[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":355},["ShallowReactive",2],{"content-nav":3,"site-navigation":218,"notification":239,"site-settings":240,"{\"resolve_links\":\"story\",\"version\":\"published\"}about":284},[4],{"title":5,"path":6,"stem":7,"children":8,"page":217},"Blog","\u002Fblog","blog",[9,13,17,21,25,29,33,37,41,45,49,53,57,61,65,69,73,77,81,85,89,93,97,101,105,109,113,117,121,125,129,133,137,141,145,149,153,157,161,165,169,173,177,181,185,189,193,197,201,205,209,213],{"title":10,"path":11,"stem":12},"2011 Australian International Best Design award for the Seaglass Project Tuna","\u002Fblog\u002F2011-australian-international-best-design-award-seaglass-project-tuna","blog\u002F2011-australian-international-best-design-award-seaglass-project-tuna",{"title":14,"path":15,"stem":16},"Alaia wins Living Smart Solutions Award for Tom Wegener Surfboards green factory!","\u002Fblog\u002Falaia-wins-living-smart-solutions-award-tom-wegener-surfboards-green-factory","blog\u002Falaia-wins-living-smart-solutions-award-tom-wegener-surfboards-green-factory",{"title":18,"path":19,"stem":20},"Alaias, Paipos and Albacores: This year's focus","\u002Fblog\u002Falaias-paipos-and-albacores-years-focus","blog\u002Falaias-paipos-and-albacores-years-focus",{"title":22,"path":23,"stem":24},"Albacore is the FUN MACHINE!","\u002Fblog\u002Falbacore-fun-machine","blog\u002Falbacore-fun-machine",{"title":26,"path":27,"stem":28},"Albacore Surfing with Jacob Pedrana","\u002Fblog\u002Falbacore-surfing-jacob-pedrana","blog\u002Falbacore-surfing-jacob-pedrana",{"title":30,"path":31,"stem":32},"The Albacore video is UP!","\u002Fblog\u002Falbacore-video","blog\u002Falbacore-video",{"title":34,"path":35,"stem":36},"Albacores are SICK!","\u002Fblog\u002Falbacores-are-sick","blog\u002Falbacores-are-sick",{"title":38,"path":39,"stem":40},"Albacores in Byron 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Albacore","\u002Fblog\u002Fdevelopment-seaglass-project-tuna-and-albacore","blog\u002Fdevelopment-seaglass-project-tuna-and-albacore",{"title":66,"path":67,"stem":68},"Doctor of Surf Culture","\u002Fblog\u002Fdoctor-surf-culture","blog\u002Fdoctor-surf-culture",{"title":70,"path":71,"stem":72},"Dugout Canoe for David Rastovich","\u002Fblog\u002Fdugout-canoe-david-rastovich","blog\u002Fdugout-canoe-david-rastovich",{"title":74,"path":75,"stem":76},"Family Film","\u002Fblog\u002Ffamily-film","blog\u002Ffamily-film",{"title":78,"path":79,"stem":80},"February 2012 deals...","\u002Fblog\u002Ffebruary-2012-deals","blog\u002Ffebruary-2012-deals",{"title":82,"path":83,"stem":84},"Fin's Film for NALU","\u002Fblog\u002Ffins-film-nalu","blog\u002Ffins-film-nalu",{"title":86,"path":87,"stem":88},"The first filmed session on alaia number 1","\u002Fblog\u002Ffirst-filmed-session-alaia-number-1","blog\u002Ffirst-filmed-session-alaia-number-1",{"title":90,"path":91,"stem":92},"Golden Days Festival – 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2016","\u002Fblog\u002Fnoosa-festival-surfing-finless-division-2016","blog\u002Fnoosa-festival-surfing-finless-division-2016",{"title":118,"path":119,"stem":120},"Noosa Festival of Surfing Highlights 2013","\u002Fblog\u002Fnoosa-festival-surfing-highlights-2013","blog\u002Fnoosa-festival-surfing-highlights-2013",{"title":122,"path":123,"stem":124},"Noosa Longboards by Tom Wegener foam boards","\u002Fblog\u002Fnoosa-longboards-tom-wegener-foam-boards","blog\u002Fnoosa-longboards-tom-wegener-foam-boards",{"title":126,"path":127,"stem":128},"Origin of the Surfie Surfboard","\u002Fblog\u002Forigin-surfie-surfboard","blog\u002Forigin-surfie-surfboard",{"title":130,"path":131,"stem":132},"Pacific Longboarder Magazine Article","\u002Fblog\u002Fpacific-longboarder-magazine-article","blog\u002Fpacific-longboarder-magazine-article",{"title":134,"path":135,"stem":136},"Papua New Guinea elders teach our place within nature","\u002Fblog\u002Fpapua-new-guinea-elders-teach-our-place-within-nature","blog\u002Fpapua-new-guinea-elders-teach-our-place-within-nature",{"title":138,"path":139,"stem":140},"Perfect Day for the Finless Sliders","\u002Fblog\u002Fperfect-day-finless-sliders","blog\u002Fperfect-day-finless-sliders",{"title":142,"path":143,"stem":144},"Plankton Noserider and Alaias finished for the