tractor man

tractor man

Photos courtesy of JS Industries

Jason Stevenson started from nothing, just a grom who wanted to surf. Then he realised he had to get a job, so he moved to the Gold Coast and started on the bottom rung in a surfboard factory. He is one of the world’s best shapers, with one of the top teams in the world. Trevor at Down the Line surf shop asked him to visit the UK so Steve England popped along to ask a few questions.

How long have you been shaping?
Since 1999 when was I first started JS Industries and the Tractor label. So nearly 21 years.

Has it been an easy track, or would you say or have you had ups and down like the rest of the surf industry?
I’d say nothing is easy. We have had ups and downs like everyone else, highs and lows. And global economics affect all of us, surfboards aren’t immune to that. So yeah it has been a rollercoaster ride but I don’t think its ever been hard. But I think I have been fortunate working with good surfers and working with good guys building boards. Everyone who works for me has worked with me since I set up. Matt Branson is my head laminator but the sanders and laminators have all been there since day one.

That is a sign of a good boss!
I hope so! I’ve been harsh but fair. We pride ourselves in the quality of board we build and we are recognised by the retailers as building the best boards they get. I think that’s been a real strong point that’s got us through a lot of the hardships that the surf industry faced. Also people just want to buy a surfboard even when things get tough. Even more when things get tough. You just want to get back to that happy place, and everyones wants to go surf. So we are not immune but it’s been good.

How have you found the transition from hand shaping to CAD?
I love it. Obviously I have come from that background and I was one of the first to accept and work with the software. I think Ned Hyman was one of the first but as soon as I got involved with it I loved it. I was probably one of the first owner/operator companies. I bought machines which were built locally, off Mikey ‘the German’, he built the first app machines. I was one of the first to get one and never looked back. I think even the other guys in the world now copy the top guys CAD shapes and work off them to produce even better boards. So yes I was one the first to be hands on. I jumped all over it. I think my age may have helped, but I wouldn’t say I was competely computer literate, but when it came to designing surfboards and the machine I knew it was important to have good relationship with the CAD and the machine and the output. There was one machine and now there are five, and now we are working on designing new machines. We are even making and refining our own machines. So you have got to know software, the machines, the nuts and bolts, so I’m not just shaper. I kinda of know all of it. Plus I have really good people around me who are involved in building all of this stuff.

There are so many variables in surfing, hydro dynamics, personal preferences, etc how do you go about designing and getting inspiration these days. Is it from team or F1 or science?
I think because I am a surfer myself I do a lot of the design aspect and I do all the testing. There are things in there learned from the Americas Cup I learned about like the finishes of boats and water friction and what finishes do that are relevant to surfboards. How to finish a surfboard in particular for the elite who get the most benefit of this information. But not too much else. I think it is a unique sport, it’s dealing with waves, individual surfers and styles, so there are no wrongs and rights.

Where do you see it all going?
In my own business and industry we are seeing the change in materials; the top guys are now adopting the new tech. As you know we make our own boards which are called Hyfis and other brands are doing other stuff with similar materials. This is the biggest jump in material since what has essentially been the same process since the ‘60s. We are seeing a big change in designs and the younger generation of surfers and shapers are rethinking the way surfboards should look and be built. And there is now accessibility to the new materials. We are developing boards that are lighter, stronger, faster, all these key words you hear. That is where we are heading. And it’s never going to end. It will constantly evolve.

Do you think we are in a design jump era?
Hard to say. It’s hard to step back, look and make that assumption when you are in the midst of it. And hard to see or predict where the next jump will come. I find it’s dictated, especially when you make boards at the elite level, by what the top guys think, adopt and and where they want to go. I can’t force change on them. Like with the Hyfi it was easier to get some guys to have go and adopt and ride them, than others, who may have been chasing world titles and just had this one track mind. They just wouldn’t sway or jump to new tech. Until they relax and get loose and comfortable with it then things stay that way in the general population. I designed boards and built this new technology but it was really hard to get Joel, who was going for a world title to adopt it. He just said, ‘This thing goes amazing but I’m not going to ride it.’ So that doesn’t stagnate the process but it means you are not evolving at the rate that you would want to. But you just have to keep that in mind.

