Here's another classic Barry Kelly photo snapped on the P&O Orsova, 1963. 

On the left are the three Maroubra gremlins, Bobcat, Natch, and Ugh. I haven't seen Natch or Bobcat since the sixties, but would really dig it if they got in touch. But Ugh, alias Barry Andreas, has been a mate and local Byron Builder since the early seventies. We even hung out at Noosa in the sixties. He just loves his golf, at the club about two hundred metres from my house.

That's Stowaway Bob in the middle (with some nice board bumps on my knees), next is Pikey, then the man himself, Barry Kelly.

Barry met the girl to become his wife and mother of his boys on that trip. The guy on the camera was most likely Dave Chidgey, fellow stowaway. Groovy! 

Bob

Surfing World called him 'one of the most influential and important surfers and shapers in history' and today Bob McTavish marks a half century of shaping with a special offer that allows surfers to have Bob shape their board with him. For $400 on top of the cost of the board Bob will work with you at the McTavish Factory at Byron Bay to design and hand shape your board. If the surf is right, Bob will surf with you to get a take on your style. Bob will fully hand-shape the board, start to finish, with your input and personally sign it.

Customers will be able to choose a classic from any past era, or a current hot design to lift their surfing to a new level. Each board will soon become a collectable.

Bob McTavish

Check it out, look out for Bob around 3:05!

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From Surfing World magazine 1964 - the worlds best surfers according to them are.......

For the past few weeks I've been working on a stand-up Spoon concept Flex-tail. Something that flexes and winds up like a Spoon, but you can stand up on it and paddle it in with ease. Heres a few progress shots, its got a groovy swirl on the bottom too!!

Bob

Singer/song-writer Ash Grunwald dropped by the factory today for a little help shooting his new film clip (watch out for the Bob cameo when it comes out!). The clip was for Longtime - a freshly released single from Ash's forthcoming album 'Troubles Door'. Ash says of the track ‘Like a lot of my party songs, it deals with the idea of escaping and just doing your thing…I’ve had that impulse my whole life. Just taking off and doin’ your thing. I imagine driving on a hot summer night with all the windows down or better still the roof angle-grindered right off!! Just singing to the stars.’ 

Awesome.

Ash is trying to raise a few bucks to release the album so head along to his pledge page here and help him out.

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Bob and Ash in the McShowroom

Bob lays down some lyrical gold while film-maker Joseph Ryan captures the action

Back 25 years when I was an aircraft component maker I did this "spare time" job. A Lennox local Ken McDonald and I made this 20 foot knight for local tourist operation The Macadamia Castle. I laid up all the flat glass panels and shaped the fibreglass head over a beach ball. The skirt is heavy weave fibreglass as well, sprayed with red resin. Good fun!

Bob

Waaaaaay back in June last year Bob posted this blog piece on the Keyo Plastic Machine he made to take to Hawaii for the Vintage Surf Auction. The board attracted a LOT of interest and customers started to ask for re-makes. We decided to limit the production to 12, and immediately sold the first 5 which went to happy homes in the US of A. So that left us with 7 more to make, and its literally taken this long to get a couple out of the factory!!

So here is the first stock one, available for sale - its number 7 of 12. These are beautiful exact replicas - all hand-shaped and individually numbered by Bob. We've had both the Plastic Machine logo and the Keyo logo very accurately replicated (thanks to Denny Keogh and John Gill for helping us with this project), and the boards are all stringerless, laminated in 8oz volan cloth. The fin is a green glass-on Greenough style with a super flexy tip. All are identical at 9'4" x 22 3/4" x 3 1/8" and the other 6 will be along shortly..... A great showpiece or a great rider if you want to feel the authenticity of an original deep Vee.

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McTavish boards featured in April issue of Vogue. Next month, Bob and J.Lo shoot?

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