Thursday, August 27, 2009

Shapers night at the new Gold Coast Surf Museum - Wednesday 9th September

The legendary Bob McTavish will be amongst the line up of guest speakers at Surf World Gold Coast’s “Shaper’s Night at the Museum” that will be attended by the who’s who of Gold Coast surfboard shapers on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 from 6.00pm.

The event will give shapers the chance to come together for a relaxed night at Surf World where shapers and the general public will get the chance to interact in what could be the first of an annual event for the recently opened museum.

When asked to be one of the guest speakers, McTavish replied: “I’d be stoked and honoured to speak about shaping at the museum. I’m keen to support your museum. It’s really cool.”

Bob McTavish started surfing when he was 12 and began shaping at the age of 17 and was the inventor of the vee-bottom surfboard. He was Queensland state champion in 1964, 1965 and 1966, and was runner up in the Australian National Titles in 1966. Bob has appeared in about 10 surf films. Australia’s Surfing Life magazine selected Bob as the “Most Influential Shaper of All Time” in 1992. In 1996 he was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.

The night is being held as a non profit event and all proceeds will go towards Surf World Gold Coast. Guests will get the opportunity to hear first hand how shaping and surfing evolved over the years and where the industry is heading and will take a tour through the museum’s big surfboard exhibition.

It promises to be a night not to miss. The public are urged to book their tickets quickly as numbers are limited and should sell out quick. Tickets can be booked by sending an e-mail to shapersnight@hotmail.com. Tickets are on sale for $10 each and will include snacks and refreshments.

The event is supported by Southern Cross University through their Diploma of Sport Management (Surfing Studies) course.

For further information contact:

Nikki Jackson Ph: 0432 743 599

Karen Hutchinson Ph: 0439 226 057

Monday, August 24, 2009

Aussie Ply Champs

How's this for a great little get together ? The South Coast Alaia & Bellyboard Society are organising a day of sliding the waves on ply and wood.
" Our first Event is a day of Bellyboarding, Ye Olde English Style. All are welcome, entry is free. Prizes will be awarded for Best outfits and funkiest Board graphics. Boards Must be under 5ft, wooden and preferably handmade. There will be plenty of loaner boards for anyone who wants to come along and join in."

The after-party will be at the Red Till Bar/Cafe directly across the road from the beach. There will be delicious and reasonably priced food and drinks, as well as the Reggae and Dub Stylings of DJ's Alpine Son and Beloki! A fun time will be had by all!!!

For any info or to register, email Billy-joe at taosurfboards@mail.com

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Riley Surfboards Australia have a great stock of fins for your wooden boards.

Mark Riley has been busy making heaps of fins to suit all types of wooden boards.
You can buy a blank and foil it up yourself.
Or order whatever glue up you want...
Big buggers for tankers
Quad sets




So check them out at - www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Wooden Board building class on TV

Local Gold Coast Tv channel 9 covered the wooden board building class at The Eco Village Currumbin the week leading up to the Wooden Board Day at the Alley.10 guys built boards under the direction of Paul Jensen form Washington State.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The quickie Alaia by Chrles Loiselle in Hawaii

Check out his other board building at - www.islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

The easy way to hang and display your board

Plantation Paulownia

As you can see Paulownia is a tough and robust material to build surfboards from.
For more info and to get your supplies check out : www.portphillip.com.au

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Johnny Diesel lapping up the Alley waves

Nothing better than a few waves on a wooden board you built in the shed at home. Better still if you can surf all week like this in winter.
John just couldn't get enough of the winter swells at the Alley
We have had 3 weeks of sunny days and another week ahead of us and up to 27c , not bad for winter. John brought his wooden board for the week to the Gold Coast and surfed each day before heading back to New Zealand. He will be back next year with a new project added to his quiver. Thanks Johnny Diesel for your support.

