It was on Paul Blackley’s Wight Surf History Site that the story of Archie Trickett and his home made surf equipment that the BBC found their story. Archie was a pretty smart chap by all accounts and made himself a surfboard and wetsuit by hand - you couldn’t buy them back then. With his wife, Betty, they built a wooden house and spent weekends surfing at Compton, driving their by motorbike with the surfboard on the sidecar.
The best part is that Archie never threw his old stuff away, and Betty was enthusiastic to share his story with others. So the Isle of Wight Surfclub & Rapanui helped put together a day for Countryfile: Ellie Harrison (presenter) gives surfing a go at our most popular West-coast beach, Compton and the Island's best surfers took Archie's old board out in the waves again. It was really quite a special day to not just have some living history there, but to try it out first hand and bring it back to life.
The Episode is on this Sunday at 7PM, BBC 1 - definitely worth a watch.
See below for more images of Archie’s homemade Surfboard and Wetsuit.
Read more and comment: http://www.rapanuiclothing.com/blog/countryfile-isle-of-wight-rapanui.html
About the Isle of Wight Surf club
The Isle of Wight Surf Club is one of the oldest surf clubs in Europe - the Island has been surfed since the sixties - and thanks to Paul Blackley, a local surfer, all of the Island's surfing heritage has been recovered and collated in one place - the Wight Surf History Project.
The Isle of Wight Surf Club had been disbanded for years by the time this came along but with Surfing becoming more and more popular, Rapanui decided to reinvest some profits in it as a community project. Now with a solid membership, a series of competitions and tournaments plus a learner-programme that took 90 beginners surfing for free last year, the Surf Club resurgence is going strong. There are a handful of surf businesses and a dedicated bunch of individuals involved in running the club now and we're stoked to have been able to help get it back on its feet.
www.iowsurfclub.com
Rapanui was founded in 2008 by Rob and Martin Drake-Knight, now aged 24 and 26, with £200 savings. They feature on the Future 100 list of Top Young Entrepreneurs, whilst Rapanui featured on the Top 100 Start-ups list of 2008. They have sought no investment and make every effort to encourage other young people to believe in their ability to create successful, sustainable businesses.
In just 3 years of trading, this exciting new brand has already made a substantial contribution to sustainable fashion and created real change in an industry plagued with bad ethics. Mart Drake-Knight, designer, sums up Rapanui.
“Fashion is like no other medium, in that you literally dress yourself in what you believe in. Rapanui gives people a choice to vote with their wallet for ethical fashion. We want to use the power of fashion to make eco cool, and design traceable, transparent products that let you shop quickly with a conscience.”
For further information please contact Rob Drake-Knight, on 01983 409790 or email rob@rapanuiclothing.com
Great to see these young guys giving back to save a piece of history and I would love to see this sometime. So if you are able to dial up the BBC on the telly this weekend , check it out. Hopefully we get to see it some time don the track here in Australia.
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