The Golden Bay Board Revival

Vintage surf meet, Westward Ho!

If you've been following us for any length of time, you'll know that The Single Fin Collective name was initially born from my (Sam's) love of vintage surfboards, with the name being a nod to the many vintage single fin boards I have in my collection. I'm not sure how many boards I have in total, but a significant number of them are single fins from the 70s - Bilbo, Tiki, Freedom, Hot Buttered, Creamed Honey, Tris - so many of the classic old brands.

A selection of my boards

A changing scene

Around ten years ago, the vintage surf scene in the UK was really thriving; there was a really strong core community of collectors, lots of activity and interest on social media, and regular vintage surf meets, with the main ones being at Lusty Glaze in Newquay, Cornwall and the Museum of British Surfing in Braunton, Devon.

At some point, things started to change. Nobody is really sure why, maybe it was Covid, maybe the scene had reached saturation point, and maybe there were too many instances of 'snaking' going on, with rumours of deals being made in underhand ways fuelling discontent among collectors! Yes, really...scandal in the quiet world of vintage board collecting. Vintage Mary, if you know, you know!

This change was reflected in the 'traditional' meets, with fewer people turning up, fewer 'unseen' vintage boards on show, and a general feeling of stagnation. Wayne Sheppard, a Newquay-based collector, ran a couple of well-received meets just outside Newquay, but ultimately something still felt like it was missing from the vintage community. I was guilty of not showing up to a few meets, with 'life' generally being my excuse, though I have to admit that the British weather also sometimes kept me away!

A new start

So it was an absolute pleasure to have been invited to a brand new 'curated' meet in Westward Ho! earlier this year. The idea was simple: a small number of collectors, each bringing 5-10 of their favourite boards, their favourite stories and their enthusiasm for the scene.

They key players in getting the new meet off the ground were Rachael and Jimmy up at SOS Surf in Westward Ho!, and Charlie Spurr, former trustee at the Museum of British Surfing and all round good guy. They took the initial seed of an idea, and carefully nursed it to life. The idea was to try something a bit different to previous meets, but with the scope to grow things in future years if the first event turned out to be a success!

Each of the collectors put together a profile of their surfing life, and Rachael from SOS weaved these into social media magic to build interest in the day. Meanwhile, the collectors probably got a little bit too nerdy in the background, sharing photos of the boards they were planning to display, and generally geeking out on vintage surf chat!

The collectors

Other than us here at SFC, the collectors invited to the 2026 event were:

Charlie Spurr, Steve Edgerton, Alex Williams, Simon Dean, Matty Hammersley, Tris Macey, Wayne Sheppard, Josh Hughes, Simon Knight and me.

Left to right: Wayne, Charlie, Steve, Matty, Sam, Tris, Unknown photobomb!, Simon

The meet

At 8am on 31st May, the sun was shining and all was quiet in Westward Ho!.

Quiet, that is, apart from a handful of seemingly Tardis-like cars and vans parked outside SOS Surf unloading scores of carefully selected boards from years gone by.

By 8:30, there was barely an inch of spare pavement outside the shop, instead replaced by beautiful examples of vintage boards - some looking like they'd come straight off the shaping stands, others looking like they'd been ridden to death, and then ridden some more.

And just like that, the magic of meets returned. There was the distinct buzz of expectation and excitement among the crew, as surfers and non-surfers alike started to wake up and head out for their Sunday morning coffee. As footfall increased, so did the interest in all the boards on display.

If there is one thing (other than boards) that you need for a successful vintage board meet, it's passers-by taking an interest, rather than just the regular crew of collectors. And this meet certainly delivered.

It felt a bit like those scenes in classic surf films - where surf shops always seemed to be a place to hang out and chat about surf rather than just pop in to buy the latest brand t-shirt.

From groms to grans, everyone seemed to want to stop for a chat and find out more about the history on show (the boards, not the collectors...). It was refreshing to see so much enthusiasm, especially with most of it coming from people who had just stumbled upon the meet on their Sunday morning walk, rather than from the collectors themselves!

It also provided a great opportunity to catch up with the collector crew. They're a great bunch of guys who share an interest in the history of surfing in the UK, each with their own different route into surfing and collecting, and each with their own unique collections and stories.

At 4pm, it was time to pack up, head home and reflect on an amazing day.

The future

Whilst the first Golden Bay Board Revival was an overwhelming success, it was always partly about trying something different. There are already discussions about repeating the day, and perhaps expanding it to make it more of a festival-feel, with the meet spreading out around the town to take in other spots and allow for more boards, more collectors, and more celebration of the history of surfing in the UK.

Whatever happens, we're looking forward to hearing more and hopefully being part of whatever comes next. If you were at the 2026 meet, let us know what you thought of it in the comments below. We hope to see some of you there next time out!

In the meantime, here are some more photos from the day.

A couple of my boards alongside an Aipa sting!