week.","\u002Fblog\u002Fplankton-noserider-and-alaias-finished-week","blog\u002Fplankton-noserider-and-alaias-finished-week",{"title":146,"path":147,"stem":148},"Positive feedback from my book Surfboard Artisans For The Love","\u002Fblog\u002Fpositive-feedback-my-book-surfboard-artisans-love","blog\u002Fpositive-feedback-my-book-surfboard-artisans-love",{"title":150,"path":151,"stem":152},"Prone or Belly Board Alaias","\u002Fblog\u002Fprone-or-belly-board-alaias","blog\u002Fprone-or-belly-board-alaias",{"title":154,"path":155,"stem":156},"\"The Salt of the Earth\" short movie by Dean Saffron","\u002Fblog\u002Fsalt-earth-short-movie-dean-saffron","blog\u002Fsalt-earth-short-movie-dean-saffron",{"title":158,"path":159,"stem":160},"Shaping Classes","\u002Fblog\u002Fshaping-classes","blog\u002Fshaping-classes",{"title":162,"path":163,"stem":164},"Shaping Classes: Learn to make a Corky","\u002Fblog\u002Fshaping-classes-learn-make-corky","blog\u002Fshaping-classes-learn-make-corky",{"title":166,"path":167,"stem":168},"Suction + Tension = Hang Ten","\u002Fblog\u002Fsuction-tension-hang-ten","blog\u002Fsuction-tension-hang-ten",{"title":170,"path":171,"stem":172},"Super Custom Foam Longboards","\u002Fblog\u002Fsuper-custom-foam-longboards","blog\u002Fsuper-custom-foam-longboards",{"title":174,"path":175,"stem":176},"Surfboards in Stock","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfboards-stock","blog\u002Fsurfboards-stock",{"title":178,"path":179,"stem":180},"Surfie art by Sunday and surfing by Tom","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfie-art-sunday-and-surfing-tom","blog\u002Fsurfie-art-sunday-and-surfing-tom",{"title":182,"path":183,"stem":184},"Surfie for Fitness","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfie-fitness","blog\u002Fsurfie-fitness",{"title":186,"path":187,"stem":188},"Surfie Odyssey","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfie-odyssey","blog\u002Fsurfie-odyssey",{"title":190,"path":191,"stem":192},"Surfie Odyssey photos","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfie-odyssey-photos","blog\u002Fsurfie-odyssey-photos",{"title":194,"path":195,"stem":196},"Surfing Backside on the Finless Boards","\u002Fblog\u002Fsurfing-backside-finless-boards","blog\u002Fsurfing-backside-finless-boards",{"title":198,"path":199,"stem":200},"Tom Wegener Alaias and Surfie Surfboards in small surf","\u002Fblog\u002Ftom-wegener-alaias-and-surfie-surfboards-small-surf","blog\u002Ftom-wegener-alaias-and-surfie-surfboards-small-surf",{"title":202,"path":203,"stem":204},"Tom Wegener Noosa Councillor","\u002Fblog\u002Ftom-wegener-noosa-councillor","blog\u002Ftom-wegener-noosa-councillor",{"title":206,"path":207,"stem":208},"Tom's launch of the Noosa Agriculture Hub","\u002Fblog\u002Ftoms-launch-noosa-agriculture-hub","blog\u002Ftoms-launch-noosa-agriculture-hub",{"title":210,"path":211,"stem":212},"Wood Bodyboards: English and Japanese","\u002Fblog\u002Fwood-bodyboards-english-and-japanese","blog\u002Fwood-bodyboards-english-and-japanese",{"title":214,"path":215,"stem":216},"Wooden Surfboards and more...","\u002Fblog\u002Fwooden-surfboards-and-more","blog\u002Fwooden-surfboards-and-more",false,[219,224,228,232,235],{"label":220,"to":221,"icon":222,"order":223},"Home","\u002F","",1,{"label":225,"to":226,"icon":222,"order":227},"Designs","\u002Fmodels",2,{"label":229,"to":230,"icon":222,"order":231},"About Tom","\u002Fabout",3,{"label":233,"to":6,"icon":222,"order":234},"Blog Archive",4,{"label":236,"to":237,"icon":222,"order":238},"Contact","\u002Fcontact",5,null,{"id":241,"extension":242,"footer":243,"meta":281,"stem":282,"__hash__":283},"settings\u002Fsite\u002Fsettings.yml","yml",{"headings":244,"explore":248,"wtcShop":253,"connect":266,"copyright":279,"tagline":280},{"explore":245,"wtcShop":246,"connect":247},"Explore","Buy at Wegener Tool Co.","Connect",[249,250,251,252],{"label":225,"to":226},{"label":229,"to":230},{"label":233,"to":6},{"label":236,"to":237},[254,257,260,263],{"label":255,"to":256},"Surfboards →","https:\u002F\u002Fwegenertoolco.com\u002F",{"label":258,"to":259},"Bellyboards →","https:\u002F\u002Fwegenertoolco.com\u002Fcollections\u002Fsurfies",{"label":261,"to":262},"Paulownia timber →","https:\u002F\u002Fwegenertoolco.com\u002Fcollections\u002Fpaulownia-wood-sheets",{"label":264,"to":265},"Tools →","https:\u002F\u002Fwegenertoolco.com\u002Fcollections\u002Fsurf-tools",[267,270,273,276],{"label":268,"to":269},"YouTube","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fchannel\u002FUChNazxkAb38Fougu_h4bEsw\u002Fvideos",{"label":271,"to":272},"Facebook","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002Fpeople\u002FTom-Wegener-Surfboards\u002F100063526421878\u002F",{"label":274,"to":275},"Instagram","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Ftomwegenersurfboards\u002F",{"label":277,"to":278},"The Journal","https:\u002F\u002Fwegenertoolco.com","Tom Wegener Surfboards. All rights reserved.","Noosa, Australia · Shaped by hand",{},"site\u002Fsettings","CVQ-jHcVWQHfP5a8kNKBWmbh5dR0nR2h3bsmxfRO_FQ",{"data":285,"headers":332},{"story":286,"cv":329,"rels":330,"links":331},{"name":287,"created_at":288,"published_at":289,"updated_at":290,"id":291,"uuid":292,"content":293,"slug":314,"full_slug":314,"sort_by_date":239,"position":322,"tag_list":323,"is_startpage":217,"parent_id":324,"meta_data":239,"group_id":325,"first_published_at":326,"release_id":239,"lang":327,"path":239,"alternates":328,"default_full_slug":239,"translated_slugs":239},"About Tom Wegener","2026-08-31T04:26:21.753Z","2026-10-06T10:03:33.229Z","2026-10-06T10:03:33.243Z",214879362112059,"9cb5fde5-27bb-44dc-a879-a390c925d3a0",{"_uid":294,"body":295,"lede":296,"title":287,"callout":297,"component":314,"hero_image":315,"description":321},"57bad672-72d4-4a0a-be29-794f07fff2e4","Tom has dreamt of surfboards since a very young age and continues to do so. With an intense interest in surfboard history he has delved into every type of surfboard design across the decades (and centuries). Tom reignited the stoke of the ancient Alaia. He has advanced the building of hollow wood surfboards and has created a new genre of finless surfing and several finless surfboard designs.\n\nTom continues to make a very wide range of surfboard shapes. It is the desire to understand and experience the stoke of surfing each craft that fuels Tom’s passion and curiosity.\n\n## The Corky Method - Paulownia Sheets Method\n\nPresently I am focused on my method for making surfboards from alternative materials and discarded surfboards, using the Paulownia Sheets Method. The nose to tail strength of the boards is created from layers of paulownia veneer or from a paulownia stringer. The boards are shaped from Extruded Polystyrene foam (XPS). The cork is glued to the deck and to the rails to give the boards a covering which is soft yet resistant to dings. I feel that this is the best method thats I have experienced to date, for making surfboards.\n\n![A cross section of a corky finless board. Made for flex and spring this board has Cork on top and rails, foam in the middle and two layers of paulownia on the bottom.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fdef9fead41\u002Fcorky-cross-cut.jpg)*A cross section of a first generation corky finless board around 2012.*\n\nMade for flex and spring, this board has cork on the top and rails, foam in the middle and two layers of paulownia on the bottom.\n\nThe corky project came from a 9-year journey to find a design method which allows surfboards to flex yet not buckle, nor lose their rigidity over time. The goal was to create a board which flexed like an alaia, yet is buoyant. Flex is an essential element for my finless surfboards and bellyboards.\n\nI found that the construction of the corky finless boards could be applied to other boards. The primarily wood construction brings a wood feeling to the ride. My longboards; the Model A, Signature Model and Sunday 12-footer, have a lively, positive bounce as they trim across waves. It is like surfing on a trampoline as the board flexes and reacts to the energy of the wave. With the mid-length boards like the fish and eggs, the flex patterns of the board can be altered to suit the surfer. For example, some people like flex in the tail for tighter, springier turns.\n\nI have a key principle in my surfboard designs which is the boards must be as green as possible. The first aspect of a green surfboard is the board must not be toxic to kids making the boards in their garages or back yards. I hope that people around the world will make their own surfboards with my methods. The materials are safe to use without a gas mask, unlike fibreglass and resin boards, except for the small amounts of epoxy needed to set fin boxes and leash plugs. The paulownia shavings are not harmful nor the dust from the cork and foam. The varnish is water based and made to be safe and the glue is a very common wood glue.