In this episode I chat with Nick Masarin from Microjet Surfboards.  

Nick started shaping in the late 60's and experienced the shortboard revolution in the Sydney surf industry.  Surfboard design was changing so rapidly at the time that often no two boards were the same.  Numerous surfboard design ideas were potentially left on the shaping room floor.  I doubt he knew it but this would become the foundation for Nick's surfboard designs in the future.

Nick talks about his love for fast man-made creations, namely jet fighter airplanes.  Traditionally, a lot of surfboard shapers look to fish fins or follow George Greenough philosophies.  Nick didn't just stick his toe in on the jet airplane designs; he jumped in the deep end.

Microjet surfboard designs usually have a small wing alongside the side fins in the outline of the board.  Other strong design elements you may see are jet shaped tail outlines, jet like angular fins and various bottom contour designs.  Nick is not trying to make a 'NEW' design for the surfboard market and seems more interested in pursuing designs.

One of the biggest challenges Nick faces is his boards can be overwhelming for people.  He speaks about his desire for more high-level surfers to test his designs as well as making a couple of boards for Brad Gerlach.

The funniest part of our conversation is Nick is a self-proclaimed dumpster diver and loves turning discarded materials into something useful.  He explains how he sources a lot of his blanks from reject cuts, carbon fibre from dumpsters and slightly imperfect fibre glass cloth from industry reps.

Nick describes himself as 'not much of a talker' but he is a lot of fun to speak with, and I know his boards will inspire many ideas amongst surfboard shapers around the world.

I really hope you enjoy our chat...

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In this episode I chat with Dan Treloar from Grow Blanks.  Grow blanks are made in Kenya, Africa from agave storks or poles, as Dan refers to them.  The internal fibrous material is strong, lightweight and a natural alternative to traditional surfboard cores.

Dan talks about the agave farm, situated between two national parks filled with beautiful native animals such as elephants, zebras and lions.  We talk about selecting the right agave poles in the field and sorting them into various densities to use for different blanks.  Dan explains the challenges of manufacturing in Kenya and the importance of building relationships with good suppliers. 

We discuss tips for shaping the agave blanks and more importantly, glassing the agave blanks.  Dan conducts his own testing on kite boards and also relies on feedback from shapers and glassers in the surfboard industry to create the best specification information sheet.  

In recent months, Grow blanks has worked with Gary McNeill to create some agave core boards for Dave Rastovich.  The feedback has been positive so far and Dan looks forward to working with this A-team of shaper/surfer in the future.

What started as a possibility only a few years ago has quickly grown into a reality.  Grow blanks are currently available in Europe and the United States, the first 40-foot container is about to land in Australia in a couple of months.

It was great to Dan on the podcast and proud to say it is the first podcast he has done.  I really hope you enjoy our chat...

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In this episode, Luke Howarth from Howie shapes and I discuss fin placements and fins.  Fins can seem like a simple aspect of a board to some and extremely complex to others.  We both love fins and learning about them, but we are not fin experts.

 I would suggest many shapers have concentrated more on their designs over the last couple of decades since the introduction of fin systems.  The good old days of purchasing a board with the fins selected by the shaper to work best with the board would simply be glassed on.  There was no second purchase to enable the board to be surfed and there was no excessive lists of fins in catalogues.

For a while it seemed like the most important aspect of fins was their colour or the team rider associated with that fin.  I heard people describe fin companies as arrogant and greedy due to their lack of support for the majority of the surfboard industry, only looking to jump on 'HOT' selling brands to ensure their sales.

There is more to fins than that and so I sat down with Howie to chat all things fins.  From single fins to quad fins, where we place our fins on boards, what our experiences have been with different fin set ups.  We talk about what adjustment to fin cant or toe we have tried to try to improve a boards performance.

It was a great conversation, and I really hope everybody will get something out of it.  I cannot stress enough we do not claim to be fin experts and look forward to the feedback from the dust up community about wat they do with their fin placement and fins.

I hope you enjoy our chat about fins...

