It started as a quick cheap way to spruce up a restaurant, slowly evolved into a slight obsession and could very well be the best and most valuable collection of surfboards ever…and they’re all for sale.
And just about every era in surfing history is represented in the collection, owned by WA surfer, Richard Hadley, which will all be on auction this weekend in Perth.
Boards by Bunker Spreckles, Bob McTavish, Al Byrne all the way back to Tom Blake and a board modelled for the king himself, Duke Kahanamoku.
“I was going to open a museum and put them in there, but it all got a bit too hard,” says Mr Hadley of the agonising decision to part ways with the collection.
“I’m looking forward to seeing them go to a good home, but yeah, it’s going to be a bit of a sad moment.”
Among the incredible collection is the board Mark Richards, designed, shaped and rode in the 1982 Pipe Masters.
The man himself says he knew of the impending sale and that the board has swapped hands a few times since Hawaii.
“I don’t plan to bid for it,’’ says MR.
“I rode it at Pipe and the World Cup in Hawaii in ’82. I then loaned it to the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu soon after as they were keen to display surfboards. Long story short, it was taken from the cafe without my permission and many years later a guy turned up on Randy’s doorstep offering to sell it to him for his Hawaiian Surf Auction.”
Mr Hadley says he started putting his old boards on display at a restaurant he used to run at Smiths Beach, near Margaret River and quickly noticed the attention the boards would receive from patrons.
From there he says the collection just grew to what it is today.
“I collected a bunch of other marine type things, like fishing rods and marine memorabilia, so I’ve always been a collector of sorts,” he says.
“But the boards…well who doesn’t like looking at an good old board. Some of the customers didn’t know the slightest thing about surfing or surf boards but would just be drawn in by some of the artwork on some of those boards.”
And there sure is some of that in the collection.
“I couldn’t really say which is my favourite, but some of the Dick Van Straalen’s and one by Tony Dragan are just incredible to look at,” Mr Hadley says.
“It’s a credit to the shapers and artists who took the time to make the board and took the time to make them stand out a little. It’s an incredible art form.”
And what’s a surfboard if it can’t be ridden? Surprisingly, Richard hopes all of the boards in the collection will be put to good use.
“I have ridden a lot of them,” he says.
“But some of the older ones, obviously they don’t ride as well as the newer designs, but you can feel the history, and that’s worth the ride alone.”
See all of the boards for auction at http://www.mckenziegallery.com.au/Surf%20board%20Auction.htm
