The Surfboard Guide

In this episode of The Surfboard Guide Podcast, we catch up with Blake Peters from Panda Surfboards. Blake discusses how he got into shaping, and also what it was like to move a somewhat established business in Australia, and trying to get it up and running in the U.S. We talk about Blakes fondness for alternative shapes, and I tell Blake how much I Love the Shiitake Twinzer he shaped me. Many times. Blake also shares why he thinks a lot of the EPS technologies are a waste of time...

In this episode of The Surfboard Guide Podcast, we catch up with Blake Peters from Panda Surfboards. Blake discusses how he got into shaping, and also what it was like to move a somewhat established business in Australia, and trying to get it up and running in the U.S. We talk about Blakes fondness for alternative shapes, and I tell Blake how much I Love the Shiitake Twinzer he shaped me. Many times. Blake also shares why he thinks a lot of the EPS technologies are a waste of time...

We catch up with Noel to discuss how he got into surfing and his foray into the world of competitive surfing. Noel explains how he got into reviewing surfboards, and what drives him to continue to put out high quality surfboard reviews for the surfing community. Noel shares his favourite boards, the few boards that he'll always hold onto, and what he is psyching on at the moment! Enjoy!

We catch up with Matt Parker to learn about the man behind Album Surfboards, how he got into shaping, and what motivates him to make some of the most beautiful boards on the planet. Matt explains what it's like coming from San Clemente and Trestles, a hotbed of high performance surfing and shortboards, and how Matt's style of more alternate craft is becoming more familiar in these line ups. We discuss what it has been like shaping alternate craft for Josh Kerr post World Tour, and why Josh's performances on Matt's alternate craft over the last few years have more people intrigued in what Josh is riding that when he was on the World Tour. Matt goes through what he has been shaping for everyones favourite surfer Asher Pacey and what models he's been riding, and how on a recent trip to France surfing with Asher and Josh, the World Tours best surfers would stop and watch Ashers waves fully absorbed in his approach to surfing a wave. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy the episode!

In the second instalment of the podcast with Nick Blair, we discuss surfboard design and technology and whether this has plateaued, Nick gives us a really detailed breakdown of his EPS surfboard tech called Karboload, we discuss whether we are moving back towards longer boards after 10 years of really shortening our equipment, some advice for the average surfer buying or ordering a new board, and we may also discuss my fondness of Dane Reynolds and anything Dane does. Oh, and we also talk about a surfboard that was shaped like a penis and became a board model...

Nick Shares with us learning to shape as a 15yo in Sth Africa, how he was able to learn from some of the worlds best in S.A and abroad, how Mick Fanning accidently helped grow Nicks brand and helped to get Joistik under the feet of some of the worlds best surfers on Australia's Gold Coast, how he's ended up calling Sydney Australia home - and why Sydney has been great for his business.

We chat with Britt Merrick of Channel Islands Surfboards about how he grew up into surfing and then shaping, what it was like shaping for Kelly Slater and the Momentum Generation, to now working with incredible talent like Dane Reynolds, someone who knows surfboards better than most. Britt shares some of his thoughts about surfboard design, surfboard technology, the search for the perfect board, and all the variables between. And, Britt even let's us know what his father the great Al Merrick is up to now that he has stepped away from shaping... Thanks for listening!

Welcome to our first podcast with one of my favourite shapers James Cheal from Chilli Surfboards! In this episode we discuss how Chilli got into surfing and shaping, and how that lead to him shaping boards for some of the worlds best surfers, including Andy Irons, Kelly Slater and other top surfers. We discuss what it was like shaping boards for Andy Irons when he was at the top of his game competing for world titles, and then subsequently shaping quivers for Bruce Irons to help him qualify for the world tour. We chat about shaping boards for Mitch Coleborn and Jay Davies over the last few years, and how good they have been for feedback and the development of two of Chilli's latest models, the Hot Knife and the Volume 2. Chilli gives advice for those ordering a surfboard, and the importance of volume and length. And we even discuss PU and EPS, and the importance of glassing and blanks. Chilli even tells us about his experience with Kelly Slater and his competitive nature when he wouldn't let Chilli's 10yo son beat him in a basketball game! Haha! Give it a listen and let us know your thoughts! Hope you enjoy!