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the catalogue #305

1968 Gordon Woods Tracker 8 ft Stringerless

#305

MANUFACTURE
MANUFACTURER: Gordon Woods Surfboards, 208 Harbord Road Brookvale NSW
SHAPER: Unknown
DESIGN: Tracker
DESIGNER: Bob McTavish / Nat Young

SPECIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION
Stringerless foam blank,
Volan glass with 2 inch overlap
Laminated and tinted deck patch with squegeed colour with black resin pinlines.
Post production leg rope plug - right.

DIMENSIONS

*Length :*	8	ft	1/2	inches	*L2:*	8ft
*Width :*	23	inches		*Wide Point :*	+ve 8.5	inches
*Nose :*	18	inches		*Tail :*	14	inches
*Thickness :*	3	inches		*Pod :*	6	inches
*Nose Lift :*		inches		*Tail Lift :*		inches
*Weight :*		kilos		*Volume :*		litres
*Other :*		inches

FEATURES
Nose: semi pin
Tail: square
Deck: rolled
Bottom: flat - round - flat
Rails: 50/50 tending down at the tail
Rocker: light

FIN
10.5'' x 9'' base x 9'' span @ 9.5 ''
Laminated fibreglass.
This is the original fin but it has probably been damaged and shortened.
Boat matting repairs to front of the fin base.
Image right illustrates...
Boat matting repairs
Decal and pencil mark search
Original clear botom, black and blue paint layers.

DECOR
DECALS
Deck: Gordon Woods x three overlapped green/red/black
Offset right at forward sweet spot.
Matches deck patch
Bottom: Unknown
MARKINGS
Deck:
Bottom
8384 -pencil at pod, see image below right..
COLOUR
Deck
Clear with 2'' Volan overlaps, laminated and yellow tinted deck patch with red and green squegeed colour, black pinlines.
Bottom : Clear with 2'' Volan overlaps ???

NOTES
BOARD HISTORY
Purchased/Obtained ?
Board submitted, with thanks, by Bob Munroe, Gerroa, NSW.
Dimensions and photographs 22 August 2004
Although the deck was in good condition (protected by wax), the bottom and rails have some damage that has mostly been poorly repaired.
The bottom and rail laps had been painted with black and then blue paint.
The blue paint was removed by Bob,
I removed the black rails with wet and dry paper for a better photograph of the deck (for original condition image , see below)
A quick search on the bottom found the pencil marks.
No bottom decal or other decor was found.
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

Gordon Woods Surfboards:
Choose the Best
Removable Fins - Tracker

Surfing World

June 1968, Volume 10 Number 6.
September 1968, Volume 11 Number 3.

The three models were illustrated late1968 / early 1969.
Originally printed in Surfing World Volume 12 No. 1 1969.
Image courtesy of Gordon Woods Archives.

COMMENTS: Note advanced fin placement.

REFERENCES:
Magazines
Surfing World Volume 12 No. 1 1969. See advertisment above.

Other Trackers
#1081968   Wallace 7 ft 3" Stringerless
#69   1969 Keyo 7 ft 3'' Shaped by Bob McTavish
#67, 1969 Surf Design   7ft Shaped by Dick van Straalen

Other Gordon Woods Boards
1965 Stringerless #110
1966 Malibu #170
1967 Stringerless Wide tail #301
CONDITION: 7.5

surfresearch.com.au

Geoff Cater (2004-2021) : 1969 Gordon Woods Tracker., 8ft .

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