Allen Sarlo for Body Glove: Sagas of Shred

Style. Swagger. Gravitas.

What more is there to say about Allen Sarlo in this Body Glove ad?

We’ve featured Wave Killer a few times here on the blog. In fact, Sarlo was kind enough to send the photos that were featured in the second post. The ad you see here originally appeared in the Dec 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 12). You probably guessed this already, but the Con with the Wave Killer laminate is epic enough, and we haven’t even gotten to the matching wetsuit yet! This might be one of my favorite Sagas of Shred posts yet.

Oh, and here’s a friendly reminder to mind your etiquette while surfing Malibu, courtesy of Wave Killer himself:

Thanks for reading and we’ll be back next Thursday evening with more vintage surf ads!

Vintage Steve Coletta Natural Curves Surfboards Single Fin

Greetings, Shredderz! If, like me, you are a regular foot who lives in Northern California, then you have probably surfed some of Santa Cruz’s beautiful right hand points. Despite having great waves and talented surfers, Santa Cruz doesn’t seem to get mentioned as much as its counterparts further south. Something tells me that the locals in Santa Cruz are just fine with this setup. Likewise, you don’t necessarily hear a ton about shapers from the Santa Cruz area. I can’t stake any sort of claim to Santa Cruz, as I only surf there once every couple of months, but nonetheless I have an affinity for its local craftsmen. I’m always eager to learn more about people like Doug Haut, Bob Pearson, Chuck Vinson, Rick Noe, Mike Zeh-Croteau, and others. You can imagine my excitement when I recently stumbled across this vintage Natural Curves Surfboards single fin shaped by Steve Coletta, which I have since added to my quiver. Click any of the photos below to enlarge.

The surfboard you see above measures in at approximately 7’10” x 19″ x 3.25″. (The thickness is a rough guess, but I think the height and width are probably pretty close.) I contacted Steve about the board and he was gracious enough to provide some details. The board was shaped in the Seventies, and according to Steve, it could have been shaped for Hawaii, the Central Coast, or Mainland Mexico. As you can see it has a beautiful acid splash resin job and then a super clean double pin line around the rails. The board has a very narrow baby swallow tail and a single glass on wooden fin as well.

There have been some repairs — if you look closely you can see the light blue areas in the tail in the photo above, and then on the bottom towards the nose in the photos below — but overall the board is in very good condition.

And if you were wondering if I’m still tripping out over that incredible acid splash…the answer is yes! Check out the photo below for a close up. I particularly love the contrast between the contained chaos of the acid splash and the precision of the double resin pin lines. The double arrows pointing towards the logo on each rail is also a fantastic touch. Last but certainly not least, I really dig the older logo, too. I wrote up a 1981 Steve Coletta single fin a few weeks ago, but that board didn’t have any Natural Curves logos.

I’m hoping to take this vintage Natural Curves Surfboards stick to Steve himself to try and get some more info on it. I don’t make the rules here, but I do try and follow them, and any time you own a rad vintage surfboard, there’s an obligation to show it to the shaper whenever possible. Stay tuned as I hope to get this awesome stick into Steve’s hands, and perhaps learn a little bit more about it as well.

Wave Tools Jeff Parker Model & More: Weekend Grab Bag

Shredderz, I can’t lie: it has been some time since I last offered up an entry of our Weekend Grab Bag series. But better late than never, right? Today we’ve got an eclectic group of vintage surfboards. Per Grab Bag rules, all boards must be currently listed for sale as of the time the post is published. Keep scrolling for more, starting with a sweet Wave Tools Jeff Parker Model.

Wave Tools Jeff Parker Model (eBay)

You want logos? We’ve got you covered. Pictured above is an Echo Beach era Wave Tools thruster. To exactly no one’s surprise, the board is practically drowning in awesome, oversized laminates — how sick are the ones on the rails? — and a loud herringbone pattern paint job. Parker’s Jack of Spades personal logo is all time. I’m also intrigued by the outline. The pronounced wings make it look like a more aggressive predecessor to the bump squash tail thrusters that were popular in the Eighties. If I’m not mistaken, the board is only 5’2″, but that hasn’t put a damper on the bidding. As of the time the post was written, the board was already at $640, despite needing a decent amount of work. The photo at the top of the page features Parker on a different but similarly colorful Lance Collins design; photo is by Mike Moir.

