In the early 60s Malibu surfboards constructed of balsa or fibreglass/polyurethane foam were the weapons of choice.
At this time, there was no balsa or fibreglass surfboard business in WA and most of the Malibu boards were imported from Gordon Woods and Barry Bennett Surfboards in NSW. Some keen WA surfers made balsa or polystyrene foam (coolite) boards in their backyards.
Jim Keenan:“My first Malibu board was a Gordon Woods balsa with a centre stringer for added strength. Balsa was imported from South America and was expensive to say the least. My board if I remember right cost about 30 quid and represented approximately five weeks salary. On a relative scale that would put a new board at approximately $10,000. I well remember the Californian life guards performing at Torquay and Sydney in 1956. They certainly created surfing history with the introduction of Malibu surfboards into Australia. We were so isolated in those early days, as the ‘septics’ had been riding Mals way back in the forties. Those bloody Gidget movies stuffed up surfing because it revealed the life style and as a consequence a greater participation.”
Photo: 1961 North End Board Club members with balsa and imported/home-made fibreglass Malibu surfboards at Scarborough. Murray Smith pic.
L-R Peter Longley, Jim Mackenzie, Jim Breadsell, W Smith, Geoff Culmsee, B Sales and B Hunt.
In 1961 Brian Cole and Barry ‘Joe’ King started King & Cole Surfboards in Roydhouse Street Wembley and commenced making fiberglass Malibu surfboards to cater for the local market.
Brian Cole: “We used Bennett blanks and at that time Bennett Surfboards were experimenting with coloured foam. They blew foam with different colours and some of their surf boards had dual colour foam. Previously most fibreglass boards were coloured white to cover the discolouring in the foam.”
Photo: 1961 King & Cole surfboard shop in Wembley. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Artie Shaw and Brian Cole holding King & Cole Malibu boards. The King & Cole shop sign was painted by surfing sign writer Ray Geary.
By 1962 Dibben & Cole, Cordingley Bros and other surfboard manufacturers followed King & Cole and started manufacturing fibreglass surfboards in WA.
Photos: 1960s Dibben Cole Surfboards North Fremantle.
Left: 1962 L-R Leon Cole, Dave Ellis, Julian Mazzetti and Len Dibben. Len Dibben pic.
Right: 1964 Ian Barsden with Dibben Cole surfboard on down south surf trip. Arthur Sherburn pic.
Photos: Early 1960s surfboard shapes.
Left: 1964 Ash Jones and Theo Mathews with repaired Malibu surfboard at Mosman Park. Theo Mathews pic
Right: 1962 Norm Kitson of Floreat with his Peter Docherty designed 9 ft 10” balsa board. Norm Kitson pic.
Photos: 1960s Len Dibben Surfboards North Fremantle.
Left: 1960s Len Dibben with Malibu surfboards at his North Freo shop. Len Dibben pic.
Right: 1965 State Women’s Champion Teena Christon with her Len Dibben Surfboard at Miami. Photo courtesy of Teena Christon.
Photos. 1960s Cordingley Surfboards Subiaco.
Left: 1963 Ashley Jones’ first Cordingley board at Rotto. Tony Jones pic.
L-R Ash Jones, Chris Dermer and older brother Kim Jones.
Right: 1968 Cordingley surfboard decal. Courtesy of Grant Mooney collection.
In 1967 you could purchase a new custom surfboard with surfboard insurance from an established manufacturer for approx. $100.
Image: 1967 Receipt for new Cordingley Surfboard. Image courtesy of Craig Henfry.
During the 60s foam blanks used in surfboard production changed from triple red wood stringers to stringer-less models. Stringer-less blanks reduced the weight of surfboards but also made the board more susceptible to breakage in the waves. Improvements in the quality of foam blanks along with balsa and fibreglass stringers were light weight solutions to strengthen the boards again.
Photos: 1966-67 surfboards with and without stringers.
Left: 1966 Bruce King (age 18) in Subiaco with his triple red wood stringer Cordingley surfboard. King family pic.
Right: Ross Utting (age 15) in Floreat with new 8’10” stringer-less Cordingley surfboard. Utting family pic.
Photos: 1960s Hawke Surfboards Osborne Park.
Left: 1967 Gary Greirson (age 17) with his FC Holden and 11ft Hawke Surfboard at Melville. Gary Greirson pic.
Right: 1968 Hawke paisley surfboard pic courtesy of Henry Marfleet collection UK.
Photos: 1968 Jacko Surfboards Rivervale.
Left: 1968 Jacko Surf Team at Cottesloe Beach. Rod Taylor pic.
L-R John Jakovich, Ian Cairns and Arty Sherburn
Right: 1968 Jacko Surfboards decal. Tom Collins pic.
