Heritage Surf Products

Heritage endeavours to stock a great range of labels that represents the overall culture within surfing.

Given the growth of major surf companies over the years, in a great many instances, it has been at the expense of many iconic labels and brands.

It's not that these brands aren't available, it's just that in the competitive nature of the larger companies as we now know them, the small unique labels have been overshadowed - for the larger companies, if they don't make it, they don't stock it.

At Heritage, our goal is to seek and stock as many of these classic labels and brands as is possible and to the best of our ability, maintain their deserved place within our culture.

There are also a great many new and exciting brands with a similar ethos toward the culture and spirit of surfing that we will also stock and support at Heritage.

Surfboards

Quality Hand Shaped Surfboards

Surfboard manufacturing technology has, in recent years, become a lot more diverse and there are now many options available to the surfer. Most of the technology advancement has centred around the aspect of durability, however, the jury is still well and truly out as to whether or not these techniques create a better performing surfboard.

The advancements overall appear primarily centered around the ability to mass produce - something that we at Heritage Surf do not think is conducive to a quality product.

All the surfboards at Heritage are hand shaped made by shapers and companies that have years of experience and knowledge in the expertise of manufacturing a hand crafted surfboard.

Donald Takayama

Takayama has been hard at it since the middle-50s from Hawaii to California and back again... with very few detours. Takayama claims some fine names as shaping influences: Dale Velzy, Renny Yater Pat Curren, Mike Diffenderfer, Ken Tilton, Hap Jacobs, Joe Quigg, His first surfboard was a redwood in Hawaii, around 1948. Where did he get the redwood? "Railroard tracks," Takayama said. "They were changing railroad ties and had all these old ones on the side of the road and so I went over there and helped myself to it."

Takayama started surfing in Hawaii and worked for John Price and Surfboards Hawaii before he came to California in the middle 50s on a wing and a prayer.

Takayama can't remember how many boards he has shaped over the years, only that he has been doing it almost non stop since the middle 50s. He opened Donald Takayama Hawaiian Pro Designs in Encinitas but there were too many people poking their heads in asking "What's up?" He moved it all to Oceanside and has been there ever since.

Bing Surfboards

Bing Surfboards were established in 1959 by Herbert "Bing" Copeland. Bing Surfboards are widely recognized as one of the top surfboard manufacturers of classic Californian surfboards.

Featured Mick Mackie Boards

Mick Mackie is an enigmatic surfer shaper from the south coast of NSW, renowned for pushing the boundaries with his shapes and experimentation with flextails, keels and fishes.

Dick Van Straalen

Dick Van Straalen started shaping surfboards in 1956, after the USA Lifeguard Team visited Avalon Beach, Australia. Greg Noll and Tom Zahn inspired a new generation of surfers with their latest equipment. Dick has worked with many notable surfers including Kevin (The Head) Brennan, Russell Hughes, Ted Spencer, Andrew McKinnon, John (JC) Charlton, Joe Engle, Thornton Fallander, Peter Harris, Peter Townend, Wayne (Rabbit) Bartholomew, Michael Ho, Mark Foo and Bobby Owens. Meeting surfing enigma Dave Rastovich has renewed Dick's enthusiasm for shaping performance surfboards. His current label is "Handcrafted by Dick Van Straalen".

Mark Riley Balsa Surfboards

Mark Riley is the founder and director of Riley Classic Balsa Boards. He is still involved in the whole operation of importing the balsa wood, selecting, grading, cutting, laminating, shaping and finishing all orders. He selects the best balsa from Ecuador - it is the best quality in weight, density and colour in the world. Mark is a renowned southside shaper.

Imperial

Imperial was spawned from the fertile Victorian coastline where many renowned small surfing cottage industries flourished. Imperial propagated in much the same fashion, disheartened by the commercial madness of our surf industry. Dave and Kerryn Boyd set a path to a more simplistic approach based on the memories of our past, soulful, down to earth products. Old school wetsuits, shirting and surfboards the way they used to be made by hand. Dave Boyd has extensive experience as a shaper for Rip Curl and Hobie and specialises in old school long boards, fish, eggs and 70's single fins.

Shaping Company

Greg Webb is the founder/shaper for the Shaping Company. Beginning his career shaping and surfing the wild coasts of South Australia, before moving to Coolangatta 30 years ago where he has remained the cutting edge shaper for what is without doubt the most notorious surf coast in Australia. Greg has and continues to shape boards for many of Australia's professional surfing elite.

Dick Brewer

The name Dick Brewer says it all in the realm of surfboard shaping. He is well and truly one of the all-time greats. His shapes continually draw accolades and they have been, for years and years at the very pinnacle of performance surfing throughout the world.

