SB-issue59_digital

gear
# 59 // smorgasboarder //
84
As we mentioned earlier, Dan completed his university degree and
had a career in physical education, but he still felt that surfboard
shaping was what he was put on this earth to do.
As luck would have it, a few years down the track, Dan’s uncle who
owned a courier company had a shipping container in his yard full
of surfboard blanks that had been left uncollected for six weeks with
no contact details. Keen to clear the yard and out of pure frustration
at not being able to get in contact with anyone, his uncle eventually
reached out to Dan’s mum to see if her son wanted to do something
with them. Dan eagerly accepted the offer.
“I got in touch with Wokka, a family friend, and he’s like, ‘Well, I’ve
got a shaping bay at my place — come over and we’ll go through it
all step by step.’ That was in the summer of 1998. So, Wokka and I
hand shaped a bunch of boards together. He shaped his ones, and I
shaped my ones. I’ve still got the original one that I made. I finished
it with the most hideous army green spray ever seen. I think it was
6’2” x 18” x 2’ 2/16” or something crazy like that. It went really well,
and then I broke it, but I’ve still got it.
“That was the start of my shaping. I had always loved woodwork
at school, and it just gelled with me. I particularly liked sculpting
wood with a lathe. I kind of just got it, and I think that’s why I took to
shaping so naturally.”
Around 2018, Dan was introduced to AkuShaper surfboard design
software and shaping machines.
“I love my hand shaping, but I started to get into the Aku program
and figure out how to design by CAD. I could really visualise and
see quite easily through the files what would come out after the cut,
whereas a lot of my good friends, who were hand shapers, found it
really difficult.
“I guess that is why I see myself nowadays as a surfboard designer
more than a shaper. I can hand shape, but I wouldn’t call myself a
hand shaper by any stretch of the imagination — certainly not like
some of the surfboard craftsmen out there.”
Things then came full circle for Dan when the world shut down
during the pandemic.
“I contacted The Laminator Limited in Mona Vale owned by
Mark and Elle Haymes. They were building my Webbers (Webber
Surfboards) back when I was doing all the pro juniors and the QS
contest stuff. Anyhow, I explained to them that I now had all this
time on my hands and how I had put together a bunch of designs
and cuts. Life is too short you know, and I wanted to throw myself
into surfboard manufacturing and just do something for myself.
They welcomed me with open arms and said, ‘We’ve got a shaping
bay down here for you. We’ve got all the contacts and we’ve got
everything you need. Come down and spend some time with us.”
And that was it.
“Often, I would come down and just talk to Mark for two hours while
listening to all his stories and everything he’d done in surfing over
the years. It was such a wonderful introduction to surfboard building.
Like I’d have a question about fin placement and I’d walk upstairs
and Mark would be halfway through laminating a board, and he’d
say, ‘Oh, it’s okay, I’ll come downstairs.’ Whereas most people
would tell you to go get… They just gave me so much of their time
and were so open. I couldn’t thank them enough for everything they
did for me. Dave Howell from Misfit Shapes was in the bay next
door, and he was so gracious and forthcoming with information too.
“Anyhow, I was down there for a little over two years, and then they
reluctantly sold the factory to Onboard. I then bounced around a
little bit, which wasn’t great, but ended up finding myself ghost
shaping for Adrian (Aido) Wheeler at Rusty.
“Aido was a huge, huge influence on me. I think I was there for
about two years shaping for Rusty, Joel Fitzgerald Surfboards, and
a couple of others. I guess that saw me progress from what many
might consider a backyard guy to someone that could walk into any
real shaping bay and shape at a production level.”
Dan saw this as a massive step in his development, and it was
largely thanks to people like Mark and Elle Haymes, Dave at Misfit,
and particularly Aido Wheeler.