In 1968 former World Champion Midget Farrelly (NSW) competed on a short rounded pin surfboard in an Invitational Event at Yallingup. This was the point where surfboard design changed in WA to shorter boards and Malibu’s became unfashionable until their revival in the 80s.
Photo: 1968 Midget Farrelly (NSW) on Yallingup Beach with the first Pintail shortboard surfboard in WA. Sally Jones pic.
Image: 1968 revolutionary surfboard article in Doug White’s Wave Length column in The Sunday Times.
Photos: Late 1960s surfboard shapes.
Left: 1967 Blaxell Surfboards early pintail short board at Scarborough. Tom Blaxell pic.
TomBlaxell – Blaxell team rider Benton Moran won some surf contests on this board.
Right: 1969 Scarborough’s Brian Trainer with his new Midget Farrelly board at South Point. Brian Trainer pic.
Bob McTavish (NSW) refined V-bottom surfboards in the mid-60s.
WA surf photographer/writer Greg Woodward had an article published on WA Surfboard design in a 1968 edition of Surf International Magazine (USA). Greg’s photos of v-bottom boards appeared in that magazine…see below.
Left: Norm Bateman surfing a Cordingley v-bottom board at Trigg.
Right: Jim King surfing a v-bottom concave nose rider board at Trigg.
Jim King – The concave design was based on a surfboard Howard Johnson (City Beach) bought back to WA from South Oz. The v-bottom board didn’t turn too well, but it was fun to nose ride. There is footage in Bob Evans ‘High on a Cool Wave’ surf movie of me nose riding the board at the 1968 OZ Titles held at Warriewood NSW.
Photo: 1968 Jim King in Subiaco backyard with a quiver of Cordingley single fin surfboards. Photo courtesy of King family.
In 1968 State Junior Champion Ian Cairns rode a short-single fin Jacko surfboard at the National Surf Titles held in NSW and won the Duke Kahanamoku Trophy for the most promising surfer at the event.
Photo: 1969 Ian Cairns with his Jacko single fin at Yallingup. Ric Chan pic.
Photos: 1969 West Coast rounded pintail single fin surfboard courtesy of Phil Woods collection.
Photo: 1969 Craig Bettenay riding a Blaxell Derringer surfboard at City Beach. Ric Chan pic.
In the early 60s Malibu surfboards constructed of balsa or fibreglass/polyurethane foam were the weapons of choice.
At this time, there was no balsa or fibreglass surfboard business in WA and most of the Malibu boards were imported from Gordon Woods and Barry Bennett Surfboards in NSW. Some keen WA surfers made balsa or polystyrene foam (coolite) boards in their backyards.
Jim Keenan: “My first Malibu board was a Gordon Woods balsa with a centre stringer for added strength. Balsa was imported from South America and was expensive to say the least. My board if I remember right cost about 30 quid and represented approximately five weeks salary. On a relative scale that would put a new board at approximately $10,000.
I well remember the Californian life guards performing at Torquay and Sydney in 1956. They certainly created surfing history with the introduction of Malibu surfboards into Australia.
We were so isolated in those early days, as the ‘septics’ had been riding Mals way back in the forties. Those bloody Gidget movies stuffed up surfing because it revealed the life style and as a consequence a greater participation.”
Photo: 1961 North End Board Club members with balsa and imported/home-made fibreglass Malibu surfboards at Scarborough. Murray Smith pic.
L-R Peter Longley, Jim Mackenzie, Jim Breadsell, W Smith, Geoff Culmsee, B Sales and B Hunt.
In 1961 Brian Cole and Barry ‘Joe’ King started King & Cole Surfboards in Roydhouse Street Wembley and commenced making fiberglass Malibu surfboards to cater for the local market.
Brian Cole: “We used Bennett blanks and at that time Bennett Surfboards were experimenting with coloured foam. They blew foam with different colours and some of their surf boards had dual colour foam. Previously most fibreglass boards were coloured white to cover the discolouring in the foam.”
Photo: 1961 King & Cole surfboard shop in Wembley. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Artie Shaw and Brian Cole holding King & Cole Malibu boards. The King & Cole shop sign was painted by surfing sign writer Ray Geary.
By 1962 Dibben & Cole, Cordingley Bros and other surfboard manufacturers followed King & Cole and started manufacturing fibreglass surfboards in WA.
Photos: 1960s Dibben Cole Surfboards North Fremantle.
Left: 1962 L-R Leon Cole, Dave Ellis, Julian Mazzetti and Len Dibben. Len Dibben pic.
Right: 1964 Ian Barsden with Dibben Cole surfboard on down south surf trip. Arthur Sherburn pic.
Photos: Early 1960s surfboard shapes.