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In this episode I chat with John from Sanded Australia, a surfboard materials supplier on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

The beginning of John's relationship with the surfboard industry goes all the way back to when he was a young man making boards with his friends.  One of his friends was involved in building boats so that is where they sourced their materials - Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) foam and epoxy resin.  

In the years to follow John pursued windsurfing and would become sponsored.  This allowed for him to work with his shaper/designer and have a good insight into how the windsurfing community was quick to embrace alternative materials and push the technology of the various constructions looking for an advantage.

Sanded started out from a shed in the backyard as John established himself, made important contacts and built stock.  He was able to sustain this for a few years but ultimately had to secure more space.  John speaks about the impact COVID period had on his business and the continual growth since.  Business has been so good he tells how he will have to look for a bigger warehouse in the next 12 months. 

The main driving force behind John's success is his open mindedness and willingness to try different things.  The collaborative work he has done with Colan Australia to develop Flax, Basalt and Pineapple cloth has set him apart from other suppliers.  Furthermore, John's honest appraisal of the products he tests has surfboard manufacturers at all levels paying attention.

John knows the value of good customer relations and many people I know speak highly of his customer service and quick delivery times.  Sanded ships products all over the world and we are lucky to have someone like John in our industry in Australia.  

I hope you enjoy our conversation

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In this episode I chat with Beau Armstrong from Armstrong Surfboards.

I was travelling home from Queensland when I stopped into the Bennett Surfboard showroom and was greeted by a young man behind the counter, Beau.  We chatted briefly and I discovered he made surfboards.  I told him I would check out his social media and headed off down the road.

As I drove the many hours back to Victoria, I thought a lot about how I observed the surfboard industry and wondered what draws younger people into the industry these days.  In my experience the surfboard is the same everywhere, however it also has its differences.

Beau is a young man in his mid-teens that was looking for a new challenge.  As he travelled home from a family holiday, Beau started researching surfboard shaping.  After many hours of watching YouTube clips and dissecting what information he could from the videos, he purchased a surfboard blank and proceeded to hack at it in his front yard.  Beau had been bitten by the surfboard bug and his journey had started.  

I was keen to hear how his journey into the surfboard industry was going, what attracted him to surfboards as well as what his future plans are.  It turns out Beau has been fortunate enough to meet great people in the Sydney surfboard industry, and they have provided him with an invaluable education.

I am really excited to kick off the year chatting with Beau as it represents fresh starts and big opportunities.  

I really hope you enjoy our conversation...

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In this episode, Luke Howarth from Howie shapes and I discuss the subtleties of a surfboard foil or profile.  The distribution of foam in a surfboard is often overlooked but it can have a big impact on how your board performs.

We chat about the evolution of foil in a surfboard and how it relates to the different styles of boards.  I ask Luke about what he thinks of 'swing weight' which is a term commonly used in discussing bigger boards and explain why I prefer to focus on 'momentum'.

You cannot talk about surfboard foils without discussing the various deck designs available such as s decks, single concave and double concave decks as well as the Greg Webber 'Crinkle cut' design that melted social media.

Ultimately, we end up discussing flex and who we see as the shapers pushing the boundaries.  Flex is difficult to measure in a surfboard and how we want the board to flex for optimum performance changes for different waves.  Luke shares his experiences with stringerless EPS boards, his research and development process and how he applies carbon on them.

Surfboard foil is not talked about enough but hopefully our chat will stimulate some further discussion.

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In this episode I chat with Scott James from SJS Custom.

Scott first appeared on my radar through social media.  The boards he was creating and the way he was presenting them really stood out amongst the many.

It piqued my interest.  I was keen to chat with Scott to hear more about his back story and it did not disappoint.  Scott grew up in the town of Dunedin on the very south coast of New Zealand.  He told me how he fell in love with the curves of a surfboard and sought out the local craftsman to learn.

Sourcing surfboard materials was difficult and the idea of making surfboards a career was more like a dream.  Scott pursued a trade and ignored his love for making surfboards for more than two decades.

Then... Scott made some big life changes, including moving to the Gold Coast of Australia.  The passion for making surfboards had become too much and he made it his career.  

