The shed that Maurice built

Anthony Pancia
Swellnet Dispatch

the_shapers_photo_ord_23-1.jpgIt looks, sounds and smells exactly like a shaper’s factory should. A maze of bays, back rooms and racks of second hand boards stacked alongside shiny new ones.

Out front, a television plays an endless loop of vintage surf movies while the walls are covered in postcards, pin up girls and dusty old photos of locals charging big waves.

And if the walls of Nathan Rose and John “Duttsy” Dutton’s Margaret River shed could talk, they would sound a lot like Maurice Cole.

The enigmatic shaper built the shed in 1995, partly to cope with the demands of his then busy export market.

“I had a very big contract with Japan for nearly 1000 boards a year,” says Cole.

“I had that factory fitted out as state of the art and I was there for about six years.”

And it was in that factory that Cole set to work shaping boards for a keen young grommet named Taj Burrow.

“I was introduced to Taj and his parents by (filmmaker) Jack McCoy,” recalls Cole.

“I saw how he surfed with beautiful style and presence and how well he could ride the barrel, I agreed to manage him and make his boards.”

The factory was home to many of Cole’s early design breakthroughs and ground zero for the new buzz sport of tow surfing.

“Many of those breakthroughs were and still are the foundation of what I am doing now.”

“The waves in Western Australia really let me loose, especially with the guns and those early tow boards. It was amazing to see how big a wave we could ride on such relatively tiny boards. A lot of the bombies around Margaret River were a favourite testing ground.”

But the one constant between those early years and 2014 is very apparent come Friday afternoon.

“All the locals were keen for a beer,’’ says Cole.

“I’m so stoked to see the boys continuing the surfboard culture and are keeping it real.” //ANTHONY PANCIA

(Photo of Nathan Rose by Russell Ord)

Comments

caml's picture
caml's picture
caml Monday, 15 Dec 2014 at 3:13pm

About time these guys got a mention . Nathan rose is making high quality boards of all shapes and sizes from modern day guns to small boards quads , singleys , retros , such an interesting array of boards also a history of retired old relics on racks in the roof on the walls . The factory walls are covered with hall of fame pictures and tony hardy spends hours there keeping everything in line . And john duttsy , fuck the guy could have been a doctor but he chose to be a ding repairer becos he loves it .beware fri arvo is corroboree time for local surfers

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 15 Dec 2014 at 3:43pm

Nice work with the WA content gents. A lot of Nathan Rose's boards getting around.

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 15 Dec 2014 at 6:54pm

Duttsy fixed the fins on my Brewer, still going strong.

When Jesus comes back to Earth he'll come back as a ding repairer.