“I never wanted to make surfboards for other people,” says Homa Mattingly, founder of Seer Surfcraft. As we walk through his backyard shaping bay, it becomes clear to me that he’s failed – at least on that front. The contents of his shaping area have invaded his living space, and dozens of boards of all shapes and sizes fill every nook and cranny of his home. No two are the same.
Homa pulls different boards seemingly from thin air – from sleek looking twinnies, to strange asymmetrical boards, to bonzers, and everything in between. Many of them are completely foreign to me. I wonder if they would even catch a wave, let alone turn. When I ask Homa if they surf well, the answer is always “yes.”
We reach the end of a dim hallway by his shaping bay, along a quiet street in Dunedin. Homa reaches through a doorway and pulls out a Mini Simmons surfboard that looks to be about five feet long, almost too wide to paddle, with a rounded nose and a swallow tail at the rear. Its two fins look like they could be an arms-length apart. It goes against everything I understand about hydrodynamics and surfboard design. But Homa is the expert and when he tells me it’s lightning fast and surfs like a dream, I can’t help but believe him.
Homa is not your average backyard shaper. While he would prefer to fly under the radar, his weird and colourful surfboards, along with his enduring presence within the surf community in the South Island make that impossible. He has become Dunedin’s most prolific shaper, without advertising his boards or doing any type of gimmicky marketing. That’s just Homa’s style – it’s different, but it works.
But what exactly is behind Seer Surfcraft? How did Homa become the go-to shaper in his community if it’s the last thing he wanted?
Homa sinks into his favourite armchair with a steaming mug of coffee. His wife Tash, a talented surfer and staple in any Dunedin lineup, warms up by the fireplace. His dog, Kāhu, lays at his feet. Homa takes a sip and begins his story.
“Years ago, a young kid asked me, ‘do you do any normal boards?'” Homa grins, clearly a bit proud of that.
“Back when I started shaping, about 15 years ago, Dunedin was very narrow minded when it came to surfcraft. Everyone was into their white pointy nose thrusters, and that’s basically all that anyone rode. We had just one shaper in town, so that’s all you could really get. And you would only ride a longboard or a mid length if you’d injured yourself. Otherwise you were an embarrassment.”
“That didn’t interest me,” Homa continues. “I wanted something else and it was just too expensive to import boards from overseas. So one day I decided to try and shape my own surfboard, just for personal use.”
“Well, at least that was my intention,” he chuckles. “It wasn’t until I had made four boards that I got to keep one for myself. Before that, someone would find out that I was shaping a board and they would end up buying it off me before it was even finished. Then I started making boards for my wife Tash and then made a board for my brother-in-law Jamie. A few people took the chance early on and ordered boards, and I just tried my best. It was all just trial and error, experimenting with what worked and what didn’t. And over time, popularity just grew.”
When Homa started off he was making one board a week. “Before long, it was a couple,” he smiles. “Then I was doing three a week, which is 150 a year. But to be honest I have no clue how many of my boards are out there. I never really thought about counting,” he laughs. “It’s definitely over a thousand, but really I have no idea.”
Admittedly and somewhat ironically, shaping is Homa’s least favourite part of the board-crafting process. But he is a standout glasser, which is what sets Seer boards apart from the rest. Each board that passes through his backyard shaping bay is a unique canvas that allows Homa to express his artistic whims. This is why Homa has yet to make two identical surfboards – each one boasts a masterfully executed and unique glass job.
“With shaping, you’ve really got to follow the rules,” Homa remarks. “I guess that’s why I don’t like it as much. I’ve got to make sure it’s this and that, and I’ve got to make it this long, this wide, and this thick, where the glassing side is a bit more relaxed. I have a vision, and I know what I’m trying to achieve. It’s just a bit more fun.”
“When I started,” he continues, “I really wasn’t interested in what other people were doing with surfboards. I wanted to be a visionary. I wanted to do something different. And I just love all my boards being unique – no two are the same. I really just want my customers to love their boards beyond just how they perform in the surf. I want them to be proud of the way that they look.”
“Someone will say to me, I want a blue board with black rails. And so I do a blue board with black rails … and a lightning bolt on it, because I like to do a little bit more. That just makes it more fun for me. I’d hate for it to feel like a job.”
At the end of the day, Homa fulfills each customer’s order to their exact specifications. He’ll even shape those white pointy thrusters that he’s particularly allergic to. But no matter the shape, Homa always tries to convince them to go the artistic route, and doesn’t typically charge extra for it. In any case, no board leaves the Seer studio without a small piece of Homa – each one can only be described as a piece of art. That’s what keeps Homa shaping boards, and that is what Seer Surfcraft is all about.
