the curator...

Pete with the oldest board in the collection of the british surfing museum. It's a belly board from the 20's on loan from a family in Jersey and has their family crest painted on the nose. Interestingly belly boards are an almost uniquely british wavecraft, apparently Brits believed our waves were not suited to standing up to begin with!

There are plenty around and in use even today, for more ply related eccentricity check Mr Isaac's Prone to belly blog here