In surfing terms a woody is a panelvan or stationwagon that is mostly made of wood and wood laminate. It's a surfing term that was coined in the sixties thanks in part to groovers of the era like the Beach Boys. If you surfed in California during these years and you were on the pulse of surf culture then you spruiked up and down the coastline in one.
If there are any still in Dunedin we'd love to hear about them. These days the term woody has also come to mean wooden surfboard and in Dunedin we have two surfboard shapers who build surf craft out of wood. There is also a promising shaper in Invercargill that has fallen in love with the craftsmanship demanded of a woody.
We met both the Dunedin woody experts this week, starting with Rob Willers (pictured below). Rob actually builds his hollow woodies completely out of wood – a ribcage on the inside and the wood strips sealed around the outside in an intricate method that requires skill, patience and a great plan. His boards are a bit heavier than a conventional board, but they surf really well and look even better. He builds them out of his garage near Brighton and after visiting him this week we'd say he could acually be the closest thing you could get to a wood whisperer. We think he may just enjoy building these more than he does surfing on them!
Then, on Friday, we met the elusive Skep. He has been building boards out of his place at Tomahawk for years and has a great reputation for matching boards to the local waves. He uses a closed cell foam inside his woodies and then laminates them into beautiful works of art that revel in the local waves. Scroll down a bit and you will see a rare shot of him riding his wooden single fin malibu at St Clair. This is him unwinding after a recent trip to Indonesia. Nice.
See you at the beach ...
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