smorgasboarder_37_xmas_2016-c

Merry 

- XMAS - 

2016

2 

| XMAS 2016 

SMORGASBOARDER

XMAS 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER 3

Surf Shop 

Celebrating 

40 YEARS 

G E R R I N G O N G , N S W ( 90 min south of Sydney ) 

4 


SMORGASBOARDER

IN HOUSE 

C A F E 

5 0 0 + 

BRANDS 

1,000+ 

BOARDS 

SWIMWEAR 

H E AV E N 

Australia’s 

Largest 

IndependEnt 

Surf Shop 

c 

T R Y D E M O S 

BEFORE YOU BUY 

Proudly Family OWNED and RUN! 

www.naturalnecessity.com.au 

(02) 4234 1636 


The Flying Fish 

Our latest Fish model is a great alternative to your regular short 

board or longboard for the right days. 

The Flying Fish is an EPS foam core performance fish which 

features stringerless flex and memory return. This can turn on 

a dime and drive when its required. The board is more for the 

average to advanced surfer. The 2 ½’’ thickness of the board 

under the chest area makes this board a great wave catcher. 

SHIPPING ANYWHERE, INCLUDING NZ 

6 


SMORGASBOARDER

HANDCRAFTED 

IN AUSTRALIA 

ALSO 

AVAILABLE 

Riley Balsawood Surfboards are made using renewable resource balsa and recycled 

polystyrene for performance, durability, beauty and lower environmental impact 

• Fin boxes with all wood covers 

• Wood coloured fin boxes 

• Fin box install kits 

• Easy, DIY clear and clean 

paint-on grip 

• Clear board grip tape - Let 

the beauty of the balsa 

show through with clear 

Versa Traction Grip Tape. 

Environmentally friendly and 

suits all size boards. 

• Timber fins 

• Surfboards 

• Blanks 

• Cork tail pads & SUP deck grip 

• Aussie-made leashes 

• Raw balsa/ cedar DIY board kits 

• Instructional DVDs 

• Board racks 

• Tide clocks 

• Sharkbanz shark deterrent 

wearable devices 

• LICK liquid surf wax. 

Wholesale enquires welcome 

Call 0412 376 464 

or Email mark@riley.com.au 

www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au 

Australian Environmentally-friendly handcrafted surfboards for the 

individual in all of us, with a guarantee. Enjoy Responsibly 


OUT OF THE 

WOODS, 

NOT WASHED 

UP... 

On the road to Gisborne, on the East Coast of NZ. Photo: Dave Swan 

8 

SMORGASBOARDER | XMAS 2016

As one wise man once said, Dr Seuss to be specific, is there any 

wiser? “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment 

until it becomes a memory.” 

In this edition we revisit some magic memories. When we look 

back over the last six years of publishing Smorgasboarder, we have 

nothing but fond recollections of good times and good people. Of 

course we’ve also met the occasional knob jockey, but hey that’s 

life. They exist everywhere, even in the surf industry. On that note, 

a big shout out to y’all who said Smorgasboarder wouldn’t last two 

editions... Hope you’ve enjoyed the last 36! :) 

Anyhow, the overwhelming positivity from the good people has far 

outweighed any negativity from the occasional crusty naysayer, so 

to all you pillars of goodwill in surfing across the Australian and NZ 

coasts, we salute you! 

Yes, we have really had a lot of fun, and so many of the photos you 

will see, and stories you will read in the pages to follow bring a 

huge smile to our collective dials. We hope you agree. 

On a serious note, we would genuinely like to thank all of you - our 

readers, subscribers, the surfboard shapers, surf travel companies 

and the many other businesses who have supported us over the 

past years and enabled Smorgasboarder to live. 

Enjoy our little wander down memory lane! 

Cheers! 

the Smorgasboarders 

WELCOME 


10 


SMORGASBOARDER


WHAT'S 

INSIDE... 

DETAILS, CREDITS & STUFF 

Grab SMORGASBOARDER FREE at quality surf stores, shapers and 

cool cafés on the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, 

South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and New Zealand... Be 

nice and buy something while you’re there. Or read it online. 

SUBSCRIBE 

FOR MAGAZINE 

HOME DELIVERY 

If you can’t get to a store or other venue to pick the mag up in person, 

you can also choose to have SMORGASBOARDER delivered to your 

door. See www.smorgasboarder.com.au. Very few back issues are 

also available from $8.80 a piece, plus t-shirts & more! 

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE 

34 We reminisce... 

$25 AUS & NZ - 1 YEAR, HOME-DELIVERY! 

THE COVER SHOT 

NOOSA FESTIVAL 

23 Gearing up for 2017 

As our ‘favourites’ edition, we picked one of our all-time 

favourite reader photos, taken by a then 15-year-old upand-coming 

photographer Luc Buna. This fantastic shot was 

featured in our Easter 2015 edition. This barrel gives ‘depth 

of field’ a whole new meaning. Watch out for more from Luc. 

THE USUAL 

LATEST 

14 News 

26 Surf Sage 

GEAR 

96 Boards 

102 Ding Repairs 

104 Tech Article 

CLOSEOUT 

106 Directories 

112 Aloha Barry 

SURF MUSIC 

110 Jeremy Loops 

SMORGASBOARDERS 

ADVERTISING/EDITORIAL: 

Dave Swan 

dave@smorgasboarder.com.au 

0401 345 201 

NEW ZEALAND: 

‘Jiff’ Morris 

jeff@smorgasboarder.co.nz 

0220 943 913 

DESIGN/EDITORIAL: 

Mark Chapman 

mark@smorgasboarder.com.au 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 

James Ellis 

james@smorgasboarder.com.au 

0410 175 552 

ACCOUNTS: 

Louise Gough 

louise@smorgasboarder.com.au 

GEAR TESTS & REVIEWS: 

Gus Brown 

gus@smorgasboarder.com.au 

CONTRIBUTING... 

This is YOUR mag. It’s here for 

you to tell your stories, show 

your pictures and share your 

thoughts - and score some free 

stuff on the way too, to boot. 

E: editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au 

P: PO Box 501, Moffat Beach QLD 4551 

There’s only a few of us here, 

so please be patient when you 

get in touch - we’ll try our best 

to get back to you as soon as 

humanly possible. Get in touch 

to discuss any ideas you’d like 

to be considered for a future 

edition or online. 

BEST NON-DAILY 

PUBLICATION 

QUEENSLAND MULTIMEDIA 

AWARDS 2013 

WWW.SMORGASBOARDER.COM.AU 

Smorgasboarder is published by Huge C Media Pty Ltd ABN 30944673055. All 

information is correct at time of going to press. The publishers cannot accept 

responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements, or unsolicited manuscripts, 

photographs or illustrations. The opinions and words of the authors do not 

necessarily represent those of the publisher. All rights reserved. Reproduction in 

part or whole is strictly prohibited without prior permission. 

12 


AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER 

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AKA: THE NEWS... COMMUNITY WHAT’S HAPPENINGS & OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS 

letters@smorgasboarder.com.au 

smorgasboarder 

STARTING YOUNG 

They say you develop your 

personality in your formative 

years and this kid will quite 

clearly be all class. Ant “Chezzy 

Burger” and Arze Lombardi sent 

in this shot of their son Oscar 

catching up on some reading in 

the back seat of their car. 

RON’S LAST WOODEN GUN 

Mark Riley was fortunate to meet Ron Cansdell a little while back, 

who built about 150 balsa boards back in the 1950’s at Taren Point. 

Ron came in to handshape a classic replica gun with Mark glassing 

and polishing it for him. Said Mark, “What a pleasure it was to glass 

Ron Cansdell’s last balsa gun and share in some great stories and 

photos with this icon of Australian surfing.” 

All this on the back of Greg Noll, recent guest of honour at Cronulla’s 

Surf Retrospect celebrations, commenting on how impressive Mark’s 

balsa boards were before signing one. 

SPEAKING OF 

WOODEN WONDERS 

Look at this shot (below) in from the Timber 

Board Shop (TBS) near Gisborne. Just like our 

intro spread but with a special something in 

amongst the driftwood, a 5’7” EPS core board 

that Adam Lloyd from TBS just finished. TBS 

specialises in DIY wooden surfboard kits, preshaped 

balsa blanks, alaia blanks, pre shaped 

(EPS) Foam core blanks and accessories. 

thetimberboardshop.co.nz 

SURF-O- 

LUXE NEW 

WAVE? 

Has Mark’s creative 

genius in building 

a range of electric 

guitars out of foam and fibreglass started a 

new wave of revolutionary thinking to the old 

maple and rosewood six string? Mad scientist 

Glenn Cat Collins sent in some photos to show 

he too was on a similar wave length. 

FATHERS AND SONS 

Building a bond with your kids is so very 

important to state the obvious. Finding that 

common interest or taking part in a joint 

project is often the key as Paul and Tom 

Fellows found out recently. 

“Guys, just a short note to thank you all for 

hosting Tom and I for the recent workshop. 

Creating the board with my son Tom was 

a great experience and I would heartily 

recommend this as a father and son 

experience. We both enjoyed working on the 

board together and as you saw, we had a lot of 

fun. We all live a fairly frenetic life these days 

and it’s difficult to get the work/family balance 

right, it’s experiences like building the board 

at Tree to Sea which form a bond between 

fathers and sons.” 

Paul and Tom Fellows Deniliquin 

TAMAN SHUD: 

MORNING OF THE 

EARTH NEXT YEAR 

Enduring 60s Australian psychedelic, surf 

rock band Tamam Shud are playing a benefit 

gig at North Narrabeen Surf Club on the 21st 

January supporting Sacred by Design’s mission 

to improve the lives of children in Xieng 

Khouang Province, Laos. Tickets are $25 and 

available at sacredbydesign.com.au 

14 


CHARLOTTE MULLEY 

LUKE BARRETT 

COCO 

RON TIMOTHY 

CHARLIE LEONARD 

IZZY 

MAXIMUM VARIETY • MAXIMUM QUALITY • MAXIMUM VALUE 

CUSTOM SURFBOARDS, SHORT TO LONG, BY STEWART MAXWELL • SURBOARD REPAIRS • SURFBOARDS ACCESORIES AND MORE 

SURFER: SHANE 

46 CURRUMBIN CREEK ROAD, CURRUMBIN WATERS, QLD 

0400 338 098 • MAXIMUMSURF@BIGPOND.COM 

MAXIMUMSURFBOARDS.COM.AU 

UL FIBREGLASS FINS 


Photo: Kirstin Scholtz 

Any closer to 

the Superbank, 

and you’d be in 

the line up 

Self-contained apartment across from some of 

the most amazing surf on the Gold Coast. 

Mangamanou 

BEST WISHES 

TO KAIKOURA 

The earthquake that hit New Zealand’s South Island just after midnight 

on November 13 had an epicentre 60km south-west of the tourist town 

of Kaikoura at a depth of approximately 15 km. It ruptured however on 

multiple fault lines with the majority of its energy released much further 

north registering a cumulative magnitude of 7.8. The quake was one of 

the 3 largest earthquakes throughout the world in 2016 and the second 

biggest in New Zealand’s history since European settlement, the largest 

in 1855 near Wellington. The devastating Christchurch quake on February 

22, 2011 by comparison that killed 185 people and injured several 

thousand was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. Sadly, in this recent quake 

two lives were lost. 

The event was so extraordinary it piqued the interest of NASA. The space 

agency’s “earth observatory” uses satellite data to monitor the effects of 

environmental change and they were stunned by what they saw. Satellite 

images capture the earthquake’s effects, with the seabed visibly lifting 

as much as 5.5 metres in one area. Newly-exposed land, raised out of 

the ocean by the quake is predicted to now stay for several hundreds to 

thousands of years to come. 

Wayne and Lisa 

190 Marine Pde, Rainbow Bay, Coolangatta 

www.columbiaapartments.com.au 

Call 07 5599 0666 

These are some photos from 

Wayne Shanks of Kaikoura 

Surf showing the surrounding 

devastation along with what 

the impact did to his shop. 

We wish Wayne along with 

all of the people of Kaikoura 

a speedy road to recovery. 

Inside Kaikoura Surf 

16 



THE BEST HOMEMADE 

SURFBOARD 

SURF ‘N RAK SHAPING RAK COMPETITION 

HERE’S SOME OF THE ENTRIES TO THE HOMEMADE SURFBOARD COMPETITION. AWESOME TO SEE A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT 

BOARDS BEING SHAPED USING ALL DIFFERENT KINDS OF MATERIALS. YOU GUYS REALLY ARE TRUE SMORGASBOARDERS! 

MIKE 

ROBERSON 

"Here is one of my latest 

creations. It is a 6'4" 

fish made from my old 

cedar deck and glued 

together off cuts of foam 

from other boards I have 

made. The entire board 

(other then epoxy and 

fiberglass) was made 

of recycled materials." 

Mike Roberson Grand 

Haven, MI USA 

JEREMY IEVINS 

"Smorgasboarder ran a profile on my 

POSCA artwork a couple of years 

ago in the Gold Coast issue and I'm 

a big fan of your magazine. I shaped 

and painted this vanguard style 

shortboard. Dimensions are 5'7 x 19" 

1/4 x 23" 3/8." 

BRENDAN WILSON 

"A couple of asymmetric experiment 

boards. First is a 5'10/5'7 x21.5 

x"2"1/2swallow on (goofy) forehand 

and squash/ diamond on the 

backhand with a quad on backhand 

twin on forehand set up. I figured 

if I was going to make a board why 

not do something really left field but 

subscribing to a sound and proven 

theory. 

"Second is a 5'8"/ 5'6" x20.5x 2"5/8" 

pin forehand with bat tail backhand. 

This is a step up board asymmetric 

which I built to force me to surf front 

footed - to concentrate on tube riding. 

This one below is a 5'10 / 5'9" x 

19 3/4" x 2"5/8" asymmetrical; flat 

swallow on forehand and squash on 

backhand. Deep single throughout 

with double through the fins and out 

the tail. Fin set up is a m5 / Quattro 

set up from McKee which I usually 

request on standard boards I've 

had shaped for me previously and 

provides a really positive ride." 

AARON STACEY 

"Loving the mags. Been holding off 

reading the latest issue cause I want 

to take it away with me to read next 

week. Here’s a few boards I’ve been 

doing of late." 

18 


SMORGASBOARDER

MARK SIMPSON 

"Above: My first hollow SUP - took 8 

months to make, got the guys at Clark 

surfboards to glass it. 

"Right: Who stole my door? Asks the 

squirrel in the treehouse. Art work 

was inspired by the door like finless . 

"Top Right: This is the 3 rd hollow board 

I've made and still learning a lot. Your 

mag provides great inspiration." 

AND THE WINNER OF 

THE BEST HOMEMADE BOARD 

AS VOTED BY OUR READERS ON FACEBOOK IS... 

CALE MASON! 

Get back 

to the roots... 

Native Hawaiian 

surfer with alaia 

board, circa 1911 

with paulownia 

Our buoyant, 

lightweight timber floats 

all around the world. 

"I just wanted to enter my 5'10" 

twin I shaped and glassed a few 

weeks ago. Was the first board I 

ever made and rides great! Looks 

great too with my girlfriend's art 

glassed into the deck." 

“Proper shaping racks would be 

awesome as I use homemade ones 

in my parents garage.” 

Well Cale you've got them because 

you're our winner of these ripper 

Surf ‘n Rak Shaping Racks. 

• Tom Wegener preferred alaia blanks 

• Alaia & Kite Boards 

• Long Boards 

• Hollow Boards 

• Chambered Boards 

SURFBOARD SUPPLIES 

Buy the Best Paulownia 

Timber Australia has to offer. 

Missed out? 

Get your 

own rak at: 

SURFNRAK.COM.AU 

Contact David Evans 

P: 03 9588 2533 

E: info.sales@paulowniasurfboardsupplies.com 

W: www.paulowniasurfboardsupplies.com 


20 


SMORGASBOARDER


22 


SMORGASBOARDER

NOOSA FESTIVAL 

NFOS: 

25&GOING STRONG 

AS ONE SLIGHTLY OFF-KEY TROUBADOUR ONCE WARBLED, 

THESE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGING. Words: Thomas Leitch | Photo: Supplied, NFOS 

Longboarding has trickled along 

through the thruster generation 

anywhere there’s a nice, long point 

wave, and the last decade or so has 

seen an insurgence of loggers and 

singlefins, the old becoming new 

once more, adapted, inspired and 

amalgamated through five decades 

of shaping knowledge. 

Those who first pioneered these 

craft have become celebrities 

and gurus – Bob McTavish, Bing 

Copeland and the late, great Donald 

Takayama. The Noosa Festival of 

Surfing has ridden the waves from 

ripple to tsunami, through high 

performance, finless, bodysurfing 

and, of course, nine and a half feet, 

23 inches and one fin of pure steeze. 

Celebrating its 25th anniversary 

this year, the Noosa Festival has 

reached a nexus, the last remaining 

co-founder (alongside John Brasen 

and John Lee), renowned surf writer 

Phil Jarratt doffing his cap for the 

last time and passing the baton into 

the experienced and capable hands 

of his progeny, Sam and Ellie. 

With over 800 competitors from 

20 nations and regions and an 

estimated total attendance of some 

12,000 people for its ‘8 Days of Pure 

Stoke’, the Noosa Festival of Surfing 

is a huge drawcard for the global 

longboarding community, in fact the 

largest surfing festival by competitor 

numbers anywhere in the world. 

Age categories from under 15 to 

over 70, logging, noseriding, and 

high performance pro divisions and 

an assortment of SUP events, the 

festival has adroitly rolled with the 

times, giving the people what they 

want in the waves and keeping 

them entertained once the sun has 

set on another day of competition. 

But it has always been, essentially, 

a competition first and foremost. 

Contest was the foundation of 

the event, sprung from Noosa’s 

local Malibu Club, and to this it 

will always remain true, but is 

competition all a surfer lives for? 

Surf culture is as strong on dry 

land as it is in the brine and, with 

divisions swelling in popularity with 


every new year, it is to the sand that 

contest director Sam Smith is now 

swaying her attention. 

“The competition is always fantastic,” 

she reflects of previous years. “We 

have some of the very best judges 

and contest directors available, a 

strong attendance of world class 

surfers from all around the world and, 

but for the waves, the competition is 

always a great success.” 

Activities in the water have 

remained popular throughout the 

years, always evolving, new events 

such as the resoundingly popular 

dog surfing exhibition, joining the 

schedule and remaining the pinnacle 

of global longboarding events. 

On land, music, film, exhibitions 

and events have entertained the 

masses, often bringing doyens of 

the sport to the stage, or kicking up 

sand with national and international 

musos, to make each and every 

evening under the stars memorable. 

While this formula has been a great 

success, Sam sees 2017 as the year 

for a little bit of a shake-up. 

“We are proud each year of the landbased 

elements of the festival,” she 

says. “We have had some brilliant 

bands, lots of surfing celebrities 

and many, many nights of good 

entertainment, great atmosphere 

and maybe one too many drinks! But 

for next year, we felt like there was 

a whole other area of surfing culture 

that we still hadn’t tapped into.” 

Over the years, the event has hosted 

art and craft markets, sponsor 

showcases and a festival expo. All 

have been open to the public and a 

great reason to visit Noosa, whether 

competing or not. But the interactive 

aspect has remained a little thin on 

the ground. There has been plenty 

to see and hear and eat, but not so 

much to do and, as contemporary 

surf culture so prevalently 

demonstrates, creativity is rapidly 

becoming as integral a part of our 

lifestyle on land as it always has 

been in the water. 

“THE COMPETITION IS ALWAYS 

FANTASTIC,” SHE REFLECTS 

OF PREVIOUS YEARS. “WE 

HAVE SOME OF THE VERY 

BEST JUDGES AND CONTEST 

DIRECTORS AVAILABLE, 

A STRONG ATTENDANCE OF 

WORLD CLASS SURFERS FROM 

ALL AROUND THE WORLD AND, 

BUT FOR THE WAVES, THE 

COMPETITION IS ALWAYS 

A GREAT SUCCESS.” 

