...THE POWER OF BLOCK...

Well I don't think that this may mean much to you guys but from my perspective it speaks volumes. This is my shaping block that I use on every board that I have shaped since about the mid eighties and here is it's story.



Back then Dirk Van Straalan was getting his boards glassed at our factory in Burleigh and we used to have some great rants about life, surf and stuff, anyway, one of the things that he did have was an old pile of balsa off cuts left over from a reshape of and old malibu that he had done and he let me have some of it to use as tail blocks on mals etc. I looked at the history of the timber ...that being from an old malibu that had probably already caught heaps of waves, was bound to full of good energy....and the fact that I really needed a decent shaping block...I put it to better use. The pieces were a bit small but I managed to glue a couple together and make the size that I needed. I'm stoked and passionate about this block on so many levels....light weight, given freely from and old master shaper, recycled from the ocean...etc. It used to have square corners and a flat smooth back....the face side is still quite flat...now it's well worn, well used and gets better as the years go on....I like to think that there is a little bit of the balsa block that gets rubbed off in each board....maybe I've been spending too much time alone in the bay ...who knows but I love it anyway!!!

DARYL AND THE SINGLES

A while ago I made a new board for the Barron of weirdness...Darryl Miller.....I've made many boards for him over the years and while picking up his latest creation he couldn't help but notice a couple of singlely's that I had waiting to be released to the sea. so while admiring them I thought a couple of happy snaps would be nice....




and here is the board that I made for him....Von surf is one of his board labels.... the paint brief was 'just do something brown'
it's a 7'11'x 22'' x 23/4'' thick....it has 3 inches of nose rocker and 3 inches of tail rocker....concave under the nose feeding to a vee twin concave. ...he likes it a lot

GREG SLED

Greg is one of the many diverse characters that frequent my shed from time to time with a concept design that they want realised and I try my best to make it happen for them. This was a design that he had that dates back to the 60's when he was surfing around Burleigh. Quite interesting really, with the channel exhausting to a step tail and the bevel on the rail giving a great tucked under edge. According to Greg...I go to the top of the class for this board as he says that it goes unreal. The board to the right is a similar one that we did earlier in the year, the one below is his latest. It is a PU blank glassed in epoxy resin for extra strength as durability was important to him.

ART BOFFINS AND FOAM SLAVES

Hi there, just spent an inspiring last few days with a great mate of mine, Morgan Bridgeford from Anglesea in Victoria. Morgs has been responsible for a lot of my artwork over the years and was a key player in the Phanzine project. He and I go way back to my old factory days in Burleigh where we would get a bit messed up and then go make stuff for our own entertainment....(bit like now really!!) and here are a few shots to see what we came up with....sorry I don't have any more pics showing process but we were too busy doing it rather than recording it...I think Morgs has a few more photos, since I was busy being the slave and he, the boffin....hehehe.!

PHIL'S NEW QUAD FLYER ...

Hi Phil .....here's a glimpse at your new board mate....I ended up making you a 62 x 20 1/2 x 2 5/8 thick. it has quite a flat deck with refined rails, triple concave feeding out to the nice vee at the tail that I know you like....the nose entry is quite flat around 3 3/4 and the tail is 2 1/4, litreage is 40+.....was thinking about those tiny days at the pass, and the smallish beachies that we always to get too often when you don't want to ride your mals!


just finished painting it and I'll be getting it off to the glassers tonight ....or tomorrow...going to use the new skull decals offset somewhere on the nose...and yep I'll put futures in it for you.....Cheers mate have a good day....yo

MICRO MAL

Hi there again....just going through some photo's and came across this one. This is a Micro mal that I was doing a couple of years ago ...this one is 64 x 22 x 23/4, flat nose rocker with a concave to actually nose ride, feeding into a soft vee and out through a double concave vee with a nice balanced amount of tail lift. They paddled really well and could almost catch ripples from a boat wake!.....similar to the conditions that we've had the last week or so...unless you live in WA or Indo!!....Cheers ...phantom

THE PHILL DEWS MACHINA

Hi there again, dreams really do come true and these guys are stoked! My good mate Phill Dews picked up his Dews machina model late today and said that he took her home , laid her on the floor and drank 3 Coopers whilst admiring her clean lines. Phill weighs in at about 120kgs is about 6'5'' tall and his machina is 7'8 x 23 x 31/4'' 4 channel swalllowtail. It has a single to double concave (triple) feeding out through a vee in the channels. WAA custom made fibreglass fins just for him by Feather. Now all he needs is for the surf to get above 1 foot and he's on it!





Anna is about to take her new shooter for a holiday to Hawaii. This is a pin tail Deluxe that has been widened a bit and made into a quad. It is a 6 x 19 x 23/8 triple concave feeding out to a vee, and has some great custom words sprayed on the bottom by my talented sprayer Chris Third. ...sorry ....forgot to get a photo of that....doh!
Cheers for now...Phantom

....A COUPLE OF FRESHIES....

Hi there again, this is Kevola with his bubbly daughter Abbey picking up his new shooter. It's a 72 x 22 x 27/8 Rocket Fish. The paint job is a custom one designed by Kev and he is STOKED!

...and this next cat is Andy Bourke...the larger than life mad Irishman! He borrowed a Wonglepong off a mate of mine and was hooked from the 2nd or 3rd wave. His is a 55 x 191/2 x 23/8 with a quad fin set up and custom painted by Andy and his wife Michelle. Andy is a talented local muso with a full froth on for surfing and life in general. When he's not surfing or gigging, he sells apples at the local north coast markets ....funny bugger.

NEW TOYS FOR THE BOYS

Hi there again, just a few of the crew that have picked up their new bundles of joy this week

...this is Gordo and he'll be riding his new Kneelo....6 x 231/2 x 23/4...vee bottom a with a couple of cony's through it to keep it sparky.

...Greg's is a 66 x 193/8 x 25/8 deluxe with a 3/16 stringer and glassed in epoxy resin for extra strength as he likes to surf south straddie... and that place eats boards...set fins for more performance and an insane custom spray done by Chris third...the photo doesn't really do it justice.
....Hugo is riding a triple pin / crown tail...something that we kinda made up on the day as he wanted a wide assed fish that he could ride as a thruster as well as a quad. This one is sporting the new phantom decal too.
and Don's 7 footer is for Indo and Fiji. It's a quad of course with a bit of meat for a nice easy takeoff, vee with a double conny and foily rails for sensitivity and bight in the face....he's a well seasoned traveler and this new shooter will fill a gap in his quiver.

Cheers for now ....phantom