\n\nThe other green principles are that the boards must surf good and must last for several years. The Corkys tick these boxes. Also, the corky boards can be refinished with new cork or reshaped and become new again. Once I was asked, “how do you become a successful innovative surfboard builder?” I answered (semi-sarcastically), “All you have to do is invent boards which surf better, are lighter and cheaper to make than the current boards, and then get the best surfers in the world to endorse them.” The Corky is meeting these criteria.\n\n## **Overview of My Surfing Life**\n\nI was born in Redondo Beach, California in 1965 and grew up in nearby Palos Verdes. This area had been the centre of California surfing for a long time. George Freeth taught surfing at Redondo Beach in 1905 and the music band the Beach Boys went to Redondo Beach High School. The Palos Verdes Cove was California’s most popular surfing break in the wood board era and was the home of Tom Blake for many years. I seemed to have picked up on this early California surf culture, though it had almost vanished by the time I started surfing.\n\nThrough my high school years, I watched the shortboard revolution impact surfing and I saw how the designs of boards changed from year to year. However, I gravitated to the 1960s longboards which had become nearly worthless by then. On one hand I surfed and understood the direction of modern surfboard design, while on the other hand I learned the history of 1960s longboarding design and where this genre left off in 1968 to 69. Most importantly, I found a love for wood surfboards which began by surfing three Balsa boards I restored from the 1950s. The wood boards seemed to bring a heightened surfing experience.\n\nI started shaping and glassing in 1978 in my parents’ garage. Early on, I became frustrated with the fumes and mess of glassing and especially frustrated with the limitations on designs set by the availability of surfboard blanks. For example, I wanted to make traditional longboards but the blanks had modern lifted rockers, and I wanted to make 12 footers but these blanks were very hard to find. (Thirty-five years later I finally overcame these obstacles with the corky method).\n\n## **Surfing with Donald Takayama**\n\nIn 1985, I moved to San Diego, California and became immersed in the resurgence of longboarding. I became a Team Rider for Donald Takayama and was introduced to Donald’s world of surf culture. Although I learned much from Donald’s surfboards, it was Donald’s personality, generosity, charisma, aloha and worldview which mostly influenced me. Donald instilled values which had surfing at the centre of a very rich social life.\n\n![Tom with Donald Takayama the day Tom won the Cardiff Reef Clean Ocean Contest.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F9b2ee57269\u002Ftom-and-donald.jpg)*Donald Takayama, the day I won the Cardiff Reef Clean Ocean Contest 1990*\n\n## Competition Surfing\n\nThis was the era of the longboard club contest. Longboard clubs had sprouted up and down the California coast and each had enormous pride in their annual surf contests. There were almost no prize money, sponsorships or world champions, however, they were competitive none the less. The surfboard shapers like Takayama, Bill Stewart, Bob Pearson, Steve Walden and others, had little tribes of riders who advocated a certain genre of surfing and who would travel to the different contests weekend after weekend. Without big money or a homogeny of a certain style, the future was up for grabs. It was a vibrant time for longboarding. In 1990 I reached my peak in competitive surfing winning seven contests in a row including the Salt Creek club, Ocean Beach club and Cardiff Clean Ocean contests.\n\n![Tom riding a Donald Takayama Speed Shape 1987. Photo Randy Dible.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F0b1fcb814b\u002Ftakayama-speed-shape.jpg)*Tom riding a Donald Takayama Speed Shape 1987. Photo Randy Dible.