I found Roger Halls solid Paulownia board a very impressive mix of shape style and engineering. An intimidating piece of gear to say the least. I mean if you were strapping this on for your next wave you were in for a hell of a ride. Just like looking at a big wave gun by Dick Brewer for me. Long , lean , fast and mean , built for the keen.
” Good to see the the most recent wooden board day went well. Some nice stuff, wish I could have been there unfortunately work got in the way.
Anyway here are some pics of my most recent Board, inspired by Petersons Morning of the earth Single, its a roll bottom, or hull ”
Cheers
Dave Dewitt
A great day and a nice spread of chambered Balsa boards by Mitchell Rae , Outer Island Surfboards
Solid Paulownia tow board by Roger Hall.
Hand planes by Mike Cunningham from NZ
MC Handplanes
Roger Hall with some unbelievable amount of work on display.
Future frames and projects
Flextail Balsa by Mitchell Rae
Inspired by the humble bee.
Straight off the CNC router
Honey combed solid Paulownia and 3 ply bamboo , 1.8mm thick and no glass.
Mike Grobelny from New Zealand with a couple of samples of his high tech approach
He certainly had people scratching their heads and inspired many
Johnny Sutcliffe from Mangawhai Heads, NZ with his pride and joy , the new Kaikatea fish.
Gary Bennett, furniture maker from Margaret River , Western Australia with his
The Joske tent with plenty of great wooden boards built by Sage and his Dad Paul.
Fish and frame getting the once over
Aptly named.
A bit of an ethnic influence
John Purnell from Valla Beach with a very nice chambered and unglassed Paulownia board
Local father and son team Geoff and Jack Moase from Dovetail Surfboards
Another great showing by Roger Hall from New Zealand , Surfline Surfboards.
Paul Joske and Roger Hall discuss the finer points of Rogers solid Paulownia tow board
John Purnell builds a nice board , clean and simple.
Couldn’t have put it better myself
Mitchell Rae , Outer Island Surfboards had a great show of his beautifully built chambered Balsa boards. One some 23 years old and surfed regularly.
Dean Rogers from Terrigal NSW with his Paulownia and Cedar Fish
Nice one Dingo
“Tiki” from Wamberal , Central Coast NSW with his first wooden board. Chambered Paulownia and a nice bamboo and glass fin with some cleaver inlay work.
We had a beautiful day with about 24c and a nice sea breeze to keep things comfortable. A bit of swell running but a Northerly roughing it up. A steady stream of people flowed through the park most of the day. As always lots of questions from all sorts of interested people from all ages and walks of life.
Robert Ivers , “Hollow Wooden Surfboards” up from Victoria for the day
A Velzy Balsa Pig – original in great nick. Great to see boards like this on the day. This is where it all started for some and left off for others.
A family heirloom out for the day. Thanks for sharing this piece of history.
First effort for Sunshine Coast builder Joel Terry. He is already planning the next step. He had only just finished it the night before and surfed it for the first time today.
80 + year old Barry Regan from Balina , still building boards and getting out for the odd paddle when he can. Unreal effort from a great guy , who inspires us all.
Old school and cool as ever
Local Gold Coast bus driver , Frank Kaczmarek with one of his framed fishes and another on the way.
The interest in wooden boards is pretty wide.
Nobby from Japan brought another beautiful clear all Paulownia longboard this year.Here he shares his building technique to Gary Bennett from WA.
Rooster and Roger Hall deep in discussion on the finer points of wooden boards.
Local Gold Coaster Craig Paterson showing the construction method he used for his boards
Traditional style and finish never goes out of fashion.
Once again a big thank you to all those that could make it to the Saturday night at the Gold Coast Surf museum to check out the 3 very interesting speakers.This is a great venue and has a wonderful collection of surfboards and history . And thanks for all the support from the guys who travelled from overseas and interstate to be in the park.There is always a great vibe in the park as there is a mutual respect for anyone that lays down a board as we know there is no easy way to build a wooden surfboard.I think it is fair to say we all left very inspired with what we saw and plans are brewing for what the next project will be.
Thanks guys.
Additional photos supplied by Andrew McKinnon and Mike Cunningham
“I have just finished a new pintail in time for the show day at the Alley. It is a 6’2” x 19 ¼” x 2 ½” single fin pintail. My son wanted a retro styled pintail. I will be down at the Alley with several of my boards.”
Greg did the Paul Jensen board building class a couple of years ago and ever since has been busy building boards with his son.I nice release after a week in his Brisbane city office as an architect.Be sure to check out his boards and many others next weekend.
