Tom is a troubled soul who has always been out of step with the rest of the surfing world. In the 80s he was a surfer and shaper of traditional longboards. During the ‘90s he was shooting and showing surf movies shot on super 8 and 16mm film. Just as old school longboarding became popular, he dedicated the first five years of the nineties, to mastering the lowest volume surf board of all; the alaia. (In 2009 Tom was named “Shaper of the year” by Surfing Magazine for his work with the alaia) Tom lives in Noosa, Australia with his wife and two children and makes wood surfboards from his property. He has been featured in numerous surf movies including Tom’s Creation Plantation, Sprout, Siestas & Olas, Musica Surfica and A Deeper Shade of Blue. He has been shaping surfboards since 1978 and his greatest accomplishment has been to create a very green surfboard factory, minimizing waste and mulching excess materials for his gardens. He has penned articles for many surf magazines and has been featured in surfing and mainstream magazines around the world for his contribution to board building and innovative design theories. Currently, Tom is taking what he has learned from the alaia and applying it to modern surfing and materials. He is collaborating with GSI to create the Seaglass Project and continues to push the boundaries of design. Tom sees alaia style surfing (finless) as a better way to ride small to average size waves.
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