Surfers aren’t real open to new tech. There was a huge resistance to change from hand shape to machine?
You still hear it today! My son Luka is coming up and learning and some guy asked if he was going to hand shape. And was like ‘No. He is not, because that is not where this is going to progress.’ Because it is not the future of surfing. What we are doing now with these wavepools is the future. We as shapers, designers and manufacturers of surfboards, this is where we will get our best feedback and fuel the biggest design jumps. The one thing we have never had is that one constant static bar, that wave that’s just repetitive. So where we will get wave pools we get opportunties to test. If you look at Texas, and see that they are doing, then you start rethinking and redesigning for ramps and airs and that kind of wave. Then you have Kellys which is a different kind of wave. You have other pools coming up. So all these pools will pop up with all the kinds of waves, but they will break consistently. So I am going to be able to do a wave pool tour and work on specific boards and designs, so this is going to evolve board designs. Bring wave pools on! Who doesn’t want a wavepool in their backyard?

Where is your favourite wave?
The best waves I’ve ever got was when I was travelling with Andy and Joel shooting “Life’s better in boardshorts” at Desert Point. Those were the best waves personally I’ve had. I went from there to Cloudbreak so between those two. Two totally different waves; Cloudbreak is big and scary, and Deserts is so perfect. If I had choice I’d go for Deserts. It’s an amazing wave. And to pull out of a wave some 600 yards down the line, just sit there looking back up and have it suck you back up to the take off! That’s amazing! It’s ridiculous that wave.

Favourite surfer to watch?
I like surfing in general. It’s like asking who is your favourite kid! I’m going to go with Joel as the most aesthetically pleasing surfer in the world to watch. Obviously it’s not that easy but his style and technique are effortless. Then you have guys like Julian with an amazing array of weaponry. Owen Wright one of the most technically gifted surfers, even though he doesn’t ride my boards any more, he’s an amazing surfer to watch. Flores in the heaviest waves in the world … Kelly, Italo, you see inspiring guys at specific breaks. I just think the world tour in general is amazing.

Olympics yes or no?
Yes. I think anything that raises the profile of the sport in a positive way is good. But. I only say this because I heard it was going to be held in a wavepool. If you go to Japan and its one to two foot, like it could well be, it won’t do it justice. But a wavepool, years down down the track, with developed technology which will make it a spectacle, then I’d say great. I’d be negative if surfing was in the Olympics and it was held in shit conditions. As long as the guys get to perform at their peak. So if they can build a good wave pool and everyone gets to put on their best show, because it is a show, and we all want to see a good show, then I’d say yes.

You can follow JS Surfboards on Instagram here

The Search For Outer Inner Space

Mick and Mase find more than just perfect waves on their voyage into the great expanse.

Words Vaughan Blakey Photos Courtesy Ripcurl

Mick Fanning is jumping out of his skin. It’s taken four days to get here and waking to the sight of six-to-eight foot A-frames unloading right in front of the camp has got the three-time world champ’s blood at maximum fizz. He suits up, skips down the boulders, jumps in a rip and is swept towards the impact zone just as the first true set of the morning begins stampeding over the horizon. Collision is inevitable. Line after line of unimpeded ocean power aims to unload directly onto the famous blond cranium of Kirra’s favourite son. As we watch Mick get obliterated, Mason Ho stops waxing his 6’4”, returns it to his board bag and picks up a knifey looking 6’8” pintail. “It’s a lot bigger than it looks out there, huh,” he says with a smile that’s all eyebrows. “Brah… the Search has delivered again!” Where are we exactly? Ha! As if we’d tell. This is the Search after all. It ain’t for sharing secrets, it’s for inspiring you and your mates to get out into the wild and score your own little corner of perfection. Looking around, though, we could be in any of a million places. Giant scrubby plateaus stretch for miles softened only by the familiar pink hue of the soon-to-be-rising sun. It could be West Oz. It could be Chile. It could be the moon… (if the moon had blue sky, pumping waves and a little lizard doing push ups on a nearby rock). This is the desert and, like any desert, it doesn’t take long venturing into one to quickly discover an overwhelming sense of complete isolation – a feeling that’s becoming more and more absent as modern life invades ever deeper into our personal space… but sheez, let’s not go there just yet.