*\n\n## First Book, Southern California’s Best Surf\n\nMy best friend Bill Burke and I were amateur meteorologists and loved the science of surf prediction. The key information back then came from buoy readings and satellite photos. We kept weather reports in boxes along with records of the surf which was produced. We got pretty good at finding surf and decided to write a book explaining how to predict surf and read the elements to find the best surf. In 1989 we self-published Southern California’s Best Surf. The book did well and sold all 6000 copies in a few years.\n\n## University\n\nI graduated from UCSD with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Anthropology and then graduated from USD School of Law in 1989. I passed the California State Bar in 1990. I practiced law in San Diego from 1991 to 92 specializing in Occupational Health and Safety and Hazardous Material Regulations. In 1992 I was elected as the Executive Director of the Surfboard Industry Association. I wrote a program for helping the surfboard manufacturers comply with the industry regulations. From 1993 to 94, I went back to LA to practice law with my father. It was great to work with my father, but I realized that I did not want to practice law.\n\n## First Surf Movies and Waterman TV\n\nIn 1994, my long-time friends Bill Burke, Dan Wozniak and I finished our surf movie, Ten Toes Over. It was shot on super 8 film and the sound track was recorded live onto the magnetic stripe on the film. It was a pretty good film highlighted with some genuine nuggets and carried by a great sound track. After touring Southern California, Bill Burke and I went on to bring it all the way around the United States; from Texas to Florida and all the way up to Maine. I found a new love of making movies.\n\nUpon returning to California, Bill and I started a local TV show; The Waterman TV. It played in Santa Barbara, parts of LA and North San Diego County. The shows were camp and rushed, but, at the time, it was the only way surfers saw locally made content. I was humbled to find years later that many groms like Robbie Kegel, Cyrus Sutton, and Chris Del Moro were inspired by the show to do their own things in surfing. Bill and I made a total of 36 shows and 72 advertisements. As Bill and I were burning out on the very hectic show schedule we had created, Dan Wozniak asked us to make a new 16mm surf movie about going through Mexico. Bill had family obligations, but I took off to Mexico.\n\nThe filming of Siestas & Olas went off in perfect surf conditions (opposite to Ten Toes Over) and the movie captures the stoke of traveling through Mexico in the mid-1990s. It was amazing!\n\nUpon returning to California I had several months to wait while Dan edited the movie. I made two movies; one from the Waterman TV footage called Toes Across America and one documenting the summer of 1996, The Bare Butt Adventure. I also joined forces with my brother Jon to create Wegener Surfboards. The new business was looking very promising with a fantastic distribution agreement in Japan, until the Yen crashed in 1997. I did odd jobs in the surf industry until Siestas and Olas opened to sell-out crowds and great reviews in the top magazines including Review and Variety. Steve Pezman, of the Surfers Journal, penned it was the “best surf travel movie since Endless Summer.” I travelled with the movie around California with Dan and Australian cameo surfer Marc Kavanagh. Marc went on to organize a tour of the movie in Australia and in February 1998 I headed down under to continue travelling with the movie.\n\n![Siestas and Olas poster](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fa3339bf2bd\u002Fsiestas-and-olas.jpg)\n\n![Ten Toes Over poster](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F5d75d32785\u002Ften-toes-over.jpg)*Tom’s surf films; Siestas & Olas (16 mm), Ten Toes Over (8 mm)*\n\n## Moving to Australia\n\nIn Australia I found a country, values, and a way of life which seemed to be the same as America had been 80 years earlier. There was a sense of freedom and space which had been swallowed up in the states in the years since I was a child. I married Noosa radio-DJ Margie Hughes and soon had two children, Finley and Sunday. I started making my traditional style longboards in Noosa Heads where we lived.