Greetings, Shredderz! As many of you probably already know, Greg Noll passed away earlier this week. I figure posting photos of his signature surfboards is as good a tribute as any. Noll left behind a larger than life legacy in the surf world, and part of that no doubt is due to the success of Greg Noll Surfboards, whether in its early stages, as one of the most prolific and visible surfboard companies in the world, to current times, where they remain sought after collectors items.

Thanks to Austin, who shared photos of this beautiful all original 60s Greg Noll Slot Bottom. I wrote up a previous Noll Slot Bottom surfboard here. As you can see, the board is in phenomenal shape.

Here’s some background on the Slot Bottom, via Greg Noll’s book “The Art of the Surfboard.” The Slot Bottom is best thought of as a feature, as opposed to the name of a specific model itself. The Slot Bottom was available on two separate Noll models: the Beach Model and the Mini Gun. Greg Noll Surfboards’ bread and butter was known as the Beach Model, which could be customized with various logos, fins, stringers and pigments. The Slot Bottom could be found on various Beach Models starting around 1965. Ben Aipa referred to this as the first ever channel bottom on a production surfboard. To be honest, I have a bit of a difficult time telling apart some Mini Guns from the Beach Models. I’m also not sure on which model the Slot Bottom appeared first. If I had to guess, the board featured here in the post is a Beach Model.

As for the visual touches, I’m all about a tasteful competition stripe, which you can see in a bit more detail above. The Greg Noll board also had a beautiful wooden tail block and its original fin. All in all, it’s a remarkably well preserved bit of history.

Rest in peace to Da Bull, and thank you Austin for sharing photos of this cool board.