The Shaper’s Bay
The shaper’s bay is where we collect the best stories from New Zealand’s eclectic surfboard shaping industry. From full factory giants to the little guy crafting a woody out of native wood, they’re an inspiring bunch.
Lockdown forces Raglan surfer Brett Wood to rethink his quiver of international brands. He returns to New Zealand-made boards with the Hughes Surfboards SB19 Custom and opens up a whole new world. His journey may sound familiar to many of us. It’s 1989. Pottz is the champ and every surf......
As part of our commitment to New Zealand surfboard shapers we’re collaborating with a bunch to bring you the chance to win one of their latest board designs. Here’s how it works … and how you can win yourself one. Step 1: We ask a local New Zealand shaper to......
Shaper Luke Hughes, of Hughes Surfboards, walks us through the Link model. Designed by his father the late great, Craig Hughes, with tweaks by Luke, the Link is designed to take intermediate surfers from fun boards into the performance realm. The Link is also the ideal model for those heavier......
I’m standing in the garage with him as he sniffles back the taps and shuffles through a rack full of surfboards, his long hair hanging flat. He pulls one after another out and they’ve all got stories: he’s made a bunch of them, rode others to world titles and has......
Allan Byrne contributed more to surfing than most modern surfers will ever realise. He is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most successful surfers ever, still to this day. In this short film by Clive Neeson, Allan describes in his own words what that era was like. How did he turn......
With more than 36 years experience shaping surfboards out of Whangamata, Pete Anderson is one of the most humble and well-respected surfboard manufacturers in New Zealand. In this film he shares his journey from growing up in the heyday of Whangamata’s board-building industry to his insights, his hopes and most......
Michael Gilling has been creating wooden surfboards for the past three years. Today, it’s finally time to show them to the world. He gathers his two close friends together on a road trip to show them his three-year secret. Michael shows us his creative process from tree to craft &......
Renowned Mount Maunganui-based shaper Andy Jordan will soon bow to a strong call from the Land of the Rising Sun and move to a “forgotten” Japanese island to live. The veteran shaper has crafted an extraordinary 7330-plus “AJ” boards – short, long, twin fins and all the rest, over about......
Trying to find your way through the quagmire of fins available these days can do your head in. New Zealand Surf Journal sits down with Hughes Surfboards shaper and Raglan Surf Co owner Luke Hughes to tap into his wealth of knowledge. In this film, Part 1 of 4, Luke......
New Zealand Surf Journal asks Primal’s lead surfboard shapers, Glen Carkeek and Steve Hamlyn, to share their insights on what’s coming next in surfboard design, technology and manufacture. With a combined 60 years of experience in the shaping bay and a bunch of shaping innovations already under their belt, we’re......