i didnt own many of these myself, but many of my friends did. I recon I sailed just about all of them at one time or another. And some later models.
Thanks. Only ever sailed the Bombora Tri Fin, New Toy and Proto. I owned the New Toy and a Proto. Thanks for the post. This brochure is extremely rare or at least never is seen anywhere. Excellent post. My collection of old boards still includes the Astro-Toy, X-it and Zot all with stronger aluminium finbox. I also have 3 x Strapper custom Tom Luedecke World Cup Slaloms including a "mini custom X-it" style board which is 8'10". Here are competition results featuring the 1991-92 Bombora Zot:
Back in about 1990-91, when the Sandy Point Sailboard Club held their annual 'High Wind Carnival', we recieved on loan, a couple of Zots from Bombora for a one design speed challenge. A few sailors did sail them down the course, but not on the strong wind days. We should have anticipated this because, of course, everyone just wanted to get as many runs as possible on their own fastest gear on the good windy days.
For a rotomoulded plastic board, it was actually pretty nice to sail, and reasonably quick. . But that was when everyone was getting Epoxy fever, so they didnt seem to have the succes of Bombora's earlier models.
I have a 1988 Bombora Brochure as well, but that wil have to wait for another post.
Edit. I found a TC brochure as well, and a few others.
Where is Mark Paul these days , the bombora protos where made at kempsey by Alf Jefferies , over the time we had so many boards made by him and they where really good wave boards and the Graphics where awesome so much fun in those days just wave sailing .
Where is Mark Paul these days , the bombora protos where made at kempsey by Alf Jefferies , over the time we had so many boards made by him and they where really good wave boards and the Graphics where awesome so much fun in those days just wave sailing .
greenwall.com.au/ex-parrot/
I have a 1988 Bombora Brochure as well, but that wil have to wait for another post.
Edit. I found a TC brochure as well, and a few others.
I unfortunately don't have the brochure but I do still have my 86 South Pacific
Still remember the Sailboards Australia factory going all night popping out boards.
Classic shots of Mark, Sarah & Rohan!!
Where is Mark Paul these days , the bombora protos where made at kempsey by Alf Jefferies , over the time we had so many boards made by him and they where really good wave boards and the Graphics where awesome so much fun in those days just wave sailing .
Heard from Mark end of last year - he's still in Sydney, still windsurfing and lately foiling.
He was on his way to Maui with his 17-year-old son, staying with North/Duotone sail designer Kai Hopf who used to sail Long Reef with us in the early 80's
Still remember the Sailboards Australia factory going all night popping out boards.
Classic shots of Mark, Sarah & Rohan!!
Hay Larko. I thought one of those cool dudes in the brochure might have been you!
That brochure includes at least in the sailing the 3 Bruces- Bruce Kendall, Bruce Wylie and Rohan Cudmore (Bruce III Ro). Bruce Wylie attributes at least in part his business success today to the training and groundwork he received in business while at Sailboards Australia and Bombora. Bruce Wylie is one of the key designers behind the new Windsurfer LT.
www.cobrainter.com/files/6015/4866/6309/Cobra-40YearsBook-56-59.pdf
I had a New Toy for a short while then swapped it for a fiberglass custom New Toy, it didn't turn very well but man it could smack off the lip when jumping.
Scotty O'Connor sailing a Bombora Proto in a Neil Pryde Freesail advertisement published in September/October 1983. Was this a shape by Terry Fitzgerald (the Sultan of Speed) and shaped out of the "Hot Buttered" factory using the Mark Paul/ Bombora templates? I ask this as I understand Scotty sailed and was sponsored by Hot Buttered boards, yet strangely here he is sailing a Bombora Proto.
The year I took up windsurfing at age 12! I have the brochure somewhere - and I owned the Big Toy as my first board.
Took it out at Clontarf in a southerly after sailing a few times and ripped the mast track out in a huge rig slam.
Got replaced by the John Hall 340 and quickly thereafter with a glass 'wave/slalom' thing from Mikey in Kiama.
Thanks for the post Daffy.
