Michael ‘Mick’ Layzell from Southern Surfriders Board Riders Club joined surfboard craftsman Bob Gairdner as a partner at West Coast Surfboards in Newcastle St West Perth in mid-1968.
Initially Mick shaped, Bob glassed and they both worked on sanding and ding repairs. It wasn’t long before Eddy Warner (Southern Surfriders) joined the team.
For more background information click on 1960s-70s West Coast Surfboards revisited link at the end of this post.
These are Mick’s recollection of the early years at West Coast Surfboards.
In Aug 1966 Murray Smith left Perth and toured around Australia with John Fields & Terry in John’s short wheel-based Toyota 4wd. The boys returned to Vic in Dec 1966 and Murray & I linked up for the trip back to WA in my panel van.
Late 1966 Footscray Vic. Mick Layzell, Murray Smith & Terry sitting on John Fields 4wd. Image courtesy of Murray Smith Footnote: Terry’s uncle ran the Carlton United Brewery in Darwin.
When Murray Smith and I set off from Victoria in early 67 to return to WA, we surfed a few spots on the way and talked about the trend to functionalism, under the influence of George Greenough, Bob McTavish and Nat Young. So when we arrived back I made a board with flexy tail and fin, like Greenough’s spoon. This started me shaping a few different experimental boards.
Mar 1967 Muddy Nullabor Plain. Mick Layzell with his Holden FC panel van. Photo Murray Smith.
Murray and I bought the ‘reo’ back to WA in early 67 from the East Coast, it wasn’t long before most of the better WA surfers were doing them. There was also Bob Evans Film of Nat Young (NSW) doing one around the same time and Wayne Lynch (Vic) did a famous back-hand re-entry in the Junior finals of the 68 Australian Titles held in NSW.
It was a great manoeuvre, it could get you round a breaking section with added speed to hit the next lip. Whereas previously we’d try to just trim around underneath the foam, which would slow you down, and you wouldn’t necessarily make the next lip. So this was a positive innovation for functional surfing, not just a point winning manoeuvre.
1967 Southern Surfriders at Halls Head Mandurah. Photo Mick Layzell. Back I Cairns, J Collis ,P Stephens, D Ellis & J Rousell. Front G Smith, M Jones, A Cook, J Jones, A Sherburn, E Warner, C Mitchell & M Layzell.
My friend and fellow surfer Eddy Warner from Southern Surfriders introduced me to Bob Gardiner, who was making West Coast boards from his parent’s garage in Hollywood, with partner Clive Williams. I soon spent a bit of time there helping out. Bob had sealed the garage with plastic to stop dust getting on the boards. The fumes inside were so strong we had to work in shifts. One lesson I learned very well was not to sit on a drum of acetone that still had extensive spill residue on top!!
The next photo is of Bob in his oldies back yard, between his shed/factory and the house. Balancing a board one hand to show how light it is. You can see the car has been kicked out of the garage.Ah the memories!
1967 Bob Gairdner with light weight West Coast board in his parent’s backyard in Hollywood. Photo Mick Layzell.
Bob was forced to close that down, but in mid-1968 I persuaded him to form a partnership with me. Bob was an excellent negotiator and struck a good deal with the packing case factory owner, to rent the unused shops at the front in West Perth. Bob already had a good following, so it didn’t take us long to start making boards. I shaped, Bob glassed and we both worked on sanding and ding repairs. It wasn’t long before Eddy Warner joined us.
Being in a commercial area there wasn’t any neighbours, so Bob had band practice there at nights. Lots of fun!
In the early 70s my partner and I bought a bush block in the Dwellingup hills, and I left the West Coast partnership for a rural life.
Eddy left a while later and Bob managed by himself.
1969 West Coast Surf Shop sign on door of Mick Layzell’s HK Holden.Photo Mick Layzell
This is my favourite pic of the crew. The Indijup point track was boggy, so we loaded all the boards on my Holden wagon and everybody ran along behind to push in case we got bogged. This was in the early days when Bob was working from his Parent’s shed.
The boards are heavy V tails with very flexi-fins.
Circa 1967 West Coast crew with Mick’s Holden wagon on Injidup Point track. Photo Mick Layzell. Top L-R. is Jerry Smith, Dave Anderson, John Rousall and Mal Jones on the tailgate. BottomL-R. Bob, Ian, Eddy, Boz Cummins and Cookie.
