Vintage boards

Fun with the Russell Step-Deck







Recently, I have been riding a 10'1 Russell Step-deck given to me by my friend Nick from Santa Barbara. The board is fun to look at and fun to ride, the cut-backs are really fun because of the reduced swing weight in the nose. It noserides well and it is fun being up front. Since my surfing looks like a gorilla ice skating for the first time we posted a movie of Alex Knost doing a Russell step-deck justice, From the movie one can conclude that this model is a lot of fun and works just fine. Russell Surfboards is one of the core-surf shops/board builders in Newport Beach, check out their website at http://www.surfboardsbyrussell.com/home/

Olympic Pig




Here are some pics of my new pig, a 10'0 Olympic that my friend Nick from Santa Barbara is letting me ride while he is in South Korea. This board is a lot of fun! It does not want to turn but it sure noserides like a champ! I also love the template (full pig) no bones about it! and the plentiful wood stringers adds a touch of class and elegance to an already bitchin’ board! So look out Kooks ! 

Longboard Collectors Club Surf Swap Meet

Safari Surf And Sport will be hosting the first surf swap meet of the new year.Classic/Vintage Surfboards, Skateboards plus surf and hawaiian memorabilia. Surf swap meet is free and everyone is welcome to come. Swap meet starts at 6am till noon. Come early for best finds. Safari Surf is located at 20936 Devonshire st. Chatsworth, Calif. 91311 . For more info. Call Randy at (818)349-WAVE 9283.

9'0" Roberts Pig


 
I was able to track down and find this nice early 60’s pin tail pig built by Robert Millner of Playa del Rey, CA. Thanks to the kind people at Kennedy Surfboards in Woodland Hills I now have another Roberts to play with. This board has been restored and is 100% rideable! Unfortunately, I am a little large to ride this one so I am looking for volunteers. So far I have not had any takers. It looks fun and is another great example of a early to mid 60’s pig built by a great shaper and craftsman Robert Millner.  






9'9" Surfboards by Brad Pig

Matt Sagraves found this near perfect condition pig up in Goleta and being the super nice guy that he is gave it to me for a little TLC and R&D. Supposedly it was hanging out in the rafters at the ranger station at Refugio State Beach. Well Davenport Surfboards has it now and we are going to fully explore the surfing aspect of this near perfect jewel from the early 1960’s. Also being born and raised in the South Bay I am very interested in the maker “Surfboards by Brad” based out of Manhattan Beach.  This board will have a nice home and a bunch of surfers to surf with. If anyone out there in surfdom has any info on this board or Surfboards by Brad, I would love to hear from you. The serial number in 1059. I will also post the dimensions once I have thoroughly cleaned up and repaired some of the minor dings.









Craigslist is a beautiful thing, isn't it?

 You never know what might turn up. Seems like most of my major life’s decisions are based on what classified ad might just happen to find its way onto my computer screen…jobs, apartments, etc. Anyways, this 9'2" Weber Performer came up and was listed at $100. Okay, so it didn’t look great from the  ad’s photos but it was most definitely worth checking out. After a little email and phone tag the seller of the board basically had somewhere to be at the time that we set up an appointment to see the board. He told us that he would set the board outside and if it could be of any use to us we could have it!
It’s had some serious work on the stringer and a tail block was added on to the board at some point. There’s also the mysterious backwards American flag patch job on the nose. But hey, the price is right and the overall this board is water tight and ready to ride. It will for sure be hittin’ the waves soon for a little  Davenport Longboards research and development.



9'8" Rick UFO


The UFO by Rick Surfboards was one of the best examples from the mid 1960’s model phase, when each manufacturer had a special model designed for nose riding and performance surfing (as they knew performance surfing at the time).  The UFO  had all the bells and whistles that were developed and used during this time period. The UFO has a concave tail, step-deck, and a tear-drop concave. The UFO combined all of these interesting “features” to promote nose riding. The tail concave channels water over the tail surface to keep the board in the wave and counter-balances the surfers weight while up on the nose. The step-deck allows the board to flex or fulcrum and flatten out the nose rocker to extend tip time. The tear-drop concave give the board increased lift. The UFO took all of these innovations and tied them together in to one of that era’s prolific nose riders. Here are some photos of an examplefrom my collection. Feel free to ask questions.

Harbour 10'3 Pig

Tyler is letting me ride this 10'3 Harbour pig. It has got to be the fastest board I have ever been on, it noserides like a champ and the cut backs are super sick. The board is 16x22 3/8x 15 and it’s 3 and 3/8 thick. The rails have a nice medium radius and the bottom of the board has roll through the nose. It’s a really good example of an early 1960’s pig. Matt, Melissa, and I went down the the Jetty this wekend for a little R & D surf with the pig. I came back just frothing!!!!!! Thanks Tyler for the board and thank you Mel for the photos.

Johnny's Hobie Pig

Johnny at Mollusk Surf Shop had me come over and check out his bitchin’ 1962 Hobie Pig. He got the board for the unbelievable price of board shorts and a pair of sandals. What a deal! This board is in great condition. I took the dimensions off of it and plan to make something very similar to it. Johnny is one of Brian Hilbers (Fineline Surfboards) chief test pilots as well as the main man at Mollusk Surf Shop in Venice Ca. Go there meet Johnny, get stoked and buy something! Support your local surf shop!

IGGY!!!

Melissa and I recently went to the Surfboard Collectors Club meet at the California Heritage Museum on Main Street in Santa Monica. They had a couple of rare gems, one board that has been talked about a lot but I have never seen in person is the Dewey Weber Surfboards Harold Iggy Model. Harold Iggy is one of the most under appreciated shapers of our time. He was the head shaper for one Dewey Weber back in the day, he shaped the majority of the Weber Performers, the real Performers, not the lousy rockered boards that we have to deal with today. Back in the 1960’s the Iggy model was way ahead of its time featuring an “S” deck profile, 60/40 rails in the tail and the famous scoop rocker that most 1960’s era Webers are famous for. I was really stoked that another shaper from the glory days of Weber was actually there; Bruce Grant. He was more than generous in his explanation of the board, he has a personal blue pigment rail Iggy model from back in the day. Hopefully I can get my hands on it and take it for a spin.

Good-Bye CON Pig

After months of insense reasearch, several stiches, and extensive questions to shaper friends, I am saying good bye to the beloved CON Pig. No, I am not selling it , I am returnig it home to Scott Anderson who has generously loaned it to me, entrusting it’s safe keeping. This board is a time machine, riding it is like surfing your way back to 1963. It took some getting used too but myself, Mike Collins, and Tyler Critelli have had lots of fun up and down the deck of this classic pig form CON via the Scott Anderson collection. By the way, get down to Aquatech at 4065 Glencoe Ave. for a free ding repair estimate, and also lurk around the glass shop and see whats cookin’.

10'6" Roberts Noserider Restoration Project

I recently acquired a 10'6" Roberts noserider and I am currently working on making it water-tight and ridable. Roberts was a local brand based out of Playa Del Rey in the 60’s. This board is a great design and I'm looking forward to bringing this board back to it’s former glory. Here’s what it looks like now. I’ll be posting more pics as things progress.




New Old Boards in Santa Barbara

After an epic day at the “point” (you should feel privlaged if you get to surf there, good history). Melissa and I went to the Beach House surf shop in SB. Inside they have a terriffic collection of old boards. I was intrested in step-decks and remembered that they had a few vintage ones in the rafters. I am a total surfboard addict and these are some of my favorites, I will be releasing similar style boards this week. Step-decks are one of the most innovative for it’s time!!!

For international orders, please email us at davenportsurf@gmail.com.