Ted was born Viscount Coventry and affectionately known as Lord Ted .He grew up in Britain and then moved to California, and was the first european to join the IPS world tour. He was a popular 'playboy' character on the tour who made his mark and flew the flag for Britain . In reality he was skint for long periods of time on the tour and often had to sleep in his car. He fearlessly surfed solid waves in Hawaii and his career high came in 1978 (?) when he got through to the semis of the Jose Cuervo classic at 12 ft Sunset beach, knocking out Cheyne Horan and Shaun Tomson's brother.
Ted surfed Parrish Lightning Bolts in Hawaii and when he returned to Britain , probably to earn some cash, he started shaping and was allowed to use the bolt logo. This board is from that era, its 6'8 x 19 x 2 1/2 . He emigrated to Australia in 1979 and started his excalibur label. He died of heart failure in 1997.
Ted was deeply commited to surfing and was full of the British never say die optimism. At one point he decided to take up snowboarding with the famous last words 'at least you can't drown in the mountains' , he spent the next six months in hospital ! He starred on the cover of Surfer mag in 1982 as 'aristocratic lord ted ' with his bolt quiver and hunting hounds outside the family pile ; if anyone has a copy I would love to feature it.