Sam Smith, NFOS Contest Director 

Noosa’s Main Beach, home of 

the Noosa Festival of Surfing, is 

getting a makeover in 2017. The 

judges’ scaffold will remain, of 

course, as will Zinc FM’s livecoverage 

surf shack from which 

they broadcast daily. With a postsurf 

beverage almost as important 

to surfers as their wax and fins, the 

XXXX Summer beach bar is also 

a permanent fixture, but added to 

these familiar structures will be 

a new venue, the Noosa Festival 

Pavillion. With the bar and numeorus 

local venues hosting nocturnal 

events, the pavilion, standing pride 

of place at Noosa’s First Point, will 

become a place of creativity, culture, 

inspiration and activity for all. 

Timber surfcraft workshops will 

be open to the public, shapers will 

expound their knowledge to all 

eagre ears, book signings, surf swap 

meets and yoga classes will all 

take their turn under the sprawling 

canvas. 

“We try to be as ecologically minded 

and family-oriented as possible,” 

says Sam, “trying to improve in 

these areas with every new year, 

and we are really excited about the 

potential of the new venue. We will 

be hosting sand castle competitions 

and interactive activities for kids, 

as well as bringing attention to 

environmental causes. I think 

surfers more than almost any other 

demographic are aware of the need 

to take environmental responsibility 

in their actions and we are planning 

several events to not only encourage 

and inspire, but also take proactive 

action for both during the Noosa 

Festival of Surfing and beyond. We 

see a real and growing need to make 

this a strong message of our event 

and hope to inspire our visitors to do 

the same.” 

At its heart, the Noosa Festival 

of Surfing will remain the same, 

ebbing and flowing with the times, 

contemporary yet true to its roots; 

800 surfers across thirty-plus 

divisions, all uniting for the love of 

surfing. But beyond that 20 minutes 

clad in cold, wet contest rashie, 

visitors will find a whole new 

experience, the same, but different, 

inspiring, diverse and more 

consummately reflective of surfing 

culture than ever before. 

Change is inevitable – it’s what you 

do with that change that counts. 

For more information on the Noosa 

Festival of Surfing, visit: 

www.noosafestivalofsurfing.com 

or join them on social media: 

Facebook: @NoosaSurfFest 

Instagram: @noosa_festival_of_surfing 

24 



Mex Sumpter, Andy McKinnon, Ondi and Larry Berltelmann 

! 

Vintage surfboard collector and proprietor 

of Noosa’s Underground Surf, Andre ‘Ondi’ 

Marsaus is the Surf Sage. In our regular feature 

he provides the answers to all your questions, 

but to mark this retrospective edition, he shares 

a few memories of his own. 

Got a question you 

want to ask the 

Surf Sage about 

an old board you 

have found under 

the house or from a 

curbside collection? 

Email editorial@smorgasboarder.com.au 

and we will get Ondi onto it. 

“6 years ago we were sitting in 

our surf shop in Coolangatta 

when Patrick Quirk wanders in. Pat 

introduces himself and lays down 

a mock up of a new magazine on 

the counter that he tells us we 

need to check out.” 

“Smorgasboarder”, he tells us “will be a grass roots surfing magazine that has been a 

long time coming”. He talked us through the idea and we loved it. A couple of Sunny 

Coast boys Dave and Mark had left their positions with what we thought was probably 

the biggest print publication company in the country and they were starting up their 

own magazine. Plus they were going to give it away free to surfers. 

Gutsy move we thought. Well, the mockup looks great... if they can pull it off. 

Well, they did, and it has been a breath of fresh air amongst the long standing surfing 

mags that seem to be full of pros pulling airs and promoting the latest performance 

boards. It really pulls the ‘real’ surfing industry together. The shapers, the surf shops, 

the local breaks, the stories, boards for all kinds of styles and most importantly the 

day to day surfers. Pat was right, it has been a great magazine and the surfing industry 

is better for it. Thanks guys for making it happen, we’re sure there has probably been 

blood, sweat and tears over the past 6 years but we would never know it. 

So six years ago when Smorgasboarder started, we were madly building our “grass 

roots” surf shop. Underground Surf began seven years ago with three surfboards, 

twelve t-shirts and ten sets of board shorts in our Kirra lounge room. We didn’t have 

a clear vision but we knew we wanted to stock underground labels and produce epic 

hand shaped boards for the locals. I already had a passion for all things retro in surfing 

and was buying up anything and everything vintage. Luckily we were quickly supported 

by local surfers and their families and Underground has steadily grown from three 

surfboards seven years ago to almost 400. 

26 


LEFT: Ondi and MP. BELOW: World wax record attempt 

PRICELESS 

TROPHY 

Some of the Best of 

Underground Surf 

2009 

Underground Surf is born. 

2010 

We decide it’s time surfing featured more in the 

Guinness World Records and set about building 

the highest surfboard wax stack. Stomp wax 

came on board to sponsor the event and Tim 

Ausloos and I set the bar at 42 blocks of wax. 

Joan brings Michael Peterson in to say happy 

birthday and makes it one of the best birthdays 

ever. 

Underground moves from Kirra to Coolangatta 

into the old Retro Groove store. 

We meet legend Albert Falzon 

2011 

The Smorgasboarder guys help me unload 

60 vintage boards onto the road for a vintage 

board spread. The inaugural Underground 

swap meet is held with Surf World Gold Coast, 

The Otchkies band and a Dick Hoole signing. 

Underground Surf opens in Noosa junction. 

2012 

Underground hosts a swap meet for the 

inaugural Bleach festival honouring surfing 

legends Michael Peterson, Larry Bertlemann, 

Andy Mckinnon, Dick Hoole and David ‘Mex’ 

Sumpter. 

At the swap meet Peter ‘Cocky’ Stannard was 

absolutely stoked to have his shirt signed and 

have a chat with MP. Little did we all know 

that 2 weeks later Cocky would pass away 

while surfing at the Tweed Heads Old Mal club 

annual surf trip and 2 weeks after that the 

world would lose MP as well. Two passionate 

surfers sadly missed. 

2013 

Underground grom number 1 is born. 

2014 

A blur of sleep deprivation and surfboards. 

2015 

Bill and the Wallace family appoint 

Underground to produce surfboards under 

the legendary Wallace Surfboards brand. 

Underground moves to Hastings Street, Noosa. 

Underground grom number 2 is born. 

Hosted VIP event for the inaugural Noosa Surf 

Film Festival. 

2016 

Bob McTavish presents Noosa Early Days 

at Underground during the Noosa Festival 

of Surf to 140 people and announces 

Underground as the first Australian 

authorised McTavish dealer. 

Appointed the sunshine coast retailer for 

Patagonia. 

Hosted the beach swap meet for the Noosa 

Festival of Surf. 

Hosted events for Noosa Boardriders Club, 

Shotgun Shootout, Greg Huglin and Dick 

Hoole movie event, Glencat Exhibition, Noosa 

Tourism, Distinguished Gentlemans Club ride, 

Noosa Turtles and more. 

I am lucky enough to be a guy who 

people show their surfboards to. From 

hidden treasures that I must deny all 

knowledge of, to boards with 30 years 

of wax that have been sitting quietly in 

a corner or under a house for decades 

until their moment of re-awakening. 

Some are worth thousands and some 

aren’t worth a penny, but there is 

always excitement running through my 

veins when a vintage surfboard comes 

my way and I get to squint at shapers 

scrawls and look deep into decals to 

find its story. 

That said, amongst all these boards 

there are also epic pieces of surf 

memorabilia and this trophy is one of 

those. 

This is the Duke Kahanamoku trophy 

awarded to Gerry Lopez as he was 

inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame 

for his outstanding achievement and 

contribution to the sport of surfing in 

2004. 

Gerry Lopez was born in Hawaii in 

1948 and is widely known for being the 

best tube rider in the world. He won 

the Pipeline Masters competition in ’72 

and ‘73, which is now aptly called the 

Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters. 

Lopez also played an important role in 

the industry of commercial surfboard 

manufacturing and together with 

other shapers started the famous 

Lightning Bolt Surfboards brand of 

high performance shortboards. Lopez 

along with his mate Rory Russell 

were credited with exposing and 

validating Indonesia and nearby areas 

as a comprehensive surf destination 

and these days lives in Oregon, USA 

with his family. 

Surfer, shaper, actor, author, 

ambassador, Gerry Lopez was and is 

truly deserving of this award. 

What’s it worth you may 

ask… well in the words 

of Lopez himself “If you 

can buy it with money, 

it is cheap”. So we’ll 

leave this one to your 

imagination. 

Upstairs 9 Hastings St, Noosa T: 07 5455 4444 

www.undergroundsurf.com.au 

XMAS 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER 

27

Surf Collective 

WAW 

HANDPLANES 

Designed for bodysurfing, 

handmade in Australia. 

Crafted from sustainable and recycled 

materials, they enable you to get 

barrelled without leaving a trace. Deep 

concaves and sharp rails put these 

handplanes at the cutting edge of 

bodysurfing, allowing the rider to stay 

higher on the face and slotted 

longer in the pocket. 

And for everyone 

sold we plant a 

native tree here 

in Australia. 

LOVE ST 

Each piece tells a story 

right down to the individual 

character names for each 

design, reflecting a style to suit 

the different personalities who 

choose to wear these beautiful 

designs. 

Alexis is your party girl. She 

will rock up at the beach, the 

barbie and she will never let 

you down. She falls beautifully 

in our soft rayon fabric in 

the ‘Sun is Shining” print. 

OLIVER 

BRENNAN 

A self-taught craftsman, this 

Northern Beaches local has a 

spectacular eye for natural beauty. 

Just like surf industry ‘fashion’, 

ocean photography can start to feel 

a little bit same-same but young 

Oliver Brennan’s work feels like 

something altogether different.From 

stirring images of living subjects, to 

powerful black and whites, and rich, 

textured compositions of rugged 

oceans and shining sunlight, Oliver’s 

collection feels like it should belong 

to someone who’s been around more 

than his young years. 

SNEAKY GRIND CAFÉ 

For all of the Smorgasboarder readers 

interested in checking out in person some 

of the magnificent Australian independent 

brands featured on www.surfcollective. 

com.au, they have collaborated with 

the folks from The Sneaky Grind Café in 

Avalon Beach (3/48 Old Barrenjoey Rd) to 

put together a showcase of select fashion, 

surfboards and skateboards. 

GYPSY 

REPUBLIC 

Is an Australian clothing 

label for women, 

embodying the bohemian 

beach culture. Our clothing 

is locally designed and 

features floaty feminine 

pieces made to bring out 

the goddess in you. 

Inspired by yoga, 

surfing, festivals, 

travel, adventure 

and a touch of 

magic, 

Gypsy Republic 

is for the 

free-spirited, 

the day dreamers 

and the 

barefoot-chic 

boho girls. 

28 SMORGASBOARDER | XMAS 2016

Photographer: Murray Fraser @sproutdaily 

SPINDRIFT 

COLLECTIONS 

Is a boutique jewellery and lifestyle 

brand created by Sydney based 

designer Natasha Wakefield. Using 

authentic, hand collected, sea 

smoothed beach glass and sterling 

silver, the Spindrift Collections 

are inspired by the ever changing 

beauty of our oceans, wild natural 

landscapes and by a sense of 

wanderlust for places not yet 

explored. Thoughtfully created for 

the dreamers, adventurers and 

barefoot wanderers. 

BEYOU 

(SURF & SKATE) 

Is made by surfers for surfers. 

These boards are perfect for 

training sessions, and they can 

be carried anywhere. Carving is 

easier with these boards; they are 

super responsive. It’s a 29-inch 

cruiser with a swallow tail. BEYOU 

skateboards are 100 % handcrafted, 

and the quality is second to none. 

Every single one of these boards is 

designed by experienced surfers for 

other surfers to enjoy. So, there is 

no doubt that they’ll blow your mind 

every time you ride. Surf´s up….. 

GET FLAPPED 

Is where practicality meets 

fashion. The idea of Get Flapped 

is all about making a functional 

hat, the Legionaries hat, or as it’s 

affectionately known the ‘flap hat’ 

fashionable again. It is no longer 

cool, or let’s face it, safe to cook for 

looks during the summer. We are 

all about keeping you safe from the 

sun and looking good whilst you do 

it. Some may say, the flap hat was 

never fashionable, but hopefully 

the Get Flapped range can turn 

that view around. 

SEA NOMAD 

Simple threads made for a new world.Inspired by 

a passion for all things natural, our selection of 

simple raw cut, hand printed threads have been 

crafted to reflect our spirit of adventure.With a 

desire to protect the natural environment we focus 

on accountability and sustainability. Naturally all 

our threads are made in Australia, sweatshop free 

and made from chemical free organic cotton. Each 

one hand printed using eco-friendly inks by us. 

So no matter whether you’re just hanging out, 

or on your next adventure. You’re sure to find 

one of our limited edition illustrated tees or 

tanks tuned to your wavelength. 

PANAMUNA 

PROJECT 

Hailing from the pristine waves 

of the Northern NSW coastline, 

Panamuna is a brand that combines 

it’s love of clean, classic and 

simplistic surf wear with a desire 

to reduce their company’s footprint 

on the world. Manufactured using 

sustainable and ethical practices, 

their range of gear and accessories 

will have even the most conscious 

of consumers frothing to get 

their hands on their products. 

Comfortable, lightweight and perfect 

for summer, Panamuna caters for 

men, women and groms. 

Welcome to Surf Collective 

Where you’ll find the best independent Australian Surf 

Brands. Names you, as of yet, may not be familiar with. 

Products, that up until now, you mightn’t have seen. 

Whether you’re driven by the desire to ‘support local’, 

or you’re just tired of seeing the same surf gear on 

shelves, in the line-up or around town, you’ve definitely 

come to the right place. 

www.surfcollective.com.au 


LATEST & 

GREATEST 

FAST: 

First Aid Surf Tool 

The first aid device you take 

surfing! FAST is a rapid application 

elastic tourniquet designed to 

reduce blood loss at a limb after 

a surf injury, arterial laceration or 

after a shark attack. 100% blood flow occlusion in seconds 

following application.Safe compression. Can be adjusted in 

increments and easily released.One hand application. Easy 

to use and learn for all levels of medical and non-medical 

personnel.Multi-purpose application to arms and legs.Light 

weight, compact low drag design attaches to existing surf 

leg rope.$28.95 

survivalsurf.com 

SHARKCAMO: 

Shark deterrent 

camouflage decal sticker 

A University of Western Australia study conducted 

in 2012 showed sharks only see in black and white 

and avoid striped objects. Avoid looking like food 

and look more like something that isn’t worth eating. 

Sharkcamo is a universally designed sticker decal for 

DIY installation on your favourite shortboard or retro 

shape. Cut it to your custom fit and design. Decal 

Sticker Size: 6’’5’ (200cm) x 20’ (50cm). $28.95 

survivalsurf.com 

PRO TREDZ 

The design reflects a bygone era of the 60s 

and 70s when Treds were the choice of 

footwear for a generation of surfers. Pro 

Tredz recaptures the past and brings it into 

the present utilising the latest construction 

techniques and high quality materials to 

deliver style, comfort, grip and durability. 

RRP $34.99 

protredz.com 


HIVE SWIMWEAR 

Hive’s latest Bohemian Summer 2016/17 Collection 

Ashleigh – Beatnik – Stinger Top and Reversabee Pant 

Maddison – Beatnik – Pollen Top and Buzz Pant 

These tops and bottoms $49.50 each. 

hiveswimwear.com 




One of our favourite surf breaks and photos - Piha, NZ as seen from the front yard of Mike Jolly's Piha Surf Shop. Photo: Ben Vos 


Memorable 

MOMENTS 

You have regularly asked us on the streets and online what are 

some of the most memorable stretches of coastline we have 

seen, people we have interviewed, boards we have tested and 

breaks we have surfed, amongst other things. With that in mind 

we thought our gift to you this Christmas would be a celebration 

ofour most memorable moments from the last six years publishing 

Smorgasboarder. We hope you enjoy this look back in time as 

much as we enjoyed putting it together. 

Some photos you may have seen before in past editions and 

some you most definitely would not. You may spot a story or two 

you have missed in an earlier edition or perhaps didn’t even know 

Smorgasboarder existed at that stage. Rest assured, if you are 

intent on reading the said article in full, all of our past editions 

can be viewed online at www.smorgasboarder.com.au. We even 

have a limited number of back issues available in print for sale in 

our online shop at the same web address. 


TEAMWORK 

Heading into our 7 th year of publishing 

Smorgasboarder we have some 

exciting changes to your magazine 

afoot, but before we embark on a brave 

new world we wanted celebrate what 

has been done so far... 

Before we do that however we 

wanted to thank our good friends and 

family who form our team of sorts and who have contributed to the 

success of Smorgasboarder. Without, them well, we would have been 

screwed, to put it politely. 

LOUISE 

Our rock. They lady who takes care of all the jobs we do not want to 

do or have merely forgotten to do. Lou has patiently put up with us 

even when we make her partake in stupid photos like above. 

JEFF 

He used to manage our printing before he 

moved to the Land of the Long White Cloud 

and enlisted as our man for all things NZ and 

became fondly known from there on as Jiff. 

JAMES 

Our secret agent in South Australia. Why is he 

a secret agent? We actually don’t know but 

everything seems to be a secret in SA so we 

thought it best to give him that title. James has 

been fantastic in quietly spreading the word for 

us deep down south. 

CURL 

He came on board on issue 11, 2012 and we have 

been pissing ourselves ever since. His Aloha Barry 

cartoon, his irreverent humour and misguided 

friendship with us has been nothing short of 

superb. He's pictured here with Bilbo Baggins 

(who has a striking resemblance to Dave). 

ANGUS 

Our expert gear tester. It helps when you are 

complete crap surfers to have someone who can 

at least stand up on a board. Actually, “Gus” or 

“The Angman” is a gun and has always been 

generous with his time to test all the goodies 

we are asked to sample. 

36 SMORGASBOARDER | XMAS 2016 

PAT A.K.A. “HELMET” 

Aside from putting up with all of our jokes 

and being incredibly thick-skinned, Pat was 

instrumental in getting Smorgasboarder off 

the ground. Since then he has continued to be 

involved as either a guest writer, gear tester or 

stuntman. 

BEN 

Photographer extraordinaire who stepped into 

the fold whenever we needed something more 

than our crappy iPhone shots. It has always 

been fun when we have managed to wrangle 

him into some sort of surf trip or function, 

although our kidneys would disagree...

MARK AND DAVE 

And a big thanks to us as well for being such incredibly hilarious guys. It is 

amazing when you have next to no sleep for weeks on end, and combine 

that with copious amounts of intravenously fed coffee (and a few beers 

for good measure) just how delirious you can become. We hope you have 

enjoyed our delirium, and that our ramblings in Smorgasboarder have 

made some sense, despite our very poor handle on the English language in 

its written form. 

SO MUCH SURF GEAR IN STORE YOU WILL BE 

AMAZED! FROM SURFBOARDS TO SKATEBOARDS, 

WETTIES, SURFWEAR AND ALL THE LATEST GADGETS 

SURFWARE 

AUSTRALIA 

SUNSHINE COAST SUPERSTORE 

2 Bulcock Street, Caloundra QLD | Telephone (07) 5491 3620 

Open Mon to Sat, 9am to 5pm and Sun 9am to 4pm. Closed Christmas Day 

OUR FAMILIES 

Who put up with us basically when we would disappear for weeks on 

end either on a delivery run or a “business trip” or when we went into 

production (deadline freak out) mode rendering our lovely wives single 

parents of three kids, respectively. Thank you Katie, Mikaela, Phoebe and 

Sam (Dave’s loving family). Thank you Helen, Elliott, Eryn and Flynn (Mark’s 

loving family). 

There have of course been many other people invaluably involved in 

Smorgasboarder throughout the past six years including the businesses 

who have supported us and those who subscribe to our magazine along 

with our readers who without, we would not exist. Thank you. 

ALL 

FOAMIES 

20% 

OFF 

SURFWAREAUSTRALIA.COM 

XMAS 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER 37

HARD WORK 

And Life 

ON THE ROAD 

Smorgasboarder has been a lot of fun, as you will see in the coming pages 

but it has not been without a lot of hard work. Any given week will see 

Mark and I put in upwards of 60 to 80 hours and even over 100 when 

things get super hectic. But as they say, “Find something you love doing 

and you will never work a day in 

your life.” So we don’t “work” but 

sometimes our “fun” eats into our 

“sleep”. 

