1975 with a 14yo Stuey Campbell

How's the surfy grom in this pic? How stoked is he? That's me, Stuey Campbell working on maybe board no* 8. I'm 14 it's late 1975 and as you can see I was onto the Hawaiian "sting" design very early in the piece. 

I'd surfed in the cadets at the Newcastle Mattara contest and MR was surfing an AIPA "sting" he had brought back from Hawaii. I went straight home and shaped myself one. In my little one room factory at the family home in Bronte, NSW.

Props to my dad for allowing me to glass boards under the lounge room, it used to stink the house out but I think he was pretty happy to see me carry on the tradition as he'd built a bunch of the old wooden tooth picks surfboards 30 years earlier in the exact same room.

The board I'm working on in the pic was built for my buddy Bill Morris, fellow Bronte grom who went on to become a world renowned surf photographer. The "sting" surfboard design has been seeing a bit of a resurgence these days but back then I made a fair few and they seemed to go better the further back and smaller you made the "sting" until it become a flyer.

"Don't make this post too long and start rambling dad" with Ryan's words ringing in my ears I will leave you here.

Hope you enjoyed, cheers Stuey