In the late 1970s and early 1980s, talented Cottesloe board riders Ashley Jones and Chris Reynolds were modifying standard Foamies to enhance surfing performance.
Jacko Foamies
In 1975 Jacko Surfboards created the Foamie Surfboard in WA. Foamie surfboards were a step up in terms of shape & manoeuvrability from standard coolites. They were constructed of polystyrene and had an improved outline; low rails and a vee-bottom leading into a foam keel/fin.
The famous ‘Foamie Surfboard’ was developed and patented through ‘Thermal Industries’ and ‘Fairway Plastics’ in Jacko’s Rivervale surf factory. Foamies were supplied to all Surf Life Saving Clubs and retail outlets in Western Australia for ten years from the factory.
1975 Prototype Foamie surfboard at Jacko Surfboards in Rivervale. Photos Tom Collins.
Patricia Collins “In the mid 70s, Jacko took six Foamies to Scarborough Beach for anybody to “have a go”. The same day my husband Tom Collins filmed the guys being towed behind a tinnie on the Canning River (Shelley Point) for a television commercial. The first three Foamies were sold to a Newsagent on Cottesloe Beach. Boans Dept store initially took six, then in a few days ordered 200. I remember Tom purchased a truck to tote them around and Jacko started selling them like hot cakes.”
Mid-70s Roger Garland on the first trial of Jacko Foamies at Scarborough Beach and on the Canning River (Shelley Point). Still frame images courtesy of Tom Collins.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, talented Cottesloe board riders Ashley Jones and Chris Reynolds were modifying standard Foamies to enhance surfing performance.
Ashley Jones. “There were two entirely different boards we mucked about with, the slabby coolite and the Jacko Foamie. Someone later introduced on the market a competitor to Jacko’s Foamie called a GS.
Aluminium stringers were an experiment for us and they were unbreakable. Jacko’s sons later used aluminium stringers in their Alloy Toy boards.
We later opted for marine ply on the modified Foamies, as it was easier to cut the board’s bottom profile.
The boards we modified were Jacko’s, I am sure of that, complete with the chunky keel fin and V bottom. We took a bit of the thickness out, but maintained quite a bit of the V. We sunk marine ply stringers in the bottom after routing part way in and not to the top of the deck, as we wanted to keep it soft on top. The chunky foam fin was sawn off, then replaced with either twins or thrusters.
I think Jacko may have on-sold the Foamie moulds to someone else. I am sure a guy called Dennis Jones eventually owned Jacko’s mould. We used to buy 10 at a time from him. He is married to Jenny Jones, of Jenny Jones Rugs in Claremont.
Chris Reynolds and I clocked up more serious deep tube time at the City Beach groyne than anywhere else, ever! All done on these cheap as chips coolites, that we all grew up on, cheap thrills, indeed
Chris Reynolds and I must have produced 50 or more customized Foamies, all unique, thruster fins, marine ply stringers rebated into the underside of the board. Of course, we used epoxy resin, at the time Araldite was superior. I did the spray jobs, Chris the shaping. We stuck the fins and stringers in with Araldite and did a partial panel of glass running the length of the underside of the board, plus reinforced nose and tail caps, we left the tops soft.
The modified Foamies were like skateboards in feel, you could hang really high on the wave, great nose riders, easy to paddle, good for late take-offs, plus they were really light at the time.
Chris ended up doing a full glassed one for himself and rode it for quite a while. One of the main reasons we did these boards was so we could surf swimming areas at the Perth beaches, particularly in summer, when the surfboard bans were on. It fooled the Clubbies most of the time!
Bruce Hocking (Cottesloe) was one of the masters of surfing the unmodified Jacko Foamies. When they held an inaugural Foamie Comp in Perth at Swanbourne Beach in the early 80’s, I think Bruce won the unmodified, and I won the modified event.
The natural progression of these coolite/foamie boards have wound up being the Hayden Shapes Hypto Krypto and the Aloha Bean, which I ride because they remind me of riding a Foamie “
1980s Chris Reynolds with modified Jacko Foamie. Photos Ashley Jones.
1980s Ashley surfing modified Foamie (Left) The Cove Cottesloe. (Right) North Cottesloe. Photos courtesy Ashley Jones.
1980s Ashley surfing modified Foamie at Injidup Car Park. Photos Ashley Jones.
Cottesloe surfer Theo Mathews was a beneficiary of Ashley & Chris’s customised Foamies.
1982-83 Theo surfing customised Foamie at Gallows. Photo Ashley Jones.
Theo Mathews “This photo was taken by Ashley Jones around 1982-83 of yours truly on a 5’3″ modified foamie (stringer, fins and legrope) at Gallows. The board was shaped by Chris Reynolds of West Coast & Daryl Wilkes Surfboards and finished by Ashley with acrylic house paint that lasted for years. Chris also made the twin fins & legrope. They conceived the idea for small shorebreak surf, but ironically we rode them on fair size waves with late take-offs, including Margs main break, Injidup carpark, South Point, Uluwatu (Bali) etc.”
Thanks for sharing your Foamie memories Ashley, Chris and Theo.
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