It has been a wild ride however and 

we are extremely grateful because 

without it we would not have had 

the opportunity to see Australia and 

New Zealand, extensively. We never would have had the opportunity to 

stay in the Hyundai Hilton – check out the in-room dining. We never would 

have seen the Big Sheep, or worn a sheep shirt for that matter. More 

importantly, we would never have come across where all the knobs of the 

world reside and now we know where to avoid. 


The office 

Hyundai Hilton 

In-room dining 


Dave, the Phantom and the Phantom 

Paul Carson 

tolerating Mark 

Mark with Dave 

from Surfing Green 

B.F.F.s 


Slow walks in the park... Mark with Mitchell from Outer Island

Making great 

FRIENDSHIPS 

Nigel Dwyer from 

Del Surfboards 

Richard Harvey helps Mark tap into his inner shaper 

Smorgasboarder hasn’t been about making the mighty dollar. Sure it is good to be 

able to pay the bills and feed the family (that helps) but for us it has always been 

about something more than that. When it’s all business and nothing but, there’s no 

fun and no deeper meaning to what you are doing. 

We set out to meet people, understand what they were about and what they were 

trying to achieve in this thing we call the surf industry. In doing so we wanted to 

look after the people we worked with and always sought to have their best interests 

at heart. Thankfully this has seen us develop some really strong friendships along 

the way. 

Instead of heading down the coast "on business" to sell and write some stuff, our 

road trips became a chance to catch up with friends, to see how they were going, 

find out what interesting things they had been up to of late and from time to time 

catch up for a wave or a meal or a beer or two. 

Unfortunately, this approach to "doing business" often prolonged road trips making 

them take much longer than originally planned. A quick catch up with someone here 

and there often turned into an in-depth three-hour chat /interview. That may have 

lead to another chat with some person they knew nearby. Sometimes a planned 

one-week distribution/editorial run may rolled into two. Sometimes two weeks may 

have rolled into three, until the threat of divorce... 

Aside from the friendships we made outside of our business, Smorgasboarder 

was also about strengthening our friendships within the business. There would 

be nothing worse than working so closely with someone you hate. Sure you might 

say, “but Mark is such a tosser. How do you put up with him?” On a serious note 

however, I think working as hard as we have would usually put a lot of strain on a 

business relationship let alone 

a friendship. Thankfully for us 

it has just worked and we’ve 

managed to not kill one another, 

although I did note Mark gave 

me the assignment of the sky 

dive and the very small light 

plane interview with aerial 

photographer Mike Swaine and 

the bungee jump, hang on that 

was my own doing. 

Anyhow you get the drift, we 

have a lot of man-love going 

on for one another. Who else 

would I rather go night surfing 

with or… now I am rambling. 

Time to get on to the next 

section. 

Dave and Mark - hairless, finless and fancy free at night 

Dave and Mark Riley (is that morning or night?) 


Jan2012_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF THE SURFBOARDS FEATURED IN THIS EDITION! * GEAR TESTS * WWW.SMORGASBOARDER.COM.AU 

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INSIDE: GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH SURF SNAPPING BROTHERS | BUILDING A WOODEN BOARD | VISIT PNG | SURFBOARDS 

May2015_Smorgas_001-F2.indd 1 

S U R F M A G A Z I N E 

Brad Bessant snaps 

John John Florence 

Photo: Craig Bessant 

7/01/13 5:43 PM 

5/04/2014 7:45 pm 

5/05/2015 5:03 pm 


INSPIRING SURF TRAVEL TALES, INTERNATIONALLY & LOCALLY: MENTAWAIS | SUMATRA | BALI | WEST OZ | SNOWBOARDING JAPAN 

July2015_Smorgas_001-F.indd 1 

-SPRING- 

-WINTER- 

-TRAVEL- 

S U R F M A G A Z I N E 

Stoked surfer, home 

board builder, 

passionfruit farmer, 

Troy Smith 

Photo: Richard Kotch 

7/01/13 5:44 PM 

25/06/2015 11:59 am 


INSIDE: SHARKS - IT’S TIME TO TALK | SOFTBOARDS - WE TEST THEM ALL | INSPIRING PEOPLE, BRILLIANT BOARDS & AMAZING PLACES 

Sep2015_Smorgas_001-F.indd 1 

- SUMMER- 

7/01/13 5:44 PM 

2/09/2015 9:57 pm 

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INSIDE: BUILDING A CARDBOARD SURFBOARD | INTRODUCING NEW COLUMNS - THE SURF SAGE & SMOKE SIGNALS | AMAZING SURF TRAVEL 

FROM ACROSS THE DITCH 

Photo: Jim Culley 

Nov2015_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

- XMAS - 

THE MAGAZINE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE TO SURF 

ISSUE #1 SEP/OCT 2010 


ISSUE #8 NOV/DEC 2011 

23/08/10 3:04 PM 

8/11/11 5:55 PM 

7/01/13 5:45 PM 

19/11/2015 2:28 pm 

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ISSUE #9 JAN/FEB 2012 


INSIDE: SURF-INSPIRED ART AND ARTISTS | SURF TRAVEL IN INDONESIA | THE LATEST SURFBOARD DESIGNS | INFLATABLE SUP TEST 

Jan2016_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

LOVING SURFING 

AMAZING PEOPLE 

CRAFT & CRAFTSMANSHIP 


ISSUE #2 NOV/DEC 2010 

30/10/10 3:46 PM 

9/01/12 11:53 PM 

2/03/13 8:41 PM 

2/02/2016 10:23 pm 

SURF IS FREE... LIKE MAGS SHOULD BE 


SOUNDWAVES 

A CHANCE MEETING WITH THE GOLD COAST’S ISAAC PADDON P22 

TRAVEL: EXPLORE PHILLIP ISLAND P46 

GEAR: BOARDS GALORE P75 

HOME: SOUTH COAST MAGIC P64 

DEBATE: 

SUP, UP AND AWAY P48 

WORDS: THE KANTENDER P26 

212-PAGES 

AND IT’S FREE! 

FREEBORD... 

SIX WHEELS TO FREEDOM ...P168 

ONE MAN’S QUEST TO GET 

BACK ON BOARD ...P60 

INTERVIEW 

BEN OXENBOULD ...P42 

DOMESTIC 

DEPARTURES 

SYDNEY’S NORTHERN BEACHES ...P112 

SURF 

TOWN 

CRONULLA 

HOMEGROWN 

INSPIRING PEOPLE UNDERTAKING 

MOST INSPIRING PROJECTS ...P46 

TRAVEL BUG 

SNOW AND SURF ADVENTURES 

ALL ‘ROUND THE GLOBE 

LIMITED EDITION 

COVER #1 0F 4 

Because surf is free... 

.COM.AU 


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.COM.AU 

SMORGASBOARDER 

F R E E S U R F M A G A Z I N E • A U S / N Z 

SURF+ 

ART 

BEHIND BARRY: 

MEET THE ARTIST, CURL... P82 

PEOPLE, BOARDS & WAVES 

SURF+ 

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EARTH INSPIRED: 

JASON SWALES... P62 

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WORK OF HEART: 

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PEOPLE, 

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PEOPLE, 

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OTHER WORLDS: 

JAMES McMILLAN... P48 

A SIGNED PRINT OF 

WIN THIS ARTWORK... P6 

MAN MANY 

OF 

BOARDS 

EDDIE ‘CAPTAIN FROTHALOT’ WEARNE 

BODYSURFING THE MALDIVES • IMMERSED IN FILM • SPRAY GUNS • DREAM SURF PADS • TRAVEL TALES 

VISIT THE HAPPIEST SURF TOWN 

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SURF PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAY & NIGHT... & MORE 


SURF SNAPPING SPECIAL 

READER PHOTOS, INTERVIEWS 

TIPS & ADVICE FOR YOUR OWN PHOTOS 

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LADIES FIRST: CELEBRATING THE SURFER GIRL 

SURFBOARD DESIGN | TRAVEL | AMAZING PEOPLE 

July2014_Smorgas_001_F.indd 1 20/06/2014 10:47 am 



WOODEN 

BOARD LOVE 

READER PHOTOS: TAKE A BOW 

SURF SHOPS 

BRICKS & MORTALS OF THE COASTLINE 

...BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW THEM. 

WE CHECK OUT WAVE TECHNOLOGY 

Sep2014_Smorgas_001.indd 1 1/09/2014 12:08 pm 



MORE SURFBOARDS 

THAN EVER: 

SHAPER QUIVERS 

TRAVEL ALL OVER: 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA & TAIWAN 

GREEN GEAR & SURF TECHNOLOGY 

Nov2014_Smorgas_001.indd 1 1/11/2014 10:04 am 

№ 29 

2015 F R E E S U R F M A G A Z I N E 

№ 30 


№ 31 


№ 32 


№ 33 

2016 F R E E S U R F M A G A Z I N E 

ONPI 

SANDY RYAN GOES 

SURFING WITH SOME MATES 

KIWIS 

SURF 

+ART 

BRETT MARTIN | NEAL CAMERON | CHRIS GARRETT | CURL 

LACHLAN OLIVE | KYM NAGLER | TONY OGLE | SCOTT CHRISTENSEN 

FIELDEY JIMMY WAGS | OWEN CAVANAGH | CRAIG BAIRD... AND MORE! 


Jan2011_Smorgas_Spread 001.indd 1 

Mar2012_Smorgas_001-FF.indd 1 

May2013_Smorgas_001-F.indd 1 





ISSUE #3 JAN/FEB 2011 

ISSUE #10 MAR/APR 2012 


18/12/10 8:28 PM 

27/02/12 9:37 PM 


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May2012_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

July2013_Smorgas_001.indd 1 





ISSUE #4 MAR/APR 2011 


10/05/12 8:06 PM 

1/07/13 1:28 AM 

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Jul2012_Smorgas_001-FINAL.indd 1 

INSIDE: WOMEN ON WATER | NOOSA FESTIVAL OF SURFING | FELICITY BURDETT | ‘MAKE A BARRY’ ART COMPETITION! 

- EASTER - 


ISSUE #5 MAY/JUN 2011 

THE GOLD COAST: ICONIC SURF BREAKS, LEGENDARY SHAPERS, modern INNOVATORS AND AMAZING PLACES 


3/05/11 11:06 AM 

4/07/12 5:40 PM 

17/09/13 4:31 AM 

July2011_Smorgas_Spread 001-F2.indd 1 


INSIDE: HOT & COLD - FROM THE SURF TO THE SNOW - JAPAN & PNG | MATT WILKERSON & BERTLEMANN BOARDS | ALOHA BARRY ART 

June2016_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

- WINTER - 


INSPIRING STORIES & PEOPLE | INCREDIBLE SURFBOARDS & BOARD BUILDERS | INNOVATIVE IDEAS 

Nov2013_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

OF AUSTRALIAN & NZ 

SURFBOARD BUILDING 

GREG HUGLIN SUPPORTING SURFERS IN PNG SURFBOARDS & GEAR TESTS READER PHOTOS WWW.SMORGASBOARDER.COM.AU 

Jan2015_Smorgas_001-F.indd 1 


• 


ISSUE #6 JUL/AUG 2011 

F 

S 

I N C 

E 

5 

20/06/11 12:06 PM 

5/09/12 8:48 PM 

29/11/13 3:18 AM 

21/12/2014 9:31 pm 

27/06/2016 10:13 AM 

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Nov2012_Smorgas_001-FINAL.indd 1 

INSIDE: BARRY, CAUGHT CHEATING | SINGERS, SONGWRITERS & SURF GUITARS | THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF JIM CULLEY 

Spring2016_Smorgas_001.indd 1 


- SPRING - 


ISSUE #7 SEP/OCT 2011 

MASSIVE SECTION OF THE LATEST SURFBOARD DESIGNS | YOUR STORIES | WWW.SMORGASBOARDER.COM.AU 


DISCOVERY & ADVENTURE 

INSIDE: SURF TRIP TIPS FROM A FEW OF YOUR BEST MATES | FILM-MAKER CLIVE NEESON | SURFBOARDS | A LOOK UP OUR SHORTS 

Mar2015_Smorgas_001-F.indd 1 

-EASTER- 

Top tips on spots to 

surf, places to eat 

& stay, and things to 

see and do . 

Trav McCoy-Ruapuke 

Photo: Jim Culley 

6/09/11 3:24 PM 

9/11/12 7:23 PM 

4/02/2014 1:41 am 

11/03/2015 12:34 pm 

6/10/2016 9:55 PM 

“THOSE WHO FLOW AS LIFE FLOWS KNOW THEY NEED NO OTHER FORCE.” LAO TZU 

OUR SURFING FAMILY HAS GROWN... WELCOME ON BOARD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

“THE CURE FOR ANYTHING IS SALT WATER: SWEAT, TEARS OR THE SEA.” ISAK DINESEN 

“TO PICK UP A BIG WAVE IS EASY, BUT TO SURVIVE A BIG WAVE IS ANOTHER STORY.” DAVID MESNARD 

BUMPER 164-PAGE BIRTHDAY EDITION! MASSIVE BOARDS SECTION! 


IT’S A 

BEAUTIFUL 

MAT McHUGH OF 

THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS TALKS ABOUT 

DAY LIFE AS A SURFER & MUSICIAN 

WHAT LIES BENEATH P78 

FAMILY-FRIENDLY SAMOA P70 

SO MANY BOARDS P83 

BIRTH OF 

A BOARD 

LABOUR, PAIN & JOY 

...P82 

NORTH STRADBROKE 

FERRY GOOD INDEED 

...P58 

MUCH MORE 

THAN CRICKET 

AND CURRY.. 

SURFING 

SRI 

LANKA 

DISCOVERING INDIAN OCEAN MAGIC P74 

YOUR SURF SHOTS AND MORE 

EVERYDAY 

SURFERS... 

...this issue is all you. P31 

UP THE CREEK 

WITH A PADDLE ...P35 

PASS THE SALT? 

THE DESAL DEBATE ...P50 

WETTIES 

NOT ALL THE SAME ...P105 

BITTERLY COLD, SHARKY AS HELL, MONSTROUS WAVES... WHY GO ANYWHERE ELSE? 

SOUTHERN OCEAN ADVENTURE 

ROAD 

DOGGIN’ 

ASH GRUNWALD 

TAKES SURFING, 

MUSIC, ART & FILM 

ON TOUR ...P22 

GOING SOLO, MON 

TO THE ISLANDS ...P54 

TAKING SHAPE 

BEHIND VIC SURFBOARDS ...P66 

SHARK! 

FRIEND 

OR FOE? 

...P56 

Byrobn Bbaya 

AT HOME IN THE WAVES 

LIVING ...P42 

THE PEOPLE, THE PLACE 

DISCOVER YOUR BACKYARD ...P78 

SURF SHOTS 

THE BEST READER PICS ...P17 

WINTER, SHMINTER... THERE’S PLENTY OF SUNSHINE IN THE WORLD 

A HUGE 180 PAGES OF AMAZING PEOPLE WE ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET 

BECAUSE SURF IS FREE 

TAKE A BOAT TRIP TO THE WILD 

FRONTIER - TRAVEL TALES P74 

SONGS & 

KYM CAMPBELL SURF P40 

PLUS: HUGE WAVES AND ICE COLD: DUNEDIN PHOTOGRAPHER STEVO... P92 

SPRING 

LEGENDS: WAYNE LYNCH | BILL WALLACE | BARRIE SUTHERLAND 

WELCOME TO NEAL 

CAMERON ‘S WORLD 

OF INVENTION... P30 

WIN A $5000 QUIVER 

2012 SURF SHOP SPECIAL... P137 | FRESH, NEW-LOOK BOARD PROFILES... P112 

DOWN 

TOEARTH 

MIKE SWAINE PULLS A DIFFERENT KIND OF AERIAL - P60 

50 PAGES OF SURFBOARDS 

HOT RODS AND CRAZY BOARDS... P120 | FOR THE LOVE OF WOOD... P74 


F R E E ( Z E ) S U R F M A G A Z I N E 







GREETINGS FROM THE 

GOLD COAST 

Our comprehensive guide to barely scratching the 

surface of what the goldY has to offer 

ALASKAN ADVENTURE • MALDIVIAN SERENDIPITY • WETSUIT TESTS • THE FAMILY TREE 

THE BIGGEST 

WHO’S WHO 

READER 

TRAVEL TALES 

Smorgasboarder covers - the part of the mag we 

always agonise over for ages... Only because we 

often wish we had more than one cover to capture 

all the boards, interesting people, stories, reader 

contributions and more in every edition. In fact (as 

some of you may remember) we even did that for 

our first big Surf Art edition - four limited edition 

covers for the one issue. We've had photos of 

famous people, photos of readers, photos by 

readers, photos of people taking photos... And we 

love each one for a different reason. 

Some standouts? Foam Balls' Craig Bessant 

and Saltmontion's Joel Coleman have been 

repsonsible for some consistently cracking images. 

Tom Woods' snap of the world's happiest surfer 

on the Coffs Harbour edition as well as Fieldey's 

shark mural definitey had a whole heap of people 

talking. Jim Culley's shot of Sandy Ryan with 

a GoPro in his mouth is a classic, as is Mike 

Swaine's aerial shot of a surfer on a wave (not 

taken with a drone, but from an actual airplane!). 

In fact, they're all standouts - and that's why 

they're on the cover. 

№ 34 


WOMEN ON WATER 

Mar2016_Smorgas_001.indd 1 

21/03/2016 7:29 pm 

№ 35 


RILEY GOOD TIMES IN PNG 

S U R 

E D 

1 9 

7 • 

№ 28 

№ 36 

The 

Blank 

Pages 2016-17 


PLAN YOUR NEXT 

NZ SURF TRIP. . 


28-page Australia and NZ Shapers Directory 



OUR FAVOURITE 

GRASS ROOTS 

Reader Photo 

There’s not too much more 

to say here other than 

Smorgasboarder has always 

been about the grassroots 

surfing community; essentially you, 

our readers. 

So many of you have interesting 

stories to tell and some great 

surf shots as well thanks to the 

introduction of GoPros and the like. 

In pretty much every edition, as 

you know, we feature your great 

shots. Here’s one of our favourites. 

This amazing Jeff Tull one from the 

early days, as well as Luc Bruna's 

cover shot are just two cracking 

examples of your lens skills! 


1 

As the saying goes, 

“beauty is in the eye of 

the beholder” and a lot of 

what we love and loath 

is often associated with 

either good or bad times. Now by no 

means are we inferring the towns 

we have listed here are the greatest 

and the seaside hideaway you call 

home is a festering hole, crap we 

would lose 80% of our readership in 

one foul swoop. 

What we are saying is the places 

we have named are where we have 

enjoyed some truly memorable 

experiences and they just so happen 

to be incredibly appealing as well. 

Indeed, we are all so very fortunate 

so much of our Australian and New 

Zealand coastline is breathtakingly 

beautiful. 

Now another saying you might 

have heard is, “the grass is always 

greener on the other side” and just 

as our home on the Sunshine Coast 

is one of the most desirable coastal 

destinations in the world we found 

ourselves falling in love with coastal 

towns far, far away and markedly 

Coastlines and 

SEASIDE TOWNS 

different from where we live. So 

here they are in no particular order: 

(Please note, this review is 

written by Dave who loves freezing 

cold water, open fires and wintery 

destinations. His dream destination 

would see snow falling heavily as 

he walks down onto the beach. Mark 

on the other hand prefers lukewarm 

water, long slow walks on the beach 

and Pina Coladas with the little 

umbrella on the side.) 

1. The Gong and Beyond 

I didn’t see this stretch of Coast 

until we began Smorgasboarder and 

immediately fell in love, particularly 

with the northern end from Stanwell 

Park to Thirroul and Kiama south. 

Through the years I have seen these 


2 

2 

2 3 

2 

CHECK 

THIS OUT! 

areas transform into very trendy 

little seaside suburbs indeed but 

fortunately they have lost none of 

their charm. The view from Stanwell 

Tops is something to behold as 

is the lookout from Bulli. Surfing 

the northern end around Coal Cliff 

you will find yourself sandwiched 

between the Pacific Ocean and the 

cliffs of the Illawarra Escarpment, 

which drop precipitously to the sea. 

Here I also have one of my favourite 

campgrounds where I like to stay 

right on the beach at Coledale. 