This ragged coastline we’ll call our home for the next week is lighting up with double-overhead tube after spewing tube for as far as the eye can see.

The tremendous expanse of the heavens above us and the nothingness of the surrounding landscape have nothing on today’s ocean, at least not during the daylight hours. This ragged coastline we’ll call our home for the next week is lighting up with double-overhead tube after spewing tube for as far as the eye can see. With the wind expected to be offshore for the whole week, with not another soul around for miles and with absolutely no contact to the outside world, it feels as if this might all be a giant prank of the imagination, but if something can’t exist without nothing… then right now the nothing is where it’s at. Mick plays cat and mouse with the shifting A-frames for a good 20 minutes before he finally picks a plum. Taking off behind the peak, he knifes hard off the bottom, rips the handbrake and casually stands bolt upright as the entire world spins around him. It’s goosebumps stuff to watch, and not just because the wind is 18 knots and cold enough to freeze the nipples off a penguin. This is all Mick, the kind of line and surfing we’ve clearly missed since he hung up the comp rashie back at Bells, and as he exits the tube and flies into a deep and flawless down carve you remember that the style, precision and power of a true surfing master are marvellous things to witness in the flesh. Mase reaches the line-up and Mick has to be happy for the company. There are seals jumping around all over the place and while there are no polar bears or killer whales in these parts, there is another apex predator with a fondness for seal meat and world champs born in Penrith. After trading a few clean ones with Mick and feeling out the extra length in his board, Mase snags an absolute bomb. Freefalling down the face he finds rail off the bottom and drives up into the maw before being spat into the channel like a sour villager from the mouth of a fire-breathing dragon – a creature Mase says he would like to be one day, so he can fly to the top of mountains and check the surf before torching villages on the way back home. It’s just one of the many things we’ll learn about Mason over the coming week, he’s a man who approaches every conversation like he does his surfing – an opportunity to fire up the imagination and create something magical – and he knows how to get in the hole.

The two friends share barrels for the entire day. They stay in their wetsuits from morning till night. As the sun sets and the campfire crackles to life, they are beat to the point of total exhaustion. The elements and the day’s surfing have taken their toll, and tonight they’ll sleep like the dead in tents flapping so hard in the offshore they may as well be pitched at Everest Base Camp. This is what Searching is all about. “My great grandfather was Chinese. He escaped persecution in China by fleeing to Hawaii. He was a good fisherman and I guess my great grandma was into that a whole lot because they ended up having 14 kids and one of them was my dad’s dad, but maybe I shouldn’t tell you that in case they’re still out to get us.” Mason Ho is sitting by the fire telling us the origin of his famous last name, a name of absolute legend in surfing circles. His dad, Mike, is one of the few surfers to have won all three Triple Crown events of Haleiwa, Sunset and Pipe. His baby sister, Coco, is on the Women’s WSL Championship Tour. His uncle, Derek, is of course Hawaii’s first World Champ and a Pipeline Master. The Ho family are out of this world stokers and a case could be made that Mase is the most stoked of them all, that is until you hear the story of the only time he ever saw his dad cry. “I’d seen his eyes go watery when someone in the family died and stuff like that, but when his boards got stolen in France one year, I swear that was the only time I saw actual tears.” Maybe the only thing the Ho’s love more than surfing is their surfboards.

It’s our fourth night out in the desert and the fire has dragged out all manner of conversation since night one. With the wind having backed off and with everyone being surfed out of their brains, desert life is in full swing. Lobsters have been pulled from their nooks no more than 30 feet from where we sit and are devoured by the bagful like bowls of pub peanuts. Our skin hasn’t touched fresh water since we arrived and everyone’s eyelids have that much salt crust caked on them you’d swear they’d been deep fried. The days are for surfing, but the nights are for tales tall and true. In these surrounds the relationship between Mick and Mase, brothers of the Search, is something to behold. Mick, the youngest of five, inhabits the role of big brother with ease. Mase, who has been but never had a big bro (he’s had 10,000 uncles, but never a brother) views Mick in wide-eyed awe. The two bounce off one another with an affection that’s genuinely heartfelt, right down to Mick hassling Mase to put his seat belt on whenever they jump in the car. At the heart of their dynamic are similar values, a deep love of family and friends, and a mutual respect for the very different approach the other brings to their surfing. With every trip they learn from each other, both in the water and out. And they enjoy each other’s company to no end.

