RobotBlogger

Months back, Brie bought me an a m a z i n g surfboard for my birthday. It's a Classic Malibu, by the legendary board shaper Peter White, up in Noosa. We were driving all over town looking for board shops, when we stumbled into the Custom Malibu shop and this interesting story.

Peter White still makes boards the old fashioned way - by hand. For over 20 years he's been carving foam blanks down into his world sought over board shapes. I met him in his shop, while looking for a longboard.

We got to talking, about boards, Australia, why we're here, videogames, all sorts of things. Eventually the conversation came back to boards. I wanted a longboard, but not an old-skool one, something like the modern take on a longboard. With a twinkle in his eye, Peter disappeared to the back and came out with something very special. A longboard indeed, but a strange one, one with channels - channels on a lonboard? - yes and a three fin tail. Very wide and thin, a huge nose scallop and that odd back end sporting a performance shortboard setup. Total frankenstein hybrid. Very cool.

On the stringer (balsa wood spine down the middle) where the board shaper writes the details and often signs the board, there was a curious extra addition:    "Mine"  This was Peter's board, one of his many experiments and evolutions, one of a number of arrows in his quiver so to speak, such is the luxury when you're a board shaper.

Needless to say, it was perfect. Better than perfect, it would be ages before i'm good enough to appreciate all the thinking and refinement this board has to offer, but i don't mind having the headroom.


Beautiful boards!

The other half of the operation, Janet White.

The epoxy shop - this is where the boards get their hard outer coating and graphics 


http://www.classicmalibu.com.au/

Labels: classic malibu, noosa, surfing