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PHOTOS: BEN VOS<br />
CHRISTCHURCH LOCALS:<br />
JAY JACKMAN<br />
SADHANA SURFBOARDS<br />
“A spiritual exertion towards an intended goal”<br />
It’s a pretty unique name for a line of surfboards so<br />
I was intrigued to find out what Sadhana actually<br />
meant. My research revealed several explanations:<br />
1. The purpose for which we have come to this place<br />
2. The object of Sadhana is to release life from the<br />
limitations from which it is bound<br />
3.This is accomplishing something by means of an<br />
ego-transcending spiritual practice<br />
It is a pretty descript way of explaining the focus and<br />
approach of Jay Jackman’s cottage surfboard label and<br />
underlines what he is all about. He’d never say it himself<br />
but I can tell you after riding four of his boards he was:<br />
1. Obviously born to be a shaper<br />
2. His surfboards take on a life of their own<br />
3. Jay is far removed from the ego-centric hype that<br />
at times plagues the surf industry. He is a laid-back,<br />
easy-to-talk-to, humble bloke that just wants to<br />
create functional boards that people can have fun on<br />
The boards are suited to the local conditions and the<br />
local conditions are probably not that dissimilar to the<br />
Sunshine Coast. <strong>May</strong>be they just suited our respective<br />
surfing styles but they completely blew our minds.<br />
Interestingly, Jay was not born on these shores. He<br />
is from the northern beaches of Sydney. We asked<br />
the reason for his move across the ditch?<br />
“I married a Kiwi girl and we had a kid and basically<br />
we weren’t happy with where we were living. We<br />
have been in Christchurch now three and a bit years.<br />
I love it. It’s like Australia twenty years ago. It’s<br />
quiet, peaceful and beautiful.<br />
On the business side of things, Jay moved from<br />
shaping out of his backyard in Narrabeen to his<br />
present factory in Woolston, Christchurch. The<br />
evolution of Sadhana is well captured in the<br />
introductory excerpt on Jay’s website.<br />
The idea of Sadhana Surfboards was born in 1997<br />
on a lifeguard chair, as a reaction to the massmarketed,<br />
mediocre, one-size-fits-all approach to<br />
surfing at the time. Drawing on the daily influence<br />
that the ocean holds and utilising various garages,<br />
shaping rooms and sheds around the world, a small<br />
cottage label was formed. While those backyard<br />
days are now part of our history, it is this handmade<br />
craft philosophy that drives us still.<br />
We asked Jay if he ever thought of moving home<br />
after the series of major quakes that rocked the<br />
Canterbury region.<br />
“We moved here because we like the mountains<br />
and the sea. Surfing and snowboarding. It seemed<br />
logical. We got married here. We love it.<br />
“We don’t have any family ties here and we don’t<br />
own a house but it was like, ‘What else am I<br />
going to do? Why not stay?’ We are part of this<br />
community and it’s nice being in a small place<br />
where you know everyone. Go back to Narrabeen<br />
and do what? There’s like fourteen surfboard machines<br />
in Manly going north.”<br />
may/jun <strong>2012</strong><br />
95
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