\n\nI wanted to make traditional style longboards like I had in California, but the blank manufacturers only had moulds for progressive, narrow tailed longboards. Once again I was limited by the blanks available to me. Luckily, Paul Joske had introduced me to paulownia wood. Paul had been commissioned to make a hollow paulownia longboard by the paulownia growers to help bring attention to the new, booming plantation timber. I surfed Paul’s board and it reminded me of how much I loved surfing the balsa boards twenty years earlier. I found that if I used a one or two-inch-wide stringer in the narrow blanks, I could get the width in the tail to make my noseriders. I had plenty of orders as a new wave of interest in traditional single fin longboards trickled through Australia.\n\n![Cover shot from 2000 and Tom Wegener Surfboards Team 2001.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F4f2caf2690\u002Fteam-2001.jpg)*Cover shot from 2000 and Tom Wegener Surfboards Team 2001*\n\n## Discovery of Paulownia\n\nWhile surfing the boards, I noticed that the paulownia wood had one very unusual quality; it did not absorb salt water. I made fins and nose blocks from paulownia and when these were cracked the wood would not absorb salt water. With Balsa or any other wood I had used in surfboards, the wood absorbed water and cracked the glass leaving a messy situation. The paulownia did not absorb salt water. I quickly realized that paulownia was an amazing wood for surfboards. Twenty years on, paulownia is the most popular wood for surfboard construction in the world.\n\n## Hollow Wood Surfboards\n\nMy factory was just meters from my house and I began to worry that my kids may be affected by the chemicals involved in the glassing process. When Finley was three years old he said, “Dad, your breath smells like resin.” I decided that I would put all my effort into making hollow wood surfboards where glassing was a much smaller element of the board. It took many late nights of hard work and some lucky breaks with paulownia suppliers to finally make a revolutionary new surfboard construction method from wood. I milled and glued large, raw lengths of paulownia into sheets which I then cut and pieced together like a three dimensional jig saw puzzle.\n\n![Gluing stringers in the rocker jig](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F4e089a2eeb\u002Fjig-glue-stringers.jpg)\n\n![Inside and deck of a hollow wood board](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fd09b8af0fe\u002Finside-and-deck.jpg)\n\n![Hollow wood boards in the shed](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fb413f315e5\u002Fhollow-wood-in-shed.jpg)\n\n![Name plate and fin](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fe0eefa762f\u002Fname-plate-and-fin.jpg)\\## Alaia and Olo Surfboards\n\nOn March 5, 2005, my friends and family were celebrating my birthday, enjoying the surf at Nationals in Noosa. The surf was waist to shoulder high and breaking down the point. I had finished the olo and had also made a 10’4 alaia\u002FWaikiki plank board. The surf was not big enough to properly ride the olo, however, Jacob Stuth caught a jaw dropping wave on the alaia which nobody could believe at the time. They thought Jacob was bound to slide sideways into the rocks on the long finless surfboard, but instead, he cut across the wave with far more speed than a finned board would have. I was reminded of how I felt when I first saw the ancient boards, how mysterious they were, and now felt that a new door in surfing had opened for me.\n\nI was determined to master the great olo surfboard. For months I would search for large slow rolling breakers which mimicked the Waikiki style surf for which the board was designed. Some of my later health issues may be reflections of this time. After being humbled many, many times, my persistence paid off when I pegged one good ride in front of Nathan Oldfield’s camera. It was well worth the effort.\n\n![Tom with his 2005 Ancient Hawaiian quiver and Jacob Stuth surfing Alaia #1.