It’s when Mick talks world titles, the QS, tour life and winning, that Mase’s ears really prick up. The Hawaiian loves competition fiercely and wants a piece of that tour life so bad it makes his body twitch at the mere mention of it. When Mick is asked at what moment does winning the world title feel best, Mason is leaning so far forward to get every piece of the answer he nearly falls in the fire. “In the shower after you get home from the heat that decided it,” says Mick, by the way. “Once you’ve dealt with the adrenalin of the moment and all the energy of the beach and the well wishes and stuff, getting home and into the shower is the first time you’re truly alone, and that’s when all the hard work and the personal sacrifice you made to get that achievement hits you… and you just fucking ROAR!” Mase leans back shaking his head and offers a closed fist. Mick obliges and bumps it with his own. “That’s pretty much as good as it gets right there,” continues Mick. “When Joel won the World Title, he asked me after a week or so, ‘Is that it?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, that’s it, mate!’” Mick laughs and Mase offers the closed fist again and Mick gives it bump. “Brah,” says Mase. “I would do anything to feel that moment. You World Champions are like gods to me!” Mick laughs. “Not even, we’re just another bare bum in the shower at the end of the day, mate,” he says.

he two friends share barrels for the entire day. They stay in their wetsuits from morning till night. As the sun sets and the campfire crackles to life, they are beat to the point of total exhaustion.

There’s a moment of silence as everyone’s gaze turns to the stars. Unaffected by light pollution, the Milky Way is in full splendour. The moment lingers with calm contentment as we quietly ponder our place in the universe. Mase suddenly breaks the silence by telling us he was conceived during a macking Pipe swell. “There’s a good chance that the morning of the night my mum got pregnant, I was getting barrelled out at Pipe with Pops. Ho! That’s the strain right there, brah!” The camp erupts in laughter and this time it’s Mick offering Mase the closed fist of appreciation. Mase can’t bump it quick enough. There comes a point after long surfs in cold water where your thumbs cease working. The veins contract and the blood flow halts and no amount of hot breath can thaw the bastards out. Thumbs are what separate us from primates and the rest of animal kind, so when ours fail to work, especially after a week in the deep wild, it’s easy to feel like you’re regressing into some sort of primitive hominid. Simple tasks such as the removal of a bootie, complete with grunting vocalisation, could easily be misinterpreted as some sort of ritualist courting display, chopping wood becomes an exercise of absolute folly. With Mick and Mase both suffering the debilitating effects of prolonged digit exposure to the cold, the camp has taken on a very primal mood, and it would be no great surprise to discover a giant black monolith sticking from our fire while the score to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey echoes over the plains. Things are getting seriously sci-fi, alright, but man or ape or whatever it is we’re turning into, it’s all worth it because the surf has not stopped.

At the risk of sounding ridiculously obvious, it’s ridiculously obvious how good searching out, finding and riding perfect waves makes you feel. With the camp packed up, we feel a sense of foreboding at returning to the real world, but it’s overwhelmed by gratitude for the experience we’ve all shared. Despite the aching muscles, cracked lips, cooked eyes and useless thumbs, none of us have felt better. “This is living!” has become the tagline of the the trip as the Search for perfect waves delivers life lessons that stretch far beyond the shoreline. It begs the question: Why don’t we do this more often? Everything about fire and stars and being outside and endless tubes screams at you to simplify the way you live. Sharing it all with friends only reinforces that feeling. The space of the desert allows for the space of the soul to stretch out. Things you may never hear in normal conversation become the norm. Everything is up for discussion and to be explored. That’s the thing about space, isn’t it? The final frontier, it’s as infinite outwards as it is inwards, and you cannot venture to the outer limits without also expanding your inner perceptions. It’s in the outer inner space where you truly learn what you’re capable of and who you want to be. This is where surfing has brought Mick and Mason today, and there are more adventures to be had in the great out there. It’s a place you can easily visit, too. Are you up for it? When will your Search for outer inner space begin?

Below the 
breaking waves, ocean culture life

Matt Porteous documents his passion for the ocean by capturing the beauty below the breaking waves. Dynamic flow, colour, vision, depth of field and charm all contribute to Matt’s photographic perspective.