2. Port Fairy and 

the Shipwreck Coast 

Possibly the most idyllic coastal 

town I have ever seen. Historic 

bluestone buildings house quaint 

eateries, shops and local watering 

holes, huge Norfolk Island pines 

line the streets and boats moored 

along the banks of the Moyne River 

has the town resembling a mix of 

Maine, Canada and northern Europe 

all rolled into one. Port Fairy is so 

picturesque and oozes a very unique 

sophisticated charm. In my opinion 

it is the jewel in the crown of the 

rugged Shipwreck Coast which 

extends from Cape Otway through to 

the South Australian border. 

3. Piha 

One of the first few places we surfed 

in our first exploratory mission over 

to NZ. Seeing it for the first time is 

like walking onto the set of Jurassic 

Park. Atop of the Waitakere Ranges 

as Piha first comes into full view 

you are greeted with the most aweinspiring 

panorama of rugged cliffs, 

the wild Tasman Sea, volcanic black 

sand beaches and lush hillsides. In 

gloomy conditions when the surf is 

on it has a foreboding, prehistoric 

feel about it that has you both 

bristling with excitement and 

packing your duds at the same time. 

4. Kaikoura 

When you first lay eyes on this area 

it takes you a while to take it all in 

because it is hard to comprehend its 

absolute natural beauty. It is picture 

postcard perfect. I mean how many 

places do you know of in the world 

where snow-capped mountains 

literally line the coastline. The water 

is this vibrant aquamarine colour 

and the rocky limestone shoreline 

virtually plays a symphony each 

time a wave comes crashing upon 

the beach. Crikey, I sound a little 

poetic (a bad poet that is) with my 

description but I suppose that is 

what this place does to you. Whilst 

on the subject of Kaikoura we would 

like to pass on our well wishes to the 

local community following the recent 

earthquake that shook the area to its 

core and hope they can get life back 

to normal. 

5. Akaroa 

We only spent a night there and 

the fact we nearly died on the way 

made the beholden site of this quaint 

French/ English town nestled on a 

sheltered harbour surrounded by the 


4 

5 


Natural Beauty 

remnants of an extinct volcano even 

more special. It was our 2014 family 

trip to the South Island and after 

a day on the snow at Mt Hutt we 

decided to make a beeline for Akaroa 

only to find ourselves endlessly 

winding up steep mountains late 

into the night before we eventually 

arrived. A quick few tips; don’t 

drive to Akaroa at night, especially 

in winter, and make sure to visit 

Vangionis for dinner. Anyone who 

has been to Akaroa remarks about 

how special it is. 

6. The Far South Coast of NSW 

There is something about the Far 

South Coast that just makes me 

relax and breathe a little deeper. I 

suppose it has something to do with 

escaping the hustle and bustle of 

greater Sydney, which now really 

extends virtually all the way down 

to Wollongong. The traffic eases and 

the stunning scenery begins. From 

Eurobodalla Shire taking in the likes 

of Batemans Bay right down along 

the Sapphire Coast to the Victorian 

border is to me God’s country. It has

7 

8 

6 

changed a lot over the last years we 

have published Smorgasboarder and 

I only hope the pace of develop slows 

so it does not impact on the to-date 

unspoilt beauty of the region. Oh and 

the surf just so happens to be pretty 

incredible, as are the little towns 

along the way such as Bermagui, 

Tathra and Eden, along with the 

oysters and all of the natural produce 

from the area. 

7. West Coast, NZ South Island 

If Piha has you feeling like you are 

walking onto the set of Jurassic Park 

the West Coast will have you feeling 

like you have actually stepped back 

in time 30 million years ago to when 

this landscape was first formed. 

It is wild, wooly and absolutely 

breathtaking. On the swell side of 

things you are often waiting for the 

swell to drop from insane to friggin' 

massive. Some of the highlights 

of this coastline are Punakaiki’s 

Pancake Rocks, blowhole and 

surrounding 100m high limestone 

cliffs, Fox Glacier and Franz Josef 

Glacier. 

8. Sydney’s Northern Beaches 

Entering parts of Sydney’s Northern 

Beaches particularly those north of 

“The Bends” is like entering another 

world. You can’t help but marvel at 

not only the succession of fine, sandy 

beaches punctuated by protective 

sandstone headlands but also the 

size and grandeur of the beachside 

mansions. You can’t help but wonder 

how someone can amass that kind 

of wealth in a lifetime. You can 

however see why Australia’s elite 

have set up residence here. What 

I like most of all however is that I 

can park my Hyundai Hilton in the 

Lakeside Holiday Park in Narrabeen 

and take it all in without the pain of 

a mortgage that would take me one 

hundred lifetimes to pay off. 


Thems 

THE BREAKS 


Our pick of some of our favourite 

and most memorable surf 

breaks will no doubt surprise 

more than a few. We’re not 

so much seeking out a heaving slab as 

we are a nice mellow long wall where 

we can casually carve. After all, let’s 

be honest, Mark and I are now in our 

40s. We’re getting old. I for one can’t 

afford to go injuring myself every 

second month like I frequently did. 

Our list doesn’t include several 

acclaimed and revered breaks 

because the acclaimed breaks are 

often packed to the max and there is 

nothing we detest more than surfing 

a slalom course and the revered 

breaks are more often than not 

semi-secret spots with an intense 

local crew and we are going to let 

sleeping dogs lie. The breaks we 

have listed are spots where we have 

been lucky enough to enjoy a fun surf 

whilst doing our thing with the mag. 

HOME (MINE) 

It is hard to go past my home break 

of Moffat Beach not that I surf it 

much nowadays – can’t handle the 

pressure of people watching you 

when you repeatedly tell them you 

are a crap surfer. I have however 

enjoyed many a surf here and 

managed to get in some really 

enjoyable board testing. When 

she is on song there are plenty of 

take-off points to help with crowd 

management and nice long walls to 

enjoy with plenty of time to carve 

away. The “Happy Place” being 

Happy Valley also deserves an 

honourable mention. 

(MARK’S) 

Aside from playing Duelling Banjos 

north of the Maroochy River they do 

have some pretty slick breaks and 

no more famous than this majestic 

mother – Mudjimba Island or Old 

Woman as she is affectionately 

known by some. 

SUMNER, CHRISTCHURCH 

Who would have thunk it? Teahupo’o 

it may not be and we hear she can 

get crowded, but each time we have 

visited between Autumn and Winter

Sumner cruising while testing Seventh Wave steamers 

we've had spectacular waves. Not 

much more than 2-3 ft but perfectly 

formed and perfectly suited for 

longboarding or retro-inspired craft 

from local shaper Jay Jackman of 

Sadhana Surfboards. 

PIHA 

The scenery is nothing short of 

spectacular and the surf always 

seems to be on in some form 

or another (as are the swirling 

currents). When you surf here you 

really do feel like you are on the set 

of a movie or TV show for the matter 

(800 Words). It leaves you in awe 

and she can pack a punch. 

DUNEDIN 

Is there a theme here? I guess we 

just enjoy surfing cold places (well 

I do, Mark complains but none of 

our travelling party ever bothers 

to listen). This place ALWAYS has 

surf. In fact, I believe it would be 

an absolute miracle if it didn’t. Who 

One more, says Piha 



Surf Breaks

cares if the water temp ranges from 

8 to maybe 15 degrees and there are 

quite a fair few toothy compatriots 

in the near vicinity. St Claire and St 

Kilda Beach are our staples. Too far 

north and you hit the seal colony 

along with KZ7. He’s rumoured to 

be the same size as the Kiwi Super 

Maxi of the same name. 

TWELVE APOSTLES 

It may be extremely treacherous 

and teeming with White Pointers 

but who doesn’t want to surf next 

to an Australian landmark when 

the conditions are right. Seriously 

though, don’t dare try if you are not 

an extremely strong swimmer or 

can really handle yourself in the surf 

otherwise you might end up in either 

Tassie or NZ or as flotsam. 

THE FARM, SHELLHARBOUR 

Great peeling A-frames where we 

have occasionally scored some really 

fun hollow barrels. Nowadays she 

is getting more and more crowded 

though. 

THE SURF COAST 

There are really so many options 

but our favourites include Cathedral 

Rock near Lorne and Lorne Point 

itself when there are some long line 

peelers. Cathedral Rock is awesome 

in 6ft+ clean SW swells but she is a 

bugger to get out and back in if you 

don’t fancy making your way in to 

the beach. 

And there are countless other 

great waves we have enjoyed in 

and around Newcastle, Sydney’s 

Northern Beaches, the South Coast 

of NSW (bit too secretive to mention) 

and northern NSW. 


Mickey T's turf Photo © Raglan Longboards 

Them's the Breaks… 

SOME GOOD, SOME BAD. 

Mickey T 

Mark at Raglan 

Waves are fickle. You 

can’t score your dream 

break every time. And 

as we have come to 

learn through our travels, some we 

can’t even score any time, no matter 

how many times we visit. 

Some of the breaks are absolute 

hallowed turf (or oceans we should 

say) that are every surfer’s dream 

and some well… we just want 

to goddamn score it in decent 

conditions because… we want to. 

RAGLAN 

Why ohh why? The sight of Raglan 

going off is just too good to believe 

plus we have a steady supply of 

awesome boards from one of the 


nicest blokes and talented shapers 

you will meet in NZ, Mickey T of 

Raglan Longboards. So why can’t we 

get it like this? We’ve had fun in the 

past but as you can see above there is 

a slight discrepancy. 

LYALL BAY 

Some might ask why. Because where 

else do you get to surf right beside an 

airport runway? I have experienced 

some fun little waves here in the 

middle of winter when the water was 

a balmy 12 to 13 degrees but am yet 

to get it when it is, as described in the 

Wavetrack New Zealand Surfing Guide, 

“a big exploding peak breaking off the 

end of the runway… Surfers need cast 

iron balls to take off.” 

GREAT LAKES 

Life is all about taking in new 

experiences and what better way 

than to venture over to visit our first 

ever overseas subscriber in Mike 

Dave at Lyall Bay here, and Lyall Bay above 

Roberson in Grand Haven, Michigan. 

Sure he may be 1000km from the 

nearest ocean but he has access 

to the Great Lakes. Let’s consider

We can custom shape 

foam core paulownia 

skinned blanks 

SUPPLIER OF DIY 

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the pros, there are no crowds. 

Best estimates put the number of 

surfers in the Great Lakes at 500. 

On average there are 100 surfable 

days, which does not sound too 

dissimilar to the Sunshine Coast 

where we live. Of those, 30 days 

would be considered very good 

and about 15 days of excellent 

surf where the waves are chest 

high or bigger. And, no sharks! The 

cons? Offshore and glassy is not 

a regular part of the vocabulary to 

describe surf conditions here and 

the surface water in some parts 

during winter does freeze but who’s 

complaining. Good 6mm wetsuit, 

good constitution and it’s all 

systems go. 

RIVER SURFING 

When Jon Wilson from NZ 

Shred over in Queenstown 

and his mate Chris Shaw sent 

in photos of them surfing a 

sheet wave at the Hawea 

Whitewater Kayak Park just 

outside of Wanaka, we knew 

the next surf spot we must 

sample. 

NEW WEBSITE ✯ www.guyssurfarimaps.com ✯ 0422 175 706 


Fergburgers 

Beach House 

Maranui Cafe 

The Galley 

Rivermouth 

Cafes, Pit Stops 

& EATERIES 

Well we hate to be 

controversial but in 

our opinion if truth be 

told this category is 

absolutely dominated by the Kiwis. 

I think their fresh produce and that 

everything appears to be homemade 

has a lot to do with it. It is hard to find 

a café that delivers substandard fare. 

The Beach House Café + Bar, 

Waipu Cove, North Island NZ 

Our first dinner and breakfast in NZ 

was here and we still remember it 

vividly. My mouth starts to water just 

thinking about it… and the coffee. 

Maranui Café, Lyall Bay, 

Wellington, North Island NZ 

Possible one of the coolest cafes we 

have ever been to. Awesome vibe, 

busy as hell and not in the slightest 

bit pretentious. Breaky here is the 

perfect remedy following a sub 14 

degrees surf out front. 

The Shack, Raglan, 

North Island NZ 

Another Kiwi standout. Awesome 

food and coffee. You have probably 

guessed by now we are huge fans of 

breakfast. What surfer isn’t? 


Starfish Café and Dunedin, 

South Island NZ 

This is weird but Dunedin is always 

freezing in and out of the water (love 

it) but when you had to the Starfish 

for breakfast, miraculously the sun 

comes out. It is like the gods are 

smiling upon your breaky choice. 

Fergburgers, Queenstown, 


If this is the kiwi’s version of fast 

food we love it. Love, love their 

burgers AND Fergbaker next door. 

Love a bit of tart. 

Re:Start 

Container 

Mall, 

Christchurch, 


Iconic, funky and 

absolutely amazing food. Pick 

any foodie container and let your 

stomach go to heaven. Trendy cafes, 

wood fired pizzas, Fritz’s Weiners, 

kronuts... :) Yep, you heard us. Food 

of champions. And there’s great 

coffee there too. We get a little 

excited when we head here. 

Pizza Pizza, Lorne, Victoria 

Awesome Pizza takeaway. Pizzas 

don’t have to be fancy to be good. 

Simple and fresh is all you need. 

Order, head to the pub and grab a 

couple of longnecks then retire to 

wherever you are staying or just sit 

outside. Our regular when in Lorne. 

Youkis Japanese Restaurant in 

Amaroo Holiday Park, Cowes, 

Phillip Island 

Superb Japanese in... wait for it... 

Amaroo Holiday Park, which is 

where I park the Hyundai Hilton 

when in Phillip Island. I love 

Japanese, and Youkis sushi and 

sashimi is my treat when on a long 

road trip. 

The 

Galley, 

Coffs 

Harbour, NSW 

Wayne and Mary- 

Ann run The Galley and 

have a little organic garden right out 

front and make the freshest of fresh 

tasty burgers. 

The Rivermouth Café, 

Tomakin, NSW 

The food and coffee is great, the 

café has real character and the 

lady who owns and runs it is one 

of the nicest you will ever meet. 

My essential pit stop on a road trip 

down the Far South Coast of NSW. 

Dip Café, Byron Bay, NSW 

Consistency's the key here. Dip has 

been a frequent stop for breakfast 

on our regular distribution runs 

down the coast and it never ever 

disappoints. 

Anglesea General Store, Victoria 

Maids Pantry Brunchbar is a ripper. 

A superb Surf Coast stop for a 

coffee and treat or something more 

substantial. 

Trappers Bakery of Goulburn, 

NSW 

If on the island speed run down to 

Victoria this is an absolute cracker.

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OY&Sails#37-BarzOptic.indd 1 

barzoptics.com 

1/04/2016 11:11 AM 


WATERING HOLES 

Urunga 

Now it may come as 

a surprise to some 

but those who have 

read a few editions of 

Smorgasboarder would 

be aware that aside from surfing 

we don’t mind the odd beer or two. 

So with that said, the question on 

everybody’s lips we are sure, well 

those who love a beer too, is, where 

are some of our favourite watering 

holes? 

Wye Beach Hotel, 

Wye River, Victoria 

Is this Australia’s best pub? Well you 

would be hard pressed to argue, just 

look at the view. Imagine what it’s 

like having just caught a few frosties 

and then walking across the road for 

a few of another kind. Suffice to say, 

when we are passing through, we 

Harbour View Hotel, Raglan 

consider it sacrilegious to at least 

not pop in for one quick ale. 

Panhandle, Cowes, Victoria 

Why? Because it is super chilled and 

relaxed and we love going to Phillip 

Island. Everything is within walking 

distance, well the Panhandle to the 

Holiday Park anyhow and there is 

always good people there to catch 

up with over a beer. 

The Hoey Moey, 

Coffs Harbour, NSW 

Always great live music playing but 

extremely dangerous. A few beers 

on a Sunday afternoon can see 

you stay until close and delay your 

travel plans for the next day or any 

thoughts of an early morning surf. 

Railway Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW 

It is a sentimental favourite when 

visiting Byron and often the starting 

point for a long night ahead. Always 

an interesting musician playing. 

The Beach Hotel is also a lot of 

fun for people watching over a lazy 

afternoon session. 

Mallacoota Hotel, Victoria 

Just because it is so far from home 

and its always exciting to park the 

Hyundai Hilton for the night and 

race up for a counter meal and a 

few amber nectars. Tathra Hotel on 

the other side of the border is also 

special for the same reason. 

Alex Bar and Grill, Alexandra 

Headland, QLD 

Because this is where Smorgasoarder 

was conceived. 

Lorne Hotel, Victoria 

Just such a great view in a great part 

of the world. 

Ocean View Hotel, Urunga, NSW 

A grand old pub with such a good 

vibe and where we often catch up for 

a chat with master shaper Mitchell 

Rae of Outer Island Surfboards. 

Harbour View Hotel, Raglan, 

North Island, NZ 

Raglan is just such a fun town with a 

good vibe and we always have good 

night here. 

Dunedin, South Island, NZ 

A beer here means we are catching 

Carse 

up with Carse (legendary local 

shaper Graham Carse) who is always 

up for a few and there’s plenty of 

laughs to be had. And plenty of bars 

to visit so we have named the whole 

town. 

McLeod’s Pizza Barn, Waipu, 

North Island, NZ 

This is a favourite as it topped off 

one of the most memorable days of 

my life. More on this in our Most 

Memorable Experiences. 

And really, this section could go on 

for an entire magazine. There are 

so many local watering holes full of 

character throughout our wonderful 

country as well as NZ. 


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Surfboard 

ROAD TESTS 

Woody's Megafish 

Funnily enough when first asked 

to road test a few surfboards 

we explained we weren’t the 

world’s best surfers. Hell, we 

weren’t even the Sunshine Coast’s 

best surfers. Indeed, we couldn’t 

even claim to be the best surfers 

in our respective streets and pretty 

much won’t be able to claim as much 

in our own households in a year or 

two. 

You see we love to surf but we don’t 

rip. Mark occasionally rips one off. 

I rip my pants every now and again 

when I have indulged too much over 

Christmas but we certainly don’t rip 

in the surf. So whilst we are more 

than happy to surf anew style of 

board, we’re not going to be able 

to rate how it is to pull airs. We’re 

just normal everyday surfers but 

we guess that is where we struck a 

chord with many shapers. As they 

explained, everybody likes to think 

they surf like Slater but very few 

do. You guys can give an honest 

assessment of what the board is like 

for Joe or Jody Average. 

So here are a few of the memorable 

boards we have had the pleasure of 

surfing. By no means is it a complete 

list, we are after all always happy to 

try new ones hint, hint. It’s simply 

where we really liked the ride of the 

said board and the conditions were 

perfectly aligned. 


Woody’s Megafish 

This was the first board I tested and 

it still lingers in my memory. You’ve 

heard the saying “your go to board”. 

Well, it really was for me for quite 

a while. It could handle a variety of 

conditions from Sunshine Coast surf 

slop to a pounding beachie. Super 

fast, turn on a dime and strangely 

paddled on to full waves like a 10ft 

mal. You could even noseride it 

despite being only 6’6”. 

Sadhana Surfboards 

The waves on the day weren’t huge 

but were just so well formed and 

the boards we rode so perfectly 

suited to the conditions. This was a 

classic exampleof why a local shaper 

knows best. The day will be etched 

in our memories as one of the most 

enjoyable days of board testing and 

indeed surfing that we have ever 

experienced. 

Mark Rabbidge’s 

Five Finger Splade 

There is a special place in my heart 

for this board and that is why it 

is the latest addition to the Swan 

family. The design is not a novelty. 

It surfs in an all-round modern way 

without the hang-ups of modern day 

designs. Powers off the bottom as 

the fingers engage and then releases 

off the top lip like you have never 

experienced. Words can’t describe 

other than ‘utterly addictive’. 

Vampirate Grave Digger 

5’2” x 20” x 2 5/8” may sound too 

small for some but I’m 6ft and close 

to 90kgs and yet this is my favourite 

shortboard. Twin keels and a flat 

deck deliver great down-the-line 

speed and coupled with its length 

make it easy to whip around. The 

lifted shovelnose doesn’t detract 

from the boards speed but prevents 

nosediving when taking off late on 

pitching waves. 

Diggin' it... 

