Shit yeh! Reddys underated! Time it right it's a reform Fun Park. Last time I surfed it was with Vic Legend Howard Hughes. Shit everywhere but Reddy's on the Pump.

My 1st board (1975) was borrowed, but just as I was getting the hang of the old mal I had to give it back. Hired a few from Punk, then bought a light blue resin tinted Gordon and Smith ( under a hundred I reckon ) from a Brighton surf shop that completely got me hooked, unfortunately months later I forgot to occy her down properly and she hit the bitumen. However moved on and got Frosty to shape me a 5'11" round tail single ( good board ) and then a Louis Ferriera twinny copy that I loved, he was a good shaper, but it also met the same fate as the G&S, this time by a mate that borrowed it to surf Myponga.

old dog slip down to West beach and buy that John Arnold single fin on GumTree - $150 neg
bit of weekend repair work she's a wallhanger

Good stuff about the 75 Aussie titles. Legendary in SA. Before my time, but I did have an old B&W photo of PT swinging off the bottom on a solid wave at the Dump (!) that was featured in the newspaper at the time (had an uncle who worked there).

When I was a grom, it was the Aussie titles in SA ten years later that was a big deal. The Aussie titles were still a big deal then. All the soon-to-be stars on the world stage. Take a pick. The winners were Sanga; Branno; Nick Wood.

A coupla of more lower-key standouts: Greg Brown. Made the open final. And a bloke who absolutely ripped: Glenn Kelly.

Also, the Big A, Andy Inkster, made the final in his division.

Decent waves at Parsons too.

Oh yeah, have a read of this. See what you think.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/south-australian-surf-culture/news-s…

TT your uncle- M . . . . ?

You forgot Connie Nixon, ya misogynist bastard.

And did Nick Wood win the cadets? Sure?

Hah! Nah, my uncle once won a Kenny Rogers lookalike comp. And his FIRST name is Gordon. True!

I've got a mate who's got a Godfather called Mike. He is or was literally and figuratively the 'Godfather' of cricket journalism. A doyen at the very least.

Funny story about the time he got me and his God-son into the hallowed journalists and commentators area at the Adelaide Oval when India vs Australia, and Warnie vs Tendulkar, was on. We had just got back into civilisation from out west the night before, and were feeling and looking quite 'special' the next morning of the game.

We didn't know where we were going once we got in the ground, and eventually staggered into the Channel Nine commentary lounge area by mistake looking for directions to the News Ltd/Australian area, where the one and only Bill Lawry looked at us, chuckled, and said in that classic Bill Lawry voice that us fellas needed to go a couple of doors down. I seem to remember the look of disdain that Tony Greig gave us too. Fuck, that dude was huge!

We found the Godfather who showed us to our seats, and then we sourced some steadying morning beers, and then got into a further spot of trouble of sorts as drinking beers at that time in that particular place wasn't a good look...apparently. Rupe wouldn't approve!

Ah well, at least we got to see the two greats battle each other...from the scoreboard end! Happy daze!

A tale worth telling

Actually, Udo, I've got the 'newspaper' uncle (since retired), but I also have a 'surfing' uncle (since retired) who used to go by the name Moochie! Hung out with other 70s reprobates in the deep South.

@ turkey , That 2010 article by Gerry Wedd was classic, thanks, Personally I will always see him as the most talented surfer to ever come out of S.A. Every time I started to think I was getting pretty good Gerry would paddle out and make me realize what a kook I really was. I couldn't see how anyone in the World could have surfed those mid coast waves any better ,he was way ahead of his time. So next time you see a Jesus like figure hitching to the point stop and give him a lift , you may learn something. Cheers.

Seen this?

https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2013/01/11/gerry-wedd-c…

1975 Flaming Huey sacrifice, I walked hot coals for my shark chomped green turtle platter.
1976 Palm Beach garage sale: $25 got me a square railed polynomial banana board. (Rare)
Truthfully! I've never seen another true polynominal tail on a board ever since.
I'm not ashamed to say my surfing improved outta sight with this backyard biscuit.

(Glitch) Thick soft squared rail, banana boards were an unmarked underground anomaly.
Put it down to a bad batch of Burford Blanks? New angle for 70's surfboard researchers.
If this helps...They roamed around same time as the SHANE wafers were popping out.

You'll need to look deep as I can't recall any with a Decal. That's the key for collectors.
You will be able feel the drop off soft rails that are more familiar to rescue boards.
Weirder still was a companion generic skateboard of the day that also put out.
I paid homage to it in my "Skateboarding The Gold Coast Brochure".

1976 Custom Dick Van Straalen textured deck 6'10" round' pin cost me $180. (Real pounder)
1977 I reshaped it into 6" (wide tail swallow) moved the fin real high and it flew like a fish.
1978 I paid $40 for 2nd hand Hohensee psychedelic sea cucumber + fin box.(A real creeper)

(Sorry no prices below) From this point I got lucky and scored free boards shaped by Vege.
1979 I rode a Derby 6'4" swallow with fin box a very nice board thanx. (Like-Hot Stuff rails)
1980 I rode a Sky 6'2" Twin Fin (Town & country swirl model) ...Say nothing etc...
Like everyone else we ditched the shopfront for Punk... no secret we roam free as basherz.

2017 and WTF makes Perry surfboards worth $1480 / Bennys Boardroom.

Haven't bought a custom yet. My first board was from Goodtime surf at Woolloongabba, in 1986, for $60. It was a 6'2" Goodtime hotdog surfboard with the mushroom logo and it was about 10 years old.

hotdog
https://i.imgur.com/R71xeSe.jpg