Boards were changing so quick back then, we’d make something, ride it for a few weeks, then make an improvement, stick the old board in the 2nd hand rack, and wait for the next idea. they went from 9′ in 68 to mid 6’s by 70. Wide back’s, narrow tails, heavy V bottoms, multiple V bottoms, rocker lines changed. Our boards were mainly stringer-less, (I met Midget at Crescents, he demonstrated his stringer-less boards. My boards are still stringer-less even my windsurfers) we could bend rocker in while glassing.
The first time I walked down the beach at Scarborough with a stringer-less everybody laughed, expecting it to break in half. But I knew full well it wouldn’t!
We tried side slippers, and they were fun, but wasted speed, I wanted to keep speed up as much as possible, cutbacks and bottom turns could gain you speed.
So, I concentrated on that aspect.
By the 70s the boards were sub-7′ so the boards in these pics are around 8′, late 60s probably.
Late 60sMick Layzell bottom turn on West Coast mini-mal at indijup Point. Photo Mick LayzellLate 60s Bob Gairdner rail turn on West Coast board at Surf Beach. Photo Mick Layzell
Bob and I had the same mini-mals, they were great all-round boards for local conditions, these are the two above. At the time ‘Trackers’ were the fashion. We were told that’s what we should be riding, as our mini-mals were old fashioned, and not helping our sales. We didn’t agree, Trackers were a specialised board, for a certain style of surfing on long fast hollow waves, not an all-round board.
1969 West Coast Surfboards promotion. Image courtesy Mick Layzell
When the Australian open was held at Scarborough in 1969, a day before the comp, team rider Peter ‘Spook’ Bothwell said, the Eastern States guys all had S decks, and he really needed one to be competitive. So, we made a board for him in 24 hours, stayed up all night. Super-hot coats, so we could get to the next stage as fast as possible.
Colin Cordingley (RIP) rang us one day, saying they’d had an order for a board with Hydrofoils, They couldn’t do it, would we like to.
Our philosophy was to be a true custom operation, I invited surfers into the shaping room with me, to make sure they got the board they wanted.
But this was a bit extreme even for us, from memory it was like a ferry, foils at front and back. it would have been impossible to turn. I think it was the one commission we declined. The guy was obviously way ahead of his time, if a lot of effort had gone into R&D we might have had ‘Hydrofoils’ half a century ago.
Late 60s customer Dick McKee with his new West Coast board. Photo Mick Layzell
A couple of suits walked into the shop one day, high powered Kmart executives from the new Morley shopping mall.
They wanted us to sell them boards at wholesale rates. We tried to explain to them there was no such thing, shop price was wholesale.
But they were good at their job and convinced us that a bulk order should be at a better price than the normal single order. So reluctantly we agreed to supply them, but not as West Coast boards, but as ‘Quentin Fudge surfboards.’ The first order was 10 boards, Dave Symons designed us a very psychedelic sticker, and any board we weren’t happy with became a Quentin Fudge. Spook at the time was learning the ropes, under catalysed resin, rail cut-outs that were too deep, and blemishes covered with designs not asked for, all went in the Fudge rack. Kmart seemed quite happy when we delivered them. A while later we had a phone call, they need help, on arrival we found they’d made the racks too small and had squashed a few thicker boards, (probably the softer ones with under catalysed resin, but don’t tell anyone). But they hadn’t sold any, we could have told them surfers wouldn’t want to buy boards from Kmart. Anyway, we fixed the damage, charged them for it, and never got another order.
I thought it was vaguely amusing. Sadly, I can’t find a photo of a Fudge board for this post.
Late 60s Southern Surfriders crew at Surf Beach. Ian Cairns sitting left in front of West Coast board & Arty Sherburn standing centre. Photo Mick Layzell
I’m still making the odd board, only for myself now, but I don’t use polyester, it’s all composite sandwich construction. I’ve gone back to my roots, I can still catch waves on sub-8′ boards, but I don’t get to my feet quick enough if the take-off is late, so I built a board I can knee paddle (stringer-less of course).
2020s Mick’s Wave Wands board is 9’3″, here it is before waxing & weighs 5.7Kg.
I started windsurfing in the mid-80s, dying to get into the waves. I found wave sailing so much fun, less crowds at the time, and no wave went wasted when there was a crew out. We stacked in line coming into the take off, and took the first available wave, no competition for waves, no agro, and you can sail to the optimum take off point.
I converted from traditional urethane/polyester construction to styrene/epoxy/composite sandwich late last century. You get a stronger lighter product, but it’s more involved and you need a vacuum set up. So all my boards since then have been made this way, still stringer-less.
Here’s my version of a ‘reo’ on a wave board.