Surfing’s New Image Aipa Sting by Rick Hamon (eBay)

I’ve long had a fascination with the stings Rick Hamon shaped under the SNI / Aipa label. The one you see above is a nice and clean example. I think the price is quite high, but hey, it’s a lovely board and the seller provided some great pics, too. The seller dates the board to 1974 and the board is 7’4″. Love the airbrush colors and the pin line.

Gordon & Smith Midget Farrelly Stringerless Model (eBay)

Last but not least we have a very cool G&S Midget Farrelly Stringerless Model in mostly original condition. Like the SNI / Aipa sting above, I think the price is on the high side, but it’s a very cool older board. I hesitate to even link to this older post I wrote, but it contains some decent info on the Farrelly’s various collaborations with Gordon & Smith. The board is 9’10”, and according to the seller it was likely shaped in either 1966 or 1967. I am guessing the G&S Midget Farrelly Stringerless Model was shaped right before the Transition Era took off. The seller believes it was likely shaped by either Mike Eaton or Skip Frye. Those are interesting theories for sure, but I don’t know enough about G&S history to weigh in one way or another.

Butch Van Artsdalen for Design 1 / Surf Jet: Sagas of Shred

That’s right, Shredderz: today’s a rare occasion indeed, as there are not one but two posts for your viewing pleasure. Scroll down if you missed the earlier entry, which was the latest installment in our Clipz series. More to the point, today we have another vintage surf ad for you, courtesy of Sagas of Shred. The vast majority of the Sagas entries are scanned by yours truly, but this time I wanted to share something that I found online. I’m not sure where I found this photo, but it’s a scan of an advertisement for Design 1. Design 1 was a short lived surfboard company that was based out of Long Island, of all places, which also happens to be the boyhood home of your Shreditor in Chief. I can attest to the fact that suburban New York City is indeed a long, long way from Pipeline and the fearsome waves of Oahu’s famous North Shore.

Design 1 collected a number of famous surfers to come up with their boards, and Butch Van Artsdalen was one of them. Design 1 was an ambitious project, and despite plowing money into ads like the one you see here, and hiring a star-studded roster of shapers, it didn’t last very long. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have all the details on the history of Design 1, but as a New York native and a fan of surfboard history, I can’t help but feel like there’s a much more intriguing story there.

We’ll be back next Thursday evening, California time, with more vintage surf ads. Mahalo!

Self Discovery & More: Clipz

Greetings, Shredderz! As someone who grew up in the pre-internet age — barbaric, I know — there were few things I looked forward to more than getting a new issue of Surfer Magazine in the mail. That has all changed, of course. I still love Surfer and its peers, but like anyone else who has watched the internet take a buzzsaw to print, I can’t help but get a little nervous about the future of surf media.

There is a silver lining, however, and that is the incredible explosion of surf related video content available online. Gone are the days when you would plunk down $30 and simply cross your fingers that whatever video you bought turned out to be a good one. I think we can all agree that we’re living in a golden age of surf videos, and I couldn’t be happier about that. Without any further ado, here are some recent clips that caught my attention, as part of the latest installment in the Clipz series.

Surfer / shaper Zack Flores takes a variety of self-shaped sleds down to Mainland Mexico’s famous sand bottom points, and the results are too fun to watch. You’ve probably seen pros rip these spots, but it’s cool to see someone take some alternative surf craft for a spin in these wonderful waves. Oh, yeah…and he’s surfing switch! Ridiculous.

I am eager to see the first video from New York’s Pilgrim Surf Supply, a great surf shop located in the heart of Williamsburg. This is actually about to premier in just a few minutes, as of the time I am writing this post. Click here for more info via Pilgrim’s site.

Here’s Shawn Stussy talking shop and shaping a sweet looking board. We’re big fans of Señor Stussy here, and this is a cool and rare look at S Double at work inside of his studio.

The above clip has absolutely nothing to do with surfboard design, vintage sticks, or alternative surf craft. But it does feature John John Florence absolutely destroying J Bay’s famous right hand walls. The surfing is ridiculous enough on its own, but when you consider the entire clip was sourced from one single session in 2017, that’s the moment in which you realize Florence is probably a cyborg sent back in time to change the future of surfing.

