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history : midget

midget farrelly
1963 to 1966

Midget Farrelly, Curl Curl Beach circa 1963 Photo: Perrott?

Midget Farrelly and Makaha Trophy, December 1962.
Photograph : Ron Church
Reprinted in Australian Longboard Magazine June 2004 Page x

Dec 1962, Makaha International Championship, Hawaii.
1st Midget Farrelly Women Nancy Nelson USA

Sun-Herald circa November1963 'Young World' and has a large article by Midget Farrelly "Learn to master the turn" the article is a series called "SURFING with Midget Farrelly " . There is a small article on the Australian surf team at the Makaha International Surfing Championship , where Bob Boot of Mona Vale was the first of the Australians to ride the Famous Waimea Bay , i always thought Bob Pike was the first of the Aussie's to surf Waimea ?

1963 January 2 Makaha Contest Midget Farrelly 9 ft 7” Hot Dog balsa at Keyo Surfboards. Makaha Championship winning board.

1963 Keyo Surfboards “International Custom” model-Midget’s Makaha trophy decal dorsal fin

1963
Advertisment :The Victorian Surfer Volume 1 Number 3 March 1963. BALSA
WONDERWOOD OF THE WORLD
RECENT INTERNATIONAL CAMPIONSHIP WAS WON ON A BALSA SURFBOARD
IMAGE
For "BIG GUN" and Midget Surfboards insist on BALSA.
ARTHUR MILNER and Co. Pty Ltd
JOYCE STREET SPENOVALE PHONE - 346-9363.

1963 Speed board by Midget Farrelly via Phil Edwards(US) 10ft6”Multi stringers,tail blocks at Gordon Woods Surfboards-as ridden by Nat Young via Mike Doyle(US)
P. Jack Eden

Lester Brien, Cresent Head, NSW, circa 1963.
Photograph By Tony Denoon
Surfer Magazine, Volume 4 Number 1
February - March 1964 Page 63

1963 Duke Kahanamoku - Guest of honour at the 1963 Australian Championships, Bondi Beach, 22-23 November and promotional work for K.G. Murray Publishing Co.'s The Australian Sufrider.
Sun-Herald circa November1963 'Young World'
Midget Farrelly: "Learn to master the turn", one in a series called "SURFING with Midget Farrelly " .
There is a small article on the Australian surf team at the Makaha International Surfing Championship.
"Bob Boot of Mona Vale was the first of the Australians to ride the Famous Waimea Bay".
Sunday Telegraph December 8 , 1963
" Missing surfers .....Bob McTavish and David Chidgey off to Hawaii "

Scott Dillon Surfboards
Surfabout, Vol.2 , No. 7 1964 Cover
Bob Pike is on in the cover shot.
Scott Dillon is reported as noting the board "was a balsa wood gun shaped in Hawaii for Bob Pike by Pat Curren.
This is the board that all subsequent Scott Dillon Point Break Models were modeled from"

The board is a Surfboards Hawaii, also possibly shaped by Dick Brewer.
See ASM, Manly SLSC.

Sun-Herald May 10 1964 'Young World' section
Overview of the judging system and how points are to be allocated for the first World Surfing titles to be held at Manly. Phil Edwards and Buzzy Trent listed among the 7 judges .

Program Cover :
1st World Surfboard Titles
Manly, New South Wales, Australia
May, 1964
Sponsored by Ampol Petroleum Limited in conjunction with the Australian Surfriders Association.
Reprinted in Australian Longboard Magazine June 2004

1964 World Titles, Manly.
1st Open Midget farrely 1st Juniors Nat Young, Gordon Woods Surfboards, SurfaboutVol.2 , No. 7 1964.
Thin railed Hot Dog 9ft-9ft6” by Bob McTavish/Bob Cooper/Russell Hughes/Kevin Platt via Joey Cabell (US-World Championships Manly ‘64) at Hayden Surfboards. Joey Cabell Model By McDonagh Surfboards.
P. Jack Eden
- Bob McTavish : Pods for Primates Part 1 in Tracks Magazine,1972.

1964 Bellyboard/Kneeboardby Barry Bennet-twin rounded keel fins

1965 Stringerless by Midget Farrelly-Peru World Championships Nose lift, thin rails, light weight, George Greenough (US) fin-stage 1

1965 July 4 Tom Morey Innvitational Noseriding Contest Ventura California.
'Won' by Mickey Munoz riding a Hobie Surfboard, shaped by Phil Edwards, featuring flat nose rocker, kicked tail and a concave nose.
US designers went into overdrive in the develpoment of Noserider models:

The Eliminator by Greek Surfboards	The Performer by Weber Surfboards
The Ugly by Con Surfboards	The Stretch by Gordon and Smith Surfboards
The Penetrator by John Peck/Morey-Pope Surfboards

Variously featuring flat nose rocker, narrow high kicked tails, concave and stepped noses.
The design included the first use of low rails by Tom Morey, followed by further development at Gordon and Smith Surfboards by Mike Hynson, Mike Haley and Skipp Frye).
Fin design was even more varied - Hatchet fins by Dewey Weber, the Tunnel fin, and Surfresearch's The Fin Wing(?).
A Nose patch became a common decor feature -contest coring was based on the time a rider could stand on a marked section of the front 25% of the board. See # 109.
Manufacturers often added these, particually to noseriding models, but many riders added the decor post-production.
This feature was a excellent marketing tool for Morey-Pope's coloured aerosol wax alternative - Slipcheck and competitor Grip-Feet
This was the first professional contest - 25 invitees, purse of $1500.oo.
This was the first objective contest - the rider scoring against the clock. A ride of 20 seconds was/is outstanding.See Notes About Surfing.
Phil Edwards' design and the host of variations were exported to Australia by late1965.
Kampion pages 103 -104
Nat History pages 100 -101