Looking back, it comes as a surprise to many that Homa never intended to shape boards for others. It kind of just happened. But he reckons that being in the water, riding different shapes, and crafting and sharing his unconventional boards has had a positive impact on the surf culture in Dunedin – a culture that he believes is too focused on competitions and winning.
“The worst thing to ever happen to surfing is competitions,” Homa declares. “They turn everyone into rule followers who ride the wrong boards in the wrong conditions and things like that. And they’re trying to hurt someone’s feelings by beating them.”
“The worst thing to ever happen to surfing is competitions. They turn everyone into rule followers who ride the wrong boards in the wrong conditions.”
“Surfing is more of a lifestyle. We’re outside. We go out into the ocean to be free and to get away from our problems and society. It gives us freedom. And competitions bring rules to everything. It’s all, ‘red has priority’ and ‘you can’t catch that wave’. ‘You’re only allowed out there for 20 minutes’. ‘Don’t stand up after the hooter has gone off’ and that sort of thing. And Dunedin is quite focused on surfing competitions. I’m not so focused on that sort of thing.”
Homa hopes that Seer can bring the fun back into surfing in Dunedin, and encourage people to reconnect with what it’s all about: being free in the ocean and enjoying waves with friends and whānau. And an important step in that process is introducing new, fun, boards for Dunedin surfers to enjoy.
“Seer opens an avenue for people to ride different types of surf craft that people might not have otherwise thought of,” explains Homa. “Like I said, when I first started out, it was just pointy white thrusters. But what I’m hoping with Seer is that the white pointer will die,” he laughs.
“Surfing is more of a lifestyle. We’re outside. We go out into the ocean to be free and to get away from our problems and society. It gives us freedom. And competitions bring rules to everything.”
He’s done a solid job of it so far – compared to 15 years ago, the “white pointer” has been joined by heaps of unconventional surf shapes in the waves of Dunedin. “I guess people saw me riding different boards,” Homa continues. “I often got comments that were like ‘oh man, you’re going so fast’. And I’d say to those people, ‘you could ride a board like this as well, it’s not compulsory to ride that white pointer’.”
Tash, who had been warming up by the fireplace, interrupts. “And now, everyone is riding longboards. It’s way harder to get waves now,” she laughs. “You’ve ruined it!”
“It’s been harder for me especially,” responds Homa. “Now I only surf when it’s pumping. I wish I could get out more but having so many board orders makes it difficult. I always feel bad when I’m surfing and I see someone who’s waiting on a board from me. If I sit out the back, and if it’s not real consistent or I’m just sitting there waiting, I’m like, ‘oh my god, I could be working’.”
He pauses, and then continues. “I remember seeing an interview of this shaper years ago, where the guy was like, ‘I started making boards because I love surfing, and now I make boards so that other people can go surfing, and now I don’t go surfing.’ I saw that and thought, ‘I’m never going to be like that.’ And here we are,” he laughs.
But as far as shapers go, Homa’s got a pretty sweet setup. And evidently, he has no trouble selling his boards. “I’ve got no excess boards lying around – they always go. If someone doesn’t want their board, someone else is going to buy it. It’s guaranteed. There was a wee while back where I was so far behind that I felt like I couldn’t leave the house,” he frowns. “Every time I went out, I’d get another board order.”
Homa has been shaping boards for 15 years now, but, curiously, and regardless of how many boards he sells, or how many of his customers come back, Homa continues to feel like an outsider when it comes to shaping. “I’ve been dealing with a really bad case of imposter syndrome,” he admits. “The first thing that comes to mind when someone tells me they love their board is that they’re just saying it to be nice.”
At this moment, Tash looks up from her spot in front of the fire: “It’s so annoying. People really do love his boards. They’re next level.”
“I have made two boards that people didn’t like,” Homa responds. “And I remember both of them. The first one, the guy I sold it to said that it didn’t plane along the wave. So I bought it back off him, and gave it to Tash for Christmas.”
Tash, who is a great surfer herself, jumps back in. “It was like my best board. I’m just like, ‘what? This is sick’.”
