Byron Bay Surf Festival 2014

Namaste hipsters. This was my first year at the Byron Bay Surf Festival (BBSF) so I guess that makes me a BBSF virgin.. I wasn't disappointed. The festival was a 3 day fusion of surf culture, food, art, film, literature and music. It was great to see a solid representation of wooden surf craft builders exhibiting everything from hand planes to dugout canoes. There were fin shaping workshops, hand plane making workshops and an awesome paipo shaping demonstration using traditional axes and adzes. Here's a few snaps for your viewing pleasure. If you get a chance to make it next year, you won't be disappointed.

This dugout canoe was the brainchild of Tom Wegener and Dave Rastavich. It was carved from a single paulownia tree that blew down in a storm a couple of years ago somewhere near Cooroy/Noosa. The tree was salvaged by Tom after Bill Wallace, the famous toothpick builder gave him a call about it. The project was completed by Andy from Wooden Anchor. I was fortunate enough to have a go at paddling a canoe like this a few years ago on a surf trip to Tupira in Papua New Guinea.

The Surf Lit Lounge.

A selection of cosmic hand planes from Sting Glide.

This is one of Nobuhito (Nobby) Ohkawa's creations. Beautifully book matched timbers and immaculate crafsmanship.

Another Nobby creation. Nobby has his timber cut from a single log and each piece is marked so that the grain can be matched.

Some of Tom Wegener's "Surfie" belly boards.

Wooden fin shaping workshops run under the guidance of Nobby.

Tom Wegener discussing the finer points of belly board design.

A hand plane shaping workshop run by the guys at Grown Surfboards.

A Grown timber surfboard creation.

Andy from Wooden Anchor giving a demonstration on how to shape a hand plane using an axe.

A nice selection of paulownia timber boards, hand plane and paipo blanks from the folks at Wooden Anchor.

What a cool car. From the guys at Grown Surfboards.

Grant Newby was flat out with a ton of inquiries about his boards.

Hmmm, curry cones from Pocket Curries. These puppies rock.

The entertainment was going for the whole day. Great music.

The crowds were enjoying the food, the sounds and the sunshine.

Plenty of surf art out on display.

Andy from Wooden Anchor giving a demonstration on splitting a timber slab from a solid paulownia log and shaping it into a paipo.

Dave Rastavich and Tom Wegener offering a bit of encouragement.

Andy uses a selection of steel and wooden wedges and a sledge hammer.

The timber slab is then cut smooth with a range of traditional adzes and axes. Andy has an amazing selection of tools handed down from his father and grandfather.

Shaping the paipo using a Swedish carving axe.

And some final touches using a "Scorp".

A budding wooden board builder with is Mum.

A bite of lunch with some ambient music.

A Tom Wegener "Surfie". I couldn't get over how thin they are (10 mm).

Fins glorious fins.

Postcards from "Lonnie" - Alaias, Paipos and Hand Planes

I recently received an email from Dallas at Point Lonsdale, which is a small seaside village on the coast of Victoria near Geelong. Go the Cats. Dallas is a self confessed Alaia hound and after he found some Western Red Cedar planks under his house he felt an unrelenting urge to pick up the tools and build one for himself. One thing led to another and before he could say "Saddle me sideways and call me Trigger", he had managed to build himself an entire quiver including a Paipo, an Itago and some hand planes. Here's his story.


My 7 year old son and I knocked up a paipo in the backyard in a day and waited patiently for three days while it was oiled. This board was made from the cedar stored under the house. Little did I know how good this thing would go! We live in a small coast village in Victoria, Point Lonsdale, and in the dying days of summer we took our creation to the beach for the first time. The consensus on the beach to those we knew and some we didn’t was that the board looked great and you could hang it on the wall. My son took off on his first wave and zipped along the small rollers, easily out-running his mate on a boogie board. It was awesome. By days end I reckon twenty kids had had a go on that board and half of their mothers & fathers too. Hours of fun!

Since then we've made several paipo, handplane, itago and alaia boards out of both western red cedar and paulownia. The one we made for my 5 year old daughter is simply known as the "blah blah" board from the design painted on it. The art work is just as important to the kids as the board. As much as I enjoy surfing all of these boards, the alaia is something else as it takes me back to the feeling of excitement when I first stood up on a board. At this point in time I am more proficient at making alaias than riding them. I have had a new lease on my surfing life much to my partner’s dismay as she wishes more things were done around the house other than board making!

There is also another dimension you cannot underestimate with these boards. They are "social". People want to talk to you when you have them. Since using our boards regularly at our front beach, many elderly people have come up to us and recounted stories with great pleasure of how they had wooden boards, apple crates or made boards after the war themselves to use at the front beach. We have found the local beach to have quite a tradition of wood board use. There is a mention from the surfresearch.com.au site of Point Lonsdale and a Grace Wootton being the first person to surf in Victoria on this very beach with a board brought back from Hawaii around 1915. We have also come across two wooden boards, possibly cedar, in the local maritime museum dating back to the same period.