Smorgasboarder_11_May-2012

PHOTO: BEN VOS
DUNEDIN LOCALS:
GRAHAM CARSE
QUARRY BEACH SURFBOARDS
When someone weilding a pair of scissors called
Crazy Jane tells you to do something, you pretty damn
well best listen. And we’re glad we listened when the
friendly Kaikoura hairdresser told us to look up ‘Carsey’
in Dunedin, as the man to talk to when it comes to
surfboards in the area.
Aside from Crazy Jane, several shapers on our travels
suggested we make sure to catch up with Graham
Carse of Quarry Beach Surfboards and we weren’t
disappointed.
He’s just plain genuine. No bullshit. ‘Carsey’ is one
of those people you meet and immediately strike
up a friendship with. There is no effort in holding a
conversation with him.
After we met him at his factory and stole a couple of
his boards for a test run we caught up with him and
his lovely partner Gaby, for a quiet beer or two to chat
about their hometown and surfboards.
“Dunedin is a beautiful city. Down near the varsity,
around the cricket ground, our beaches of course. It is
just a very laid back place to live. Life’s a little slower
and it’s nice and easy to get around the place.
“As far as surfing goes, it is pretty good. Consistency
is the key. We get our share of smaller days but you
could count flat days on one hand. There are a variety
of quality waves to be had.
“Dunedin is based on a big peninsula - on the southside
we get all the south swell, on the northside we get all
the northeast swell. If it is not working one side, it is
working on the other and sometimes even both.”
“In summer you have daylight till around 10pm. You
can actually have a couple of surfs after work so that
is great. The winter does get cold and the water can
get down to around 7-8 degrees but it is actually the
air temperature and windchill that make it particularly
cold. In winter we will get a dusting of snow on the
beach a couple of times.
“This is the coldest stretch of water in New Zealand.
The water is about 2-3 degrees colder than even
Invercargill at the southernmost tip of the South Island.”
When discussion turns to himself though, even with
the assistance of some amber truth juice, Carse is very
understated in his reply. He’s not up himself – and
that’s further reason to like him.
“I’ve been shaping boards seriously now under the
Quarry Beach label for around 24 years. I would like to
think I do an okay job and have a fair understanding of
what works for the local conditions.”
The locals no doubt have full confidence in what Carse
does because we reckon about 70% of the boards we
saw out in the water bared his QB logo.
108 may/jun 2012
TOP: Graham models a recent stumpy
quad-fin creation in his St Clair showroom.
LEFT: Graham kindly introduced us to another
cheerful local - one of the dangerously easy
Emerson’s beers on offer.
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