Price Checks: Vintage Liddle Surfboards

Greetings, Shredderz! Today we’ll be talking surfboards and cold, hard cash. Yes, I know: some people out there hate the financial aspect of surfboard collecting. (If you have any tips on how it can be done for free, well, I’m all ears.) But more than anything else, I think it’s helpful to give people an idea of what prices to expect for certain collectible boards. Today we have not one but two vintage Greg Liddle boards, both of which are still for sale. Without any further ado, here’s an overview of the sticks and some thoughts around what the sellers are asking.

7’2″ Vintage Greg Liddle Surfboard (Craigslist Los Angeles): $1,000

Two things alert me to the fact this is an older Liddle surfboard: first, the purple logo seems to have been mostly used for older shapes; and second, the logo looks oversized as well. That said, it’s really hard for me to say when Greg’s boards were shaped. I tend to think this one was shaped during the Seventies or the Eighties due to the laminate, but I’m not 100% sure.

I can’t believe I’m going to type this, but I don’t think the price is completely insane. That said, the fact the listing is still up makes me wonder if it’s not priced a tad on the high side, as vintage Liddles tend to vanish whenever they pop up on Craigslist. The more I look at this board the more I think it’s likely it’s not a hull (thanks to Jesse for confirming), which would explain why it hasn’t been sold. Compare the purple laminate board above to this vintage Liddle gun that I wrote up earlier — you’ll notice some similarities between the two.

Finally, here’s a photo of another vintage Liddle board with a purple laminate, courtesy of artist / hull aficionado Alan Casagrande.

7’0″ Vintage Greg Liddle Downrail Single Fin (Craigslist Santa Barbara): $300

Whenever possible, I prefer all-original surfboards, even if it means making some compromises on the cosmetic front. But in the case of the Seventies Liddle single fin you see above, I think a full on glass off restoration job is likely the best route. Given the board above will likely have to be fully restored, I think the $300 price tag is ambitious. It’d be one thing if the board were a classic hull design, but it’s a more unusual (and traditional) Seventies downrail single fin. Don’t get me wrong, I dig that it’s a little different, but at the end of the day, most collectors want to see the classics, which in Liddle’s case mean his displacement hulls. I hope someone snags this board and does it justice, as it is a very cool design.

Gotcha: Red Hot Surfwear

Greetings, Shredderz! It’s the Fourth of July, and as a patriotic American, I have to confess that I have better things to be doing right now than writing about vintage surf ads. Like having a few drinks before setting off a bunch of explosives in a completely unsupervised setting, for example. But stories don’t get much more American than Michael Tomson’s red hot heyday, followed by his more recent fall from grace. We wish Tomson nothing but the best. Regardless of how you feel about the man, there is no denying his branding genius. I’ve written before about Gotcha’s amazing ad campaigns on this blog. It’s interesting that Tomson features himself in this ad, which was originally published in the September 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 9). My guess is the ad is from the early days of Gotcha, before it found its stride.

Thanks for reading, Happy Fourth of July to everyone, and we hope to see you again next Thursday with more Sagas of Shred!

HI 1K by Justin Jay

Greetings, Shredderz! Today we’ve got something a little bit different, but in my opinion, no less rad. Yes, Shred Sledz is (mostly) a blog about vintage surfboards and surf history. But more than anything else, we do our best to celebrate surf history, surf culture, and the people who make it all happen.

The last decade has been an eventful one for surf media. Print magazines, which for decades were critical in defining surf culture, have been largely pushed aside by the internet. And while I fear for the future of Surfer Magazine, I’m simultaneously encouraged by the rise of fantastic new media projects, many of which have been directly enabled by social media. One such project is the new book HI 1K, which features the photography of Justin Jay and was designed by the good folks at Indoek. HI 1K is running a pre-sale campaign on Kickstarter, which you can find here.