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F12377b6f40\u002Falaia-olo-lineup.jpg)*Tom with his 2005 Ancient Hawaiian replica quiver*\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=P7T1Io7_Cwk>\n\n*This video is a compilation of three clips from Nathan Oldfield’s masterpiece “Seaworthy”*\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fvimeo.com\u002F4284833>\n\n*tuna fun, alaia fun, finless rocks!! — from Matt Williams on Vimeo*\n\nThis video captures a great time for me. I made it because it seemed so much was happening in surfboard design. I had pushed the length of fun boards out to 18 to 20 feet, while the alaia revolution was in full swing. This was shot a week after the Noosa Festival of Surfing in 2009.\n\nThe alaia was far more user friendly than the olo and for the next few years a small group of friends including Stuth, Matt Williams (my apprentice), Jon Wegener, and I worked feverishly on understanding the dynamics of ancient alaia surfing. Soon Thomas Campbell came on board as a patron and started sharing alaias with the world’s top surfers. By 2008 I was making alaias for the likes of Tom Carrol, Tom Curren, Rob Machado, David Rastovich, Dan Malloy, Chris Del Moro, Harrison Roach, Mike Stewart and many others. The boards were celebrated in the press and featured in the movies; Campbell’s ‘The Present’, Oldfield’s ‘Seaworthy’, Jack McCoy’s ‘A Deeper Shade of Blue’, Mick Sowry’s ‘Musica Surfica’ and Cyrus Sutton’s ‘Tom’s Creation Plantation’. In 2009, I was awarded Surfing Magazine’s *Shaper of the Year.*\n\n![Surfing Magazine Shaper of the Year 2009](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F984bd1ccc4\u002Fshaper-of-year-2009.jpg)One side project which I had been working on since 2004 was surfing and understanding the long 12 to 18-foot plywood toothpick surfboards. They were originally designed by Tom Blake and were the dominant surfboard in Australia from the late 1930’s to the mid-1950s. I had come to know old Bill Wallace, who was the greatest toothpick builder of them all, and would spend afternoons talking surf history with him and enjoying his moonshine. I learned to build toothpicks from Wallace (Rest in Peace). I was able to link ancient Hawaiian surfing to Tom Blake, who set surfing in a new direction with light boards and fins, to Wallace in Australia who greatly refined the toothpicks.\n\n![Wood demo day Noosa](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fd1d665410b\u002Fwood-demo-day-noosa.jpg)\n\n![Toothpick frame grab](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F64f3991ffa\u002Ftoothpick-frame-grab.jpg)\n\n![Toothpicks by Bill Wallace](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F2e66f888aa\u002Ftoothpick.jpg)*Wood demo day Noosa, and toothpicks by Bill Wallace.*\n\n## Linking Eras of Surfboards\n\nLinking eras of surfboard designs together has been a focus for me. I want to be able to see surfing through the eyes of my predecessors. I want to experience the excitement of the old crafts because that stoke has made surfing what it is today. I went to surf in Kona and Waikiki on replicas of ancient boards to understand what the ancients experienced as well as understand the transition to the longer, hollow boards of Blake. I surfed the flat balsa Malibu chips and felt the transition to the Velsy Pigs. I studied the transition from the balsa longboards to foam and transitions to the big wave guns and to the small wave noseriders. Every board has a story to tell. Every board comes from earlier inspired shapes and surfboard artisans striving to make better surf craft. Each era has something exciting and unique to offer. If I had only two surfboards, one would be a 5’ alaia and the other would be a toothpick. The alaia gives the closest, most intimate surfing experience with the wave. The toothpick has the best glide and earliest entry into a wave. They are at opposite ends of the rainbow.\n\n## **Bellyboards and History**\n\nAnother big part of my surfboard world is the bellyboard. As a toddler, I surfed boogie boards straight towards shore and didn’t get off until stopped on the sand. I never forgot the stoke of the simplest ride. I feel my main calling is to help people catch their first wave. The stoke on a person’s face as they connect with the energy for the first time is a beauty to behold. When I made replicas of the ancient Hawaiian bellyboards and surfed them, I wondered why everybody was not riding them; they are so much fun!!! Soon I learned that people all over the world had been riding similar wood boards for a very long time. I learned the long history of wood bellyboarding in the UK and South Africa with Sally Parkin, owner of Original Surfboards. I learned about the very long history of wood bellyboards in Japan with Nobby of Nobby Wood Surfboards. I made wood surfboards with Papua New Guineans who had been making them the same way for a very very long time. Surfing truly starts on a little piece of wood. While the world’s surfing press was focussing on the stand up alaias, I was equally focussed on developing my small wood bellyboard I named the “surfie.” I ride my surfie far more than any of my other shapes. I am no longer concerned with promoting this board to the mainstream. It is more of a secret for those who ask.