Sadhana Surfboards 


Diverse Sonic Pro 

Must Test 

Bushrat’s Finless Flextail 

Do you reckon you would remember 

doing your first 360 on a wave? How 

about if you managed to pull of four 

in between carving up and down the 

face of a long Moffat Beach wall. 

I was on a high for months and it 

was all done on this 5’8” finless … 

and remember, I am a Joe Average 

surfer. 

Diverse Sonic Pro Model 

This board was placed into my van 

when I was enroute to Newcastle. 

Now I will be the first to admit I 

don’t feel I can honestly assess 

performance shortboards in the 

main because they just don’t suit my 

surfing style but something about 

this board and the conditions at 

Newcastle Beach clicked. Despite 

the board being only 5’10” x 18 ¼” 

x 2 3/16” it virtually stuck to my feet 

like I was strapped in and was so 

steady underfoot. The Dynocore was 

dynamite. 

Powerboard 

Unfortunately I was out injured 

again and didn’t get the chance to 

try but the boys raved about these 

longboards they tried. Unlike other 

motorised / jet propelled surfboards 

that have come and gone Powerboard 

is powering on because they are the 

only one with a reliable, propellerbased 

propulsion system in the fin. 

If you have an injury that prevents 

you from paddling out or are keen 

to surf waves where a jetski would 

normally be required, why wouldn’t 

you consider giving this a go? 

Black Apache Mini-Simmons 

What more can I say than it’s a mini- 

Simmons designed by one of the 

guys who brought the mini-Simmons 

back into fashion six years ago. 

Some may dismiss these shapes 

but they are well suited to weak 

Sunshine Coast beachies where 

speed is required and there is no 

face to get going on a longboard. 

High Tide 9’1” Log 

This is my personal board and just 

such a great board to ride when the 

conditions suit. I have never owned 

a longboard quite like this and the 

ride is so different. I particularly like 

the way it handles with its slightly 

rounded pin tail, big 10 inch glassed 

on single fin and super flat deck. 

High Tide log 


Board Tester Angman 

on the Power Board 

Board tester Karl, Black Apache 

mini-Simmons 


Memorable 

EXPERIENCES 

Unfortunately, we don’t as yet 

own a jet nor a beachside 

condo or even a fancy car 

for that matter. Publishing 

Smorgasboarder hasn’t made us 

ridiculously wealthy and we can’t 

see that changing anytime soon, in a 

monetary sense that is, but as cliched 

as it sounds, we are richer for the 

unbelievable experiences we’ve had. 

BUILDING A BOARD FROM 

START TO FINISH 

The only true way to fully 

comprehend what goes into making 

a surfboard is by building your own 

by hand completely from start to 

scratch. We tackled this task way 

back in Issue 4 and have to say it 

was without doubt one of the most 

memorable experiences Mark and 

I have enjoyed since we began 

Smorgasboarder. The fact my mini- 

Simmons called the Stumpy Duck 

turned out to be one of the most 

incredible surfboards of all time just 

added to the buzz. Disappointingly, 

Mark’s was a dog but I guess some 

people just ooze talent and others 

struggle. 

We learnt to handshape our blanks 

with Richard Harvey down on the 

Gold Coast and then graduated to 

glassing, resin tinting, finish coating 

and polishing with Paul Carson at 

The Factory Surfboards in Moffat 

Beach. Both men were absolutely 

fantastic and extremely patient… 

with Mark. They were possibly in 

awe of my natural talent. 

THE CONTEST CONTINUES: 

MAKING ALAIAS 

If we didn’t have enough laughs 

building our foam and fibreglass 

boards our next challenge was alaias 

with the good folks at Surfing Green, 

Nic and Dave. Mark was clearly still 

in the groove from our initial board 

build and was out of the gates like 

a raging bull. Unfortunately for him 

it was to only last a day and whilst 

his shape had merit it surfed like a 

fishtail ironing board. Neptune Rising 

(out of a sea of Blue Loo – I stained 

the tip of the board with it) was a 

revelation, mainly because I realised 

that staining your board with Blue 

Loo would only see it “flush away” 

the first time you surfed it. 


Mark 

Dave 

I GO IT ALONE 

Realising he had been completely 

vanquished Mark did not join 

me on the hollow wooden board 

building course with the Rob, 

Gary and Darren from Tree to 

Sea down in Mt Eliza. Building 

these boards with the crew on 

my course was an incredible 

experience. I really enjoyed the 

comradery and banter over the 

course of the 3 days. It was a 

lot of work and quite exhausting 

but an extremely rewarding 

experience. Of course, my 

shaping finesse once again came 

to the fore when I lopped the 

nose off my board and promptly 

called it The Flathead. 

NOT TO BE OUTDONE 

Of Course Mark couldn’t leave 

things there. He had to go and 

build not one, but several of the 

coolest surf guitars out of foam 

and fibreglass, centre stringer and 

all! He did get some assistance 

however I will add from some 

of the most talented glassers in 

the surf industry. Cheat. His son 

Flynn’s recycled Hawaiian shirt as 

a plectrum guard was brilliant. 

Left: Jase from Ace Fibreglass 

shows Mark the ropes 


CURLS, PIZZA AND BEERS 

Now this is definitely one of the 

perks of publishing Smorgasboarder. 

Roger Hall of Surfline Surfboards 

in New Zealand shapes boards 

that defy belief. Over the last few 

years he’s dedicated a great deal of 

his focus to re-evolving the 1930s 

Hot Curl, bringing it into modern 

surfboard terms. The Hot Curl is a 

finless surfboard first developed in 

the 1930s before the introduction 

of fins and instead relies on a steep 

Roll/Vee bottom contour through 

the tail third to pull the tail into the 

face of the wave. Anyhow Roger has 

been refining the design, shaping 

and testing various shapes, sizes and 

styles. 

On this particular day I was 

delivering Smorgasboarder on the 

North Island and compiling stories 

for our next edition when I called 

by Roger’s factory. I was informed 

he was down at Waipu Cove doing 

some more testing of his latest 

Hot Curls and it was suggested I 

should join him. It was way too good 

an opportunity to pass up. Three 

hours or so later I was convinced 

these were the next boards for my 

quiver. Still on a high I joined Roger for a pizza 

and a few beers after at his local watering 

hole, McLeod’s Pizza Barn. Well not only 

were the pizzas superb but the place was 

a micro-brewery and with some absolute 

mouth-watering amber nectar, I was of course 

in trouble. The owners, brothers Geoff and 

Clayton Wynne were classic blokes and really 

looked after me and basically a very fun night 

unfolded which resulted in me sleeping in 

my delivery van out front. Thank you boys for 

one of the most memorable days of my whole 

entire life. 


DINING ON CRAYS ON 

A DESERTED BEACH 

It’s not every day you get to dine out 

on crayfish, let alone on a deserted 

beach with three of your best mates. 

Unfortunately the Smorgasboarder 

travel budget is not that lavish 

but on this occasion, thanks to an 

incredibly generous gentleman 

called Gus and his lovely wife 

Donna who we met in Kaikoura, 

we were travelling south towards 

Christchurch with four freshly 

caught crays and insisted were on 

the house. Here’s the excerpt from 

our 2012 All Black Edition: 

“not before long we pulled over 

at a place called Gore Bay. The 

beach was completely deserted 

– just us, dark sand and gigantic 

pieces of driftwood. We parked the 

motorhome, unpacked the outdoor 

dining table and chairs on the sand, 

reached for a couple of ice cold 

beers and our feast of crayfish. In 

the most beautiful of surrounds, we 

got to eat, drink, relax and reflect 

on just how lucky we were to be 

able to be doing this… All in all, a 

dining experience that will forever 

be etched in our memories.” 

STEPPING BACK IN TIME 

FOLLOWED BY BREAKFAST 

AT FLEUR’S 

Rising early one morning south of 

Christchurch (on this same trip) and 

heading for Dunedin we were in 

search of some breakfast. Along the 

way we stumbled upon a town called 

Oamaru and knowing nothing about 

it, felt like we had been transported 

back in time. As the sun rose we 

found ourselves driving down 

narrow streets lined with imposing 

19th century limestone buildings. 

These beautifully preserved historic 

commercial buildings were remnants 

of a formerly prosperous refrigerated 

shipping industry and were now 

home to an array of antique shops, 

restaurants, a specialist whiskey bar 

and several art galleries, none more 

impressive than Steampunk HQ, a 

way-out there gallery with a flaming 

apocalyptic steam train decorated 

with skeletonsout front. 

Aghast we left Oamaru but still with 

an empty stomach as nothing was 

open yet. It was further down the 

track we came across a small fishing 

village called Moeraki that appeared 

to have a small café near an old pier. 

We ventured inside and enquired if 

they served breakfast. Apparently 

you needed to book here several 

months in advance but instead of 

turning us away we were promptly 

sat down and served the most 

incredible breakfast we have literally 

ever had. It may have appeared 

simple but the taste was out of this 

world. 

The “little café” we had stumbled 

on was none other than Fleur’s Place 

– a gastronomical big deal owned 

and run by Fleur Sullivan. Who is 

she some might say? When world 

renowned chef Rick Stein was asked 

if he could travel anywhere in the 

world for a meal where would he 

go, his reply was Fleur’s Place. No 

doubt Fleur will now be big-noting 

that the boys from Smorgasboarder 

visited… or that they fed three 

disheveled homeless guys. 


Experiences 

TAKING THE PLUNGE 

“We would like you to swim with 

dolphins and jump out of a plane 

while you are here”, they say. Well 

we couldn’t disappoint and it was 

another few memorable experiences 

for the memory bank. Thank you 

Coffs Coast Marketing. Ahh, all in a 

days’ hard work. 

IS THAT IT? 

Hell no, there’s then bungee 

jumping (see injury section), 

our radio interview in New 

Plymouth (and beers, always 

beers), paddleboarding around 

Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu for 

the first time, Mark’s family visit to 

Hobbiton, my family visit to Japan 

and Mark and Jordie Brown’s 

Survival Course (right), where he 

unfortunately didn’t drink his own 

urine. Shall I go on? 

Jordie build a shelter 



1 

2 

INJURIES and MISHAPS 

Hard to believe you would 

dedicate an entire section to 

this topic but the last 6 years 

have been full of injuries and 

a few mishaps. Now this is Dave 

talking as Mark has no real claim to 

fame here, at least on the injury side. 

It’s possibly because he doesn’t push 

the boundaries, live life on the edge, 

never places himself in harm’s way… 

basically he’s soft. Anyway, you get 

the drift. Let’s just refer to him as 

Mark the Marshmallow from here on 

in within this section. 

So injuries… well there are two 

crackers both with sensational stories 

attached to them. So let me tell you 

all about them for the 1,000th time. 

1. Bitten by a Penguin 

Well it was Boxing Day in 2011 and 

on the Sunshine Coast we had the 

remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina 

hitting our shores. Moffat Beach 

was on song delivering some big, 

beautiful waves and having tested 

a board called the Fat Penguin in the 

days before in building swell I was 

keen to see what it could do in the 

prevailing conditions. 

Developed by Paul Cole the board is 

super heavy with all kinds of varying 

contours on the deck, bottom and 

rails. One thing is for certain though, 

it is an absolute speed machine. 

On my fourth wave that day, I took 

off and managed to perform a 

beautiful triple pike straight off the 

lip of a monster and upon entering 

the water, the Penguin, that had as 

usual miraculously sucked onto the 

wave face, continued to motor along 

without me until the nose ploughed 

at high speed straight into my thigh. 

The angry bird had managed to 

bite through my skin into the fascia 

encasing the muscle. Reaching down 

and accidentally placing 3 or 4 fingers 

into the wound, I knew it was a nasty 

nip and subsequently made the slow 

paddle out into deeper waters in the 

bay and back to shore with a nice 

slick of blood trailing behind me. You 

can hear the music can’t you? Meals 

on wheels.Anyhow back on the beach 

and a few internal and external 

stitches later I was all patched up just 


3 4 

4 6 

thankful the nibble wasn’t further up 

my thigh as I would now be singing 

soprano. 

2. How dangerous can 

bungee jumping be? 

Not that dangerous actually. It’s 

leaving the bungee jump place that’s 

really quite tricky. On a trip to the 

South Island, writing stories and 

delivering mags, I was in need of a 

bit of an adrenalin rush. Upon leaving 

Queenstown I came across the AJ 

Hackett Bungee at Kawarau Bridge, 

and I figured why not? 

Waiting my turn I promptly jumped off 

the bridge, bounced around a bit and 

was then placed back in the rubber 

ducky to take me back to shore. As I 

was about to jump out, the boat moved 

in the rapids, I mistimed my jump, put 

both arms out, one landed on the 

banks of the river and the other slid 

down between two nice big boulders. 

As my body came crashing down it 

attempted to use my arm as a crowbar 

of sorts but the boulders didn’t shift 

unfortunately. Concerned, the bungee 

jump boat guy asked if I was ok upon 

which I told him I had unfortunately 

broken my arm (I have a little bit of 

experience in this field). He informed 

me if I had I would be in agony. I let 

him know it didn’t tickle, and displayed 

my right forearm that was now in the 

shape of a Z. 

3. Others 

Class 'A' 

CLUMSY 

KNOBS 

Through the course of that same year 

I also managed to break my hand, 

break my left foot, right foot and 

tear the medial ligaments in both my 

left and right knees but it was all in 

the name of fun. During these times 

I could often be heard to be singing 

Monty Python’s “Always look on the 

Bright Side of Life”. 

4. Marshmallow Mark’s 

Token Injury 

I would feel bad to leave Mark 

entirely out of this segment so here’s 

a shot of a “fin chop” he supposedly 

suffered to his hand. It kind of looks 

more like a gardening injury or 

perhaps a self-inflicted wound from 

a knitting needle. A savage, savage 

fleshwound nonetheless. 

5. That Sinking Feeling 

One thing Marshmallow Mark 

can be proud of is the fact he is a 

moron. Having received a beautiful 

recycled wooden pallet surfboard for 

his 40th birthday from a very caring 

and wonderful business partner, he 

took it out one day without the bung 

screwed in. Minutes later as he sat 

out the back he noted the board was 

sitting a little lower than usual in 

the water and there was a strange 

gurgling sound. That would be the 

bung required for a hollow wooden 

surfboard you tool. Luckily he made 

it back to shore with his waterlogged 

wooden pallet and later set about the 

timely process of removing all the 

moisture from within it. 

6. A chip off the old block 

Last but not least we have an entry 

from our resident gear tester Phoebe 

Swan, my darling daughter. Upon 

hitting the slopes of Nozawa Onsen 

on our first day in the snow in Japan 

she came a cropper on her snowboard 

and broke her wrist. I am so proud of 

you Phoebe. To her credit Phoebes 

continued to snowboard throughout 

the next two weeks with her newly 

made wrist guard (which some may 

refer to as an arm cast). 


“I took the one less travelled by, And 

that has made all the difference.” 

It’s a famous line from the poem 

The Road Not Taken by Robert 

Frost. When travelling the road 

of life we are presented with 

different choices. Each road offers 

up an opportunity to experience new 

things and meet different people. 

Each path is vastly different to the 

other. 

When starting Smorgasboarder we 

began our own journey on A path, 

for us, less travelled, one we were 

not accustomed to. We left behind 

the suit and tie and trappings of 

corporate life to sleep in a delivery 

van in sleepy little coastal town 

holiday parks. We got off the beaten 

track and met some incredibly 


Fascinating 

PEOPLE 

INTERVIEWS 

fascinating people, genuine people 

who, had we continued on our former 

path through the corporate world we 

more than likely would never have 

met. Our lives are richer for choosing 

this path with Smorgasboarder, And 

that has made all the difference. 

Director / Cinematographer / 

Photographer, Greg Huglin 

He has shot world famous swimwear 

models in bikinis in exotic locations 

around the world, worked with some 

of the best fashion photographers 

in New York, captured footage 

of Great White Sharks used in 

countless wildlife documentaries 

namely by National Geographic and 

the Discovery Channel, filmed and 

produced a few of his own such as 

Surfing Dolphins, his footage used in 

Academy Award-winning ones such

as The Cove, produced several of my 

favourite surf movies such as Shark 

Park and worked with the likes of 

George Greenough and Alby Falzon. 

Greg Huglin has seemingly down it 

all and was an absolute gentleman 

to chat with. Greg featured in our 

January edition in 2015 and my 

interview with him remains one of 

my all-time favourites. 

Artist, kneeboard shaper, 

alchemist of all things carbon 

fibre, fibreglass and resin, 

Neal Cameron 

Truth be told I didn’t know what to 

think when I first met Neal. Imagine 

arriving at dusk to a vacant lot 

littered with garbage out back of 

Maroubra for an interview. What I 

found was a bloke I would happily 

catch up with every single time I 

pass through if we weren’t always 

on such a tight production deadline. 

Neal is as genuine as they come, 

a true character and one hell of a 

funny bastard with my sense of 

humour. This was the intro to our 

interview back in 2012. “He is a mad 

scientist – a creator of the weird and 

wonderful. He lives on a bus on a 

vacant lot amongst derelict buildings 

on the outskirts of Maroubra. 

The ladies seem to like him. He 

invents. He builds. He deconstructs 

and repurposes. He’s insightful, 

interesting and downright funny. And 

– considering his particular niche 

in the surfing family – he has the 

perfect name: Neal. So who exactly 

is he? Join us on a sci-fi journey into 

the world of Neal Cameron.” Does it 

sum up the man? Not even close. It 

was a ripper interview. 

Surfboard Collector and Owner 

of Noosa Underground Surf, 

Andre ‘Ondi’ Marsaus 

I have always been accused by my 

wife of owning more boards than 

anyone else she has ever known. 

When Katie saw this edition I could 

finally prove to her my collection 

was a mere drop in the ocean 

by comparison to serious board 

collectors like Ondi Marsaus. Aside 

from collecting rare and beautiful 

boards he is the font of knowledge 

for next to anything to do with surfing 

and also a former world class chef. 

Ondi is one interesting character 

with one hell of an interesting board 

collection that is always growing. 

Incidentally it was Ondi that 

introduced me to Greg Huglin. 

Surfboard shaper, Jed Done 

Mark first met Jed briefly at a Fish 

Fry meet in Currumbin and a few 

months later insisted we catch up 

with him when we were travelling 

down the Far South Coast of NSW. 



You see, he made these incredible 

flextail surfboards and we are 

always intrigued by those who push 

the boundaries of board design. We 

were informed however that Jed 

was a little way out of town. You 

can imagine our surprise when we 

turned off the highway and travelled 

along a winding dirt road before 

zigzagging through dense bushland 

until we came upon a clearing where 

a house in the shape of a giant 

10-metre wooden wave stood. The 

house had been built by Jed near 

completely on his own and by hand. 

If that wasn’t enough, Jed had also 

constructed his own unique and quite 

extensive surfboard factory on his 

property where he crafted his other 

works of art, his beautiful flextail 

surfboards. Incidentally, it was Jed 

who introduced us to Neal Cameron.

Fascinating 

PEOPLE 

Surfboard shaper, 

Ashley Lloyd Thompson 

Actor, Ben Oxenbould 

Ben won critical acclaim for his 

chilling performance as psychotic 

surfing legend ‘Bull’ in the Australian 

thriller Caught Inside. What won us 

over however was how down-toearth 

he was when we interviewed 

him for Smorgasboarder. The 

interview ran on for a couple of hours 

and it felt like you were chatting to 

a mate about their latest work gig. 

I promised to catch up in person 

when I next passed through Sydney’s 

Northern Beaches. Ben if you are 

reading this edition let me know if 

you are still up for that beer? What 

also brought great delight was Ben’s 

classic line in Caught Inside. I still 

use it at work whenever anyone is 

on my case: “What? Are you gonna 

have a go at the Bull, are you?” 

96 

W O M A N ' S W O R K 

DESPITE THE INFLUX of females taking to the waves and our success in the field of competitive women’s surfing, surfboard shaping has remained the exclusive 

domain of men, at least in this country in a commercial sense anyhow. Three young Californian ladies however have managed to break into the male dominated world 

of surfboard manufacturing. Ashley Lloyd Thompson (nee Lloyd), Christine Brailsford and Kelly Connolly have already made a name for themselves for the stunning 

sleds they create. We caught up with both Ashley and Christine to discuss their passion for the art of handcrafting surfboards. WORDS: DAVE SWAN 

ASHLEY LLOYD 

THOMPSON 

HAVING first came across Ashley’s 

boards even before we started 

SMORGASBOARDER, I was instantly 

blown away by the craftsmanship. 

