In Byron Bay

pic stolen from inbyronbaytoday.com

Valla






On the way back from the Fishfry I called in to see how Pauls' Paulonia boardwas doing , he was at stage of finishing off the rails, which you seee here . Its 9 foot of timber that he grew and then after 13 years , harvested and finally after curing he shapes it, now thats what I call dedication to the wonderful art that encompasses SURFING and the photo of his 200 plus templates of over 40 years stands for themselves , what a library... There are many so called shapers who think they really are , but these days the reality is they are mere process workers doing a machines bidding not sculptors or artists who create from the raw , so think about your next board , is it something thats been spewed out in a couple days! or lovingly, skillfully crafted and it works like a magic carpet beneath your feet..... TIKI
Six stringerless V bottom " Plastic Machines" for America by Bobby Mac
Black carbon fibre Bobby Mac handshape 7'6"..
Its a great airy glassroom...all Bills
Bill does 20 of these a week.
tint with pigment insert ,the true art of a glasser
Old friend and ex workmate Bill Mclean Glasser extraordinaire has been with Mctavish many years .. this guy sets the level for what a good glass job is all about, don,t believe me ? just ask Bobby Mac
If ya gonna do tints and pigment glass jobs yo better have the right stuff , and the experience

while hes gone..

while Tiki is off enjoying some fun sliders in bali, heres a couple of pics of local places working
enjoy..These are Grant Fuller photos, he has been a photographer for a long time apart from being a great surfer and an exceptional guy. Thats Grant when we worked at Mcoys holding the BK and his Mcoy.


moby stick getting a run




lucky enough to grab a couple over the weekend amongst the crowded, after a surf the Doc took a couple of snaps, check out his blog here

More photos for the gallery






I used to put these( in those days they were my Viking Prow or Bowsprit) on my own 6 foot shooters 40 years ago and after a bit of prompting from Paul Joske of Valla surfboards to put them on again ....I did! but a bit deadly on the longboard as you get close to the nose which wasn't a worry on a short 6 foot shooter . I like them they are me,... the way I was and, still am.... that is, forget the mainstream just do what is in your soul. Mobystick is going unreal , much ,much better than I hoped .... TIKI

surf museum


The GIDGET board was  a good exammple of what they were shaping out of Balsa before foam . I surfed a few of these when I was 16 and in those days they were sooo heavy compared to the foam boards. Bout 26 years ago I came upon one at Avoca beach and borrowed it for a surf , its shape was identical to the GIDGET board , the board went unreal ,very manouverable and even tho heavy very light to surf. The secret I think was a combination of the Pig planshape ( widest point below halfway) and the blocky rails combined with a reasonally flat bottom through the middle, all these seemed to be the right combination.

5' x20 1/2" rocket



.......Had some great backflow from Kris with the new Rocket ,he set it with his own personal fin setup using FCS and every surf he has had has in his own words " the board just goes sick". He's had guys come up to him after he was surfin saying how impressed he was surfing and how the board seemed to be really flying, he really liked the green 4'9 twinny that  I made before the orange rocket, but said the orange quad was by a longshot much ,much betterI know he's my son but when you get such a glorious feedback about what you knew was a good stick ..... fantastic

almost done


oink oink






Tiki is calling this new pig "jungle Jim" i reckon its more of a Hulk than Jim

Weekend slide

scored a few waves on the weekend
big thanks to Ian Moulton for the pics
check out his blog over at




www.woodieslongboards.blogspot.com