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In the blood... I only learned at his funeral, that my great uncle had shaped a surfboard. His name was Arthur Westcott. I had always known him for owning the electrical shop (Westcott's) below my great grandmother's flat in Perranporth. I knew that he was very much into sailing and had his own yacht at Mylor Bridge. I did not know that he had built what was possibly the first standup board made in Cornwall. The story continued when I read an article in June/July 2007 publication of Cornish World magazine by Chris Handby which revealed that an A Wescott had built a 14 foot plywood surfboard in 1955 which had then been donated to the St Agnes Surf Life Saving Club. Arthur's son takes up the story... Hi Andy,
...I will tell you what I know about the board so you can pass it on. The inside was made from pine wood planks set out with a centre spine on which were set several cross members shaped like flattened ovals. The outer skin was quarter inch mahogany ply wood and Dad finished it with marine varnish. This proved too slippery to stand on so he painted glue on an area in the centre of the top and sprinkled sand on it.! When the glue was set this proved a 'no-slip' area. He had a nasty accident when he slipped off the board in shallow water and it the sanded part ran up his shins, taking all the skin off. He said there was enough blood in the water to attract sharks from Spain!!.
I think this put him off a bit , because I didn't hear much more about it...I know it was extremely heavy to move about, he made a little trolley to support one end so he could pull it down to the beach from the back of the shop in St pirans road. We don't have a photo but we do have a sketch from memory...we would love to know the board's final whereabouts. |
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