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glossary : b

Baby
circa 1961
Phil Edwards’ balsa / fibreglass Malibu board, ridden in Australia 1964?
shown in Bruce Brown’s ‘Waterlogged’?

Baby Surfboard, The
1962,
short, multi laminated balsa / fibreglass board similar to Simmons’ Spoon template, built by George Greenough at Wilderness Surfboards, Santa Barbara (USA).
Starting as a twin fin it was progressively modified, including nose scarfing and Waveset fin box, and ridden by a host of different riders, most significantly by Bob McTavish in 1966 as a precursor to the short board (Greenough) revolution.

baby-gun
US term, Cralle.
See Mini-gun

backhand
riding with the surfer’s back towards the wave face, as opposed to forehand where the surfer faces the wave. Because turning the board is directed with heels, rather than the more precise toes and balls of the foot (of a forehand turn), the rider usually adopts a alternative stance and/or style.

Backhand
model name for Nat Young/Nat Young Surf Design asymmetrical-railed, pin-nose/square tail single fin 1971 to 1982.
Designed for riding with the surfer’s back towards the wave face, featuring accentuated nose rocker, flat deck, tucked rails a small chamfered pod and a Greenough Stage IV fin.
Early Byron Bay models in blue/white pigment laminate, later Mona Vale models sprayed.
Nat Young Falline (Surfboards) model shaped by xxx, 1982 in Thruster fin set up noted..

Backyarder
1. A board built by an amateur.
2. a board not built in a factory.
3. a board without printed decals.
4. a board displaying crude construction technique.
5. All of the above and a Cut-down...
Commonly first boards are shaped from existing obsolete (hence usually larger) boards that have had all the fibreglass removed.
This course of action is invariably regretted (see backyard butchery, below)

backyard butchery
reshaping of an existing board, virtually destroying the work of the original builder.
Particularly virulent in the late 1960’s.
Term credited to Peter Turner, Kirra Surf Shop, 1999.
See Cut down.

balsa wood (Ochroma lagopus)
"a soft, lightweight porous, wood found mainly in Ecador and parts of tropical South America" - Cralle.
First used in the 1940's, laminated with redwood and/or pine to make solid boards, later used as a shaped blank in the first fibreglassed boards in the 1950's.
Wide balsa stringers were a feature of early foam boards - Longboard magazine Vol.5 #4 page 47.
Current use is rare.
See Malibu, stringer, Spoon .

banana
extreme rocker
First credited use: Fred Notting's original surf boat design for Manly Life Saving Club (MLSC) in 1913. - Maxwell, pages 91-92.

Bat tail
usually a wide tail in template with three points separated by two concaves.
The design was possibly first used for an episode the televsion series Batman 1965 - 1967.
Batman is challenged to a surfing contest (by the Riddler?) and uses a board with "Bat" decor and tail (similar to the Batmobile.design).
More general use in mid 1970's, I think initially from the USA, possibly Rick Rasmussen, originally from the East coast.
Australian examples are rare and most likely to be single fin boards from 1973 to 1976, a period of considerable design focus on the tail.
Examples include the Swallow tail, Fangtail, Fish tail, Flex tail, Tinkler tail, Ski/Screwdriver tail and variations to all the common tail templates.with the addition of single and multi Flyers/Wings.
The Catalogue has one example of this design # 93, circa 1981 - but the tail is severvely damaged and no suitable photograph.I believe this board is a throw-back by the shaper to his 1970's.work.

Bee Tail
triple or double flyer pintail , by Jim Pollard/Col Smith (Newcastle), used in conjunction with full length channels exiting at the flyers. See channels.

belly
middle curved contour on the bottom of a board
Mostly used in the1960’s when most boards used a round bottom.

Belly Board / Paipo / El Paipo
thin, very short boards with minimal nose lift, originally of wood and used prone by (particularly juvenile) Hawaiian surfers pre 1920’s.
Possibly from ‘pae’, to ride a wave to shore, and ‘pu’, the sea at middle tide (Hawaiian).
Later developments saw the use of laminated wood blanks, the addition of twin fins and handgrips and after 1945 riders had access to flippers.
The introduction of fibreglass and foam in the 1950’s saw thicker models with increased floatation and the development of the Surf-o-plane rubber mat.
In the 1970’s Coolite boards and fabric mats served as substitutes.
The design returned to popularity after Tom Morey’s (USA) 1974 interpretation – the Boogieboard
See Paipo Catalogue

billet
Crude timber or polyurethane foam block from which a board is shaped.
Common usage ‘blank’.

blank
1. Crude timber or polyurethane foam block from which a board is shaped
2. The shaped board before it is fibreglassed. Preferred term ‘shaped blank’.

Bonker board
semi derogatory 1970’s term, usually of a 1960’s Malibu board.

Bonzer (design/bott om/fins)
original design 1973 by Campbell brothers (USA)
Characterized by forward concave leading to double concave each side of the centre fin with two keel- type fins set on the rails ( toed-in and cambered).
Australian expression for “excellent”.
Australian exponents :
Peter Townend (Gordon and Smith Surfboards) and
Terry Richardson (Skipp Surfboards).
See ...
tri-fin       (precedent),
Thruster   (influence)
Phazer   (adaptation)

Boogie (Board)
Flexible foam bellyboard invented by Tom Morey in 1971 as an offshoot of his experimentation leading to the Morey-Doyle flexible surfboard.
Based on the Hawaiian paipo and incorporating flex and ‘vacuum track rails’ (Greenough / Brock hull design). Soft construction circumvents bodysurfing area restrictions.
Originally offered as a buyer assembled mail order product.
Extensively imitated.

Boomerang fin
narrow based and bladed fin with extreme rake.
Originally an early 1980’s sailboard design, probably by Mark Paul, Bombora Sailboards.
Surfboard adaptation credited to Bobby Owens (Hawaii), circa 1984. -Cralle., photograph page 13.

bottom / hull
planing surface of the board, often varying in cross section from the nose to the tail.
Common cross sections are flat, round, vee, concave and channel.
A change in cross section is designated as one phase.

bottom curve (profile) / rocker
the bottom of the board described in profile, from nose to tail.
There is no recognized universal method of measuring bottom curve.

break away edge
trailing or rear edge of a board or fin. -Cralle.

Bullet
board template, usually full pin nose, forward wide point and a wide squared tail.

Bull nose
"A 1960's surfboard shape featuring a nose more rounded and wider than the tail"
-Australian Surfing Kit Co.in Cralle.

bullets
see Q-cells.

bung
plug used to seal hollow boards.
Cork, rubber, metal, plastic.

bung hole
draining hole for hollow boards, sealed by a bung.

Bump Board/Bump Tail
alternative term for Pig template, Circa 1956 USA.

Bump Wing
see Wing and Flyers, obscure in Australia, term listed in Cralle.(USA) 1991.

Butterfly Fin / Rabbit Ears Fin
a two bladed fin located at the centre of the tail.
First credited 1954 to Velzy /Jacobs
Others by ...
Scott Dillon - 1962
Brad Larkin's Honey Surf fin box model - 1974.
- Image left

Notes on Glossary