Homa chuckles. “And then the other time,” He continues, “a guy brought back the board and said, ‘I think it’s too soft. It’s dinging too quickly.’ And I said, ‘sweet, give it back to me and I’ll make you a new one’. And I made him a new one. And then I gave the one that I got back from him to Ruben Peyroux. He loves it. He’s still surfing it. It’s been years and that board is still mint,” he laughs. “But as I said before, I’d do anything for people to not know who I am. I don’t even try and get extra orders.”
Going off of Seer’s popularity, Homa’s case of imposter syndrome seems largely unfounded. If there’s any indication that Homa makes good surfboards, it’s that his customers keep coming back. He just can’t make enough boards to satisfy demand.
“I used to be basically like, ‘oh, I’ve got this one more board to do and then I don’t have any boards to do – it’s going to be great’. And then someone would order a board. And another. It’s all just word of mouth.”
“Yeah,” Tash laughs, “because I’m supposed to do our social media and I suck at it, so it just doesn’t happen. Every now and again, I’ll post a board, but there’s so many boards that have never seen the social media world. They just look awesome, but we forgot to take photos of it, or just didn’t show anyone.”
Homa nods. “I guess everyone just knows. That works for me though – I don’t have to be fake or try and show off,” he smiles.
It’s clear that Seer Surfcraft could easily expand. The demand is there. The Dunedin surf community would certainly welcome it. But it comes as no surprise that Homa has other ideas. “I’ve had opportunities to go bigger and open an actual shop,” he explains. But I don’t want to. I like to stay small. I couldn’t think of anything worse than sitting in a shop and hoping for customers to come. I’m happiest with my current setup at home.”
“Backyard shapers get a hard time,” he continues, “but I think it’s the way to go. It’s five steps from my home, I’ve got much lower overheads – I don’t have to pay rent on a shop, I don’t have to pay any staff members – and it helps me keep my prices down. I keep the boards cheaper, and the customers happy. I’d hate to be ripping anyone off.”
And, operating out of his backyard gives Homa the luxury of flexibility and efficiency. The glassing process requires lots of waiting. So Homa is able to relax in his living room during that process, and even pop into his glassing bay in the wee hours to work on a board. He’s sometimes able to sneak out for a quick surf. And while he’s definitely not able to get into the water as much as he’d like, his setup is certainly the envy of other shapers.
It’s impossible to talk about Seer’s growth, however, without mention of the late Jamie Civil, a big wave charger, local legend, and Tash’s brother. He was an essential member of the Seer Surfcraft family. Tragically, Jamie lost his life in 2022 while surfing huge waves along the north coast. He was a fearless, humble surfer who excelled in large, hollow conditions. He would regularly charge big, barrelling waves that most surfers wouldn’t dare approach. And he had been riding Homa’s boards for as long as Seer Surfcraft existed.
“Jamie was such a good surfer, but was just so quiet and humble about it, which was a nice thing,” says Tash. “He just did his thing. He tried to get away from crowds and people – if it was pumping, he’d be way down the beach where it was gnarlier, just doing his own thing. And people respected that. Being a blow-in from up north, he respected the locals here. I think they appreciated that. He’d just turn up by himself, or we would turn up together.”
“He tried to get away from crowds and people – if it was pumping, he’d be way down the beach where it was gnarlier, just doing his own thing. And people respected that. Being a blow-in from up north, he respected the locals here. I think they appreciated that.”
“He was actually known as Mr. PK,” Homa chimes in. “He’d be surfing PK, getting in these big backhand barrels, and then he’d be doing this at the end of the wave.” He points to a photograph of Jamie doing a massive air on an unruly wave – a photo that, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought was taken of John John Florence. Homa then points towards the bottom of the whitewater, at least fifteen vertical feet from Jamie’s position above the wave. “And then he’d land all the way down there. As you can imagine, he snapped a lot of boards,” Homa chuckles.
Homa owes much of his shaping expertise to Jamie. Having such a powerful surfer charging such heavy conditions forced Homa to perfect his surf craft to go beyond their limits. They constantly worked together to make his boards faster, stronger, and more flexible.
“The big focus for us was trying to make his boards really strong – when he was riding Rusty surfboards, he was snapping about a board a week. So we began working with this black carbon vector net, which really helped. But you see, with Jamie, he rode the same shape, same size, and that was it. He never really jumped to different styles of boards. So he really picked up on those little changes in the shape, glassing, and carbon. While I was so focused on strengthening his boards, it got to a point where he was like ‘the board’s too stiff – it doesn’t have enough flex’. So for his next board, we made that adjustment.”
“While I was so focused on strengthening his boards, it got to a point where he was like ‘the board’s too stiff – it doesn’t have enough flex’. So for his next board, we made that adjustment.”
