Robwilliams, 1711075442

quote:
Such breakthroughs don’t happen without passion and a bit of madness,

spookypt, 1711076349

Does the (Crows Garage) reference in the top pic mean thats where it was taken. It may be 40 odd years ago but those curtains look like what Jim had in his house at Caloundra. Though I was only 11 at the time.

stunet, 1711076623

That's an insane photographic memory you have!

Spooky even.

It was taken at Jim's place on the eve of Col's Hawaiian departure. 'Crow's Garage' is the catch-all name Geoff 'Crow' Moore uses for his work.

freeride76, 1711077097

Classic looking boards.
Used to see Rique a fair bit around here shredding.

Heard he is in WA, any word?

stunet, 1711077159

Yep, up north.

Elliedog, 1711077674

Attended the gig just this week at Redhead Surf Club. I went with an open mind after hearing some differing feedback not on the show itself but more so on the perceived intent of the movie and its interviewees ect. So i held my judgement until after seeing the show and my opinion is the same as yours i think the guys nailed it. Quite emotional at times also. Growing up at Redhead myself Col's story was always on the older guys lips. It was like it was our right growing up to know his story and ultimately we had it shoved down our throats. I had the privelidge of ordering many boards from AB also. Some of those long phone calls ordering boards now make more sense to me. The respect there from AB and the respect Col obviously had from the people in the know is very evident after seeing the show. Well done to the guys for putting the story out there.

spookypt, 1711079873

That’s amazing! Jim had a huge Hawaiian gun mounted on his wall that used to get lit up by a lounge room light I could see from behind his house. He had a small shaping shed in his backyard. Man the memories. He scared the shit out of me!

zenagain, 1711082827

Great read and no doubt a fascinating watch.

Can't say I even knew much about Col but when articles or conversations about Aussie surf history, he was always in the mix.

As an aside, one of lifes pleasures is a sly hotty after a satisfying surf with the boys imo.

zenagain, 1711082898

How are you Spooky? Making any headway on the poop crusade?

atticus, 1711088592

"“It’s like cheating,” he laughs." Big coincidence or someone knows their M.P history.

stunet, 1711089420

Good pick up, mate.

No coincidence. As you're probably aware, MP said it to another MP (Mike Perry) about removing rocker from the back third of his boards, which is not dissimilar to what channels do.

It's a quote that's always sat with me as being equally relevant to channels.

tubeshooter, 1711090790

https://crowsgarage.com/2012/10/18/redhead-surfer-col-smith-scrapbook/
https://crowsgarage.com/2011/05/23/redheads-best-surfer-col-smith/

tubeshooter, 1711090887

Having grown up around that area he was certainly talked about a lot, and always with respect.

wally, 1711175396

I copied this photo from Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing.
Col Smith at Pipeline

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/q76HGBHc/IMG-3321.webp[/img]

From an article by Rory Russell in the May 1978 issue of SURFER magazine.

spookypt, 1711176880

Stood in that room as a 10 year old. Blows my mind.

spookypt, 1711177084

Mate I tried hard. Honest I did but all I got was ulcers. No one cared less. Still shits me no end but the SC ain’t what it used to be. Too many people not giving a shit unless you’re at the beach where they leave you plenty sadly. Sigh.

zenagain, 1711179008

I feel your pain mate. As a dog owner myself, irresponsible owners shit me to no end.

Island Bay, 1711183515

Great photo

zenagain, 1711184035

Sick carve, even by todays standards.

Lanky Dean, 1711230448

He used that idea to stall before the tube section. radius to straight creates a tail kick, m.p was a visionary .....some visions very dark very clouded.
fang tails anyone.... I recommend the mp book to hardcore surfers.
Going to wait to watch this film in peace and quiet tonight.

Lanky Dean, 1711230511

that's one of the boards in the photos above...

wally, 1711232082

Here’s another one.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/MTjH8FK8/IMG-3322.webp[/img]
Col Smith 1977. Photo: Jeff Divine

.cylinders, 1711235123

Have one of the Phil Myer's Col Smiths. Bought it off a local here. A 6'10 iirc. Goes a beaut. I was working on some stuff with Justin Kalish for a handplane project and mentioned I was looking to have the original fin recreated and he just so happened to have a template for one. It's a lovely fin, damn near perfect. Have some of Justin's AB1s in my DW and RF Byrning Spears, as well as his fins on my handplanes too. Great foils. Anyways, will be a neat doco, have a soft spot for the channels ever since getting my first Byrning Spears at 21 and subsequently getting the wave of my life at that point at Puni's Farm not far from AB's formative stomping grounds.

stunet, 1711310829

I've got a Thruster set of FCS-compatible fins made by AB. Lethally sharp and possibly 3/4 the size of standard fins. Had them in an AB six-channel that snapped and figure they'll one day find a home again. Maybe one of Dale's.

.cylinders, 1711318676

Dale's are excellent, and if you ever need a replacement fin Kalish has all the OG templates. Find him on ig @dustydemon13

Elliedog, 1711352788

I’ve still got a set of those myself from around the time AB was still getting the FCS systems to work in his bottoms. Took some time. He couldn’t get FCS to get the fins right… to his standards so he knocked em out himself… I’ve lent them to mates over the years when they’ve had boards that didn’t go for them… the fins improved the boards performance every time and I’ve had to steal the fins back every time!!!