Interview by Steve England Photos by Matt Porteous

Having grown up along the rugged coastline of Jersey in the Channel Islands, Matt has surfed, dived and swum his way into a peaceful and respectful relationship with the sea. His first yellow, underwater Minolta accompanied him everywhere. It was through that simple lens that he learnt to capture the sublime beauty of nature.
What Matt photographs, perhaps, is a sense of freedom and a sense of adventure. His latest project Ocean Culture Life, built from passion alongside a friend and ocean filmmaker Googsi aims to form an ecosystem of oceanographers, free divers, surfers, filmmakers, lifeguards and ocean dreamers whose lives have been shaped by the sea. In short, OCL is a global community of positive ocean storytellers who collaborate on various projects. OCL’s team creates thumb stopping content for their network of ambassadors and charities, collectively spreading awareness on all things ocean related.
We caught up with Matt to discuss Ocean Culture Life and how he plans to harness the power of the ocean to nurture a meaningful connection between mankind and nature.

“The more we all 
understand the ocean, the more we appreciate and want to protect it”

What inspired you to take the camera beneath the surface?
It’s a world that many are afraid to explore and most don’t take the time to view. It fascinates me every time I step into the water.

What’s so different about shooting underwater?
The freedom you feel, a meditated state with open eyes looking up from below the surface resembles a fast moving storm of change above. I find it hard to feel this relaxed anywhere but in the ocean. Even after hundreds of immersions, every time I descend to capture my surroundings I am arrested by that same sense of wonder and humbleness.

How does your lifestyle inspire you?
When you’re born on an island and you grow up on its shores, the ocean shapes you. You gain a certain respect for the ocean, a respect and love that only people connected with the ocean can truly understand.

Why is OCL central to what you do?
I work in a busy commercial world, my ocean life has always been my release, a personal love. I’m passionate to focus my time creating art that I feel passionate about and hopefully touching the hearts of people with the same love. There’s too much negative energy in the world, I feel motivated to create something positive.

What’s inspired you to dedicate so much of your time to a project with no clear profit?
I recently heard a quote “ There are two important days in our lives. The day we are born and the day we realise why”
My work is built on passion not money, I first wanted to share what I see with the world, now I want to invite ocean storytellers to join and share their stories with the world. Helping shine light on ocean ambassadors and projects along the way.

What is on the agenda for you and OCL this summer?
We’re currently organising a local event here in Jersey which aims to celebrate World Ocean Day. We have invited anyone with a love for the ocean to St.Ouens bay for a night walk to shine a light on change. This is all about supporting local charities, conservationists and whoever shares a similar respect for the ocean. We plan to use the content captured on this day to highlight World Ocean Day moving forward and hopefully inspire local communities around the UK to get involved and host their own awareness event.

Who are your ambassadors and what’s their involvement?
Our ambassadors are a network of like minded individuals who all share a common love for the ocean. They are freedivers, lifeguards, filmmakers, fishermen, photographers, ocean conservationists, charity founders, journalists and entrepreneurs. We may not have the same occupations, religions or even locations but we all share the same respect for one thing… our oceans. Which is why we all depend on OCL to become the platform to collaborate and support hot topics, pressing issues and help steer change to healthier oceans.

Where does your funding come from?
Money raised from print sale’s, merchandise and corporate sponsors are all put back into funding OCL projects, capturing powerful content which tells a story. Each item of OCL merchandise holds a token value which individuals can award to their chosen OCL cause via our website. The token scheme allows us to record which topic our community would most like us to support with our award winning content. All profit is then injected back into creating content for our ambassadors and charities.

What motivates you to continue doing what you’re doing?
The privilege to share our experiences with the world how OCL observes, records and celebrates the cultures of the oceans with communities and our audiences. What better than working in the vast oceans to highlight issues, bring them to the surface and make a difference in restoring healthy oceans?
Telling the ocean’s story with all its wild power and beauty is what drives us on, that’s how our project Ocean Culture Life started. The more we all understand the ocean, the more we appreciate and want to protect it.

