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mctavish : my surfboard, 1968

Bob McTavish : My Surfboard, 1968.

McTavish, Bob : My Surfboard.
Surf International
Volume 1. Number 9, page 46, November 1968.

Introduction.
The same issue contained an article Indian Head, probably by Bob McTavish with several photographs of him riding the board detailed in My Surfboard.
The photograph ot the top of page 45 was heavily cropped and reprinted on page 46 along with the two template images shown below.

Page 45

Bob McTavish: Indian Head

Page 46

This is my new surfboard.
It's lovely.
My favourite waves are tubing ones.
So I got my board specially to ride my favourite waves.
And it does (with me on it, ha!).
It's seven-foot long, twenty-one inches wide and that's plenty, and pretty thick.
The rails have a breakaway edge on them, all the way around.
The rail line is top at the tip and bottom at the back.
It's only really got lift in the front end, but, as it's a tube speciality and as it's got to be able to perform in the hollow curvy face, it isn't really straight in the back.
Just natural curve.

The plan shape is interesting.
It has all the trimmings cut off.
The widest point is one third from the front, as is the thickest point.
Yes.
It's a foil.
This lack of nose allows tremendous freedom deep in the curl.
For instance, a take-off can be so late that the board drops near vertical and will not pearl, but just pulls into a turn in the face.
And quite often the wave throws over in the turn, so it's a full-on turn in the tube!
And that feels good!

It has the same turning curve in the plan shape as a medium-range pintail (minus the pin).
So it cuts a neat arc.
The area in the tail is enough to feel strong in a turn without fighting back more than my ten stone can handle.
As it's so small, and as it's got that natural curve in the bottom section, it doesn't really hiss along unless it's in the face.
Any face that's a bit hollow will do, but when the wave starts sucking and the curl gets a foot thick, it's wailin' !

When that day comes, and it's six to ten and very hollow, I'll be thankful I have my Mongul special, 'cause it'll let me stand up in the tube, climbing and dropping to hold back in.
And pulling up into the top little throwout and getting inside instead of going round the bottom.
And just sit up in there trimmed out at curl speed.

Oh, Yes!
It weighed eight and a half pounds new.
Bennett gun blank, single six dry glass job finish resin fill coat, sanded back to furriness, then wet and dried with 180 and 400.
(Six deck patch, too.)

That's as light as you can go without boring big holes in the shaped board and glassing over it.
That's what Buddy Boy did and his weighs six and a half.
Buddy Boy weighs about thirteen stone.
He's on a diet.
The first day I rode my board it had cured for two days.
About 60%, I think.
It got a buckled deck from my right foot big toe pressing through single six into light foam every turn.
After surfing it for a couple more days, it felt too light for its volume.
A bit of a cork through turns.
So I slapped six more ounces on the bottom.
Now it feels better.
And so do I.
'Cause now the bottom will preserve itself.
And I want it to be around for a while.
I like my surfboard, I like it. I like it.

Bob McTavish

Surf International
Volume 1. Number 9
November 1969

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Geoff Cater (2010-2016) : Bob McTavish: My Surfboard, 1968.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1968_McT_My_Surfboard_SurfInt_v1n9p46.html