McTavish

There is a lot of Bob McTavish in Surftech, and a lot of his surfboards. Bob McTavish was the brains behind the shortboard revolution coming out of Australia in the late 60s. Thirty years later, in the late 90s, McTavish took a respectable run at the dangerous business of cloning surfboards with his Pro Circuit Boards. It was some of his McTavish's successes with PCBs and some of his failures that inspired Randy to take on Surftech. And now Surftech and McTavish are working together to produce ????

McTavish was born in Mackay, northern Queensland and took to the sea completely by the age of 18, exploring the endless miles of good surf along the coastlines of New South Wales and Queensland. McTavish was so keen to see the world that in 1962 he and another Australian stowed away on a ship bound for Hawaii, and got in a month of surf on the North Shore before they were transported back to Australia. One of the few work opportunities for a committed surfer-just as it is today-was surfboard building. McTavish's natural tool skills and curiosity led him into board design, a skill matched by few people worldwide. In 1965, he hooked up with Nat Young and George Greenough on a trip to Noosa. This resulted in Young's extraordinary thin-railed, high-aspect-finned board dubbed "Magic Sam." Nat Young rode that board at the 1966 World Contest in an era-bending clash between longboards and shortboards. Young won, on a McTavish design.
While working for Keyo Surfboards in Sydney, McTavish produced the first true vee-bottom boards, short- and broad-tailed, which he named Fantastic Plastic Machines. On a trip to Maui in 1968, he and Young rode the vees at Honolua Bay, showcasing the flipside of a great design debate that went on for many years-what worked better: the vee or Dick Brewer's mini-gun? A meticulous record keeper, McTavish kept notebooks of information on his design work, only to destroy them later in an attempt to shed his ego after a conversion to Krishna. By the mid-'70s, he'd been married, divorced and was living at Byron Bay on the NSW north coast, designing the first production swallowtails.

6'6" - Micro

N : 16 1/4

M : 21

T : 16 1/2

Th : 2 3/4

FINS

Centre : US" 8 ST 7

Side : FCS M5

Board Review

A full length single concave, flowing into a double in the tail(with Spiral vee. The Carver has more power to get up and go in smaller conditions and accelerates faster on bigger days.
Shortboard thinking in a comfortable paddling package.
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9'1" - Fireball

N : 18 3/4

M : 22 3/4

T : 15

Th : 2 7/16

FINS

Centre : Surf 10" MCT 7

Side : FCS GX

Board Review

Subtle refinements make it friendly, versatile, predicable and reliable! The rocker being just right, the bevels, the fin placement, the rail volume.
Don't take it for a softy! The Fireball rips!
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9'1" - Original

N : 18

M : 23

T : 14

Th : 2 3/4

FINS

Centre : Surf 10" MCT 8

Side : FCS GL GF

Board Review

Bob's first "modern" design that combined a radical new rocker, called "3 stage", forward bevels and a very strong hop at the back foot. To cap it all off, he added channels under the trim zone, and it was a tri-fin.
Revolutionary, and very Original.
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9'1" - Razor

N : 17 3/4

M : 22 1/2

T : 14

Th : 2 7/8

FINS

Centre : Surf 10" MCT 8

Side : FCS GX GF

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9'4" - Liberator

N : 18 1/2

M : 23

T : 14 1/4

Th : 3

FINS

Centre : Surf 10" MCT 8

Side : FCS GX GF

Board Review

A Square- tail version of the Fireball. The turns and cutbacks require more power and skill from the surfer, favouring drop-knee cutties and hard driving turns. The rest of the ingredients: 3 stage rocker, forward bevels, nose concave, double concave under the back foot - all stayed the same, but the rails required some re-working.
All in all, the liberator will set you free if you're a power surfer looking for the ultimate all-round board.
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9'5" - Gleave

N : 18

M : 22 3/4

T : 13 3/4

Th : 2 3/4

FINS

Centre : Surf 10" MCT 9

Side : FCS GL

Board Review

The Ray Gleave model is back! Ray has represented McTavish in countless State and Australian Title.
His smooth classic style is unmistakable in the line-up.
The latest incantation of the board has increased tail area and the classic 3 stage rocker; it's responsive off the tail and an awesome noserider.
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