Gordon and Smith Hot Curl
I was cleaning John and Patsy Bishop's palm trees in Atlantic Beach every summer in the mid to late "80s. There was an old surfboard collecting dust behind their shed in the back yard. It wasn't in too bad condition and I liked its looks. I asked John about selling it to me every year for several years, but he said it was his first board and he was sentimental about it. The year that Patsy was pregnant with their son John, I knew he would be needing money, so I hit him up again and he went for it. I told him I would trim all his (@12) palms for the surfboard. I did some minor ding repair on it and hit the water. The board was an 8' 10" Gordon and Smith Hot Curl from the late 60's. It was probably from the 3rd generation of boards that had been built since the 1950's. The first generation were big, 10' or so, and clunky. The second generation were between 9 and 10 feet generally, and more streamlined. The 3rd generation were in the 8' range and came out @ 1968.
This Hot Curl had a hole in the fin to attach a surf leash to. Leashes had not been invented when it was made. I filled in the hole with fibreglass and installed a leash cup on the left side of the deck by the tail. I later installed a piece of schedule 40 pvc pipe on the opposite side of the tail, so I could run a bicycle cable lock through it and lock it to my truck.
I rode this board for over a dozen years. It went to California and back with me in 1991. It rode great, though it was a little heavy. I could knee paddle it and walk to the nose. When Karen and I were married in 1993, Matt Corey gave me a smaller board that he bought in a garage sale for $10. It was a 7'6" Maltby (made in Palatka), clear bottom and powder blue top with a red pinstripe. I liked it and rode it too, and even had Mike Whisnant make me an 8'10' board based on it. The Maltby went to Costa Rica twice and Hawaii once, before I sold it to one of my Corps buddies in the mid 2000's.
In the late 2000's Patsy called me up and asked me if I wanted to sell her back John's board. I wasn't riding it that much, so I said yes. I sold it to her for $200, which was fair, since it was an old classic, and still rideable. She took it to David Harrell, who reconditioned it to look like brand new. It was formerly (faded and yellowed) clear, and David put a white finish on it to hide the discoloration and many ding repairs. I was at John's 60th birthday party when Patsy gave it to him. John, having had a few celebratory cocktails was stoked and to show his excitement, threw it in the pool. Patsy ran to where it was heading and kept it fom hitting the side of the pool and took it out of the pool for safekeeping. I talked to John, Friday (3/29/2013) evening at Ragtime, and he said he rode it the week before.
3/31/2013