Although Homa favours colourful boards with unique shapes, Jamie was quite stubborn with what he wanted. For years, he stuck with an all white, pointy nose thruster. “Obviously,” Homa explains, “I put all this effort into the carbon to make it strong. But I always tried to convince him to add a little color, which he never did early on. But he did end up going colorful in the end,” he smiles. “But that’s only because John John did it – he got a board with a red bottom. And now we actually offer that, and call it John John red.”
Over the years, Homa and Jamie found the perfect balance between strength and flex. It really was the perfect partnership between the local shaper and local charger. Jamie’s passing was an unexpected punch in the gut to the Dunedin surf community, and even more so for the Seer Surfcraft family.
“Jamie’s passing was the toughest thing I have ever had to deal with,” explains Homa. “That was an awful time for us. Calling his parents, younger sister, and my children was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t think I would be able to do it now.”
“After Jamie drowned, I didn’t even want to make any boards for anyone ever again,” Homa continues. “I fell way behind. I just didn’t want to be in the shaping bay alone. I wanted to be with my family. But the orders were still there, and they had to go out. I had to keep going.” Homa sighs. “It took me about a year to catch up, and eventually, it got easier.”
“After Jamie drowned, I didn’t even want to make any boards for anyone ever again. I fell way behind. I just didn’t want to be in the shaping bay alone. I wanted to be with my family.”
“The support from the surfing community during that time was unbelievable,” Homa continues. “I learned a lot about supporting people. My customers were so understanding and patient.” I notice a melancholy smile. “They still are.”
Jamie fell in love with his signature Seer Surfcraft board – he stuck with the same shape for years, before eventually going a tiny bit bigger as he got older. His boards were the culmination of years of non-stop testing and development. Now, Homa has decided to offer that signature shape as a product, and many surfers in Dunedin have jumped on board.
“I don’t have names for different models of mine,” Homa explains. “But Jamie had one model that he really liked, and he always rode the same shape. I decided a good way to memorialise him was to make that shape available to people, because they go so good. Jamie loved them. Now I offer it under the name CIVILS.”
“I know Jamie would be so stoked with it,” smiles Homa. “He was always very humble and would never show off his skills, but we knew he was always so stoked to get a good shot or video clip, and he was incredibly proud when he made the cover of a New Zealand surf book.”*
The CIVILS logo has become an icon in Dunedin. More surfers than ever are riding Jamie’s shape, and continue to carry on his legacy in the water.
Just inside the Seer Surfcraft studio is a special board bearing the CIVILS logo. But this one is different to the rest. It was meant for Jamie, and stands as a testament to the special bond between the shaper and surfer, who couldn’t have been more different in their surfboard preferences. Jamie was so particular, sticking to his white, pointy-nosed thruster for most of his life. Homa is quite the opposite – at one point he proudly showed me a board of his with no measured dimensions. He had shaped it to be “this wide, by this long, by this thick”. That’s just how he likes it, and that’s why his professional relationship with Jamie – who was very reluctant to add even an eighth of an inch to his boards as he got older – was so unique.
Eventually, after years of partnership, Homa’s philosophy must have rubbed off a bit on Jamie, as he decided to try out a new shape – a fish. They were still working on it when Jamie passed away. But Homa finished it up recently, and the board is now a memorial to Jamie’s stature as a surfer and a person, and to what could have been.
Today, Homa will tell you that he’s “just cruising.” He’s got no plans for the future, other than going with the flow and seeing where life will take him. When asked what exactly keeps him in the shaping studio, he responds with a much simpler answer than I was anticipating. I have come to expect nothing else from Homa. “I don’t know,” he contemplates. “I guess I enjoy it. I like paddling out and seeing my boards. I love watching people surf well on them. And maybe, I like that they’re enjoying something that I’ve essentially given to them.” He takes a sip from his cup.
“Yeah, I guess it’s like a gift,” he continues. “Obviously they have to pay for their gift,” he laughs. “But I keep the prices down, and hopefully it opens their minds. My hope is that anyone can have a good board and have a good time. I can’t give them anything else,” he chuckles. “I’m not very good company.”
“I like paddling out and seeing my boards. I love watching people surf well on them. And maybe, I like that they’re enjoying something that I’ve essentially given to them … it’s like a gift. Obviously they have to pay for their gift – I keep the prices down, and hopefully it opens their minds. My hope is that anyone can have a good board and have a good time.”