From that moment on I wanted to 

know more about this amazingly 

talented lady and how she came to 

enter such a male dominated industry. 

Ashley Lloyd - now Lloyd Thompson 

- having married her equally talented 

surfer/musician partner Chris 

Thompson, first learnt to surf in 

Malibu. Her mum loved the beach and 

viewed it as the perfect playground 

for her kids. Her favourite spot was 

Paradise Cove in Malibu. A young 

Ashley, having made her fair share of 

sandcastles and the like eventually 

followed her older brother, Tim, into 

the ocean and began to surf. Ashley 

became obsessed, started competing 

at age 15 and by the time she was 

SMORGASBOARDER | DEEP WINTER 2014 

July2014_Smorgas_Lady shapers.indd 96 

20, was ranked amongst the world’s 

top ten women longboarders. This is 

where her adventure into the world 

of shaping also began back in 2002. 

Since then she's transformed a parttime 

hobby into a full-time career. 

Ashley thought “it would be cool to 

shape a surfboard” but didn’t think 

it possible to make a career out of it 

until her “silver-haired, kind-spirited 

and solemn surfing pal,” Danny 

Tarampi, asked Ashley one day if 

she would be interested in learning 

the art of shaping. In the years 

that followed she refined her skills, 

learning to not only “mow foam” but 

glass, sand and finish. In 2005, whilst 

studying music at Santa Barbara 

City College, Bing Surfboards’ head 

shaper, Matt Calvani, recognised her 

talent and not only signed her as a 

team rider but as a shaper with her 

own signature model. 

Ashley later moved north to the super 

cool surf town of Santa Cruz where 

she designed another Bing model, 

Dear & Yonder, named after the film 

of the same name before establishing 

her own custom surfboard label, 

Ashley Lloyd Surfboards. Today 

Ashley divides her time between 

shaping, surf instruction and playing 

music with her husband in their band 

The Shapes. 

MUSIC, SURFING, SHAPING… 

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE? 

When I was about 20 I really started 

playing guitar a lot and writing songs. 

The more I played and started playing 

with other people, the more and more 

I enjoyed it. Music has just become 

another great artistic outlet for me. 

I SEE YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING 

A FAIR FEW GIGS AROUND YOUR 

LOCAL AREA... 

Yes, its a blast playing with The 

Shapes! The band was formed by my 

husband and I. He's a great songwriter, 

and it feels like something special 

when we make music together and 

get to share it with others. We do play 

mostly locally, but would love to go on 

a broader tour someday. 

YOU'RE VENTURING INTO HIGH 

PERFORMANCE SHORTBOARDS 

AS WELL? 

I love shaping anything. The majority 

of the boards I make are longboards 

and eggs, but I love shaping 

everything. I now have a variety of 

models in most shapes and sizes, and 

continue to keep the box open to new 

ideas or shapes that are requested. 

WHAT AREAS OF DESIGN AND 

CONSTRUCTION HAVE YOU 

FOCUSED ON OF LATE? (I LOVED 

THE LOOK OF THE FINLESS... ) 

A ton of people seem to order eggs 

lately. I have a pretty wide eggish 

longboard called the AAA.. shorter 

than your average longboard, and 

wider than the average egg.. it tends 

to be a cozy medium for folks to enjoy 

in a variety of conditions. Also, I have 

a "rectangle space ship"... based 

off of the mini Simmons design. 

The finless board is a continuous 

experiment upon the request of my 

husband who is also my main test 

pilot for new designs. 

Photo: Tom Vos 

19/06/2014 10:40 pm 

DEEP WINTER 2014 | SMORGASBOARDER 97 

GEAR: SHAPING 

To the best of my knowledge Ashley 

was one of, if not the first woman 

to take up surfboard shaping in a 

professional sense and I had the 

pleasure of interviewing her in our 

Ladies Edition back in 2014. I had 

admired Ashley’s boards from afar 

well before Smorgasboarder began. 

When the perfect opportunity arose 

with this specially themed edition, I 

sought her out over in Santa Cruz and 

made contact. The interview was also 

quite special for me as I hoped it would 

provide inspiration to my own two 

daughters to be determined in pursuing 

what you are passionate about. 

This is far from a complete list 

on interesting people we have 

interviewed. The list goes on and 

on; revered surfboard shapers and 

true legends of the surf industry such 

as Geoff McCoy, Mark Rabbidge and 

Mitchell Rae, free thinking shapers 

such Mick Mackie, Glenn Cat Collins 

and Paul Cole, musicians such as 

Mat McHugh of the Beautiful Girls, 

Ash Grunwald and Isaac Paddon, 

architects, chefs, doctors, artists 

and everyday people who have just 

had an incredible story to tell. It 

really has been a pleasure meeting 

all of these people and getting the 

opportunity to interview them. 

July2014_Smorgas_Lady shapers.indd 97 

19/06/2014 10:40 pm 


2 

It was always our intention for 

Smorgasboarder to serve as more 

than a pretty picture book. We 

desired from the outset to create 

a publication of substance that was 

both engaging and informative. 

To this end we set out to discuss 

topics relevant to surfers that would 

encourage debate and perhaps even 

ruffle a few feathers in the interest 

of stimulating people to express their 

views and form their own opinions. 

Some of the issues we covered we 

are most proud of include: 

CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS 

SHARKS 

Rather than sensationalise such a 

sensitive topic, on two occasions, 

once in 2011 and again last Spring 

in 2015, we sought to present both 

sides of the argument in relation to 

whether or not we indeed have a 

“shark issue” and what was the best 

course in addressing the situation. 

The debate still rages on. 

WHALES 

In our first ever edition we put it to 

our readers to be better stewards 

of the environment with a very 

confronting piece on the plight of 

whales. We questioned whether it 

was acceptable for the world to stand 

by and watch whales be slaughtered 

by all manner of inhumane practices, 

or step forward into an era where 

conservation really matters. 

SUPS 

At this point in time paddleboarders 

had just come onto the scene. 

Surfers didn’t quite know how to 


PADDLEBOARDS? 

LET'S GET SERIOUS 

view these street-sweepers of the 

sea. We investigated whether SUPs 

were simply a passing fad or would 

rapidly multiply and take over our 

oceans. We questioned whether 

they were indeed “real surfers” or if 

they were merely mopping up a spill 

in aisle seven. 

OVERSEAS SURFBOARD 

PRODUCTION 

Around the same time, there were 

significant winds of change within 

the surfboard manufacturing 

industry. Boards were just starting 

to be produced on mass overseas 

and the first wave of cheap imported 

shooters were hitting our shores. 

Rather than espouse our own views 

from on high as if we were some allknowing 

authority on surfboard craft 

and global economics, we shared the 

views of various people within the 

industry on either side of the fence. 

SALT OF THE EARTH 

Here we questioned the validity of 

the numerous desalination plants 

that were popping up along our 

coastline as a result of Eastern 

Australia’s “once in a hundred 

year drought” and enquired why it 

seemed our politicians were more 

inclined towards a glass of treated 

seawater rather than a sparkling 

glass of fresh rainwater. 

ONE FOR THE LADIES 

Well who would have thought 

dedicating an entire edition to our 

surfing sisters would have caused 

such a stir. As the proud fathers 

of daughters we were extremely 

chuffed with this edition. There are 

so many fascinating female surfers 

whose stories needed to be told. 

We hope all of our respective kids 

and wives fondly look back on this 

edition in due course and are equally 

proud of what we achieved. 

THE LAST BASTION 

As a grassroots community surf mag 

we took up the fight for a grassroots 

surf community in Mallacoota 

fighting to save their beloved 

local break from being destroyed 

by a 130m breakwall to be built 

smack bang in the middle of it. We 

unfortunately weren’t successful 

in our support of the campaign and 

haven’t seen the point break since 

when passing through on our regular 

road trips delivering the mag. 

FIGHT FOR KANGAROO ISLAND 

Again we took the stand for a local 

surf community who was concerned 

with their island home being overrun 

by an ASP event scheduled to be 

held in Vivonne Bay and the potential 

threat to endangered fauna and the 

pristine natural habitat. Additionally, 

we were concerned with the fact 

that surfing is something that usually 

binds us and unites rather than 

divides communities, as it was in 

this instance. 

IN-DEPTH 

Guaranteed 

DEBATE 


1 

HOLY SMOKIN' 

Cardboard Coconuts 

We have seen it all; from 

Catamacars (half dune 

buggy, half catamaran ) 

to surfboards made out 

of marijuana (not with), others with 

cardboard, some with coconuts and 

even a few from old fence palings 

right through to absolute aweinspiring 

collaborations between 

master shapers and immensely 

talented artists. This is the heart 

and soul of Smorgasboarder;readers 

who are obsessed with surfboards 

and surfboard design; backyard 

enthusiasts through to the most 

highly revered surfboard artisans. 

So proud of their creations they 

regularly send pictures through to 

us to marvel at. On any given week 

our email inbox receives two or three 

“submissions” which then find their 

way into this illustrious magazine you 

are reading now. True to our name 

“Smorgasboarder” we celebrate all 

creatures great and small. Here’s a 

few of our favourites: 

1. COCONUT SURFBOARD 

Sunshine Coast local Damon Bereziat 

is nuts, quite frankl,y and his coconut 

board is proof. His idea was born 20 

years ago when he saw coconut wood 

floating in a lagoon in PNG. Lots of 

people told him to forget it including 

our good mate and accomplished 

shaper Paul Carson who remarked, 

“It won’t work Damon. It’s too heavy. 

You’re a tripper” but Damo persisted 

nonetheless. He eventually talked 

Paul around, or maybe wore him 

down, and Damo now has a “lovely 

bunch of coconuts” (sing it)… Well 

one coconut actually, but a very nice 

looking thruster at that. 

2. CARD – BOARD 

Inspired by Mike Sheldrake’s 

cardboard surfboard designs we 

featured in our Christmas 2014 

edition, Smorgasboarder reader 

Andrew Hallett from southern 

Victoria created this ripper mini- 

Simmons. We love it. I mean, I 

really want it but don’t think he 

will be passing it on any time soon. 

Says Andrew, “I have not made the 

perfect board, just like I don’t surf 

the perfect wave that exists only in 

my head. But I like that.” 


Card Board 

2 

Hand Made 

MAGIC 

3 

3. FENCE PALING PROJECT 

Rather than fix an old paling fence that had blown over in a storm 

Andrew Wells from Grown Surfboards decided to transform the Red 

Gum into a classic pintail single-fin that apparently “holds a nice line 

in the pocket” when the swell is on. Looks friggin' incredible too! 


6 

4 

4. SMOKIN’ HOT 

Our next favourite project is one big 

doobie. These days boards are being 

fashioned out of all kinds of natural 

material, which is fantastic news for 

the planet. This little beauty by alaia 

enthusiast Adam Bell was fashioned 

from of all things, medicinal 

marijuana plants. Painstakingly 

whittled down and glued together, bit 

by bit, it was primed for one smoking 

hot surf. 

5. BLACK MAGIC 

Possibly one of the most talked about 

boards we have ever featured in 

Smorgasboarder is the collaboration 

between master shaper Mitchell 

Rae and Alby Falzon, a project called 

Buddha Stix that has taken surfboard 

design and artistry to a whole new 

level. Bali inspired gold leaf, hand 

drawn and applied to the bottom and 

rails combined with a full carbon fibre 

flex tail, V2Flex, deep concaves, cross 

linked epoxy backbone resin, no wax 

deck… your mind just boggles. The 

boys have truly conjured up some 

wicked black magic. 


Must Test 

7 

Awesome 

made from mushrooms. It was 

without doubt one of the most 

fascinating chats we have had in the 

past six years. Agricultural waste is 

inoculated with Mycelium (mushroom 

roots) and the blank literally ‘grows’ 

into its chosen shape. It is ground 

breaking work indeed and a step in 

the right direction to reducing landfill. 

8 

5 

6. MAGIC 

MUSHROOMS 

A project of an altogether different 

sort is the effort by a couple of 

scientists from New York who, 

spurred on by a growing number of 

environmentally conscious surfers, 

have developed a surfboard blank 

7. WAVEGARDEN 

Another mind-blowing project of 

sorts that we are extremely 

keen to put through some 

rigorous testing is 

Wavegarden’s artificial 

wave pool. We were 

amazed by how 

far man-made 

wave technology 

had progressed in 

our 20-page article 

featured back in our Spring 2014 

edition. Gliding down a couple of 

peelers at their Spanish test site in 

the foothills behind San Sebastian 

looks like a hell of a lot of fun. 

8. CUBBY HOUSE 

Last but not least, what to do with all 

the shipping pallets Smorgasboarder 

is delivered on each edition? The 

answer is one of the most memorable 

family bonding projects ever – a 

cubby-house-come-surfboardstorage-shed. 

My son Sambo 

pictured here on the tools. 


SURF ART 

Creativity is a more than an undercurrent 

in surfing culture... Like Richard Harvey 

exaplined when Dave and I shaped our 

first boards under his guidance, the flow 

of energy is the same in surfing, shaping 

boards and in art. 

We've met and spoken to so many creative 

people through Smorgasboarder it would be 

impossible to name them all, so here are 

some of our highlights. 

Jordie and Tiph 

Husband and wife team Jordie Brown and 

Tiphane de Fleurette always amaze us with 

the extar finish they add to Jordie's High 

Tide surfboads 


Kym Nagler (R.I.P.) 

This man, with his tongue most 

firmly planted in cheek, brought a 

level of fun to his surf art that not too 

many other can boast. 

His cheerful disposition and 

encyclopaedic knowledge of South 

Australian music was always a 

pleasure. Kym not only brightened 

Smorgasboarder's pages, he also 

brightened mine, and many other's 

lives. Like all the good ones, he was 

taken too soon. He is sorely missed, 

as was clear in the turnout for his 

memorial. 

John White, Kym's best mate, had 

some better words than me: 

"The South Australian surf 

community lost one of its great 

characters in April due to illness. 

Kym Nagler (Also known as Akymbo 

or Von Nagler) will be greatly missed 

by all who knew him through surfing, 

art and music. His popularity was 

such that his funeral was attended 

by about 400 people gathering to 

show their respect. A Wake was 

held afterwards at the local RSL. 

A Paddle Out was held on June 4th 

and was attended by about 100 local 

surfers, family and friends at his 

favourite surf spot – “3 Poles” on 

Adelaide's Mid Coast. A very special 

day, perfect weather and even a 2-3 

foot glassy swell rolling in. 

Kym was a true gentleman in the 

water, never hassling and spending 

as much time socialising as catching 

waves. He would paddle out on 

anything from a 10 foot Mal to a 6 

foot seventies twin fin – it was just 

about having fun. 

His artwork and unique surf inspired 

furniture had a style of its own, a 

little bit kooky and very individual – 

just like the man himself. 

Sadly missed by all 

RIP Kym Nagler 8/8/1958 – 20/4/16" 

Top: Kym and his art. 

Above: The Knuckle Dragger 

Right: Kym's Memorial. 

Photo: Jennifer White 


INSIDE: SURF-INSPIRED ART AND ARTISTS | SURF TRAVEL IN INDONESIA | THE LATEST SURFBOARD DESIGNS | INFLATABLE SUP TEST 

Fieldey 

What can we say? Simply one of 

the most prolific and talented surf 

artists out there, Fieldey was not 

only gracious with her time for an 

interview, she even agreed to do a 

design for a Smorgasboarder shirt, 

which is a real retro cracker.' 

№ 33 

- SUMMER- 


Joe Stark 

An accidental discovery of a 

sculpture studio in a shed in Ballina 

led to an unplanned chat and a really 

fun interview with a truly talented 

and very out-there artist, Joe Stark. 

Not only does he make amazing 

creation out of metal, he also loves 

single fins... 

SURF 

+ART 

FIELDEY JIMMY WAGS | OWEN CAVANAGH | CRAIG BAIRD... AND MORE! 

BRETT MARTIN | NEAL CAMERON | CHRIS GARRETT | CURL 

LACHLAN OLIVE | KYM NAGLER | TONY OGLE | SCOTT CHRISTENSEN 

Jan2016_Smorgas_001.indd 1 2/02/2016 10:23 pm 

Fieldey 

Joe Stark 

Ralph Riddell 

A long-time supporter of the mag, 

Ralph's passion is creating foam and 

resin art creations, using his years 

of surfboard building skill to wow 

punters and art competition judges 

alike. Even better, he's always up 

for a chat, so we can easily spend 

a while at his workshop in Tweed 

Heads. 


Brett Martin 

Curl and 

Barry's 25% 

of cover 

fame... 

Ralph Riddell 

Brett Martin 

Brett's another surf-mad sculptor that truly 

blew us away, Brett Martin's metal sharks 

alone are enough to convince anyone of the 

man's insane amounts of talent. 

Curl 

Our very own cartoon guru that churns out 

Aloha Barry every edition always has us in 

stitches. Whether it's the off-colour humour 

of Barry, or dry observations of daily life 

delivered in character sketches for Knobs 

Surf Wax, this PI gent is all comedy. 


2 

3 

SURF SHOPS 

We have just about talked 

all things surf from 

breaks to boards to 

our most memorable 

road trips but what about surf shops, 

the very places from which our surf 

culture emanated? I think through the 

course of time we have visited over 

500 of them along the east coast of 

Australia and throughout the north 

and South Island of New Zealand. But 

who’s to say who’s shop is best. It all 

depends on what you are looking for 

doesn’t it? What appeals to one may 

not appeal to another. It certainly isn’t 

our place to decree the greatest. For 

starters, we haven’t yet had the good 


fortune of a surfing road trip through 

South Australia or around Tasmania. 

What we can speak of however is the 

most memorable surf stores we have 

come across by way of either their 

unique appeal, the products they 

sell or indeed the characters behind 

the counter. So here are our most 

memorable. 

1. Goodtime 

Why? It is the surf shop I frequented 

when I was a kid and the lady who ran 

it then still runs it now; the longest 

serving surf retailer in the country, 

Surfing Hall of Fame recipient Gail 

1

4 5 6 

7 8 

Austin. Goodtime is an Australian 

institution. It has been operating for 

some 45 years now, longer than any 

other. I have an enormous amount of 

respect for Gail and the team and the 

shop is always chock-a-block with 

every imaginable bit if surf gear. 

2. Natural Necessity 

Most who read our last edition 

know of the remarkable story behind 

Natural Necessity and its founder 

Kent Ladkin. As I said in that feature, 

the first time I saw this store I was 

completely gob-smacked with the 

size of it particularly considering 

where it was; this sleepy little 

coastal town called Gerringong. The 

store is cavernous with a huge range 

of hardware, clothing, swimwear, 

skate and snow gear. 

3. Zak Surfboards 

We love this guy. We love this guy. He 

has supported us from the beginning 

and has believed in us even when 

the surf gear sales and media reps 

of the time ridiculed us and claimed 

we wouldn’t last two editions. More 

importantly he has arguably the 

best surf shop in the entire city of 

Melbourne, in our opinion. His range 

is huge, the service superb and what 

couldn’t be cooler than a surf shop in 

an old pub. 

4. Anglesea Surf Centre 

I first came across Bruce Little’s 

store when I started dating my 

future wife. We used to go down 

to the Surf Coast regularly. He’s 

built a remarkable business full of 

character specialising in a massive 

range of second hand boards. Some 

are real finds in terms of their price 

and others just unique, plus there are 

some cracker vintage boards hanging 

from the ceiling. 

5. Noosa Underground Surf 

This shop is very cool with a great 

range of gear but what makes it 

unique is the guy behind the counter. 

Ondi Marsaus is our resident Surf 

Sage for Smorgasboarder and his 

knowledge of all things surf and 

indeed surfboards is nothing short 

of incredible. Ondi buys and sells 

vintage boards along with a very 

select range of quality shortboards 

through to longboards. 

6. Sadhana 

Unique because we have come 

across no other store like it. Exquisite 

handshaped surfboards, some of the 

best we have ever seen, or tested, 

and an eclectic range of handcrafted 

gear, gifts, vinyl music and apparel. 

7. NZ Shred 

Its unique because it is the only surf 

store we stock that is nowhere near 

the ocean. The nearest surf break is 

some 3-4 hours away. With that said 

it is run by two mad snowboarder/ 

surfers who have a love for all things 

surf, snow and paddleboarding and 

just so happen to be top notch blokes. 