I could get on my soapbox and tell you how important it is to support independent media, blah blah blah, but really, you’re only doing yourself a favor if you back the Kickstarter campaign. HI 1K is a beautiful 244 page hardcover book that depicts a decade’s worth of portraits taken on Oahu’s infamous North Shore. The North Shore needs no introduction as surfing’s ultimate proving grounds, and Justin Jay has brought his talents to bear in documenting surfing’s most action packed stretch of sand over the past ten years. Moreover, HI 1K was designed by the same people responsible for bringing you the excellent Surf Shacks book, which remains one of my all time favorite surf-themed coffee table books. All in all, HI 1K promises to be an in-depth look at one of the more enduring and compelling subjects in surf culture. But don’t take my word for it — check out the photos in the post and the trailer you see below.

Last but certainly not least, you know we had to feature a photo involving a memorable surfboard. The picture you see below is a bit bittersweet, given Sunny Garcia’s ongoing health struggles, but it’s a beautiful tribute to one of Hawaii’s greatest surfers. The board is a 1982 Reno Abellira-shaped Lightning Bolt with a Team Bolt laminate.

Anyway, if you haven’t supported the project yet on Kickstarter, you can do so here. Frankly, it’s a bargain, as you get to buy the book below its retail price, and then sleep better knowing that you did your part to support a promising independent project. In addition, there’s a whole bunch of potential goodies and bonuses for those interested in putting a few more dollars to work. I’ve already plunked down my own hard earned cash and I can’t wait to get this thing later this fall. While you’re at it, check out Justin Jay and Indoek, as they are working on really rad projects that are definitely worth your time and support.

Vintage Sixties Con Surfboards Longboard

Greeting, Shredderz! Today I’ve got a vintage surfboard that is equal parts cool and mysterious. I would love nothing more than to enlist all of your help in figuring out more information about the origins of the Con Surfboards longboard featured here.

This thing is an absolute unit. The Con Surfboards longboard measures in at an eye popping 10’9″ x 22″ x 3 1/2″ (the owner suspects it may even be thicker). The photos you see here come courtesy of a mystery collector who has a thing for Con Surfboards. In fact, two of his Con boards were previously featured on the blog. Many thanks for sharing photos of this unique board!

The Con Surfboards longboard is in impeccable condition. According to the board’s owner it is completely original. Beyond the fact the board has been remarkably well preserved, there are a bunch of details that have me losing my mind.

I’ve gone on before about how much I love the Con Surfboards logo, and it is one of my single favorite pieces of graphic design from surf history. I love the way it’s presented here, with just a set of clean logos on the deck and the bottom. I love the contrast between the board’s minimalist aesthetic and its more out there details, such as the impossibly beefy stringer, the fin, and the rails.

I have no idea what to make of the tail, other than the fact it looks incredibly cool. First, I should caveat this all by saying that I am far from an expert on Sixties longboards. But upon first look, the pintail on the Con Surfboards longboard looks to be much fuller than other pintail boards from the same ear, such as the Bing David Nuuhiwa Lightweight Pintail, for example. Maybe this is just due to the angle at which the photos were taken. I can’t say for sure, as I have yet to see the board in person.

Similarly, the rails have me constantly wondering if there’s something wrong with my computer monitor. I’ve never seen a Sixties longboard with these dramatic down rails, which I’m far more used to seeing on Seventies single fins.

Honestly, I feel like the more angles from which I view this board, the more questions I have! The owner wonders if the board might have been a paddle board, but I can’t say for sure. The only things I can say with any certainty is that it’s awesome, and I’d love to own one like it.

If you have any information about the board, I would love to hear it! Please drop me a line if you do, as I am very curious about this beautiful Con Surfboards longboard. Thanks again to the board’s owner for sharing the photos of this ridiculously awesome stick!

David Nuuhiwa Body Glove Ad

Greetings, Shredderz! It’s Thursday evening here in sunny California, which can only mean it’s time for Sagas of Shred! Sagas of Shred is the weekly series that features a new vintage surf ad. Today we have David Nuuhiwa representing the venerable Body Glove brand with incredible style and panache. Look at that mane! And that looks like a front zip team issue spring suit, which is a style move for far more advanced practitioners than yours truly. I’m also drawn to the twin fins. The one Nuuhiwa is holding has some laminates I don’t believe I have ever seen before. The board on the ground, meanwhile, has some rad Body Glove logos on the fins. The Body Glove ad featured here originally rain in the August 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 8).

Thanks for reading and we’ll be back in half a fortnight with more vintage surf ads for your reading pleasure!