2010s Reo on Wave Wands wave board. Photo Mick Layzell
So if the waves weren’t too crowded I’d surf in the morning and sail the arvo, but as I got older doing both the same day was too much, so it was one or the other.
Then one day I was introduced to speed sailing and the GPS Team Challenge Competition. This is now my main focus on the water.
So I’ve been building speed sailing boards for the last 15 years.
This is my latest, I achieved a personal best (PB) of 40kts on it in Jan 2022, so at age 77 you’re still not too old to improve!
2018 Mick with his PB Wave Wands speed sailing board at Avalon. Photo Mick Layzell.
Michael ‘Mick’ Layzell from Southern Surfriders Board Riders Club joined surfboard craftsman Bob Gairdner as a partner at West Coast Surfboards in Newcastle St West Perth in mid-1968.
Initially Mick shaped, Bob glassed and they both worked on sanding and ding repairs. It wasn’t long before Eddy Warner (Southern Surfriders) joined the team.
For more background information click on 1960s-70s West Coast Surfboards revisited link at the end of this post.
These are Mick’s recollection of the early years at West Coast Surfboards.
In Aug 1966 Murray Smith left Perth and toured around Australia with John Fields & Terry in John’s short wheel-based Toyota 4wd. The boys returned to Vic in Dec 1966 and Murray & I linked up for the trip back to WA in my panel van.
Footnote: Terry’s uncle ran the Carlton United Brewery in Darwin.
When Murray Smith and I set off from Victoria in early 67 to return to WA, we surfed a few spots on the way and talked about the trend to functionalism, under the influence of George Greenough, Bob McTavish and Nat Young. So when we arrived back I made a board with flexy tail and fin, like Greenough’s spoon. This started me shaping a few different experimental boards.
Murray and I bought the ‘reo’ back to WA in early 67 from the East Coast, it wasn’t long before most of the better WA surfers were doing them. There was also Bob Evans Film of Nat Young (NSW) doing one around the same time and Wayne Lynch (Vic) did a famous back-hand re-entry in the Junior finals of the 68 Australian Titles held in NSW.
It was a great manoeuvre, it could get you round a breaking section with added speed to hit the next lip. Whereas previously we’d try to just trim around underneath the foam, which would slow you down, and you wouldn’t necessarily make the next lip. So this was a positive innovation for functional surfing, not just a point winning manoeuvre.
Back I Cairns, J Collis ,P Stephens, D Ellis & J Rousell.
Front G Smith, M Jones, A Cook, J Jones, A Sherburn, E Warner, C Mitchell & M Layzell.
My friend and fellow surfer Eddy Warner from Southern Surfriders introduced me to Bob Gardiner, who was making West Coast boards from his parent’s garage in Hollywood, with partner Clive Williams. I soon spent a bit of time there helping out. Bob had sealed the garage with plastic to stop dust getting on the boards. The fumes inside were so strong we had to work in shifts. One lesson I learned very well was not to sit on a drum of acetone that still had extensive spill residue on top!!
The next photo is of Bob in his oldies back yard, between his shed/factory and the house. Balancing a board one hand to show how light it is. You can see the car has been kicked out of the garage. Ah the memories!
Bob was forced to close that down, but in mid-1968 I persuaded him to form a partnership with me. Bob was an excellent negotiator and struck a good deal with the packing case factory owner, to rent the unused shops at the front in West Perth. Bob already had a good following, so it didn’t take us long to start making boards. I shaped, Bob glassed and we both worked on sanding and ding repairs. It wasn’t long before Eddy Warner joined us.
Being in a commercial area there wasn’t any neighbours, so Bob had band practice there at nights. Lots of fun!
In the early 70s my partner and I bought a bush block in the Dwellingup hills, and I left the West Coast partnership for a rural life.
Eddy left a while later and Bob managed by himself.
This is my favourite pic of the crew. The Indijup point track was boggy, so we loaded all the boards on my Holden wagon and everybody ran along behind to push in case we got bogged. This was in the early days when Bob was working from his Parent’s shed.
The boards are heavy V tails with very flexi-fins.
Top L-R. is Jerry Smith, Dave Anderson, John Rousall and Mal Jones on the tailgate.
Bottom L-R. Bob, Ian, Eddy, Boz Cummins and Cookie.
