Greetings, Shredderz! Today’s post is a quickie, but that doesn’t make this board any less stunning. Pictured below is a stunning Seventies single fin shaped under the Jacobs label by storied underground shaper Robert “Redman” Manville. The pictures of this board come courtesy of Shred Sledz reader Steve Wray, whom you might remember for his absolutely killer Jacobs Mike Purpus V.
Surfer Magazine ran a small obituary for Redman for his passing in 2004. The obituary credits Redman as a legendary East Coast shaper. Before that, Redman had his roots in the South Bay near Los Angeles, which would explain his involvement with Jacobs, which has its roots in Hermosa Beach.
There are some interesting details about this board that I can’t quite line up with any research I was able to find online. The owner tells me the board was shaped during the 1970s, and between the unusual logo above, the airbrush and the board’s outline, I can’t imagine otherwise. However, Stoked-n-Board’s Jacobs Surfboards entry doesn’t list an owner for the brand between 1971 and 1976. Moreover, they list Manville as having shaped for Jacobs during the 1990s, with no mention of an earlier stint. Still, I would be shocked if this were a reproduction — the Redman surfboard above has all the hallmarks of a Seventies single fin.
I don’t see a signature for the airbrush anywhere, but the board’s owner speculates it might have been done by the one and only Jack Meyer. I don’t have any proof, but with the bright colors and dolphins, the airbrush definitely could have been done by Meyer.
This Redman shape might not command eye-popping prices at the next high-end auction, but that’s not the point. I absolutely love this board, starting from the contrast between the clean and simple deck and then the over the top madness of the airbrush on the bottom. In addition, I have a soft spot for well-regarded but still mostly underground shapers like Redman. More than anything else, though, I love the board because it suggests that if you’re into vintage surfboards and you’re down to explore just a tiny bit, you can find all sorts of unique little gems that have so much unseen history behind them.
Thanks again Steve for sharing the pics, and if you have a board you’d like to share, please do let me know.