Follow Matt on Instagram here 
Check out what they are doing and get involved at oceanculture.life

Skindog On The Ranch

The middle of california is one big farm. that and kelly’s mad wave pool. ben skinner has just become the first brit to ride it…

Interview by Steve England Photos courtesy WSL

As we go to press the Surf Ranch Pro is on. Just before the CT crew took over the joint for the big show the WSL invited some of the world’s top longboarders for a test session. Ben Skinner was one of the golden ticket holders who got the nod and so becomes the first British person to ride Kelly’s tub. Steve England racked up the phone bill calling Ben in California as he waited for the Relik longboard event at Trestles to start.

So how was the Ranch?
It was insane. It is actually even better than it looks. Obviously, it takes a few waves to work it out, and I didn’t have too many, so I can only imagine how much better it is once you get it totally dialled. The people there were amazingly welcoming and just made the experience even better.

How did the invite come your way?
Basically, through the WSL, They wanted to start bringing longboarding to Kelly’s wave, and I was one of four lucky men to get the call. Thank you WSL!

How many waves were you allowed to ride?
I caught four rights and three lefts, and then poached a few waves through the session which was a fun part of being there. If someone fell in front of you, then you go!

What board did you ride? Did you have to shape one up for it?
Well, I wanted to make something for the wave to try and fill its full potential on the nose, off the tail and in the tube. So I made a board similar to what I ride in hollow waves, but with more of a nose for nose riding. It felt great.

How does the wave compare to Wavegarden? Lining it up, catching it and power wise?
The power and speed are the first things you notice. You are definitely going faster and the wave as a real punch to it. Catching it is very similar, in fact, a little bit easier because of the extra power of the wave. They basically tell you to line on pole 21 and wait. The wave comes to you.

The power and speed are the first things you notice

What are the sections like? I heard they can change one to make it more doable on a longboard.
The hardest part about surfing the wave is reading the sections. On a normal wave you can see ahead of you what is going to happen, whereas, on Kelly’s wave, you just have to know where to be because it happens right under you. But yeah, they have a lot of different settings, that part was mind-blowing. So we got to choose between two different settings, ‘CT2′ and ‘CT3′. One has the two barrel sections, and one has more of a wall with the barrel at the end. Pretty insane!

Looks like a little step in the barrel section that could be tricky as the bottom drops out?
Yeah for sure, that is what I was saying that it literally happens underneath you. If you’re not in the right spot, you miss the barrel, or you lose the whole wave.

How did Harley and the other longboarders find it?
Loved it. The boys smashed it. Harley and Taylor were standouts to me.

Did you see the air section in effect? How was that?
Yeah, watched Pat G hitting it quite a lot, it looks good, but again, its all about timing.

You can follow Ben on Instagram here

The Tom Kay Interview

In 2003 a young chap named Tom Kay had an idea to make a surf brand. He named it after an area on the shipping forecast that many surfers of the time used to listen to. It was a transfixing, wondrous thing, especially when you heard it late at night. You should listen if you haven’t. Much like the skippers listening to the forecast Tom has been at the helm of his brand, sticking to his course through storm and calm, refusing to be swayed by currents. This year Finisterre is 15-years old, employs 60 staff and, holding true to it’s founding principles, has become one of the UK’s few B Corp companies.
Steve England caught up with Tom to find out more.

Interview by Steve England Photos courtesy of Finisterre

So you took the big step of becoming a B Corp company. What is this and why is it important to you?
Yes this was a big moment for us. It takes nine months to become certified and B Corp stands for Benefit Corporation, the aim of B Corp certified businesses is to use business as a force for good. To become a B Corp we underwent a rigorous assessment process that looks at every area of the business. You’re scored against strict criteria, from your operational footprint (our C02 emissions and environmental impact of our business operations in general), to labour conditions throughout the supply chain (ensuring that our suppliers meet regular quality assurance reviews or audits around third party social and environmental standards) as well as accountability and transparency (ensuring that we are open and honest about how we operate as a business e.g. allowing customers to easily find out where stuff is made and what it’s made from). If you exceed their rigorous standards, you become B Corp certified. For me an important part of becoming a B Corp was that we had to alter our articles of association (logged at company’s house), meaning we have a legal commitment to a responsibility towards our environment, people, suppliers and communities.

