Introduction
Various snippets from Tracks published in 1973.
Items of interest include:
An expansion in the use of leg-ropes.
Pat Morgan's Keel Fin design.
Midget Farrelly's endorsement for Rip Curl Wetsuits and their Bells contest.
Stills of Nat Young and George Greenough from Alby Falzon's upcoming Crystal Voyager, with the working title The more the power grinds over your head the less that lands on top of you.

Also from Tracks in 1973:
Bob McTavish : Pods for Primates - a personal history of surfboard design Part 1.
and
Bob McTavish : Pods for Primates - a personal history of surfboard design Part 2.

---

Page 24.

Robert Conneely Surf Shop 2/152 Campbell Parade Bondi Beach Ph 30-1457 Illustrated: McCoy, Spirit of the Sea, Brad Mayes, Hayden, Lightning Bolt, McTavish. Also available : Tom Hoye (W.A.) San Juan,  Kenn Surfing.

And

Surfblanks 7 Perak Street Mona Vale 2013 Phones: 997-2014; 919-5319.  Exit Shaper Tedium Surfblanks has a brand new seven foot blank, it's probably the fastest shaping blank in the industry. Everybody knows that a shaper has to put a lot of time into his surfboards if he wants each one to really work in the water. Surfblanks thinks that this time should be spent on the finer-details that make or break a good design. If the shaper has to spend up to'75%. of this time hacking away at a fat bloopy blank shape, chances are by the end of the day his boards are not looking as clean as they did this morning. It's very obvious too that there have been major changes in surfboard design in the last few months. Decks are flatter, rails lower, noses thicker, and rocker flow is more evenly spread. These features must be easily extracted from the blank. Unless the blank has lines that correspond with these new designs, they won't be, and the shaper will knock himself out compensating for the inadequacies. Surfblanks has a standard seven foot blank that is faster to shape than most any other brand. The new seven, the one with the gun lines, can be said to be rapid by comparison.

Blanks available in lengths of  5, 6, 7, 8 and 9ft. The 7ft is available in standard or gun blank.

It has all the features mentioned above and is' half an inch thinner through the middle.
As always the foam is clean cutting and does not tear.
The cell size is giving good laminating glass jobs and the density offers strength.
Write in for a free foam sample and current price list.
Please state how many blanks you are interested in.
Surfblanks carries all the materials you'll need for your next board from cloth and resin to squeegies and fin boxes.
The blanks come in sizes five through to nine feet, with a choice of standard and gun seven.

---

Page 5                                                                                                                                                                                     

Rick Neilsen into leg-ropes.  (possibly Burleigh Heads) Page 26 Jack McCoy's Neilsen Gun .Jimbo's just taking it for a for a tube at Winki. She is super long and once she takes off, hold on. Lost the dimensions, but the looks are there

News and Opinions: Legropes. Leg-ropes have come in for their fair share of criticism recently. For example: December 1972 issue of Tracks when John Witzig wrote ". ..or else you have a leg-rope in which case you're stupid". As two South-East coast surfers who have used leg-ropes in surf up to 8' (and over?) we would like to come to the defence of leg-ropes. Admittedly leg-ropes are out in BIG surf. In order to give this issue a fair hearing we have compiled a list of what in our opinion are the advantages and disadvantages of leg-ropes.   Firstly the advantages: Likelihood of long swims to retrieve board all but done away with; board doesn't get washed onto rocks or into outcoming surfers, therefore less dings all round; danger to swimmers and other surfers diminished greatly and hopefully a reduction in the tension that exists between the public and surfers, concerning the danger of swimmers being hit by an out of control surfboard; less time spent retrieving board therefore more waves to be had; less chance of :rips, etc, taking your board out to sea and finally having the assurance that a long swim is not necessarily imminent gives the surfer the encouragement to attempt more radical manoeuvres. Not wanting to seem prejudiced against those so-called "hotties" who don't wear leg-ropes we now put forward the leg-ropes' disadvantages: possibility of rope ripping into board; rope can get tangled around leg, arm, neck, etc and thus cause bodily harm though we must say such occurrences are, to our knowledge, extremely rare and there is also a school of thought that feels that leg-ropes can cramp or hinder a surfer's style from the psychological angle. It seems so obvious to us and we hope to John Witzig from the above arguments that the advantages of a properly fitted leg-rop outweigh the disadvantages and we would like to say to all those surfers who don't wear leg-ropes that's OK with us as it means that while you're swimming for your board we can have those waves you're missing. Geoff and Brian, Lakes Entrance.

Page 27

Pat Morgan Designs          Gun Keel Length: 7ft 7" Width: 18" Keel size: 6 1/2" high 24" long No flat bottom sections - but a lot of roll - V in nose and tail - Full rails - a nice easy keel to ride. Photos: Steve Otton See #336

Twin Keel Length: 6ft 2" Width: 20" Keel sizes: 5 1/2" high 21" long Flat areas around fin sections - some tail lift - Rolled bottom. Handles super well in waves up to 7ft. Over that, try a gun keel.

Page 4

There are 129,631 frames in Albert Falzon and George Greenough's new film and this is one of them. Premier December 1973. Nat Young, Pat Morgan Keel Fin, California, 1973. Nat Young riding an 8ft Pat Morgan Surfboards pintail, green laminate with long base keel fin. For other stills, see July and September, below.

Page 6 Wallace Surfboards: For Sale John Witzig: The Eclipse of Brookvale. Noted: Dion surfboard blanks: 4" thick 22" wide and in lengths of 8ft 3", 7ft 8", 7ft 2", 6ft 4" and 5ft 9".

Page 26.

Howard Owen got this great water shot of Keith Paull when all those south ground swells were around a couple of weeks ago. How far can a lip throw?

Page 27
Page 32 - Back Cover

RIP CURL The only good thing to happen in organised surfing was the Rip Curl Professional Contest. Where most people have given up, abandoned the ASA, and left competitive surfing to the off-the-lippers, Rip Curl have done something. They put their bread and energies into bringing good surfers together again, to ride big waves and turn surfers and spectators onto high class surfing. How good was it to see Sammy Hawke et al doing their thing at the Bells bowl? If you saw it, you dug it. Thousands of others did too. While at Bells I bought a Rip Curl long sleeved-legged jump suit. Yes, I paid for it. I was really stoked by the long under arm gusset. It made the suit so free to paddle in. When I got back to Sydney I noticed every schmuck wetsuit outfit trying to claim first rights on the gusset. Why would I say this for Rip Curl? Because I dig one really important thing about them. They are surfers, making a progressive product, and putting surfer's bread back into something that amateurs and pros alike can dig. Midget Farrelly.