Where is Mark Paul these days , the bombora protos where made at kempsey by Alf Jefferies , over the time we had so many boards made by him and they where really good wave boards and the Graphics where awesome so much fun in those days just wave sailing .
About a fortnight ago I was in a camping shop in Kempsey's main street when a guy who saw my Windsurfer LT hat or shirt said he used to build waveboards. He didn't say too much about them and I didn't stop to have much of a chat; I wonder if it was him?
Where is Mark Paul these days , the bombora protos where made at kempsey by Alf Jefferies , over the time we had so many boards made by him and they where really good wave boards and the Graphics where awesome so much fun in those days just wave sailing .
About a fortnight ago I was in a camping shop in Kempsey's main street when a guy who saw my Windsurfer LT hat or shirt said he used to build waveboards. He didn't say too much about them and I didn't stop to have much of a chat; I wonder if it was him?
Possibly but without more to go on it is speculation. To explain given Crescent Head is 20 minutes away many shapers could reside around there who may have been involved in the windsurfing industry. Shapers will have had assistants and people who worked with them as well ghost shaping or assisting in glassing and layup. For example it could have been an assistant of any of Alf Jefferies, Bob Cooper, Mike Maguire, Warren Cornish, Bob McTavish or another.
www.macleayargus.com.au/story/4018994/kempsey-a-surfers-paradise/
Oh man thanks for posting this. As a mid to late teenager I obsessed over this very brochure. Had the exact sail on page two. South pac was my first 'performance' board after a Wally. Then Xit, Zot, brother had a tri fin. So much plastic! But to me it was all awesome. Great memories!
Oh man thanks for posting this. As a mid to late teenager I obsessed over this very brochure. Had the exact sail on page two. South pac was my first 'performance' board after a Wally. Then Xit, Zot, brother had a tri fin. So much plastic! But to me it was all awesome. Great memories!
Thanks Sailquik. Looking forward to the 1988 brochure. That is I think, the year of new graphics, aluminium fin boxes, improved fittings and some exotic pro construction PCB slalom and raceboards.
I have a 1988 Bombora Brochure as well, but that wil have to wait for another post.
Edit. I found a TC brochure as well, and a few others.
I unfortunately don't have the brochure but I do still have my 86 South Pacific
I had a yellow South Pacific Snags but the later model with the mast track, also had an Astro Toy!
Hey Sailquik. Looking forward to the 1988 brochure. That is I think, the year of new graphics, aluminium fin boxes, improved fittings and some exotic pro construction PCB slalom and raceboards. Please post if you have time, much appreciated and many thanks in advance.
I had the New Toy in '83. Worked building Hamilton Island super tough board used leave it stashed in the bush.
snapped rope universal many times between Hamilton and Dent (pretended it was Columbia Gorge because the NE would be stronger between the Islands)
big Flexi fin, wide tail, back then at 8' radical as, f*&$ loved that board
Geeezz..now i am felling OLD ... sailed that place a lot way back when and yes with that gear
This thread really is a trip down memory lane
@Sailquik....the Bombora gear ..I remember drooling over that brochure trying to work out how my part time job at KFC could pay for it :)
Pretty sure that I had a New Toy in 1983 it seems surprising that it's still there in the brochure in 1987. That probably reflects my millenium expectation that a windsurf range needs to be reinvented everyone year ( regardless of actual improvements.)
Intresting that the New Toy was 58 wide which is similar to my current wave board .
Tri Fin! New Toy! Those were high tech compared to my first Bombora - the mighty Chopper, aka the original. It was just a Windsurfer with the nose bent up with heat, footstraps, and the back couple of feet cut off. The original Windsurfers were around 21kg so it would have been close to 18kg; once it got takeoff attitude it seemed to keep going way better than I could!
These are examples of Bombora Windsurfer Choppers as well as a few custom Bombora boards from around 1978 -79 see Mark Paul deep in the pit below in 1980 on his custom. I suspect that the red board with the Klege-cell branding on the sail is a Mike Maguire Bombora custom. This is not a brochure.