Nose Lift :*		inches		*Tail Lift :*		inches
*Weight :*		kilos		*Volume :*		litres
*Other :*		inches

FEATURES
Nose: semi pin
Tail: square
Deck: rolled
Bottom: flat - round - flat
Rails: 50/50 tending down at the tail
Rocker: light

FIN
11'' x 10'' base x 12'' span @ 9 1/2 ''
Molded with accompanying finbox, design unknown.
The fin is fixed by a rear bolt only, see image below.

DECOR
DECALS
Deck: Gordon WoodsSurfboards, blue script offset left at tail.
TRACKER, black text on pod, see image below.
Bottom
Gordon WoodsSurfboards, blue script on nose.
MARKINGS
Deck:
Bottom
7571 -pencil behind fin, see image below right..
COLOUR
Deck
Clear with 2'' Volan overlaps, green resin centre pinline.
Bottom : Clear with 2'' Volan overlaps.

NOTES
BOARD HISTORY
Purchased from Aussie Junk Recycling Centre, Mitchell ACT in September 2007.
Freighted to Gerroa, Seven Mile Beach courtesy of Craig, Canberra, with many thanks.
Image below shows board on arrival with sales sticker, post-production red paint on the nose and Balin legrope in situ.

MANUFACTURER HISTORY
See Gordon Woods Surfboards

DESIGN HISTORY
Following the failure of the wide-tailed Vee bottom experiment in Hawaii December1967 plan shapes became the focus of design
In early 1968 some designs merely added a pintail - the Pintail Vee bottom - see #107
This was quickly abandoned, and as the year progressed plan shapes literally reversed to a fully foiled gun derived template.
Wide points moved dramatically forward (up to +ve 12'') and tails narrowed, with three main variations.
Bottom features, particually Vee, were much less extreme but 50/50 rails were retained
Many boards were stringerless, but the newly introduced coloured resin glue-line stringer was also widely used.
Volan fibreglass was an industry standard and the boards usually have identifiable laminated rail overlaps, often with deck and/or fin patches.
Fins usually were large Greenough-influenced flex fins, with advanced placement towards the nose.
The first commercially available finboxes were introduced in 1968 - WAVESET (by Morey-Pope) and SAFESET (by Fins Unlimited) - from the USA.
These were fitted with a selection of molded plastic fins.
See Pintail #96 Roundtail #171 and Tracker #108
The three models were illustrated late1968 / early 1969.

Image courtesy of Gordon Woods Archives.
Originally printed in Surfing World Volume 12 No. 1 1969.

COMMENTS
Note advanced fin placement and highly unusual fin box..

REFERENCES:
Magazines
Surfing World Volume 12 No. 1 1969. See advertisment above.

Other Trackers
#1081968   Wallace 7 ft 3" Stringerless
#69   1969 Keyo 7 ft 3'' Shaped by Bob McTavish
#67, 1969 Surf Design   7ft Shaped by Dick van Straalen

Other Gordon Woods Boards
1965 Stringerless #110
1966 Malibu #170
1967 Stringerless Wide tail #301

CONDITION: 7.5