Michael Peterson

Arguably Australia's, if not the world's greatest surfer in his time, the name Michael Peterson conjures excitement in every surfer's heart and mind. A surfer who was undefeated in three years of professional competition was also an extremely futuristic shaper and it is only now that his true contribution to surfboard shaping is being recognised.

Each MP shape is signed by Michael personally, glassed impeccably with volane, are individually numbered and come with a certificate of authenticity. Most importantly these are boards that need to be surfed!

Shane

When Shane Stedman started making surfboards in his mum’s garage it was the early ’60s and his simple plan reflected the times. All he wanted was to make enough boards to support his surfing lifestyle. What he ended up doing was a whole lot more. Shane and his mates became the legendary Shane Gang – a bunch of surfers who were also shapers, sanders, designers and glassers. A tight crew of mates who created the surfing lifestyle followed nationwide today.

Morning of the Earth

At 15 years of age, Simon Jones stripped the glass off an old Hot Buttered Single Fin (sacrilege by today's standards) and shaped a Stinger Swallow Tail 5'6". From about this age has been involved in surfing and surfboard manufacturing in various forms.

From the surfboard factories around Brookvale, NSW in the early 80's (notably, as Single Fins were being replaced by Thrusters), Simon moved to the Far North Coast, NSW in the 1990's and is still working with the folk at North Coast Surfboards, renowned for their work on Bear Surfboards, Donald Takayama's Hawaiian Pro Designs, Gerry Lopez, McCoy, Brewer and Quiksilver.

It was at this factory working with Paul Hutchinson that Simon would talk about the boards of the 70's era. Rich in the topic were the boards Paul shaped for Steve Cooney (Uluwatu sessions, Morning of the Earth) and the times he shared with Albe Falzon filming in Bali.

Reflecting on all this, an idea was dreamed up.

The movie conjures up feelings Simon wishes to evoke in a surfboard label: to recreate designs of the past that still have merit and purpose and to build them in such a way that they were durable, beautiful and above all functional. That is, boards that transcend the every day to achieve the pure essence of freedom that the movie wonderfully captures.

After consulting Albe on the idea, Morning of the Earth Surfboards was born.

Bear

North Coast Surfboards build Bear Surfboards and Hawaiian Pro Designs in the finest tradition. There are absolutely no compromises made in producing the finest quality, handmade surfboards available.

Paul Hutchison commenced shaping in 1966 with his own company, "Hutchinson's Surfboards", which operated in Brookvale, Sydney. The "Hutchinson's Surfboards" team rider for this period was Steve Cooney (featured in the classic surf movie, 'Morning Of The Earth'.)

Four years later Paul moved the factory to Byron Bay, where it continued successfully for the next ten years.

In 1998, Paul started shaping for No Brand and shaped most of Beau Young's boards when he was on the No Brand team. In 1999, Paul started shaping Hawaiian Pro Designs for Donald Takayama under the Australian license. 2003 saw Paul shaping for Beau Young again, but this time under the Bear label. Paul shaped the board that won Beau the 2003 World Longboard Championship and this board is now used as one of Beau's pro models.

Southcoast

While many manufacturers are moving towards volume and computerisation, Ian Chisolm's goal at Southcoast is the other end of the spectrum. Looking to provide traditionally built boards through traditional methods of the 60's and 70's when quality was the focus, and not the mass-produced pop-outs like the industry of today.

Ian has a strong focus on maintaining Southcoast's in house production policy and intends to gradually phase out the common pro-tech, low gloss finish from its range and concentrate more on high-end, premium style boards constructed traditionally by hand crafted methods.

Heritage Brand

We intend for Heritage Surfboards to be synonymous with the store itself and will draw from shapers throughout the country who have a commitment to upholding the quality traditional manufacture of surfboards as we know it.

Bill Hamilton

William Stuart Hamilton was born in Long Beach, California and moved to Hawaii in 1966. He had begun shaping under the tutelage of Surfboards Hawaii's John Price in 1967 and would continue shaping, finding work with Country Surfboards, Chuck Dent and Lightning Bolt.

In 1976, Hamilton was chosen to do the surfing for Jan Michael Vincent's character, Matt Johnson, in John Milius' Big Wednesday. Afterward, Hamilton began shaping under the Bear label depicted in the movie. Business boomed with the late '80s surfwear explosion as Bear expanded its line, replacing fishing as his main source of income.

Hamilton remains on Kauai, near Hanalei and stepped up his shaping under the Billy Hamilton label since the '90s longboard revival. Step-son Laird has established himself as the sport's premier big-wave rider, leading the tow-in revolution around the world. With surfing still an integral part of Billy's life, it is refreshing to know that style is not lost. There's still hope for the flappers.