John Cherry builds another great board



John Cherry has just finished another great board. " I’ve done a lot of stunning wooden boards over the last several years. None quite compare to this one. I’m not even going to try to put its in-person visual impression into words. But the board is absaolutely PERFECT! It will be dropping jaws for decades to come.
I’m so elated to know I will have your special board as the center piece for my space at The Sacred Craft exhibition."
So guys if you are able to make it to the Sacred Craft Expo then check it out.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Troy Nixon form Austin Texas has been building more great wooden boards


Troy just built himself a 9 foot longboardin Paulownia and Cedar , with and 1/8" cherry top.

Also a 10 foot 10" Stand Up Paddle board in Paulownia and Cedar.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Wooden Surfboard get together 2009

Well the day of the first Wooden Surfboard Day finally came round. So it was load up the truck with boards and head off to The Alley to see who else might show up. The weather was great and there had been a nice wave all week so that was a good start.

The old girl had a load up
Looking North from The Alley back to Surfers Paradise, this is in the afternoon with the wind on it.
Local board builder Tony Manton , still wet from enjoying the friuts of his labour.

Peter Wells had two great boards he had built himself.
Mark Cater with a chambered and unglassed Paulownia board he had shaped himself.
Young Ben Smith came up from South Australia for the weekend with a great little board he had shaped and chambered himself. Paulownia and unglassed.
The numbers grew all day to over 120 boards and over 700 people throughout the day .
Nathan Grey from Sydney with a couple of his beautiful boards.
Another local board builder , with his board still under construction. What was great was that people could see inside at the frame and get an understanding of the construction.
Bobby Crisp from Wellington New Zealand had some very detailed inlays and fine wood work.
He was loving the Gold Coast winter before having to head back to the Windy City. Poor bugger.
Tamzen had 3 boards shaped out of Ecuadorian Balsa that she had brought out with her from the UK. They have a co operative with the Balsa growers and the shapers. www.balsasurfers.com
We had TV Channels 7 , 9 and 10 come and cover the day as well as newspapers The Gold Coast Bulletin and The Courier Mail. Also 3 other film crews doing private doco's of the day. Unreal.

Nobby had never been to Australia, so decided to bring his wife and 2 beautiful Paulownia longboards for the day. One had a light glassing on the outside and one had 12 coats of epoxy sprayed on the outside but nothing inside. These were some of the lightest boards for their size there on the day. Great shapes and well constructed.
Another Japanese guy came out with these Alaia baords.
Parrish Watts from Noosa builds some great toothpicks, keeping the tradition alive.
Carl Tanner as always very generously shared some of his collection of boards with us. This Dick Brewer 11 foot Hawaiian gun in balsa was one serious piece of gear.
Barry Regan from Ballina , 80 years young still building and surfing wooden boards. Great guy and a pleasure to have him here for the day. He faced a few cameras and interviews throughout the day.

Old school but doing the job.
Parrish Watts, stylish old school logo.
Another one of Carl's boards
Andrew Wells from Lennox Heads had some great boards with a beautiful finish and artwork under his Grown Surfboards label.


Tom Wegener tails
Richard Harvey stained Alaia
This is what 20 foot of Bill Wallace tooth pick looks like
Here was an interesting slice of a chambered fish from the boys at Empress surfboards.
Valla surfboards, back to basics , just wood in the raw.

Roger Hall Craftsman , say no more.



Woven Bamboo and cork laminated rails.

Dan Mc Donald , nice balsa fish and a hi tech Alaia - Foam core carbon fibre bottom and balsa deck


Jason Oliver and the recycled timber looks unreal.

Phil with the board and fins he built at Paul Jensen's class last week at the Eco Village.


Andrew Wells, nice job mate.
Paul and Sage Joske, a great family of talent. Valla Surfboards wood or foam.
Richard Harvey shows his artistic side .



Bobby Crisp from Wellington
Roger Hall built 4 new chambered speed dialers. World class.
Real nice stand up paddle board
Old school, with 80 years of experience Barry Regan.

Richard Harvey, Alaia thongs ?