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the catalogue #349

1968 Gordon Woods Fineline Pintail 8ft Stringerless

#349

MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER: Gordon Woods Surfboards, 208 Harbord Road Brookvale NSW
SHAPER: (possibly) Bob Kennerson
DESIGN: Fineline Pintail
DESIGNER:
SPECIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION
Stringerless foam blank
Volan glass with 2 inch red resin tint overlap, black resin pigment decor, white resin pinlines.
Oval kneel patch.
Removable molded fin and fin box.

DIMENSIONS

*Length :*	8	ft	0	inches	*L2:*	7ft 11''
*Width :*	20 1/2	inches		*Wide Point :*	+ve 0	inches
*Nose :*	14	inches		*Tail :*	13	inches
*Thickness :*	3	inches		*Pod :*	0	inches
*Nose Lift :*		inches		*Tail Lift :*		inches
*Weight :*		kilos		*Volume :*		litres
*Other :*		inches

FEATURES
Nose: pin
Tail: pin
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 1/4''.
Molded with accompanying finbox, design unknown.

Unlike the Waveset or Safeset models of the period which fix the fin with a front and rear bolt.
This design incorporates a flange in the front of the fin base that locks over a cross-beam inside the box and fixed by a rear bolt.
See images below.

DECOR
DECALS
Deck: Gordon Woods Surfboards, black and orange script offset left at tail.
PINTAIL, black text on pod, see image below.
Bottom
G W, black text forward of finbox.
MARKINGS
Deck:
Bottom:
COLOUR
Deck
Clear with 2'' Volan red tint rail laps, white resin pinlines.
Bottom : Red tint with black foil pigment decor and white resin pinlines.

NOTES
BOARD HISTORY
All board images, dimensions and information provided by Andy Stewart, January 2011.
Many thanks to Andy for his contribution.
He noted (edited):
"The previous owner, the bass guitarist and vocalist for SA blues band Hoy-Hoy, had the board from 1977 to 1983.
It was then borrowed by the drummer of the Exploding White Mice from 1983 to1992 .
The bass guitarist then rediscovered the board whilst at a party and it has lived back with him until 2010 when it was added to my collection."
and
"The previous owner confirmed that he chopped the fin down to allow his son to surf the shorebreak whilst first learning to surf."
and
""Finbox – Bahne (Fins Unlimited USA) ?? 10 ½” with a 3/8” wooden locking dowl and ¼” cap head locking screw (trailing edge set 9” from the tail).
I am fairly certain that the finbox comes from Bahne (Fins unlimited) but confirmation would be fantastic."
and
"I can offer some advice re removal of the fin in your board and that is a full can of CRC / WD-40 or the like applied to the screw in small amounts over a week or so.
Should you happen to break the mounting face of the fin identical replicas can be purchased from Mike Jipp at Lincoln City Surf in th USA for around 80$ aus delivered.
I know this as I purchased one for this board as the previous owner had chopped the original in half."

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.