lightshow Sydney 2012

Love what you do

Well it looks like winter has found a home , with big swells ,wet endless days and soon to come cold Westerly winds. This year I turn 64 and that also makes 50 years of surfing and 42 years of making surfboards, but there was a long gap when I lost the passion for making them but not surfin them, this was due to ,more or less, what has been going on with the industry now ie. mass production...... but now there are machines to shape them, and basically plastic moulded mass produced fins, but ! you still have to hand glass, hand sand ,hand ruband the fine eye for detailing . The problem with this style of production is you have to produce a lot to make any kind of decent money for your investment,and the final product is not meant to last the average surfer more than a year, yes folks its a true throw away product, and its not what I want to associate myself  with in any form, too much heart  and soul goes into what i do, and always will....Hand picked and glued stringer,hand shaped, hand glassed with the colours of the world , handmade and handfoiled fibreglass fin or fins and tuned and finished with the same skill and care as you should always get, so next time when you put your hands around your magic carpet make sure that it has love oozing from her.

Terry Martin

Terry martin has been the number one shaper for Hobie surfboards since 1963 and was still shaping beautiful foam and balsa up until his last chemo treatment. T there ia alot of info and videos of him shaping and stories from his long passionate love of surfing and its equipment look it up as there are not many around who have history like him and to boot , sadly he lost his younger sister to cancer 3 months ago approximately, who was married to master craftsman and fin maker extrordinaire John Cherry,,,,,, Catch a wave have a laugh be glad for today for today may be a good day to die.....R.I.P. Terry Martin

Clarke's Board

Clarkes new board nearly done ,glassed on handmade and foiled fin 9' 8" squaretail pig shape

Trip North 2012

A great trip lotsa waves and great to catch up with longtime friends from the bad ol days, but ah! they were good. Here are some shots , the wooden board is Paul Joskes" powlonia finished and surfed and goes like a gem, the rest are in Mctavishes with Bill glassing beautiful stuff as usual and Bobby Mac showing that he still loves me, I worked and surfed with these guys in the 70s and early 80s and fond memories of passion and a complete involvement with surfing remain and the passion for boards and design still exists in a big way, the reason we have such good equipment to ride now is because of what was done and experimented in the past ,dont forget your roots they are your treasure trove for all your wonderful toys  ... Long may you surf.

Clarky's board

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