Doug Spong is a surf industry journeyman. He began selling clothes in Bali in the 1970's, founded Rip Curl's garment division, then moved onto hard goods with Billabong, before finally establishing his own company, Cult Industries, around the turn of the millenium. Cult eventually got rolled by the GFC but before that he'd worked up a small but impressive board collection.

Doug is curently downsizing and he's selling the "tokens from a sufing life", a handful of rare boards that include an Apocalypse Now Yater Spoon.

We know you used to run Cult Industries, but where are you currently working?
Well at present I’m just preparing for my Indo trip but I have many small projects now which occupy me daily. One is a shark bite resistant wetsuit which we have developed over the last six months or so. We are working with the DPI and Sea World's experts. Prototypes begin next month along with the capital.

I also work the share market with some success on a daily basis. Also, until recently I worked a few interesting projects for Mistral in Holland, this included wetsuits and their saltwater line of mens and Ladies garments.

Have you always been a board collector?
Not really a big collector, just bits and pieces I fancied over the years. I suppose I have about 25 or so left. The MP is definitely sold. It was in perfect condition, sad to see that one go.

Tell us about your MP?
The MP is an interesting story. He went to Victoria for a short visit and ended up staying a couple of weeks with Mick Pierce in Rye - great wave in the back beaches there in the sumner northerlies. So when he finally left having no money he left his board with Mick. It must have been around 1970 I think...maybe even '72.  Many years later Mick was strapped and sent me the board and a bill, unannounced naturally. I paid and didn’t think too much more about it. I know MP shaped it under the house in Kirra.

Dick Harvey sold it to a collector for me. As I remember it was about 6’0” -ish with one set of flyers way back, rounded pin and a single green fin glassed to the clear board with the trademark rainbow swirl full length down the deck. Dick will remember the details better than me. I sold it too cheap along with a framed Morning of the Earth LP and cover signed by Michael. Definetely have sellers regret on that one.

You're selling two McTavish balsa guns that are unridden, and the next up are an 'Apocalypse Now' Yater Spoon, and a Brewer balsa gun, both also unridden. Firstly, why are you selling?
I have too much stuff and need the space as I've moved to a relatively small house now because we spend so much time away I don’t really need a lot of stuff at this stage

It's a crucial question with classic boards: To ride or not to ride? I take it you fall into the 'not to ride' camp?
Definitely not to ride....but there are two exceptions, the Brewer and the Yater. These two have been tempting me for years. I just picked up the Yater and realised how light it is.

The Yater Spoon is a classic board, famous in the surfing world and in Hollywood. How did you luck upon that?
Well the deal is I was talking to Rennie at a trade show just before he was retiring. The last job he had to do was build some replica Yater spoons exactly as they appeared in the movie Apocalypse Now. If you can remember the film, this is the board Lance steals from Colonel Kilgore. Anyhow the Hollywood guys who worked on the movie wanted most of them. He made 90 in all. They are numbered, mine is 47 - my lucky number - but number 1 was still an option at that point. I ordered one of these and paid. About six weeks later it was delivered to where I was staying in Santa Monica. It was displayed on my office wall in Huntington Beach, but then we left California and returned home to the Gold Coast. Naturally I brought the board with me.

"Bring me my Yater Spoon, the 8'6"" Robert Duvall as Colonel Kilgore in 'Apocalypse Now'

What were you doing living in the US
At that stage I was spending half my time in California so I bought a house in Venice Beach. Sold that after about a year and moved to Huntington on the PCH just north of the pier. I was introducing Cult to the US market without much success so moved back home and went surfing and fishing for a couple of years

The Yater is very high in the collectability stakes. How much do you think it'll sell for?
Who knows? My price is $10,000 each, for both the Yater and the Brewer but I’ll listen to reasonable offers.

The Yater is a classic but it seems you've got greater reverence for the Brewer gun. Why is that?
The Brewer is so special it’s probably one of Dicks’ last masterpieces. It’s fully chambered and filled with ping pong balls for safety if it gets damaged and leaks. It’s a modern gun.

Ping pong balls...?
Yeah the ping pong balls have us all fucked right now, but someone out there will know why.

This board should be surfed by a true big wave rider who is competitive. Mal Chalmers was over at Dick's house the last couple of weeks and he’s not doing so much anymore so I rate this board as a very valuable collectors item. There won’t be any more like this. The board was shaped and made in the Bear factory in Byron for Tony Squirrell on Dicks last visit here. Some how I ended up buying it just as Brewer departed for home. Tony was happy to sell it to me and so was Dick. 

Any chance of seller's regret on this one?
Hmmm, well things come and go in life and they are just 'things'....but the Yater I guess, maybe. Apocalypse Now is my number one movie because of the reference to the culture and to Malibu and the global network, you know. It’s a bit like when Miki died the core of our cultural development was gone, same with Yater, Malibu and all. 

I guess the tokens of our surfing lives are important and help with all the great memories we have had. Sellers regret, cultural collapse....like Snapper, the culture has changed so much I don’t give a shit about it much anymore. I love the roots. Blue Crush my arse!

If you'd like to buy Doug's Brewer gun or Yater Spoon, and you're serious, you can contact him via Facebook.