Click on the poster for a bigger viewThis weekend is the wooden board day at the Currumbin Alley. I hope you can make it. Sounds like we have some interesting people with a great deal of talent planing on being there. It will be a great opportunity to meet other board builders / shapers and see what they are up to. Or if you are interested in starting a project you couldn’t be amongst a greater talent pool. So if you have built a board or would like to, come and join in the spirit of the day. Bring your board , your picnic lunch and have a surf. Low tide first up , some nice banks at the moment.
Don’t forget if you are in town Saturday night head over to the Gold Coast Surf Museum and hear from 3 greatly talented speakers on wooden board building.
6.30pm at Surf World Museum
Tomewin Street opposite The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
If you have any questions contact me – grantnewby@bigpond.com
If you are looking for a project that is fun and not too big , this could be it ?
Grain Surfboards in Maine have a new body board design that could be just the ticket.
” Though we’ve had it kicking around the shop as an experimental board for a couple of years, originally The Sea Sled was more of a thought experiment in new bodyboard shapes than a real prototype. But when it became the first thing that visiting pros picked up, and when they came out of the water grinning, we knew we’d stumbled onto something special. The latest to love it was Keith Malloy who, when gathering footage for his upcoming body surfing/body boarding film, asked us after just one go-out if he could take it with him to Iceland. Hell, yeah you can.
And now they’re multiplying out in the shop, available to anyone who loves jetting down faces with the water at eye-level. Solid cedar, with distinctive side runners that channel the flow, this finless wonder is rugged, slippy, fast and fun. High speed slides are cake with the glide and low rotation resistance, and it’s small enough to keep in your trunk for anytime you’re feeling inspired.”
For more great kits check out : www.grainsurfboards.com
Or for what is available in Australia check out : Cape Boat Works
All these shots are from the Grain site
I am in the throws of organising the guest speakers for the night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum Saturday August 6th the night before. Should be a good night to meet a few other wooden board builders from near and far. A few quiet beers and yarns is always a good night . Early morning surf Sunday and a day in the park with a picnic lunch and a plenty of boards to check out.
Five Day – Build Your Own Board Workshop This classes will have up to ten participants build their own boards and at the end of the class the boards will be ready for glassing. Tuition is 0 USD per person, with materials extra, typically around per foot of board length. A “How To Build A Hollow Surfboard” CD (0 value) and a Frame Kit of your choice (0 value) will be included in the cost of the class.
What’s NOT included: Food and lodging.
To book and get more information : www.hollowsurfboards.com/fins.htm
After a very successfull workshop last March, where ten hollow wooden surfboards where build, Paul Reisberg will host two more workshops at his place in Solva / Pembrokeshire / Wales / UK.
Paul and Rich Blundell (treetosea, grain surfboards) will teach you how to build a hollow wooden surfboard with the strip and feather method used by a lot of builders.
No woodworking skills are needed. all the paulownia and cedar needed to construct the shape of your choice will be provided.
Dates are: 12.-14. August and 19.-21. August
For more information : paulitspaul@gmx.net or call him 07790795117
Matt Wachtfogel has been working with wood since he was a young kid. He says “It’s just in my blood“. He has been a General Contractor since 1982 and builds custom homes in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach California.
Matt started surfing in his twenties and after taking an extended vacation on Kauai a few years ago and seeing a hollow wooden surfboard he thought, “I think I can build one of those“. The first board took a while to construct and after it was completed Matt felt building it was time well spent. Matt hand builds each board himself. The process starts with design and then hand selection of materials. All material must be milled to size, straight lined, glued up, shaped and detailed. The process is tedious and rewarding at the same time.
The boards are composed of wood, glue, fiberglass cloth, polyester or epoxy resin, fin boxes or fin plugs and leash plugs. A lot of labor and love goes in to each board too. “Matt finds it hard to part with a board when it’s finished, he says it becomes a part of him“. Matt’s focus has been to try to keep the construction process simple and let the beauty of the wood do the talking.
Each board takes approximately fifty hours of labor to construct and shape, after that it’s off to the Glasser. Matt uses one of the top glassers in Southern California to glass the boards to a mirror finish. The strength of the wood allows for a minimal amount of fiberglass (4oz. glass on the bottom and 4oz. on the deck with a 2oz. deck patch).
Check out his boards and how he goes about it :
www.wachtfogelcustomhollowsurfboards.com