I really enjoyed my conversation with Scott as he is a one-man operation and works hard to refine his craft.  His attention to detail and willingness to try different things or take risks is very familiar to me.

A sliding doors moment led Scott to find a solution to a design idea that had been formulating in his brain.  The way in which he could apply vee and various combinations of concave was now clear to him... the 'Scoop' bottom was created.

In addition to making custom surfboards for customers Scott also hosts people who wish to make their own surfboard or refine their surfboard making skills. 

Please note we did experience some minor internet difficulties, but I am sure you will still enjoy our chat.

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In this episode I catch up with Gary McNeill from Gary McNeill Concepts.

I first met Gary when I was working on the Gold Coast nearly 20 years ago.  From the very first meeting I found him to be friendly, dedicated, talented and a real individual pursuing his own path.

Gary grew up surfing competitively, but a few changes in life would motivate him to move from Wollongong to the Gold Coast.  He started working for Nev surfboards.  Soon after starting work, he was promoted to production manager at a time when Nev was one of the biggest surfboard brands in Australia.

In the years that followed, Gary would be poached by DHD and JS before deciding to focus on his own surfboard brand.  After a couple of decades surrounded by high performance surfboards, Gary wanted something different.  His first step was joining the Formula Energy surfboard family until he decided he wanted 100% control of his surfboards.

It took two years of research and development with the highly talented Dave Rastovich to establish his surfboard range.  It was during this time that Gary and Dave explored the Taurus channel, a design so good that Gary cannot believe more people are not doing them.  Gary continues to design without constraints and is always producing something new like the 'Frankenfish'.

Gary provides a bit of information from behind the scenes of STAB's - Electric Acid Surfboard Test, his journey with flax cloth as well as a few tips and tricks on how to use it best.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Gary McNeill.  

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In this episode we catch up with Damien Cole, former CEO of Varuna surfboards.

The surfboard industry is a fickle beast; it owes nobody anything and we are regularly reminded of this.  Earlier this year Varuna surfboards closed its doors for the last time.  Varuna surfboards was a new type of wooden construction with a focus on reducing the environmental impact as well as improving the lives of Indonesians who had experienced large scale deforestation.

It was great to catch up with 'Damo' and discuss his colorful journey over the last several years.  You see, Damo was not your typical CEO that exists in a world of buzz words and networking soirees.  Damo is grass roots.

After embarking on a career in the mines, he pivoted into environmental science, which subsequently led to him putting his hand up as an independent candidate in the local state election.  If that was not taxing enough, he agreed to become an organiser in the 'Fight for the Bight' campaign - a movement against oil drilling exploration in the southern waters of Australia.

Damo experienced two severe brain injuries over the last few years.  He talks about going through some tough times and dark moments in his recovery.  His resilience is only matched by his intelligence, and I have nothing but respect for what he has achieved.  Unfortunately, the timing of his last head injury could not have come at a worst time and the realisation of how big a task Varuna was, had become clear... it was time to call it a day.

I really hope you enjoy our chat.

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In this episode I chat with Sergio Gomez from Gomez surfboards.

Sergio grew up on the coast of Argentina.  The town was rather large, but surfing was considered counterculture and there were only two surf shops.  Sergio fell in love with surfing and on one occasion when his board was being repaired, he borrowed his friend's brother's board.

The board went amazing!  It was like no other board he had ever ridden, and he took up the challenge to find out why?  Sergio learnt how to shape, glass and sand surfboards and as a young adult began to travel.  He searched for the waves he had seen in the magazines and happily discovered it coincided with local surfboard industries.

Many years have passed, and many surfing destinations have been crossed off his list.  Sergio is currently residing on the west coast of Victoria and shapes all types of surfboards.  During our conversation Sergio talked about various construction types he has explored and his interest in the pursuit of more sustainable materials.

Speaking with Sergio, it's clear he is a very creative person and the decision to create a book about surfboard design is less surprising.  The result is over 300 pages of a rich photographic gallery with surfboard design presented in an easy way to understand.

The book is called ' Shape Shifter' and I would encourage you to grab a copy, you will not be disappointed.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Sergio Gomez.

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