50 years ago, Dick Van Straalen made a board for Andrew McKinnon (Andy Mac), to compete in the annual, 1975 Rip Curl Bells Easter contest. Andy Mac, as he is commonly known, finished ninth at Bells that year. The imperious, Michael Peterson took the trophy home.
Shortly after Bells, the colourful board was handed on to John “Stakes” Stead who gifted it to Geoff ” Boots” Towner (Laurie’s dad) of Brooms Head, who called it ‘the best board he had ever surfed for the next 20 years.’
Half-a- century later the legendary DVS stick has been returned to mint condition by master restorer Goran Peko and will be displayed at the Port Macquarie Surfing Museum.
This was no ordinary board – a 7’2” by 19’ single fin, diamond tail featuring a unique green & yellow taped up colour design by Brett Livingstone Strong. Brett eventually became a celebrated artist. US President Ronald Reagan, Fleetwood Mac, Yoko Ono, and Michael Jackson were amongst the long list of celebrity clients who commissioned his work, and he was eventually knighted for his artistic achievements.
Photos of Andy Mac riding the board at Bells & Burleigh appeared in Surfing World magazine. When the photos were reposted on FB almost 40 years later, Boots Towner contacted Andy. They had never met before, but when Boots saw the board on FB he said, “Hey that’s my old board and I still have it stored away!” Consequently, the pair hatched a plan to restore the DVS shape with the classic Livingstone spray and exhibit it in a surfing museum.
The board was freighted from Brooms Head to the Gold Coast where Goran Peko, a renowned restorer, was assigned to bring the iconic board back to life!
Beginning in September 2024, Goran performed the meticulous restoration process single-handedly and with fervid dedication. After stripping the board right back to the Farrelly foam, Goran re-glassed the top and bottom, adding Brett’s unique colour design and re-sanding the single fin back to its original shape and position. The transformation was striking, a testament to Goran’s skill and the capacity for surfboard reconstruction to make relics into the objects of wonder they originally were.
Next stage of the journey was catching up with the original creator, Dick Van Straalen (DVS), and his trusty sander & longtime close friend John “JC” Charlton. The two posed for a reunion photo late last year. DVS is now a septuagenarian and had been hinting at retirement at the end of 2024, but eventually confided he would like to keep shaping into the future.
After reuniting shaper and surfboard, we connected with Boots’ youngest son, Laurie Towner, who agreed to complete the intergenerational journey and take his father’s board for a ride at Angourie. Laurie wasn’t born until 1987, more than a decade after the board was made.
Goran dropped off the board in early December of 2024 to Gold Coast-based photographer, Jarrason Bitton, who was staying with his parents in Yamba for Xmas/NY.
The hardest part of the mission was waiting for a decent swell to arrive but by 3rd January 2025 Jarra had nailed the photo operation. After a full month of waiting, a new ESE swell materialised with enough pulse for Lozza to go surfing on his old man’s favourite board & finish the five-month-long project.
“Shame it couldn’t have been bigger,” said Boots who was nevertheless excited to see the old faithful back in the water with his son riding it. “It made me want to go surfing on it again!” he said, as the board once again cast its spell.
The folklorish Dick Van Straalen board will be displayed at the Port Macquarie Surf Museum until April and then heads back to the Gold Coast for the Flotsam Art Festival Exhibition in May at the Dust Temple Currumbin. What was once old and crusty is now brand new & spicey again.
