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quiver<br />
What’s missing?<br />
There’s always room for more, and I do admittedly have my eyes<br />
firmly fixed on a few.<br />
Outer Island Flextail<br />
In my opinion, no quiver is complete without a board from the man I<br />
consider to be one of the all-time greats, Mitchell Rae. And if you’re<br />
going to get a board from Mitchell, you sure as hell want to get one<br />
that is devoted to his love of flex.<br />
Oke Surfboards<br />
Just beautiful boards of all kinds, and the family behind these<br />
boards are top shelf. Their boards are quality, but so too are<br />
Rory, Dan, Choc, and the whole team. When we started doing the<br />
rounds with Smorgasboarder way back when, we found ourselves<br />
immediately gravitating towards certain kinds of people. The Okes<br />
are my kind of people, and I would much rather support people I<br />
care for than knobs. It’s a pretty simple principle.<br />
Island Surfboards<br />
The same goes for the Ryan family — great family, great team, and<br />
down-to-earth people with incredible craftsmanship and amazing<br />
boards. I am not sure if I can decide between a Glyndyn Ringrose<br />
Frotha, a Greg Hogan Cage Fighter, or one of their classic single<br />
fins. Too hard to decide.<br />
Roger Hall Hot Curl<br />
One of the times of my life was riding some of Roger’s Hot Curls,<br />
and I just have to get one. They are addictive. This man is a<br />
surfboard artisan.<br />
Jed Done Finless Flextail<br />
One of my most memorable surfs ever was riding a finless flextail by<br />
Jed at Moffs. Managing to get in three 360s on a wave was the stuff<br />
of dreams.<br />
Woody’s Surf Megafish<br />
Akin to a Takayama Scorpion but made by a Sunny Coast local,<br />
Paul Woodbury, this is probably the best board suited to a variety of<br />
Sunny Coast conditions that I have ever ridden. 6’6” x 22’ 5/8” x 2’<br />
5/8” was a revelation when I tested it way back in Edition 2. Its tail is<br />
a mere 12 inches. There may be boards of similar plan shapes and<br />
dimensions, but not to this extreme. It’s easy to paddle, gets onto<br />
waves, is super responsive, turns on a dime, and can even noseride.<br />
The Sunshine Coast equivalent of the Swiss Army pocket knife.<br />
Sheely 12 foot Glider<br />
Super, super lightweight and because it is crafted by Pete Sheely,<br />
you know it will be of the utmost quality. I don’t have a 12-footer<br />
yet, but this is the one I have my eye on.<br />
Others?<br />
My list could go on. There really are so many amazing shapers<br />
throughout Australia and New Zealand. Every single board from<br />
Jay at Sadhana in Christchurch is nothing short of incredible, just<br />
like Mickey T’s boards in Raglan (love the mini LB). Rocket Ace<br />
on the Gold Coast is making some sublime boards too, and then<br />
there’s Mitch Surman on the Sunshine Coast, Eagle Sword on the<br />
Gold Coast, Neal Purchase Jnr, Nick McAteer from NMC, Corey<br />
Graham…<br />
Every time I go on a road trip, I fall in love with a whole host of new<br />
boards from different shapers. I could never see any reason to buy<br />
a cheap overseas pop-out when there is so much quality on offer. I<br />
also must confess that I have traded out quite a few boards through<br />
the years when I found out more about their origin or the people that<br />
shaped them. I am keen to support talented shapers who are also<br />
good people.<br />
# 59 // smorgasboarder //<br />
93
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