Left: 1964 Ash Jones and Theo Mathews with repaired Malibu surfboard at Mosman Park. Theo Mathews pic
Right: 1962 Norm Kitson of Floreat with his Peter Docherty designed 9 ft 10” balsa board. Norm Kitson pic.
Photos: 1960s Len Dibben Surfboards North Fremantle.
Left: 1960s Len Dibben with Malibu surfboards at his North Freo shop. Len Dibben pic.
Right: 1965 State Women’s Champion Teena Christon with her Len Dibben Surfboard at Miami. Photo courtesy of Teena Christon.
Photos. 1960s Cordingley Surfboards Subiaco.
Left: 1963 Ashley Jones’ first Cordingley board at Rotto. Tony Jones pic.
L-R Ash Jones, Chris Dermer and older brother Kim Jones.
Right: 1968 Cordingley surfboard decal. Courtesy of Grant Mooney collection.
In 1967 you could purchase a new custom surfboard with surfboard insurance from an established manufacturer for approx. $100.
Image: 1967 Receipt for new Cordingley Surfboard. Image courtesy of Craig Henfry.
During the 60s foam blanks used in surfboard production changed from triple red wood stringers to stringer-less models. Stringer-less blanks reduced the weight of surfboards but also made the board more susceptible to breakage in the waves. Improvements in the quality of foam blanks along with balsa and fibreglass stringers were light weight solutions to strengthen the boards again.
Photos: 1966-67 surfboards with and without stringers.
Left: 1966 Bruce King (age 18) in Subiaco with his triple red wood stringer Cordingley surfboard. King family pic.
Right: Ross Utting (age 15) in Floreat with new 8’10” stringer-less Cordingley surfboard. Utting family pic.
Photos: 1960s Hawke Surfboards Osborne Park.
Left: 1967 Gary Greirson (age 17) with his FC Holden and 11ft Hawke Surfboard at Melville. Gary Greirson pic.
Right: 1968 Hawke paisley surfboard pic courtesy of Henry Marfleet collection UK.
Photos: 1968 Jacko Surfboards Rivervale.
Left: 1968 Jacko Surf Team at Cottesloe Beach. Rod Taylor pic.
L-R John Jakovich, Ian Cairns and Arty Sherburn
Right: 1968 Jacko Surfboards decal. Tom Collins pic.
In 1968 former World Champion Midget Farrelly (NSW) competed on a short rounded pin surfboard in an Invitational Event at Yallingup. This was the point where surfboard design changed in WA to shorter boards and Malibu’s became unfashionable until their revival in the 80s.
Photo: 1968 Midget Farrelly (NSW) on Yallingup Beach with the first Pintail shortboard surfboard in WA. Sally Jones pic.
Image: 1968 revolutionary surfboard article in Doug White’s Wave Length column in The Sunday Times.
Photos: Late 1960s surfboard shapes.
Left: 1967 Blaxell Surfboards early pintail short board at Scarborough. Tom Blaxell pic.
Tom Blaxell – Blaxell team rider Benton Moran won some surf contests on this board.
Right: 1969 Scarborough’s Brian Trainer with his new Midget Farrelly board at South Point. Brian Trainer pic.
Bob McTavish (NSW) refined V-bottom surfboards in the mid-60s.
WA surf photographer/writer Greg Woodward had an article published on WA Surfboard design in a 1968 edition of Surf International Magazine (USA). Greg’s photos of v-bottom boards appeared in that magazine…see below.
Left: Norm Bateman surfing a Cordingley v-bottom board at Trigg.
Right: Jim King surfing a v-bottom concave nose rider board at Trigg.
Jim King – The concave design was based on a surfboard Howard Johnson (City Beach) bought back to WA from South Oz. The v-bottom board didn’t turn too well, but it was fun to nose ride. There is footage in Bob Evans ‘High on a Cool Wave’ surf movie of me nose riding the board at the 1968 OZ Titles held at Warriewood NSW.
Photo: 1968 Jim King in Subiaco backyard with a quiver of Cordingley single fin surfboards. Photo courtesy of King family.
In 1968 State Junior Champion Ian Cairns rode a short-single fin Jacko surfboard at the National Surf Titles held in NSW and won the Duke Kahanamoku Trophy for the most promising surfer at the event.
Photo: 1969 Ian Cairns with his Jacko single fin at Yallingup. Ric Chan pic.
Photos: 1969 West Coast rounded pintail single fin surfboard courtesy of Phil Woods collection.
Photo: 1969 Craig Bettenay riding a Blaxell Derringer surfboard at City Beach. Ric Chan pic.
Click on this link to view 1950s Toothpicks, Okanuis and Malibus published 3 May 2017.
Coming soon Surfboards of the 70s.
Vintage surfboards are on display at the WA Surf Gallery at Aravina Estate Yallingup.
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