Boards were changing so quick back then, we’d make something, ride it for a few weeks, then make an improvement, stick the old board in the 2nd hand rack, and wait for the next idea. they went from 9′ in 68 to mid 6’s by 70. Wide back’s, narrow tails, heavy V bottoms, multiple V bottoms, rocker lines changed. Our boards were mainly stringer-less, (I met Midget at Crescents, he demonstrated his stringer-less boards. My boards are still stringer-less even my windsurfers) we could bend rocker in while glassing.
The first time I walked down the beach at Scarborough with a stringer-less everybody laughed, expecting it to break in half. But I knew full well it wouldn’t!
We tried side slippers, and they were fun, but wasted speed, I wanted to keep speed up as much as possible, cutbacks and bottom turns could gain you speed.
So, I concentrated on that aspect.
By the 70s the boards were sub-7′ so the boards in these pics are around 8′, late 60s probably.
Bob and I had the same mini-mals, they were great all-round boards for local conditions, these are the two above. At the time ‘Trackers’ were the fashion. We were told that’s what we should be riding, as our mini-mals were old fashioned, and not helping our sales. We didn’t agree, Trackers were a specialised board, for a certain style of surfing on long fast hollow waves, not an all-round board.
When the Australian open was held at Scarborough in 1969, a day before the comp, team rider Peter ‘Spook’ Bothwell said, the Eastern States guys all had S decks, and he really needed one to be competitive. So, we made a board for him in 24 hours, stayed up all night. Super-hot coats, so we could get to the next stage as fast as possible.
Colin Cordingley (RIP) rang us one day, saying they’d had an order for a board with Hydrofoils, They couldn’t do it, would we like to.
Our philosophy was to be a true custom operation, I invited surfers into the shaping room with me, to make sure they got the board they wanted.
But this was a bit extreme even for us, from memory it was like a ferry, foils at front and back. it would have been impossible to turn. I think it was the one commission we declined. The guy was obviously way ahead of his time, if a lot of effort had gone into R&D we might have had ‘Hydrofoils’ half a century ago.
A couple of suits walked into the shop one day, high powered Kmart executives from the new Morley shopping mall.
They wanted us to sell them boards at wholesale rates. We tried to explain to them there was no such thing, shop price was wholesale.
But they were good at their job and convinced us that a bulk order should be at a better price than the normal single order. So reluctantly we agreed to supply them, but not as West Coast boards, but as ‘Quentin Fudge surfboards.’ The first order was 10 boards, Dave Symons designed us a very psychedelic sticker, and any board we weren’t happy with became a Quentin Fudge. Spook at the time was learning the ropes, under catalysed resin, rail cut-outs that were too deep, and blemishes covered with designs not asked for, all went in the Fudge rack. Kmart seemed quite happy when we delivered them. A while later we had a phone call, they need help, on arrival we found they’d made the racks too small and had squashed a few thicker boards, (probably the softer ones with under catalysed resin, but don’t tell anyone). But they hadn’t sold any, we could have told them surfers wouldn’t want to buy boards from Kmart. Anyway, we fixed the damage, charged them for it, and never got another order.
I thought it was vaguely amusing. Sadly, I can’t find a photo of a Fudge board for this post.
I’m still making the odd board, only for myself now, but I don’t use polyester, it’s all composite sandwich construction. I’ve gone back to my roots, I can still catch waves on sub-8′ boards, but I don’t get to my feet quick enough if the take-off is late, so I built a board I can knee paddle (stringer-less of course).
I started windsurfing in the mid-80s, dying to get into the waves. I found wave sailing so much fun, less crowds at the time, and no wave went wasted when there was a crew out. We stacked in line coming into the take off, and took the first available wave, no competition for waves, no agro, and you can sail to the optimum take off point.
I converted from traditional urethane/polyester construction to styrene/epoxy/composite sandwich late last century. You get a stronger lighter product, but it’s more involved and you need a vacuum set up. So all my boards since then have been made this way, still stringer-less.
Here’s my version of a ‘reo’ on a wave board.
So if the waves weren’t too crowded I’d surf in the morning and sail the arvo, but as I got older doing both the same day was too much, so it was one or the other.
Then one day I was introduced to speed sailing and the GPS Team Challenge Competition. This is now my main focus on the water.
So I’ve been building speed sailing boards for the last 15 years.
This is my latest, I achieved a personal best (PB) of 40kts on it in Jan 2022, so at age 77 you’re still not too old to improve!
I think I’m briefly in this drone video of Windsurfing in Coodanup at Mandurah WA. It will give you an idea of what I’m addicted to now.
Thanks Mick, for sharing your West Coast Surfboards memoirs.
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1960s-70s West Coast Surfboards revisited posted 1 February 2023
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