rescued this herbie fletcher at the dump

b.r.

Phil Edwards status
Dec 19, 2003
5,921
3,033
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Leucadia
www.youtube.com
my bro in law was making a dump run and a group near dumped a trailer and drove off and he noticed what looked like a surfboard in the debris, as the tractor was coming to push it in he ran over and grabbed it. we are gonna restore it and it will ride again for our groms and us old geezers too, a herbie fletcher model A triple stringer single fin, we are guessing early to mid 70s, he also scored a lightning bolt from a family member that bought one of those beach trailer homes along the train tracks in san clemente and found it in the attic. lucky guy my brother in law...herbie fletch single.jpgherbie 2.jpg
 

GWS_2

Miki Dora status
Aug 3, 2019
4,141
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I'll go with the 80's as well. Cool find. I had a Greg Noll V-bottom that was dug out of the trash. It had a lot of dings, but the removable, huge, Lexan fin was still intact and the box was good. I patched all the dings. lol. It was a lot of work. By the time I had patched all the dings, (I put foam in most of the big ones instead of filler) and looked at all the sanding, I said F-it and just sanded the entire board, glossed it and then rubbed it out. Kind of. It would have been way easier to map the board, cut a new one finish it out and glass it. Anyway, I rode the board once. It was HORRIBLE. lol. The worst surfboard I have ever ridden. It was barely a surfboard. If you had made me ride that thing I would have quit surfing and taken up swimming or poking myself in the eye with a sharp stick. 1968 sucked.

Then my father found an original Lance Carson model in the trash. The classic triple stringer pin tail. The infamous LC model that was a major thing at Malibu in the 60's. Still has a cult following. I started on that and the stringers had all rotted out. So I gave it to a shaper/glasser who has since hung himself and he gave up on it as well. The story goes on, but IMO that board was cursed. Long story.

The HF should be fun. Worthy find. Good luck with it.
 

obslop

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Feb 4, 2002
8,044
1,512
113
san diego, CA
rad.

years ago after breakfast beers at Johnny Manana's in oceanside was walking back to my car and saw a beginner with a velzy longboard. had some open dings and duct tape on it. i traded him my much newer longboard on the spot and fixed up the velzy. was a complete dog. donated it to the oceanside surf museum and they said "yeah, that looks like he shaped it."
 

GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
54,145
16,166
113
West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
I'll go with the 80's as well. Cool find. I had a Greg Noll V-bottom that was dug out of the trash. It had a lot of dings, but the removable, huge, Lexan fin was still intact and the box was good. I patched all the dings. lol. It was a lot of work. By the time I had patched all the dings, (I put foam in most of the big ones instead of filler) and looked at all the sanding, I said F-it and just sanded the entire board, glossed it and then rubbed it out. Kind of. It would have been way easier to map the board, cut a new one finish it out and glass it. Anyway, I rode the board once. It was HORRIBLE. lol. The worst surfboard I have ever ridden. It was barely a surfboard. If you had made me ride that thing I would have quit surfing and taken up swimming or poking myself in the eye with a sharp stick. 1968 sucked.
I did the same thing with a mid 60s vintage triple stringer log. Put enough time into it that I could easily have shaped and glassed a new board. Made it 100% water tight and good to go for years to come. When it was done I paddled out on it. Good god this board is terrible even though its a fairly nice looking shape from a respected shaper.
 

MathDebater

Michael Peterson status
Apr 13, 2016
2,580
6,117
113
SD
I too have been down this path. Restored my friend's dad's old 7' ish single fin (gifted to me) that he claimed was the best board he had back in the day. It took sooo long. Never got a single wave on it where it felt worth the effort. Gave it back to his kid who is stoked on it but unsurprisingly... never rides it.