By Tom Hutson
This is Yancy III right around 1971 in Atlantic Beach, N.C. where he won $1,000, one of the highest, if not the highest, prizes ever offered for a mainland surf contest. He beat everyone – the guys who flew over from the west coast, including Dale Dobson pictured here – along with all the top east coast surfers. Just before the contest, Innerlight was robbed and 10 new boards were stolen. Back then, the shop couldn’t hold much more than 10 boards.
I think Yancy was second guessing the idea of spending the cash to drive up to N. C. He went for broke (almost literally) and drove up to win the whole thing. The story even gets better: when he returned, the guy who stole the boards was found and all the boards returned.

Hank Warner shaped the yellow, 6’5″ AGP (Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific) egg shown here. YS surfed that board really well. As I remember it, Yancy flew to Calif. soon after and surfed in either the US, or World Contest. Instead of bringing his “magic” egg, he picked up a new board and rode it in the contest. He didn’t advance. I’ve often wondered how he would have done if he took the yellow egg. The board disappeared and then reappeared quite awhile later. It has been restored and is hanging above the doors at the Innerlight on Pensacola Beach