Here's an email I got from a stoked customer this week, a great photo of the inside of Crescent point!

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G`Day Ben,

Just a update on the Scooter I bought off you guys last July / August 2010 , they go unreal,  full credit to Bob & all the crew at McTavish. I ended up selling that demo one I bought off you guys to my brother as I couldn't get it back he loved it that much, but picked up a new one at the Log Shack Coffs Harbour. They`re just so suited to the waves at our town Beach Port Macquarie & absolutely fly at Crescent Head, just so much down the line speed. Here`s a shot about a month ago at Crescent - (See attached file) , just loving it. Thanks heaps for putting even more fun into surfing,

Cheers Jimmy

Jimmy getting slotted at Crescent Head

We've just uploaded a new video clip showing the process of how your custom order McTavish board is made from concept to surfing. The clip was put together by our friend Kevin Call and details the process from start to finish, showing all the hands that the board passes through before its surfed and enjoyed by the customer. The talented factory crew are (in order of appearance);

Dan Wallace - customer/surfer (my bro), Dave English - Retail Manager, Ben McTavish - shaper, Bob McTavish - Head Shaper, Simon Skerry - artist, Billy McLean - Laminator, Steve Kench - Sander, Mal Bugden - Glossing/Fins, Matt Parmenter - Polisher. 

Check it out on the front page of our website here or on Youtube here 

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A big congrats to McTavish team rider Roisin Carolan who scored runner-up in the junior womens division at the Aussie Titles down at Bonny Hills last week. Here are a couple of pics of the action. Thanks to Darrell Nash at Nashyspix www.nashyspix.com and Andy Carruthers from Salt Images www.saltimages.com.au for the use of the photos!

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Roisin strutting her stuff for the judges at the 2011 Aussie Titles

Off the top

A nice cutty

NSW team surfer Joshua Croad hits the lip on his McTavish F4

We've had quite the run of wind (gusts up to 80kph, blew a whirly-bird off the factory roof!!) and rain (55ml on Sunday night) so far this week. Luckily its not all bad news and the gloomy conditions have delivered swell. The Pass, Main Beach and the Wreck have been pumping since Sunday afternoon, and its still nice out there now. For you history buffs out there the Wreck is from the TSS Wollongbar, wrecked in a cyclone in 1921. Here's a few snaps from my drive to work this morning, its still crack'n now.

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Pretty crappy weather, but some nice lefts coming through out there and not much of a crowd today either

Unknown charger getting a nice one in front of the SLSC

A grinding left off the boilers at the Wreck

Back in 1974 when winters were long and surfboard sales were slow, I decided to make a small fleet of Greenough spoons to feed the growing family. Lots of labour, with not much materials outlay. There are 16 layers of fibreglass cloth in each one, with the original blank being ground away to almost nothing, just that thin rim of foam around the front end and rails.

All four sold fast, as these were as original as anyone could get. I’d lived with, surfed with, and shaped with George for most of the previous decade, and George never made a spoon for anyone but George. I made them in my little shed/shaping room in our farmhouse front yard on the edge of Lennox. One of these 4 spoons is now on display at Surf World, Currumbin.

All 4 of these photos courtesy of Peter Green.

In front of the old Lennox farmhouse

Looking through the spoony window

Spoon line-up

One of these is still in existence on display in Currumbin! 

Digging into the archives again today I've found an old 80's sailboard logo and a logo that was prominent in the 90's on some of Bobs first revival longboards. Check 'em out;

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Sailboard logo straight from the 80's!

90's longboard logo - classic oval design

Its always great to get some photos from a customer who's been out enjoying their new board. This week I got these 2 beauties from Ken Conrick from Melbourne. Ken's just returned from the Mentawai islands where he spent some time surfing Pitstops on his new 7'4" Bobsled and it looks like they got some great waves. Both pics courtesy of John Barton from Pitstop Hill.

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Ken on his backhand on the Bobsled quad

Ken lines up to get shacked

Last night was the first ever Kirra Surf Tradeshow, where vendors were invited to showcase a range of product and do a presentation to over 300 'Black-label' VIP Kirra Surf customers. The night was a great success, with a ton of pro surfers in attendance including Parko, Mick, Taj, Bede and Richie Lovett. We were showcasing our new Sumo and NEO models and everyone was keen to organise a ride! At the end of the evening there was a board giveaway and a brand new custom McTavish was won by Kana, a super stoked young Japanese surfer living on the Gold Coast for the next 12 months. Next years event promises to be even bigger and better and may even coincide with the Kirra Pro so stay tuned.   

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McTavish VIP Rod Boyce with Bob and 2X World Champ Mick Fanning

McTavish Wholesale Manager Greg Tilley shows Hat-dog Hatten the new Sumo model

Glen 'Rocky' Rawlings interviews Bob on the future of board design

A super stoked board winner Kana, all the way from Japan!

Bob and Kana talk through her new custom

A couple of great images came across my desk this week from photographer Sam Lindsay - he's been working on the Surfstitch Spring photo-shoot, and needed a board as a prop so we sent up a nice 'sunset' Involvement model. The board looked great, as did the rest of the shots. Thanks to Sam Lindsay and Chris Cooney for the pics! 

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Ridiculously good-looking surfboard (oh and models Dave and Emma)

Deus TW200 - just add board racks to beat the summer traffic