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 |
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the
catalogue #305 |
|
| 1968
Gordon Woods Tracker 8 ft Stringerless |
#305
|
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
Laminated and tinted
deck patch with squegeed colour with black resin pinlines.
Post production
leg rope plug - right.
DIMENSIONS
|
Length
:
|
8
|
ft |
1/2
|
inches |
L2:
|
8ft |
|
Width
:
|
23
|
inches |
|
Wide
Point :
|
+ve
8 1/2
|
inches |
|
Nose
:
|
18
|
inches |
|
Tail
:
|
14
|
inches |
|
Thickness
:
|
3
|
inches |
|
Pod
:
|
6
|
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
10 1/2'' x
9'' base x 9'' span @ 9 1/2 ''
Laminated fibreglass.
This is the original
fin but it has probably been damaged and shortened.
Boat matting repairs
to front of the fin base.
Image right illustrates...
Boat matting repairs
Decal and pencil
mark search
Original clear botom,
black and blue paint layers. |
|
DECOR
DECALS
Deck: Gordon
Woods
x three overlapped green/red/black
Offset right at
forward sweet spot.
Matches deck patch
Bottom:
Unknown
MARKINGS
Deck:
Bottom
8384
-pencil at pod, see image below right..
COLOUR
Deck
Clear with 2'' Volan
overlaps, laminated and yellow tinted deck patch with red and green squegeed
colour, black pinlines.
Bottom : Clear
with 2'' Volan overlaps ??? |
|
NOTES
BOARD HISTORY
Purchased/Obtained
?
Board submitted, with thanks, by Bob Munroe, Gerroa, NSW.
Dimensions and photographs
22 August 2004
Although the deck
was in good condition (protected by wax), the bottom and rails have some
damage that has mostly been poorly repaired.
The botom and rail
laps had been painted with black and then blue paint.
The blue paint was
removed by Bob,
I removed the black
rails with wet and dry paper for a better photograph of the deck (for original
condition image , see below)
A quick search on
the bottom found the pencil marks.
No bottom decal or other decor was found.
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.
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
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