So far the only Havens on the blog have been from my collection, so its good to see this one, sent in by landscape photographer Baxter Bradford. Its in great condition and Bax has had it a long time, from the days when he used to hang around Bude surfing and skating on his holidays-'I can probably add some missing detail about Bude in the 70's and to a lesser extent the early 80's. I used to spend my school holidays there, so whilst an Emmett, I knew a lot of the Bude surfers as my day was ruled by the surf and tide.My lounge currently sports my Haven 7'1" rounded pin which I bought in 79, shaped by Roger Adams. Coincidentally, my local boozer is 'The Haven' a bar at a Lymington marina. So one way or another it's always haven o'clock in my house.Dick Willoughby was the 6'4" owner of Surf Spot who started things off (apparently struggling to get in the mini from your blog story), before getting a second premises which became Zuma Jay after he'd been over to the States. His main shaper was Roger Tout who was a great surfer and also lifeguarded at Bude as did most of them. There were a couple of brothers, 'Evil' and Paul who also made boards, the latter opening up a shop along The Stand.I recall eagerly awaiting each new shipment of T shirts and everyone snapping them up and then wearing them in The Headland or Widemouth Manor.... Eventually mine got worn under the long john wetsuit (remember them?) to stop chafing when paddling. Dick also imported some of the first skateboard trucks/urethane wheels which gave us something to do on Summerleaze car park hill when it was flat .'
Cheers to Bax, who may be having a friday night pint at the Haven as we speak; great board and another different logo.
Surf spot Bude ad in Surf Insight 1973. The name of the game is bullshit. Not the usual sales patter. Havens were sold through the surf spot at £28 a board.
