STORY OF THE AUSSIE ‘68 V-BOTTOM This is a fantastic surfboard design that was passed over by history. Designs in the 1960's like now were changing fast. We went from basic pig shapes in 1961 to three stringer, pointed nosed Trestles Special's and Phil Edwards models in '64 and '65 then by '66 we were into full wide nosed nose riders like the Performer and Con Ugly. The quantum leap came in '67 when Australian shaper, Bob Mc Tavish blew minds with his “short” V-bottom boards. We couldn't believe the photos of the turns coming out of Australia. By 1968 everyone was making 8' to 9' V-bottom boards. I was shaping for Gordie Surfboards then and being young, I shaped nearly all the Gordie V-bottom Assassin models while Gordie preferred to shape the longer boards. The V-bottom era was over by 1969 and by 1970, I was shaping 5'10” Infinity twin fins. The Australian V-bottom was forgotten, but it always remained in my subconscious. Finally, 44 years later, I just felt like shaping one again. In the ‘60's we would cut the tail off a blank that was a little to long in order to have enough thickness for the extra V. The rail line had a normal rocker, but the center line rocker was much straighter, creating nearly a 1” V-bottom. This combination produces a very fast board that because of the V-bottom and the shorter length does zigzag turns like a skateboard. To add to the performance, I incorporated the extra long concave nose taken from our modern Rad Nose rider model, but kept the old style extra wide tail, straight outline curve with a blunt nose. After the board was glassed, I handed it over to Mark Cobb, a fluid, classic surfer. I was worried that it would feel to weird to him, so I reminded him that it is authentically an old 60's design. Later that evening, Mark called me at home raving about the new shape. He went on for 20 minutes hooting about the speed and zigzag turns. He said it was even a great nose rider. Then a few days later, Ruby an aficionado of retro boards, got his hands on it. After a long session at Churches, he walked in the shop pronouncing that it was the best long board he has ever ridden. Just think, this shape was almost lost forever. Now we have brought it back and given it our model name: The Aussie'68. Now you can have one too. Normally, you order one six to twelve inches shorter than you usually ride.
Steve Boehne |
