Learning to surf are among some of my earliest memories at around the age of 3.
I had a unique childhood Growing up in a rainforest by the beach at Broken Head NSW with neighbours’ such as George Greenough.
Being quietly observant to countless designs rants and projects over the years with my Father Mark and several encounters with Travelling surfing legends such as Brad Gerlach Tom Curren and Donovan Frankenriter gave me a natural desire and interest for high tech equipment and extraordinary style and performance.
Dad and Tom Curren building a board for the film 5' 5" x 19 1/4
I first had shaping tools in my hand from as early as 5 years old with Dad shaping me my first custom board and getting me to help cut rail bands or something. For years I sat in the shaping room watching my Dad go through the motions with the power planner and scratching around on my custom boards but it wasn’t until i was about 14 when i started getting the desire to shape my own sticks.
All Yew- Daniel Thomson part 1 from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
I guess it was around this age is began developing an awareness of what i wanted in my equipment which was something i was having problems with from other shapers.
So i began translating what i wanted to feel in a surfboard and from then on slowly developing my physical skill with every new board. It wasn’t until my late teens i began to shape for my mates and other people interested in my designs, and as my the contest scene got more and more tedious i focused most of my attention on just surfing and developing my skill both in and out of the water.