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the catalogue #105

1938 Lou Morath's Alaia, 8 ft 8"

#105

MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER: Backyard
SHAPER: Lou Morath
DESIGN: Modified Alaia
DESIGNER: Lou Morath

CONSTRUCTION
Solid pine, centre cut from an approximately 100 year old tree and shaped by hand tools.
Treated with natural oils.
Additional nose and tail metal (chrome?) plates fixed with screws

DIMENSIONS

*Length:*	8	feet	8	inches
*Width:*	23 1/2	inches		*Wide Point:*	+5	inches
*Nose :*	17	inches		*Tail*	20 1/2	inches
*Thickness:*	3	inches		*Pod:*	18	inches
Nose lift :		inches		Tail lift :		inches
Weight :		kilograms		Volume:		litres
Other

FEATURES

Nose: rounded, with metal reinforcement plate
Image right
Tail: square, with metal reinforcement plate
Tail detais and image, see Design Comments below.
Deck
Concave paddling section
Carved hand grips on rail at wide point.
Carved hand grips on rail at tail.
Metal nose plate
Branded logo.
Bottom:Three phase round, light/deep/medium
Rails: high at nose, then rounded square
Rocker: slight nose and tail lift

FIN: none

DECOR
DECAL: none
MARKINGS
Deck
Branded Outrigger Canoe Club logo at sweet spot, the origin of which is a mystery.
Possibly added as a mark of kinship during the Hawaiian visit in 1939.
Image right.
COLOUR
Deck(original/post restoration) : natural pine timber.
Pre-restoration
Five coats of blue paint with painted script :'Manly Life Saving Club' + reel logo and 'Outrigger Canoe Club, Honolulu' on nose. Metal plate fixed to centre:
"This board was used by L.A.Morath. A Former Captain of the Balmoral Beach Club and a member of the Manly Life Saving Club when representing Australia at the PACIFIC GAMES Held in Honolulu in 1939".

BOARD HISTORY
1. Dick Morath reports that the board was shaped in Australia by Lou Morath, before visiting Hawaii in 1939. See plate details above.
2. It appears both this board and a hollow padleboard (#191) were taken to Hawaii in 1939 for the Pacific Games.
For further details see #191 Board History
3. Paint and plate indicate the board was displayed for a considereable period.
4. Restored to original condition in November 1998 by
Vladimir Tuskan
Dip Arts (Kiev)
International Conservation Services
53 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia
Phone : 61 2 9417 3311
5. Photographs November 1988.
Thanks to Valimir and Lee Hardcaslte (ICS)
6. The board is currently held at
The Balmoral Beach Club,
The Esplanade, Balmoral Beach, Sydney NSW 2088

Cropped image of Lou Morath and #105 1939-1940, right
Original and alternative image, see below.

The metal nose plate,
Outrigger Canoe Club branded logo,
concave deck,
and rail hand grips are all visible.


Pods for Primates Photograph #1, by Ray Leighton Lou Morath and his board are second from the right. from Harris, page Forty-four.	A second shot of the same group by Ray Leighton. Lou Morath and his board are on the right. Margan and Finney photograph page 127

DESIGN HISTORY
See Alaia plans, 1938

Image right
Original photograph of #105
Post - restoration,
ICS, Chatswood NSW.
November 1998

DESIGN COMMENTS

The highly sophisticated shaping and design, note the deck features, and it's place in the history of Australian surfing makes this a unique craft.

Image right : Tail details
1. Concave paddling deck
2. Stainless steel tail plate and screws
3. Shaped rear hand grips

REFERENCES
Dick Morath - many thanks.
Books
1. Maxwell, C. Bede Surf : Australians Against the Sea
Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1949. pages 241-242.
2. Harris, Reg. S. The History of Manly Life Saving Club 1911-1961
Published by Manly Life Saving Club, NSW Printed by Publicity Press Ltd. 1961
pages 54 - 56, and elsewhere.
3. Margan, Frank and Finney, Ben R.(Margan and Finney) : A Pictorial History of Surfing
Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd, 176 South Creek Road, Dee Why West, NSW 2099.1970.
photographs page 118 and 127
4. Galton, Barry Gladiators of the Surf
AH & AW Read Pty Ltd, 2 Aquatic Drive Frenchs Forest NSW 2086 1984 page 64 -65
5. Thoms, Albie: Surfmovies The Blue Group PO Box 321 Noosa Heads Queensland 4567. 2000
Page 39 ..."The team was filmed at training for both Movietone News 10/15 (1939) and Cinesound Review 397 (1939), and again on their departure for Movietone News 10/28 (1939) and Cinesound Review 400 (1939). However there was no footage of their arrival...or of the paddling race..." CONDITION: 10

This image by Dick Morath, printed in
Pacific Longboarder Magazine February 2006
Volume 9 Number 4 page .
The image accompanied a letter and second image, reproduced below.

STORY BOARDS
Great magazine!
Regarding your Volume 9 # 1 and the fascinating Story Boards article by Doug Warbrick, I thought your readers might like to see pictures of two boards made by my father Lou Morath - which line up very closely with the two boards shaped by Joe Larkin pictured on page 56.
The 14-foot toothpick (image below) dates from the early 1940s and was used when he rode the Queenscliff Bombora with Roger Duck in 1949.
Note the metal handle on the tail!
The other (#105) was made in the early 1930s and was taken by him to the Pacific Games in Honolulu in 1939.
The coincidence between the two boards made by Joe Larkin for Doug Warbrick and these two boards -"originals" if you like - made and ridden by my father is quite striking.

- Dick Morath, Mosman