“At the moment we seem to be at a turning point with marine plastics”

What kind of sustainable goals have you had to build into the business to achieve this?
We didn’t have to build any in; sustainability is part of our founding purpose and is what we’ve been doing for since 2003. Achieving B Corp certification is both a recognition of this, as well as giving us areas for us to work and improve on as a business – things we are already starting to put into place.

Now you’ve achieved it, what’s the biggest lesson you have learned over the 15 years in business?
It’s all about keeping momentum, you have to be able to work it out as you go along.If you wait for everything to perfectly line up you will miss it – six or 7/10 is good enough to go for it!   At the moment we seem to be at a turning point with marine plastics, yet every day on the news I see really mind numbing reports of human stupidity in business, politics and race/religion. Where do you think we are at as a race in the bid to save ourselves from ourselves? Yes there’s a lot of depressing stuff out there; I’d like to think of myself as a realistic optimist. By this I mean I don’t think there’s going to be some magic wand that will solve all these problems, but if organisations, activists, scientists, politicians and businesses really work collectively, I do believe we can effect change – we need to get on with it though! I think you’re going to see businesses play an even more important role in this, but people have to get involved, pick their battles and fight for what they believe, then get others to do the same. I guess the empowering thing is that anybody can get involved.

In the surf business there are certain companies trying to take a lead and drive past fast fashion into sustainable production models that achieve fair trade, fair wages right through the production chain. Do you think this is having an effect?
This is really great to see and something that Debbie, our product director, works on and has done for many years. Companies have to take a stand and let customers know what is going on. It’s then up to the customer to decide whether this a company that they want to buy from as it aligns with their values, or not buy from because it isn’t transparent and cannot answer such questions.  

So when you first set up I said “Never discuss business down the beach” because your local has to be somewhere you can escape the 9-5. Do you think I was right, and do you manage to escape the 9-5, or do you always feel responsibility, or have things about business on your mind.
Ha, ha, I remember that and it’s something that has stuck with me! Yes I do think you were right (thanks)! I really value my time in the water, and often I really do escape and switch off. I’ll get in even when it’s not that good and always try and appreciate the fact that I can just get in the sea.

What has been the funniest moment you can think back on in your time at Finisterre?
I can remember laughing a lot on our early trips to Scotland, Norway, Ireland; we were a small, tight crew that knew each other like brothers. They were great times that I hold close; we were really flying by the seat of our pants. Getting Carlos Burle as our first ambassador was pretty funny. Ernie and I hired a van, picked him up from the airport, collected Al Mackinnon from a train station somewhere and we all drove to Ireland. I can remember Carlos asking how big the company was and we replied “You’re looking at half of it!” I think he thought there were 100 people in the business…he was a top 10 big wave surfer that had come from Brazil! But he couldn’t have been a cooler and more down to earth guy – we got some great waves.  

What is in your quiver?
A 5’6’’ Gulfstream Skipper, a 5’8” Omni and a 6’8” bonzer egg for those bigger Cornish days! All pretty fast and fun boards for most of the waves we get down here.

How is the wetsuit recycling programme going?
The more I hear about our wetsuits the more dread I have. Like neoprene is so widely used  (In cars, industry etc) more than I ever imagined, and people have tried to recycle or upcycle for a long time, but all that neoprene is still with us. Is there a chemical recycling solution? It’s early days still but something (as we know!) I’m pretty into. Our outlook is to use innovation to achieve a sustainability agenda, as well as making wetsuits that really last. I’m pretty sure we have the only full time wetsuit recycler in the world and her brief is simple – to find a way to make wetsuits from wetsuits and introduce closed loop manufacturing into the wetsuit industry. The environmental footprint of neoprene is huge and something that we need to do something about – potentially 380 tonnes a year into landfill in UK alone – and that’s only surfing! We are working with a professor of materials re-engineering department at Exeter University to help us look at all possibilities, including looking at radical alternatives to neoprene. The first stage is always to think about recyclability as early as possible in the design process. We’re planning on testing a run of recyclable wetsuits this Autumn.  

Where do you go next?
It’s strange, I’ve been doing this now for 15 years and it feels as if we are only just getting going! There is so much we can do in terms of innovating around more sustainable ways of making product, as well as better ways of running the business and using it as a force for good.

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