1965 George Greenough’s Spoon (US) flexible kneeboard - Velo SS. Clear flex bottom, molded from Velo 1 (a spooned deck balsa kneeboard, 1962?), added foam rails and Stage II fin. Red pigment rails and fin reinforcement. The board was warped during construction (asymmetric). 5 ft x 22 inches, 14 inch pod ?.
Hot Generation / Evolution/ Innermost Limits of Pure Fun/ Crystal Voyager.
Australian Surfers Journal Vol2 #2 pages 72 and 86

1965 December Nautilas or Cuttlefish by Nat Young at Gordon Woods Surfboards. Greenough spoon nose, foam centre and flex tail. 8 ft x 23". Dubbed "Nat’s Folly" by Midget
Scott Dillon Museum Collection
Carter pp 26-27,
Nat's Nat page?

1966 Sam- a Joey Cabell derivative designed by Bob McTavish, George Greenough (fin) and others (Cord Surfboards, Honessee Surfboards-Qld). Shaped by Nat Young(Gordon Woods Surfboards,Sydney). Fist ridden The Kick, Collaroy. Last ridden final 1966 World Titles, Ocean Beach California. The board disappeared during post-contest celebrations.
Single stringer,thin rails,9ft 4",22” wide, 6” pod, 2. ½ ” thick with 12” Greenough stage 2 fin.
Hot Generation
Nat's Nat page?

REFERENCES FOR THIS SECTION books
1966 Finney, Ben and Houston, James D. : Surfing – A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport
Pomegranate Books P.O. Box 6099 Rohnert Park, CA 94927 Reprint 1996

1968 Kahanamoku, Duke With Brennan, Joe: Duke Kahanamoku’s World of Surfing
Angus and Robertson Publishers Sydney , Australia 1972 2nd Edition A&R Paperbacks, Sydney , Australia

1970 Margan, Frank and Finney, Ben R. : A Pictorial History of Surfing
Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd, 176 South Creek Road, Dee Why West, NSW 2099.

1964 Pollard, Jack (ed.): The Australian Surfrider
K.G.Murray Publishing Co.P/L,142 Clarence Street , Sydney Australia

1972 The Best of Tracks (Vol. I) Editors : Falzon, Albert; Stewart, John; Grissim, John. :
Tracks Publishing Co Pty Ltd. P.O. Box 178 Avalon, NSW.
'Bob McTavish’s Personal History of Surfboard Design – Pods for Primates Parts 1' (pages 120 – 122).

1997 Warshaw, Matt : Surfriders – In Search of the Perfect Wave
Tehabi Books, Inc. Collins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

1978 Warwick, Wayne A Guide to Surfriding in New Zealand Second Edition
Viking Sevenseas Ltd Wellington, New Zealand

1979 Young, Nat ; Photographs by McCausland, Bill: Nat Young’s Book of Surfing
A.H. & A.W. Reed Pty. Ltd. 53 Myroora Rd, Terry Hills, Sydney.

1983 Young, Nat with McGregor, Craig : The History 0f Surfing
Palm Beach Press,40 Palm Beach Road, Palm Beach NSW 2108

film
1985 A History of Australian Surfing Nat Young.

magazines
1971 Modern World July Shane Steadman/Terry Fiztgerald (possibly) : 'Surfboard Design' pages 30 to 36.

1972 Surfing World. Volume 16 #4. Bob Evans : 'remember the time when...' pages 30 to 35.

web sites

circa October 1963:
Although Joan tended to stay close to Bob when he finished his day's work, Dylan and Farina found some time to tryout the California experience together.
Shortly after Bob arrived, Richard showed him Joan's Vespa motorcycle, and they went through the male ritual of inspecting the bike, pacing around the machine, and handling random parts decorously.
Farina, who had ridden other people's bikes a few times in Europe, was a novice rider but critical of Dylan's ability.
"He would play around with that motorcycle," Farina said, "but he really could not drive."
Mimi and Joan watched from Joan's window as the men took turns spinning down Corona Road, wondering which one would crash first.
"Neither of them knew what he was doing, really," said Mimi, "and they got on those things and thought they were Marlon Brando.
" Apparently looking for another hot-dogging opportunity for which they were equally ill prepared, they borrowed a Carmel neighbor's surfboard one night in early October and went moonlight surfing alone.
"I remember that he had written 'Lay Down Your Weary Tune' at Carmel," Farina later said.
"One evening, we were out surfing with a surfboard, and he rode the motorcycle back and wrote the tune.
I remember that because [Joan] was on her way to do a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and he was very keen that she should sing it with him.
But she was unsure of the song and the words and didn't want to do it yet."

Hajdu, David:
Positively 4th Steet- The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 38 Soho Square, London, WID 3HB, 2001, page 189.
Farrar, Srraus and Giroux, 19 Union Square West, New York 10003 I.