8. Island Surfboards 

Two stores in one of the most 

appealing coastal communities both 

run by the same family that started 

Island back in 1969. Matt Ryan, the 

founder, still works in their local surf 

school, which just so happens to be 

the largest in the country. Indeed 

all the family are involved in the 

stores, including son Sandy who is 

the craziest big wave charger we 

have ever met, yet such a softly 

spoken gentlemen. Island still shape 

their own boards out back of the 

Cowes store and their showroom of 

performance shortboards through to 

longboards, retro inspired shapes 

and kneeboards is massive. 


Kent Saunders presents the 1984 

Surf Off trophy to Glen Kelly 

Dave Cram, 1993 (Photo by Slim) 

Greg Puglisi, David Lindburg, 

Steven Dair 1983 surf off 

Speaking of memorable surf 

shops leads me to Southern 

Man in Ulladulla on the South 

Coast of New South Wales 

and a gentleman by the name of Kent 

Saunders. In life you don’t easily 

forget those people who first gave you 

a start, whether it was a sports coach, 

a teacher, an employer or someone 

who had belief in what you were 

trying to achieve and the courage to 

back you. Kent Saunders is one such 

person and Southern Man was the 

very first surf shop we profiled way 

back in issue #1 of Smorgasboarder 

in 2010. Whenever his name comes 

up in conversation in our travels since 

we fondly recall his support back then 

and indeed throughout our history 

to date. 

Kent’s support for our fledgling 

publication however was not at all 

out of character. He and his wife 

Juanita have always endeavoured 

to support surfing’s grassroots. Over 

the past 40+ years, Southern Man 

has sponsored many up-and-coming 

surfers along with the Mollymook 

Surf Club as well as hundreds of 

local sporting teams, from 

soccer and cricket 

to rugby league. 

Individual surfers 

who have gained a 

helping hand from 

Southern Man through 

the years include the likes 

of Glenn Kelly, Adam Boland, 

Aaron McKenzie, Graeme and Brad 

Parsons, Steve Dair, John Gillies, 

Nathan Marks and Jason Evans. 

Today Southern Man continues their 

support of local surfers such as Scott 

‘Whippy’ Dennis, Chad Elkins and 

SOUTHERN MAN 

Sean Mawson, along with Beau, 

Ben and Keira Buckpitt. The store 

has also been an supporter of the 

Ulladulla Boardriders Club, Ulladulla 

Bodyboarders Club, Mollymook 

Longboarders and the Disabled 

Surfers Association as well as a host 

of charitable initiatives with 

links back to the surfing 

community. Kent and 

Juanita simply want to 

give back to the local 

community that has 

supported their family 

surf store. 

Southern Man today however is far 

from a little family store. From humble 

beginnings as a small surf shop and 

jeanery way back in 1974 the business 

grew and grew in the early ‘80s as 

Australia’s surf culture boomed. This 

necessitated a larger store being 

built in 1984. Several renovations and 

extensions later they had outgrown 

that store and in 2012 moved across 

the Princes Highway to premises 

twice the size of their old store. Said 

Kent, “When Woolies was developing 

the new complex, we decided to work 

with them to design a modern, bright 

shop with access from the shopping 

centre and the highway.” 

The new Southern Man Surf Shop 

was awarded the Fit-out of the Year 

title at the 2013 Australian Surf 

Industry Awards and now houses 

over 10,000 products and 100 brands 

which include the likes of Billabong, 

Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Volcom, Rusty, 

Nixon, Von Zipper, Element and 

Tigerlily together with many other 

brands that are more unique and 

harder to find online. Kent elaborated 

on their range. 


“We carry a large selection of surf 

accessories, wetsuits, shoes and 

skate gear and are particularly 

proud of the surf fashion side of our 

business that sees new styles arrive 

in store every six weeks. Our guys 

gear includes Tees, Boardshorts, 

Walkshorts, Singlets, Jeans, Jackets, 

Hats, Caps, Beanies, Watches, 

Sunglasses, Backpacks, Footwear 

Belts and much more. Our girls range 

includes Swimwear, Bikinis, Tees, 

Singlets, Dresses, Boardshorts, 

Jeans, Skirts, Handbags, Thongs 

and Shoes together with all the key 

necessities. There is also a kids and 

toddlers range, with swimwear, tops, 

rash vests and shoes. 

“However, we don’t only pride 

ourselves on our strong range. Our 

customer service is also part of the 

reason we have retained such a 

loyal clientele. It is important for our 

staff to be friendly but to also know 

their product. Each member of our 

team attend training workshops in 

merchandising to ensure the shop 

remains fresh, bright and current.” 

Their three sons, Ben, Tim and 

Martyn, helped run the shop in their 

teenage years and whilst Ben now 

lives in Canberra with a young family 

of his own, Tim manages Southern 

Man while Marty and his partner 

Danielle Evans have taken ownership 

of the family’s Rip Curl shop at the 

top of town. 

Sam Anderson, Natasha Tracey and a 

host of casuals, work alongside Tim, 

Kent and Juanita at Southern Man. 

Taylor Wickes and Perry Mason - who 

has been with the company since 

1992 - work with Marty and Danielle 

at the new Rip Curl shop. 

A great deal of time and energy 

has clearly been committed into 

developing their business and it is so 

pleasing from our perspective to see 

it continue to grow. 

We are forever grateful for 

Kent and his family’s support of 

Smorgasboarder from the very early 

days and only hope our readers 

continue to support them. After all, 

businesses like Southern Man are 

the lifeblood of our publication and 

without their backing we would 

not exist. Southern Man for us 

brings back very fond memories and 

hopefully for many years to come. 


LAUGHS 

Whilst there has been a 

lot of hard work since 

we started there has 

been plenty of good 

times and laughs to be had. Here’s a 

few that bring a chuckle every time 

we revisit them. They are timeless. 

Helmet’s Stack 

Quite possibly the most famous surf 

sequence of all time. The fact he 

wears a helmet, ear plugs, paddle 

gloves and booties at all times, all 

that gear didn’t protect him from his 

infamous nosedive that graced our 

pages in Issue 5, 2011. 

laugh my eyes near close up. When 

Mark put it in the car CD player as we 

were heading down to Victoria and 

Sax Man came on, featuring Jack 

Black... I was driving near blind and 

almost ran the car off down a deep 

ravine. 

Craft Beer Judges 

If we ever found our calling this was 

it. Invited to be guest beer judges at 

Nelson’s Marchfest – a celebration 

of New Zealand’s boutique brewing 

culture – we were bleary-eyed with 

such an honour being bestowed upon 

us and quite literally throughout the 

whole entire proceedings. My spot as 

a guest wet t-shirt judge at Cheeky 

Monkeys in Byron Bay did come close 

however (I am after all only human). 

Big Jim Kill Ahoale 

Curl’s Aloha Barry clearly appeals to 

our sense of humour but this has to 

be one of his all-time greatest. 

The Lonely Island 

Their INCREDIBAD CD quite literally 

nearly killed us. When I smile or 


Cowboys 

and an 

Indian 

Catching up 

with Jesse 

Watson of 

Black Apache 

Surfboards always entails plenty of 

laughs. The quips and cheap shots 

flow thick and fast. In our first indepth 

interview with Jesse he pulled 

off one of the greatest quotes in 

surfing history when quizzed about 

clients who request he shape a fun 

board: “I tell them, you want a minimal 

like you want a punch in the face 

with the lights off.” 

World Championship 

of Crap Surfing 

Once in a while a competitive surf 

event comes along that truly stands 

out as a celebration of unique skill 

and forward-thinking judging criteria 

and this inaugural event held in 

Cornwall in 2011 that we featured in 

our Christmas Edition that same year 

certainly had us rolling with tears of 

laughter. 


SURF-O-LUXE 

Surfboard foam & fibreglass guitars 

Loaded 

with 

CUSTOM GUITARS 

Custom GuitArt from the Sunshine Coast. ` www.facebook.com/marcoolaguitars 

Photo: John Richardson

Unlike your wife/husband/partner/mum/kids/boss... 

We care what you think... 

so Take part in the 


READER SURVEY2016 

WIN! 

and 

ONE OF 60 prizes 

THE FIRST TEN people to complete it score 

KNOBS SURF WAX gear including a t-shirt, stickers and blocks of wax! 

THE NEXT 50 

each score a block of KNOBS SURF WAX and sticker! 

So that no state (including the offshore state of NZ, of 

course) is not disadvantaged by delivery times, 

THE LINk to the SURVEY WILL BE 

released ON the SMORGASBOARDER 

FACEBOOK PAGE AT a RANDOM date 

between december and january.... 

Make sure you’ve liked the page to be ready to enter! 

surfknobs.com.au 

XMAS 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER

94 


SMORGASBOARDER


WHAT A SHOT! 

GEAR: BOARDS 

Some Southern Comfort... Joe Brayford at Bullies on his Mr Damage surfboard by Mark Benson. 

Photo kindly supplied by Andy Alford @ PHOTOGRAFFIX 

96 



SHAPER’S PROMOTION 

GEAR: BOARDS 

6’4” x 20” x 2 ¾” 

ROUND TAIL 

SINGLE FIN 

Custom handshape 

by Mitchell Rae 

“A classic shape, based on 

what I was shaping and riding 

myself in the late ‘60s, early 

‘70s with some refinements. 

Single to double concave 

with medium rails, flattish 

deck, tucked under edge right 

through and hard edged tail 

rail. Fitted with an 8”fin box. 

Gold cosmic “Om” for good 

vibrations and OI logos. Hand 

cut half-inch cedar stringer, 

low rocker and handshaped 

in the time honoured way. 

Like watching Morning of the 

Earth, picking one of these up 

makes you want to pull on your 

boardshorts and paddle out. 

1 

OUTER ISLAND 

SURFBOARDS 

7 Bayldon Drive, 

Raleigh, NSW 

Ph: 02 6655 7007 

info@outerislandsurfboards.com 

outerislandsurfboards.com 

outerisland.blogspot.com 

Custom 8’ 

FIVE FINGER 

SPLADE 

by Mark Rabbidge 

0 

This particular one belongs to 

a very excitable and excited 

Dave Smorgasboarder.... 

Free your mind. Surfs in an 

all-round 

modern way 

without the 

hang-ups 

of old 70s 

technology. 

Now give us a 

high five! 

RABBIDGE SURF DESIGN 

Ph: 02 4456 4038 

M: 0427 767 176 

E: sales@markrabbidge.com 

Bendalong, NSW 

www.markrabbidge.com 

6’4”x 20 ½”x 2 ¾” = 38l 

EASY 

5 

RIDER 

by Leighton Clark 

Here she is, hot off the press!! 

A great board to travel with for 

the mature surfer. This one has 

a full resin tint. Gloss polish n 

glassed to last. Futures five fin 

set up. Burford blank. Reliable 

and durable. 

Units 7 & 8, 9 Chapman Road, 

Hackham SA 5163 

E: leightonclark01@yahoo.com.au 

M: 0422 443 789 

facebook.com/thedingkingAUS 

9`6” X 32” X 4 5 / 8” = 143L 

CUSTOM SUP 

by Andy Jordan 

Plenty of rocker in the 5 

nose and tail as well 

as added volume for 

stability and vee throughout this 

board. The added volume provides 

more stability and is great for the 

larger rider (90+kg) or a beginner 

just working into the surf. 

This board is quite loose in the tail 

giving it plenty of maneuverability. 

The deck on this board is flatter 

helping make it more stable 

especially when paddling out 

through waves or crossing over to 

the flat. The thicker rails make this 

board more stable in turns. 

At 143 litres this board is perfect for 

beginners in surf or riders over 80kg. 

TAURANGA, NZ 

(In NZ 0800 787 464) 

M: +647 564 3324 

W: www.liquidstixx.co.nz 

98 



GEAR: BOARDS 

5’5’’ x 19 ½” x 2 3 / 8” 

GOGO-FISH 

by Chris Garrett 

Tweaking the iconic 2 

Lis fish to suit a 

modern mindset... 

this pocket of joy is just the 

ticket. Super-fast, tight in the 

turns with carvey clean lines 

and speed to burn, it kinda 

ticks all the boxes when the 

alternative becomes the new 

norm. 

Best ridden quite short and with 

my own custom designed set 

keels to optimise performance, 

you’d better be careful as you 

may become a crazed, stokeriddled, 

surf zombie before you 

know it.....and probably single... 

5’9’’ x 19 ¾’’ x 2 5 / 8” 

LUXE TWIN 


A contemporary take on 2 

the ‘70s classic. A fuller 

forward feeling outline 

with an accelerating narrower tail 

curve, allows you to have a great 

paddle advantage with excellent 

drive and manoeuvrability from 

the flyers in the tail. If you like fin 

and edge surfing with continuous 

glide and acceleration throughout 

the turns, then this could be your 

next choice. It performs well in 

and around the pocket and yet 

maintains drive and trim out on 

the face. It is quite at home in 

either the beach breaks or those 

super-fast down the line point 

waves. Best ridden with set side 

fins for maximum performance and 

longevity and can be fitted with 

an extra set of tail plugs for the 

small stabilizer or plugs all round 

with my own custom fins for the 

traveller. 

6’8” x 20” x 2 3 / 8” 

THE SLIPPER 


This 6 deep channeled 

Slipper is a classic 1 

single fin styled board 

with a fresh feel to it. If you love 

projection, freedom and drive out 

of your turns, then this board will 

have you beaming from the first 

wave. 

With plenty of volume and six 

channels you’ll have all the speed, 

trim and hold to push you down the 

line or just style in the pocket. And 

when the waves are cranking and 

line up dominance is important, 

it’s a real performer that will get 

you into and out of some of the 

deepest sections. A set fin is best 

but a fin box is the popular choice. 

6’10” x 22” x 3” 

SLIPSTREAMER 


A 21 st century approach 5 

to a proven timeless 

design. The Slipstreamer 

Bonzer has a flattish deck and 

foiled low rails, a relaxed forward 

rocker for an early glide into 

the wave and a modern tail lift 

for optimal functionality... Over 

lay this with the Campbell Bros 

inspired venturi concaves and 

Bonzer fin set up... Now you’re 

talking. 

The quad Bonzer fins give you rail 

drive like nothing else and yet still 

maintain the freedom to be tight 

in the pocket. Creamy, tasty and a 

styling ride, it will take your stoke 

to a new high. 

CHRIS GARRETT SHAPES PHANTOM SURFBOARDS 

Ph: 0424 450 690 E: phantomsurfboards@gmail.com www.chrisgarrettshapes.com.au 

Custom surfboards, contact Chris or see Cafe D-bar for stock boards 



GEAR: BOARDS 

5’9 x 19 5 / 8” x 2 7 / 16” = 29.8l 

RACING 

MULLET 

by Dave Verral 

Custom Dynocore with 

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5 

We build race cars not show 

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See Dave for custom 

Dynocores made on the Gold 

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Buy custom Dynocore 

surfboards from Dave direct 

at www.diversesurf.com.au or 

find a huge range of Diverse 

PU models ready to ride at 

Sideways Surf. 

9’1 x 22 ½ x 2 ¾ = 61.2l 

TROPICAL 

DELIGHT 

DYNOCORE 

LONGBOARD 

by Dave Verral 

Dynocore Longboard. 

3 

5’2” x 20 ½” x 2 3 / 8” 

TWIN KEEL 

by Rory Oke 

Handshaped 

OceanFoam blank, 2 

6oz cloth cut lap 

abstract tint, polished finish 

with handmade glass-on keels. 

9’4” x 23” x 3” 

CHOK’S MAL 

by Rory Oke 

A remake of Chok’s 1 

all time favourite 30- 

year old longboard. OceanFoam 

cedar stringer blank, 6oz cloth, 

wet-rub/polish and a RESN 

10.25” fin. 

WWW.DIVERSESURF.COM.AU 

OKE SURFBOARDS 

1/1-7 Canterbury Rd, 

Braeside, VIC, 3195 

Ph: 03 9587 3553 

okesurfboards.com 

100 


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Highest Quality, Best Value softboards designed for surf schools, perfect for all learners and those who just want to have fun in the surf. 

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My new range now include the new ST- 

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CALL DEAN OR LYNETTE ON 042 2442 044 OR 041 6442 042 


SURFBOARD 

DINGS 

Queensland 

AGNES WATER/1770 

REEF 2 BEACH 

Mon-Sat, 9-5pm, 

Sun,10-4pm 

07 4974 9072 

NOOSA REGION 

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Round the clock 

0421 140 653 

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COOLUM 

COOLUM 

BOARDROOM 

2 Park Street, Coolum Beach 

07 5408 4600 

WARANA 

THE DING HUT 

6/ 39 Technology Drive 

Mon-Fri 7-5pm 

Weekends on mobile 

Paul (07) 5437 6666 

or 0414 015 370 

MOFFAT BEACH 

THE FACTORY 

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Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, 

Saturday 8am-12pm 

(07) 5492 5838 

LABRADOR 

GC SURFCRAFT 

REPAIRS 

Mon-Fri 9am - 5.30pm 

Sat 9-12pm 

0401 016 088 

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Mon-Fri 9am -5pm, 

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0402 863 763 

MIAMI 

THE DING SHOP 

Mon - Fri 8.30am - 5pm, 

Sat 9am - 1pm 

0404 804 498 

Repairs & Restorations 

BURLEIGH HEADS 

MT WOODGEE 

1730 Gold Coast Highway 

(07) 5535 0288 

Sun-Fri, 9am - 5pm 

Sat 8:30am - 5pm 

CURRUMBIN 

MT WOODGEE 

2 Stewart Rd 

(07) 5598 2188 

Sun-Fri, 9am - 5pm 

Sat 10am - 4pm 

MAXIMUM 

SURFBOARDS 

46 Currumbin Creek Rd 

Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm 


Sun by appointment 

0400 338 098 

New South 

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YAMBA 

PLANK SHOP 

02 6645 8362 

TOMBSTONE 

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Tues - Fri 9am - 4pm, Sat 

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0432 330 826 

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REPAIRS 

JIM NEWTON 

4/6 Druitt Court 

Open most days, just call. 

0402 864 062 

CENTRAL COAST 

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SURFBOARD 

& SUP 

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Mon-Fri 10am - 5.30pm 

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0422 304 078 

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0412 376 464 

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Mon - Fri 9-5pm 

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02 4228 8878 

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02 4441 6756 

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Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm, 

0403 693 333 

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Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm, 


03 9416 7384 

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03 5261 6077 

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102 


SMORGASBOARDER

DOES IT 

WORK? 

TRIED AND TESTED 

TEST EVERYTHING 

GO CRUISING 

For fear of sounding like a broken 

record, this is the board your kids 

need to learn to surf on. We wish we 

had a dollar for every time a parent 

told us, “I got this little 5ft nothing 

board because I thought it would 

be easy for them to handle out in 

the surf but it was just too small to 

stand up on.” 

Think of a slightly bigger board as 

a bike with training wheels on. 

It is more stable and steady and 

thus easier to stand up on. As you 

get more confident on a bike you 

take the training wheels off. With 

softboards you can go down in 

size as your child becomes a more 

accomplished surfer. 

The CRUISER comes in sizes 6’6”, 

7’, 7’6” and 8’. This 6’6”one is 

perfect for a young child say 5 to 7 

learning to surf. That is not to say 

kids younger or older can’t ride one. 

We are merely suggesting what 

age a normal everyday kid learning 

to surf will find easy to learn on. 

Maybe your child is a surfing prodigy 

and learnt to surf on a 4 foot alaia 

(those wooden planks that look like 

an ironing board). That is superb but 

your child would be quite out-of-theordinary. 

The slightly larger models 

of the CRUISER are suited to slightly 

older kids or those who had an early 

growth spurt. Again, they would 

come down in size as they become 

more accomplished out in the surf. 

Now some may be reluctant to buy 

a slightly bigger board for their 

child because they fear they will 

be unwieldy in the surf. Let’s face 

it, you are not going to allow them 

to learn to surf in a Waimea style 

shore break. Your child should be 

learning to surf on rolling ripples 

thus “unwieldy” should not be a 

concern. A bigger board may result 

in YOU carrying the board down to 

the beach for your child. But then 

again, how many kids carry their own 

boards down the beach anyway? We 

haven’t come across many. 

