Dextra Bellyboards

[Poobah]

Rod...Bob, are you guys working behind the scenes to get info about Dextra Bellyboards? I'm referring to that woman that posted on Swaylocks about her father.

[bgreen]

Hello Poobah,

Not me, I'd forgotten about the Swaylocks thread. I e-mailed Rod to see if he heard anything more from D's D.

Bob

[rodndtube]

Hi all,

When Bob emailed me a few days ago about Dextra's daughter I had no idea what he was talking about -- thought it was in reference to an inquiry I received about a Dextra board from a "Chris" back in late January. Bob had not mentioned this thread or the one on Swaylocks.

The list below should be fairly accurate in capturing the Dextra-related advertisements in USA 1st and 2nd tier surfing magazine, 1960-1979. There are still a few issues that have not been reviewed, scanned or have some missing pages. Some of the entries below include more information than others.

International Surfing ISM 1966-Apr v02n03 p66 Dextra shows bellyboard pic. Costa Mesa, CA.
International Surfing ISM 1966-Jun v02n04 p73 Dextra bellyboard in full-pg color advert.
International Surfing ISM 1966-Aug/Sep v02n05 p69 Dextra bellyboard in full-pg color advert.
Petersen's Surfing Mag PSM 1964-Sep v01n07 p52 Dextra Doodl' Board. Marketed primarily as a towing and wake surfing board; also a body surfing board.
Surfing Illustrated SIL 1966-Jun v04n01 p61 Dextra advert
Surfing East SNE 1966-Jul v02n01 p34 Dextra bellyboard (Accurate Systems, Inc.). Costa Mesa, CA
Surfing East SNE 1967-Jan v02n03 p66 Dextra bellyboard. Costa Mesa, CA

[bgreen]

Rod,

I'd assumed you had come across the Swaylocks thread. Sounds like his daughter didn't get in contact.

Will you post the ad detail to the thread? if not, I can.

Bob

[rodndtube]

Just came across the Swaylocks thread after coming across this thread this morning... visiting with my parents and providing "computer support" and such... being forced fed and doing mom/dad and son things. Lucky for me my father's computer is in much better shape than 6 months ago when it was virus/malware-infested.

In an interval right now and will look for the psychedelic Dextra advert.

Most of the Dextra adverts were black/white, partial page style. Their big splash advertisement in color appeared in International Surfing, Vol 2, No 4, p73 (June 1966). The photograph/advert below is more of the "Mod" style of the 1960s, but not what I would call psychedelic. It could be that the Cocran Chase created a non-Dextra psychedelic ad in Surfer magazine. Or, I missed something rather significant (maybe one of the missing pages out there but I believe my Surfer Magazine coverage is 100 percent now for 1960-1979.

[Poobah]

Rod, maybe you skipped over an ad, because it was surfboard only. I'm guessing that the psychedelic ad turns up in the Summer of 68. At some point the Dextra surfboards and bellyboards started having fabric inlays. I've seen short Dextra (standup) surfboards with fabric inlays and Wave Set fin boxes. It wouldn't surprise me if the psychedelic ad coincides with the intersection of Wave Set fins and the Summer of Love.

Does the ad for the Doodl" wake board have any photos or measurements?

[rodndtube]

LOL, yes, I did skip over the advert if it didn't have some paipo-related content (during the 1960-1979 period I did capture most of the boogie board and swim fin adverts, articles, etc., but very little bodysurfing and kneeboarding although I did usually make entries in my database notes). Sometime in the near future I will run some kind of crosstabs of magazine and issues reviewed. It is largely complete for USA magazines for the period of interest.

Also being captured is Puerto Rico-related content for the Aviones Boys project documenting PR surfing history since I was already going through the magazines from cover-to-cover. I am still updating the database -- seems like there are about 100 entries or so to make from paper notes to computerized database entries (spreadsheet).

The Mouse advert on the same page is a bonus!

[rodndtube]

Somebody in the family re-initiated the branding in 2020, including a web page http://dextrasurf.com/, a Facebook page and an Instagram page. However, the website has since gone dead. I did a partial check on the Wayback Machine and as of the latest update in August 2020, the website remained incomplete, e.g., the History of Dextra Surfboards appears to have never been posted. Mentioned as a teaser, "DEXTRA even made Velzy’s board when he relaunched the business in the 60s." [Facebook, July 9, 2020.]

[Poobah]

I'd saved this photo from that Swaylock's post. Not an ad, but a family photo of Mr. Dextra at a trade show in Chicago in 1968. The transitional Dextras shortly before they stopped making surfboards.

adchicago.jpg (60.87 KiB) Viewed 17494 times

I still have a couple of Dextra Bellyboards if anybody is looking to buy one.

[rodndtube]

Poobah, long time! Wondered if the fires and smoke in N. California had swept you away. Any water time as of late?

[kage]

I've got my Dextra already but I could totally go for a new Nehru jacket.

[rodndtube]

Do it, Kage!

[Pes78]

This young buck had to look up what jacket you're talking about

[Poobah]

Poobah, long time! Wondered if the fires and smoke in N. California had swept you away. Any water time as of late?

We had one fire come within a mile of our house. It came over the final ridge, and then we were spared by a lack of wind. The fear of fire also keeps me close to home during the fire season. Plus fires can foul the air for hundreds of miles. This pandemic is the final straw. I've decided that I need to be nomadic. If I don't like the air quality or crowds, then I'll just turn the key in the ignition....and move on. This means I'll have to downsize my collection some more.

Back on topic: I think Mr. Dextra is wearing his logo as a medallion. Do any of you have software good enough to enhance that?

[bgreen]

It's petty low rez to start with

Dextra.jpg (2.49 KiB) Viewed 17200 times

https://www.swaylocks.com/forum/41881/d ... ing?page=1

I may read read the logo was on it, but it looks more circular, so not sure.