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MR - Mark Richards

Mark Richards
MR
Born at Newcastle, 7 March 1957

Source Document
1978 Mark Richards : Get the Real Thing - A Personal Twin Fin Design History
Surfer Volume 19 Number 4, November 1978. Page 65.

Fast and Loose | Celebrating The Legacy Of Mark Richards And The High-Performance Twin Fin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9obQD3JAVVA
Surfer Magazine: The film tells the story of the modern performance twin through the lens of Australian icon Mark Richards, who found inspiration in the boards of Reno Abellira, shaping tutelage in Dick Brewer and created a design all his own that he surfed to four straight world titles.

Mark Richards and Gordon Woods Custom Surfboard,
Blacksmiths Beach, Newcastle circa 1963.
Photograph : Richards' Family
Knox, page 13.

Ray Richards Surf Shop
755 Hunter Street, Newcastle.
Phone ?? 3088.
1964
Probably made by a Sydney manufacturer.
Ray Richards was the father of multi-World Champion, Mark Richards.
Decal thanks to Snazzy, January 2019.

Mark Richards and Gordon Woods Vee bottom,
Blacksmiths Beach, Newcastle,
Christmas Day 1967.

Photograph : Richards' Family Archives, Knox, page 30.
Note the hourglass deck patch.

In December 2016, Mark posted the image and blogged:
Is this the best “Poo Man” stance start to a cut back you have ever seen ??
Blacksmiths Beach south of Newcastle in 1968, I Was 11 years old.
The board is a Gordon Woods shaped by Bob “Kenno” Kennerson.
It was a single fin with very parallel rails, a wide diamond tail & a massive Vee bottom.
I can’t remember how long it was & I wish I still had the board.

Mark Richards and Gordon Woods Vee bottom,
Manly Beach, 1968.

Mark Richards, Backdoor Pipeline, 1975.
Photograph : Dan Merkel
Surfing March 1984
Volume 20 Number 3 page 111.

Backdoor
January 1976, Number 2.

Mark Richards, Sunset Beach.

Mark Richards, Waimea Bay.

Mark Richards, Pipeline

Mark Richards : Backdoor?
Reno Hawaii Lightning Bolt
International Surfing
v12 n2 1976 April-May

Mark Richards and Stinger Quiver
Plus a Twin Fin, 1977.
Photograph : Hugh McLeod
Surfing World , July 1977.
Volume 25 Number 3 page 12.

Mark's quiver of picture boards,
shaped by Ben Apia and Dick Brewer.
Airbrush sprays by Albert Dove.

Mark Richards and 6ft 4'' Twin, Off The Wall, 1977.
Photograph : Lance Trout
Surfing Magazine June-July 1978. Volume 14 Number 3, page 47

Mark Richards and 6ft 4'' Twin, Off The Wall, 1977.
Photograph : Lance Trout
Surfing Magazine February 1980.v 16 n 2, page 90.

Order details for a 7ft 8'' Wing Pin from Reno Abellira, circa 1977.

Note: Reno records the length as:
7' 8'' dead on measured along bottom.

Mark Richards and Twin Fin - Shaun Tomson and Single Fin
Off The Wall, December 1977.
Photograph :Lance Trout
Surfing Magazine March 1984 Volume 20 Number 3 page 123.

Surfing World n158 May 1978 v27n2

Mark Richards and 6 ft 4'' Twin fin, 1978.
Photograph : Aitionn
Surfing World, April 1979.
Volume 27 Number 6 page 44

Lightning Bolt - Mark Richard's Star Bolt
Surfer
February 1979 v20n3
- back cover

Mark Richards, 6ft Green and Blue Board,
Merewether, Newcastle, 1978.
Photograph : ?
? Magazine March 1984 ?
? Volume 20 Number 3 page 111.?

Back cover : Surfer v21 n1 1980 January

Tracks 1980 Feb

Tracks Number 116 1980 May

Tracks Number 125 1981 April

Mark Richards Twin fin Model for Gordon and Smith Surfboards,
California,1979.
Probably Surfer magazine.

Mark Richards and Stinger and Twin Quiver, circa 1979.
Photograph by Peter Booskovic.
Printed in The Australian Surfers Journal
Vol 1 # 3 Winter 1998 page 44 -

1992
Knox, David :
Mark Richards : A Surfing Legend
Collins Angus & Robertson Publishers Pty. Ltd.
25 – 31 Ryde Road. Pymble NSW 2073 Australia 1992
Hard cover, 178 pages, 25 colour plates, 41 b/w photographs, chronology, index.
Review
A straightforward biography about a straightforward surfer, (and I mean straight!) contrast with Noll, Hakman and the contemporary Rabbit. Early photographs are very interesting – surf-o-plane, V-bottoms and hanging five. Colour plates have previously appeared in a plethora of publications. Unfortunately absent are 1970’s quiver photographs (Reno pins, Apia stings and MR twins) and the classic drop in on Shaun Thomson at Off-the-Wall circa 1976.

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Geoff Cater (2000-2022) : Mark Richards.

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