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 ?