I just bought this second had in Ireland, any idea how old it is? The guy I bought it from siad it’s from the 70’s and that it was donated to a youth camp he was working at is Santa Babra.
Appart from a few old dings and a couple of open ones on the nose and tail it’s in good shape so I suspect it’s from the early 80’s. There’s no leash plug but it does have a fin box. The fin is drilled for a leash.
Has crafted by Brunce Fowler written in pencil below the logo
Going to get it fixed next week but would love to know a bit more about it. I know Brunce Fowler posts here.
Just took a look at another thread before popping over to this one… Prettymuch NINGBO my ass! Mr. Fowler that single is just perfect and harsh contrast to the chinese invasion -invasion from planet c, I made a funny.
Yeah, unfortunately the Craigs posting expired…unless you save and stick the pic in, it disappears. I will see if I can dig it up from saving it to my computer? I didn’t remember the board, which is unusual for me, but 40 years of boards is a challenge to remember all ‘your babies’…
NICE board! Being an owner of a vintage Owl, I did some searching and found this bit of history on Last Wave website. They sell Owl logo t-shirts. I've been told things like "Oh yeah - Owl Chapman" but as far as I know, he had nothing to do with the label.
Bruce Fowler posts as Deadshaper. You might try contacting him via private message.
Thanks I’ll try that! Read a few bits on line my self but can’t believe it’s from the 70’s as the glass job is in shuch good conditiond but looking at it, it may have been given a new hot coat at some stage, or ot didn’t see much use or sun light.
I made this board between 1972 and 1979. To nail it down tighter, I would say '72 or '73 is the most likely period. I definitiely glassd the entire board, because I am the only one that took the Owl logo and changed it to offer just the letters w/o the silhouette around the logo. The distinctive Owl logo is actually a curved triangular black logo with white lettering, and I decided to do a ‘reverse’.
I did this by taking the original logo and overlaying it on the sanded coat with masking tape underneath. Then carefully cut out just the Owl lettering. Then I used black acrylic paint to do the lettering before peeling and going on to gloss and polish the board. Basically doing it like a pinline.
This logo approach for an Owl is quite rare; it was really hard to cut the skinny lettering! I’m surprised that the leash attachment is done with the hole through the fin versus drilling a hole through the fn box. This may lean the board closer to ‘72 because of that. As I recall surf leashes started rearing their ‘ugly heads’ (some of us hated them the first several years) around 1970’-71, and I believe it was my friend Pat O’neill that is accredited to devising the surf leash. As the story goes, his dad lost his eye due to a surf leash mishap.
I would love to see some other angles on this board if you are willing to shoot a bottom and side profile shot to include in this thread. Allan Gibbons, who posts on Sway’s has a pretty similar clear board he thought I did early on. Probably same era. No doubt this board has belly in the nose with rounded rails up front and a 1/3 down railed tail that is pretty thin. I can’t tell if I was playing with camber on this one until a side profile gets taken.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly and for all the information, really interesting to know a bit about the board you are surfing and the times it was made it, you grew up in some interesting times, I was bourn in 73!
The glass job is holding up really well for a 34+ year board it’s still very strong much better than my old long board - but that’s another story it’s from South Africa and has a crap glass job.
There are a few dings but I’ll get them fixed and surf it. Don’t have anywhere to fix them my self and want to get it done right.
I’m not happy with the shots I took so I take some more over the weekend outside and post them, hope this is ok for now.
Thanks for more pix. Just figure your board was being made while YOU were being made. LOL. That should provide the two of you with some special kinship.
That is the classic foil distribution of the day for back then versus camber, which is something I started playing with close to this period when I started snow skiing. The fin may or may not be original. I normally outfitted those boards with 7 to 7-1/2" fins and from the look of it, that looks to be 8" or a bit longer. I may have opted for a bit longer because the board is 8 ft. . The 7’0" to 7’6"'s had the smaller fins.
The board looks to be in REALLY good condition! Well, I always did have a good reputation for glass jobs…and still do by the way.
Thanks again. Take a few shots of the bottom if you can…an overview like the first one, and to trouble you looking from nose to tail bottom up, and the other way around. What a classic stick!
P.S.
Classic distributon= thickest part of board over chest…something Al Merrick and Kelly Slater are now playing with again.
My first custom board was an OWL made by Bruce Fowler in 1973. It was a 6' 6" round pin with a wooden glassed on fin or "skeg" as we called them at the time. I was a competetive surfer at the time and I excelled on that stick.
Or sometime soon on one of a few reefs in Sligo I have in mind with a couple of buddies, long lefts and head high walls, unless it’s a point at the back of a harbour in which case it’s a long long right -Oh the jelly arms
Thanks John, Mike and PM’s…time flies when you’re having fun?!!
I’m working up a whole new family of boards that will have groups and subgroups. One group is single fins that we rode during this era. The family is called “Time Capsules” and some refined versions of these will appear as one of my designs (but still remain true to their era).
It is really a blessing to still be excited to go to work every day after all these years. How many people can say that?
Thank you for the positive buzz, and be looking for the new stuff in “Deep” Magazine’s Board Buyers Guide hitting the stands around Sept 2nd… www.deepzine.com