Finally, once your child has started 

to get the hang of standing up and 

riding the wave the next step will be 

for you to stop pushing them onto 

it and for them to start paddling 

onto the wave themselves. This is 

where that extra bit of length will 

also come in handy. It’s easier to 

paddle and hence easier to get onto 

waves. More waves means more 

opportunities to learn and more 

fun. What else? The slightly fuller 

nose of the latest El Nino CRUISER 

models means it’s even easier to 

catch waves than the old style. 

So don’t be a loser, go buy a CRUISER. 

Get out there and have fun. 

EL NINO CRUISER 

STARTING AT RRP: 

$329.95 

Length from 6’6 - 8’0 

Volume from 53l - 82l 

ELNINOSURF.COM.AU 


TALKING BOARD DESIGN WITH JESSE WATSON 

OK PEOPLE LETS GET INTO IT. 

SO CONTINUING ON FROM OUR 

LAST INSTALMENT AND KEEPING 

WITH THE SLOW SPEED SURFING 

THEME WE WILL BE LOOKING AT 

THE OTHER HALF OF SLOW SPEED 

SURFING, WHICH IS LONGBOARDS. 

MORE PARTICULARLY WE WILL 

BE FOCUSING ON TRADITIONAL 

LOGS AND NOSERIDERS. LONG 

BOARDING PARTICULARLY 

NOSERIDING IS A VERY DISTINCT 

FORM OF SURFING AND VERY 

DIFFERENT FROM SHORTBOARD 

SURFING - NOT JUST THE 

STANDING ON THE WRONG END 

OF THE BOARD PART EITHER! 

I’D LIKE TO CONTINUE ON WITH 

MR WEGENER’S INFLUENCE AGAIN 

AS WE HEAD FURTHER DOWN 

THAT PARTICULAR RABBIT HOLE. 

TECH ARTICLE 6 

RAILS PART 2 – SINGLE FINS 

Tom Wegener. Photo: Ryan Heywood 

So we’ve flogged to death the theory that 

hard edges create release whilst round 

rails create hold (that old horse ain’t getting 

back up in a hurry… oh Wilbuuuuuuuur.) - a 

further extension of this is that round rails 

allow water over their surface area; this is 

something that becomes especially relevant 

when we start to talk longboards and 

noseriders. This wrapping of liquid around 

the curved surface aids forward projection 

in turns and also allows for the rail to be put 

into the water more easily when initiating 

a turn. Now as we discussed before in “the 

pendulum effect” the trade off in all of this 

is hold/drive vs. release/manoeuvrability. 

This yin/yang of design takes on a whole 

new dimension when you start thinking in 

terms of noseriding, as you’ll see shortly. 


You’ll hear them referred to as soft rails, 

rolled rails, round rails and pinched or knifey 

rails – but essentially we are talking about 

rails without a hard edge. An upturned rail 

has its apex above centre line and a down 

rail has an apex below centreline regardless 

of whether or not it has a hard edge. I’ll give 

you a visual aid to help you along here… 

So when we think of longboards these days 

there are a few key varieties. 

An easy though obtuse way to group them 

would be hips (wide point) behind centre 

– such as your pigs and involvement era 

boards. Hips in front of centre – such as the 

more modern interpretation of the longboard 

often with 2+1, thruster and quad fin setups. 

And finally hips at “about centre” – these 

are more your traditional Californian style 

noseriders – They are often very neutral 

with 50/50 rails, 50/50 rocker and 50/50 

plan shape too. This is not always the case 

but it often is. Remember that there will 

always be a million variations or mutations 

of the themes, but this is an easy way for 

us to group them for our purposes. Another 

huge attribute would be those with hard 

edges and those without. Generally those 

without would be labelled “traditional or 

noseriders” while those with hard edges 

would be labelled “modern”. 

We’re going to deal primarily with the hips 

behind centre crowd and we’ll touch on the 

50/50 or hips at about centre guys a little 

too. Also we’ll only be talking about the

“no hard edges” variety. The reason for this is that 

usually both of these board types will have no hard 

edges at all whereas the modern longboard has 

said hard edges and often more in common with the 

midlength style boards we covered in part 1 of rails 

already. 

So we’ve spoken about how that rolled rail works 

when your on your single fin harnessing your inner 

Neal Purchase Jr. but what about when you wanna 

switch it up and start navigating from the nose end - 

not the aft end of the board? What exactly are those 

rolled rails doing when you are perched at the exact 

opposite end of the board? Or when you’re running 

back and forth muscling that huge chunk of resin and 

foam between the pocket and the open face? Well, 

rolled rails do a few distinct things. For starters the 

rolled rails allow for shorter pivot style turns, which 

on such a big board are the shortest radius turns you 

can do. I’ve ridden my share of the old D-fin longboard 

designs and these boards really only want to pivot 

turn, they hate being put on a long rail in a turn and 

usually as soon as you try to initiate that they will 

respond by trying to kick you off and roll over rather 

than co-operate. 

50 /50 RAIL 

PINCHED RAIL 

TUCKED UP RAIL 

INSERT FROM MR WEGENER: 

“ROUNDER RAILS THROUGH 

THE TAIL, WITH A BIT OF 

THICKNESS, ALLOW FOR 

TIGHTER ARC TURNS 

WITHOUT SPEED WASHING 

OFF. AS THE BOARD TURNS, 

THE ROUNDER RAIL IN THE 

TAIL WILL SUCK WATER OVER 

THE BACK OF THE BOARD 

AND PULL THE RAIL INTO THE 

WAVE. THE FOAM FLOATS 

AND WILL JUMP OUT OF THE 

WATER AS THE TURN ENDS 

AND SPEED IS MAINTAINED.” 

DOWN RAIL 

SHORTBOARD HARD EDGE RAIL 


For surfers, by surfers - support your local business! 

Want to see yourself here? Call 0401 345 201. 

Shiatsu Ki Therapy 

& Oriental Diagnosis 

Lynn De Lacey 

Shiatsu Therapist 

Dip. Shiatsu & Oriental Therapies, 

Shiatsu Therapist (STAA) 

Sunshine Coast Appointments 

lynndelacey.shiatsu@gmail.com 

Call: 0413 431 636 


CLOSEOUT: COLUMNS 

If you’ve ever watched a really graceful 

surfer on a log doing those tight little pivot 

turns between noserides you’ll know that 

Tom’s description is on the money here. Its 

not an easy turn to do in a graceful way 

though and can feel jerky as that foam 

“jumps out” of the water at the end. There 

are a ton of guys you can lookup on YouTube 

to get a visual idea of this. Tom himself 

would be a good place to start – particularly 

his wooden boards show him utilising that 

pivot turn a lot. Look it up and check it out. 

Now the other side of it, or rather other end 

of it– is the rails behaviour when you’re 

noseriding. So those rolled rails when you’re 

perched up on the front grill of that big old 

‘55 Chevy will allow the water to suck up 

and over the tail end of the board creating 

suction and a helping that tail play the part 

it was born to play – i.e. creating lift as a 

counter lever to your weight on the front 

of the board. This is absolutely critical in 

noseriding circles. We often hear of people 

gauging a board’s nose riding ability by 

the size of the fin... saying a board won’t 

noseride properly cause the fin is too tiny. 

This is a false economy and misleading to no 

end. A really good noserider almost doesn’t 

need a fin to noseride. It certainly does help 

though – a lot, but at the same time we have 

to realise the importance of the rail shape 

and rail line in noseriding. Again from Tom: 

Having hips towards the tail is the key to 

the ultimate noserider. The hips make the 

board ride more parallel to the wave. When 

you are on the nose where the boards is, 

say, 18 inches wide, while it is 23 inches in 

the hips, the attitude of the board will be 

more parallel with the wave thus making you 

travel faster across the wave. The flatter or 

straighter the board, the more parallel it can 

ride. With more width and foam in the rails 

in the back half of the board, there is more 

flotation and volume. This mass creates 

more tension with the fin and makes the 

board go faster. Also, it counters the suction 

created by the soft rails and lift in the tail. 

With a properly balanced soft-railer, the 

“TOO ROUND OF RAILS IN THE NOSE 

OF A NOSRERIDER WILL PULL THE 

BOARD INTO THE WAVE. THAT IS THEY 

WILL SUCK WATER OVER THE RAILS 

AND PULL THE NOSE INTO THE WAVE 

FACE, AND THUS, STALL THE BOARD 

BEFORE THE RIDER CAN HANG TEN. 

A NEUTRAL KNIFEY RAIL IS BEST 

FOR THE NOSE OF A NOSERIDER.” 

elements for the hang ten are in the tail. As 

the board speeds up across the wave, the 

tail will suck into the wave and the nose 

will begin to lift up. Even while hanging ten 

the board will accelerate, climb in the wave 

and become more stable. This is how some 

people are seen hanging ten in such critical 

sections, where the front third of the board 

is out of the water while the rider is calm, 

poised, and in complete control. 

The distinct thing that noseriding has over 

other forms of surfing is that its utilising the 

entire rail length of the board at once for 

much longer than any other surfing scenario. 

As such you have to look at the opposing 

forces on the front of the board and the rear 

of the board happening all at once in real 

time as Tom has defined above. So while 

Tom espouses the idea of rounder rails in the 

tail with that extra thickness, the same is 

not true for the front of the board… 

I agree with this concept and something I 

utilise that is a left over from older styles 

is a “tucked up” rail in the front 12 inches 

where the apex of the rail is above the 

centre point of the rail. This gives me 

freedom from having the rail sucked in too 

far into the wave face but importantly helps 

the nose of the board want to come up from 

under the water should you try to hang up 

front for too long or drop out of a section 

whilst you’re still perched on the nose. It 

acts like the hull of a boat and due to the 

difference in length from the underside of 

the rail to the topside it wants to create lift 

as a natural state. 

I find noseriders to be a deceptively hard 

board to shape; you have distinct rockers 

and rails – multiple varieties of each in 

a single form that at its completion has 

to appear both understated and clean. 

It’s no small feat and my hat goes off to 

those shapers who do it well. Everything is 

amplified under speed and pressure and a 

longboard experiences both at times. The 

board needs to feel smooth under foot in 

order for the rider to look graceful. It needs 

to be able to hold a line and be stable for 

noseriding. 


CLOSEOUT: COLUMNS 

Surfer Jye McDonald 

Photo Katrina McDonald 

Rivermouth General Store 

This quote from Tom sort of sums it up best. 

“With the rising popularity of longboards 

and competitions in the late 1980’s, I 

became very involved with the modern 

longboards. I was a team rider for Donald 

Takayama and every week our boards 

were progressing. One day I brought a new 

Takayama to the old home break and my 

best friend Bill Burke had a try. I had just 

seen him pull a beautiful hang ten across a 

wall on his 1964 Del Cannon. He got on my 

board and was approaching the noseriding 

section. Just as he wrapped his toes over 

the tip, the fins let loose, the board spun 

out, and he had a face of disgust as he hit 

the water. I remember this so well. The next 

decade of my life was dedicated to finding a 

board that would both noseride and turn off 

the tail like a shortboard. The boards I rode 

were very good and worked great on most 

days, but would then fall short on lots of 

others. I would walk the nose and see where 

I wanted to go, but I just couldn’t get there. 

This was a frustrating time for me” 

(Side note: I realised after talking to Tom 

that this one Mr. Bill Burke was the same old 

fella I recently built a single fin midlength 

for. Tom regards him as a premiere 

longboard stylist saying he was the guy that 

schooled Joel Tudor, Devon Howard and 

the like. Truly praise from Caeser – If your 

reading this Bill I hope the boards working 

for you!) 

There it is folks – for all you guys wanting 

to learn the subtleties of the cross-step, for 

those of you who are proficient but trying 

to dial in your logs with more than just a 

“shape me an old log” description to your 

shaper. And finally for those of you who are 

serious about you’re logging and want to 

understand the mechanics of it all I say take 

heed of Tom’s words. There is something 

there for everyone. A big thanks to Tom 

for his time and effort and for supplying 

the theories used here and in earlier 

instalments. Surely he is one of the nicest 

guys in surfing. 

So take home notes for logger rails 

would be as follows: 

1. Noseriders work best with rolled rails 

and no hard edges. Also a bit more foam 

in the tail is not a bad thing. 

2. Your rail in the tail and the tail rocker 

combine to create suction. 

3. This suction is the main counterweight 

when you are on the front of the board 

and create “lift”. 

4. The fin also helps here but is not as 

important as the rail/rocker combo. 

5. Hard edges and multiple fin setups on 

longboards are incorporated to add 

performance capabilities (turning) to the 

board not noseriding capabilities. 

6. Too round of a rail up front can negatively 

impact noseriding as well. 

7. A more neutral or slightly knifey rail up 

front is considered best. 

8. On an unrelated note but equally 

important – weight is your friend. 

A heavy log is a good log. Much like 

your stool in the morning. 

That’s about it for the longboard stuff. Again 

more than anything I hope you guys are 

starting to see some patterns emerge in 

the designs and their applications. It’s not 

always feasible or even possible to be able 

to give you absolute and finite concepts that 

are true across all variations of board design 

– there are just too many variables. However 

if you can grasp the concepts and the 

examples that are given then you can apply 

them to whatever style of board you like and 

be more likely to hit the mark – particularly 

if your buying in a retail setting with no input 

from a shaper or shop staff. 

It’s a “give a man a fish and you feed him 

for a day - teach a man to fish and he eats 

forever” kind of scenario and I’m big on 

self-sufficiency. As I said from the outset my 

aim is to make sure that you aren’t reliant 

on anyone else for information you glean for 

yourself. It’s a big undertaking to learn about 

your boards but you will be a better surfer 

for it. 

Next instalment we’ll be hitting on the 

final part of rails with performance surfing. 

I recently sat down with Al Merrick’s son 

Britt – head of Channel Islands Surfboards 

these days and also Chris Christensen who 

worked under Dick Brewer and now is a well 

regarded shaper in his own right. Between 

them they have had a lot of the surfing elite 

on their equipment so stay tuned to see 

some interviews with both of those guys 

talking about what we’ve already discussed 

and their ideas on everything from the 

surfboard industry right through to the future 

of design as well. 

Smell ya later. 


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Lessons, Tours, Board Hire 

www.jervisbaystanduppaddle.com.au 

0403 354 716 

110 


SMORGASBOARDER

Hailing from Cape Town 

at the southernmost tip 

of South Africa, muso 

and surfer Jeremy Loops 

wears his musical heritage 

on his sleeve, creating an 

exciting and unique brand 

of modern, rootsy folk. 

Jeremy recently made a trip to Australia to share his 

unique and soulful tunes as part of his rapid ascent 

into the world’s stages and musical spotlight - not to 

mention many new punters’ ears. 

Taking time out from his busy touring schedule to 

answer a few quick questions for Smorgasboarder, 

here’s Jeremy... 

SURF TUNES 

Photo: Alan van Geysen 

FIVE 

QUESTIONS 

FOR 

JEREMY LOOPS 

FOR THE LOCALS THAT HAVEN’T HAD THE 

CHANCE TO LISTEN TO JEREMY LOOPS 

YET… HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR 

PARTICULAR BRAND OF TUNE-CRAFTING? 

I’ve been using the term ‘modern folk’ musician 

for a while because it’s an easy way to anchor 

people on what I do, even though it isn’t 

completely accurate. My base of inspiration 

is predominantly folk music, but I grew up 

listening to tons of Rawkus-era rap music, 

some ska, lots of jazz, and punk music too, so I 

draw tons of inspiration from lots of places. 

WHILE YOU’VE BEEN COMPARED TO 

CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS SUCH AS 

XAVIER RUDD, ED SHEERAN, JOHN 

BUTLER, ARE THERE ANY CHILDHOOD 

INFLUENCES YOU’RE CHANNELING? 

I grew up on Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. 

They’re the godfathers for sure - Woody 

especially. I’ve also always loved Fleetwood 

Mac, Paul Simon, Blackstar, Andrew Bird and a 

few other musicians. Whether I’m channeling 

them I can’t say. I don’t sit with my guitar and 

try replicate or channel anyone, but obviously 

we can’t avoid our influences. 

I’m also really comfortable being compared 

to contemporaries. It gives people a point of 

entry so that they see your identity for what 

it is. Do you remember when Coldplay was 

widely thought to be the new/next Radiohead? 

It sounds ridiculous in hindsight, but people 

really thought that for some time. Those two 

bands for several reasons couldn’t be any more 

different. For me, I look at it like that. In time, 

as people understand what makes you unique, 

these comparisons stop. I just need time. 

YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL INVOLVEMENT 

AND ACTIVITY – WHAT DRIVES THAT? 

I co-founded a tree-planting organisation 

called Greenpop with friends about six years 

ago. We’ve since planted around 70,000 trees 

in underprivileged and under-green parts of 

Southern Africa. It was all prompted in my time 

working on a billionaire’s yacht. Seeing how 

wasteful and damaging the hedonistic lifestyle 

of the mega rich was made me feel like, ‘damn, 

I don’t ever want to be like that.’ When I got 

home, my friends Misha Teasdale and Lauren 

O’Donnel were in a similar emotional space due 

to working in wasteful environments, and we 

decided to try do our bit to reverse the damage 

and educate people on why this is so important. 

I also think as someone who identifies with 

surf culture and considers himself a surfer, to 

not care about the environment is completely 

inconsistent with those ideals and that lifestyle. 

We have to care about this stuff. It’s important. 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE LOCAL 

SURF BREAK… 

There’s a spot very close to my home town 

called ‘Dunes’. It’s an incredible spot when it’s 

firing. Hollow, fast, and heavy, breaking on a 

long stretch of open coastline. Love it! 

HAVE YOU GOT THAT KIMBERLEY 

DRUMMER OF YOURS SURFING YET? 

(Kimberly is a dry and dusty diamond mining 

town in the heat of South Africa with the 

closest surf break 10 hours away - Ed) 

Haha. Our Kimberley drummer, Mr. Sakitumi, 

actually lives on Muizenberg beach, which is 

arguably Cape Town’s most surfer-friendly and 

surfer-forgiving beaches. He says he’s been 

learning. We’re going to have to see how true 

that is once we’re off tour. 

Listen, watch, enjoy - jeremyloops.com 


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112 


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CLOSEOUT: ALOHA BARRY 

84A revisit of the epic battle jan/feb of Curl 2013 vs Barry, as featured in the 2013 Surf Art edition. 

All new Barry back next edition! 


CLOSEOUT: ALOHA BARRY 

84A revisit of the epic battle jan/feb of Curl 2013 vs Barry, as featured in the 2013 Surf Art edition. 

All new Barry back next edition! 

112 


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Come Come and and discover 

Indonesiaʼs lost paradise 

Indonesiaʼs lost paradise 

E: info@redislandtravel.com 

info@ritravel.com.au • Uncrowded waves, 2 hours from G land and very close to Bali 

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• Consistent, fun, sand - bottom waves for all levels of surfers 

info@ritravel.com.au redislandtravel • Uncrowded • All waves, ages, surfing 2 hours couples from G and land families and very close to Bali 

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• Consistent, fun, sand - bottom waves for all levels of surfers 

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• All ages, surfing couples and families 

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READ IT 

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Annual Subscription 

MORE SHIRTS... 

Get ready for reprints of some of our favourite and most popular Smorgasboarder t-shirt designs over the past 

6 years - from original classics like the Surf is Free fist to the more recent artist series of shirts, and even some 

unprinted gems you’ve never seen before... Let us know your favourite at shop@smorgasboarder.com.au and 

why - we’ll choose some of our favourite responses to cash up with some Smorgasstore credit. 

Mr.AK 

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Thanks to Curl/PI, we have some free shirts to give you featuring surf art legend 

Ben Brown’s take on Smorgasboarder’s very own Aloha Barry... 

SCORE A 

FREE SHIRT! 

HOW? 

1. Subscribe online at www.smorgasboarder.com.au 

2. Email competitions@smorgasboarder.com.au 

with “Gimme a Barry Shirt” along with your name, 

address and t-shirt size. 

THE FIRST 20 PEOPLE GET ONE! 


Fieldey 

Kym Nagler (RIP) 

Col McElwaine 

Alex Keegan 

Curl 

To subscribe, buy gift subscriptions and order t-shirts, visit the website: 

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Pic by: Togat Nusa Retreat, Joey Melroy 

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