Clam, 1712529348

Had the absolute pleasure of riding some of Cols boards at Margaret River and G-Land Indonesia. The one I remember most was a 7"4 with 3 fins, (bigger rear and smaller side fins) thanks to Mark Chadwick a Margarets local who loaned it to me, (for a year) and I took it to g-land. This board had a deep concave, sharp hard rails and a pretty lightweight glass on the deck particularly the nose, staggered glassing was used on every col smith board I ever saw. (Less weight in the nose)
This board was something else, another level to what I had experienced with how boards felt. The sharp rail and concave felt incredibly good in clean conditions and even in choppy conditions from offshore "devil winds"
Perfect for the Margaret River main break lefts in a nor east wind! (Really? a concave channel?! Yes Mind blowing!)
The way it turned and cutback was something else too, on the fat walls on the margies left, that concave bottom and big sharp rails was amazing.
Marty Littlewood who was shaping my boards at the time, let me have a go of the 7"11 red "can opener" he had in his collection, (gifted to rique a bit later on)
As it was called "can opener" due to the look of the asymmetric tail, the forehand toe side was 7"0 & the heel side 11 inches longer. This had one big fin with a shape like a sickle, the unique "col smith fin"
This is the opposite of what many asymmetric boards have going on. Usually the heel side is shorter. Anyways I didn't get to ride it much , but the surf I did have with it, did cutbacks like nothing else, the longer heel side 7"11 worked amazing. I felt like the board was on tracks like a train track, the concave making it turn off the rails.
Rique Smith has some of these boards, and loaned me a few rides on em at his local wave kalbarri,
Can't quite remember exactly what , except for the green 7"10 channel single fin, which I was loving for a few surfs. Have seen Rique surfing some of the boards on that epic left up north, and it's quite incredible what he can do with them things.
I've visited redhead beach in the mid 90s stayed a month, seen and heard the legend of col smith, stories and photos, got the video "fantasea" and studied the col smith section!
He was a huge inspiration for myself and my mates, some were from Redhead beach, the connection from Redhead with Margaret River certainly was for real, we had some fun times!
Plenty of channel single fin boards got made, in respect of Cols designs.
Marty Littlewood shaped a lot of these , just remembered he did a single fin channel bottom for me, a 6"10 I took to G-land for a few years it went best in the tube.

While im here I want add: i would like to find one of the Phil Myers col channell model ; used board / 2nd hand , about 7"6 - 8"6 - or more in length. Just putting it out there...

Andrew P, 1712625202

Thanks for chiming in Clamel

I focus, 1712636529

I still have a 6'6" channel thruster Marty Littlewood shaped me in the late 80's used for Margs, Lefties and North Point, I get it out occasionally and feel it up dialing in the memories of going over the edge no matter what one of the few boards from that era I never snapped.

82shoes, 1712700249

"As it was called "can opener" due to the look of the asymmetric tail, the forehand toe side was 7"0 & the heel side 11 inches longer. This had one big fin with a shape like a sickle, the unique "col smith fin"
This is the opposite of what many asymmetric boards have going on. Usually the heel side is shorter."
I know this is not an asym forum but what you say here is what confuses me about them. Not your fault Clam because others have said the same thing and yet the majority (?) now shape them the other way around.
It would be great to be able to surf natural and goofy equally well and surf both theories to really test them apples to apples

Clam, 1712970133

https://www.theinertia.com/surf/channel-man-story-short-impactful-life-surfer-col-smith/

Clam, 1712970482

It may have been that the board was designed for a specific wave, it doesn't matter if a goofy surfed it or a natural footer , if the wave was Margaret River main break left with a fat wall the longer rail was for the cutback manoeuvre. I am not exactly sure, just my opinion!

82shoes, 1712975997

makes sense i guess!

Island Bay, 1712977839

Seen a fair few AB asyms, and he did them the same way - longer on the heel side.

stunet, 1712978834

Yep, this is the reason.

Early asymm theory was that more power can be applied through the heel so it got a longer rail line. I'm almost positive that'd be why Col did them that way. I know AB used that theory and those two were swimming in the same waters.

Modern asymm theory applies more to body mechanics than power.

lostdoggy, 1712980249

I like the theory for longer rail for a drawn out bottom turn/drive down the line and hold in the barrel and shorter rail for tight radius arcs on the top turn.

Island Bay, 1712981020

For a while in the 80s two other sports went asym, and in different directions: snowboarding went long heel rail, following the angled stance, while windsurfing went long toe rail (Craig Maisonville on Maui built some beauties).
Both worked really well :-)

stunet, 1712987658

That's the theory Chris Garrett works on. Shapes his asymms for rights or lefts.

udo, 1735195518

Jono why does Insta do this....
It does Link Thru.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DD1QxxKS2aL/

udo, 1735260126

Java Built
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDrRZC7znV0/?img_index=1