\n\n![Vintage look bellyboard](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Fa6fb56d1fb\u002Fvintage-bellyboard.jpg)\n\n![Tom with local board builders, Tupira Surf Camp, Papua New Guinea.](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F9fd20710a9\u002Fpapua-new-guinea-boards.jpg)*Tom with local board builders, Tupira Surf Camp, Papua New Guinea*\n\n## The Seaglass Project and Albacore\n\nNow, back to 2010, when I looked to continue the alaia journey to modern materials. The wood alaia is amazing once they have caught the wave. However, paddling and catching waves on the thin wood alaia is difficult. Few surfers can do it. Many customers who purchased my alaias probably never got to their feet. I wanted to share the ancient Hawaiian feeling of surfing with more surfers and the way to do this was by making the boards more buoyant. The use of dense EPS foam seemed to be the starting point, but this was not yet manufactured in Australia. There seemed to be a block in the way of taking this design forward. I turned to Mark Kelly, the owner of Global Surf Industries, for help. Mark said that if I could design a board which will surf the way I say it will then GSI would license it. Then Mark organized 12 big dense EPS foam blanks to be delivered to my factory free of charge.\n\nFrom October 2009 to April 2010, a fury of finless development took place. My cohorts Matt Williams, Isaac Blythe and I made and tested many versions of the same basic alaia shape in numerous types of foams and woods. We developed a system of principles which explained how the board worked and refined board after board. Sometimes I would shape a board from the dense EPS foam and surf it without glassing or varnish. The super flexible board would work great - for one wave - and then break. The board would be put back together and then glassed and surfed some more before breaking again. The goal was to find the best flex within the parameters of the possible materials. After about 27 prototypes, I made the final two master copies to be sent to GSI and Margie named the boards the Seaglass Project. The first boards by GSI were the glassed Seaglass Tunas which were still a little too difficult for most surfers to enjoy. The second boards to come out were the Seaglass Albacores. They were soft tops and much easier to surf. These boards are still for sale through this website. After 9 years now, I believe the albacore is still the best finless surfboard available.\n\n![Isaac Blythe with Eduard Russel testing numerous finless craft](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F6996cc2d40\u002Fisaac-at-beach.jpg)*Isaac Blythe with Eduard Russel testing numerous finless craft*\n\n![Isaac proves they work with a beautiful carve during the Noosa Festival of surfing finless demo heat 2009](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002Feafbc5f934\u002Fblythe-finless-slash.jpg)*Isaac proves they work with a beautiful carve during the Noosa Festival of surfing finless demo heat 2009*\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=oBYASBqSC8E>\n\n## PhD and Book, Surfboard Artisans For The Love\n\nThe years from 2011 to 2013 were fairly flat years for me. The global financial crisis had taken hold in Australia and locally made surfboard sales slumped. The high Australian dollar was detrimental to exports while it made imports cheaper. I wondered if the Australian surfboard industry was going to survive in the globalized environment. I approached the University of the Sunshine Coast and enrolled in a PhD program to study the problems facing the industry. However, my focus changed in 2015 when the local surfboard industry mysteriously revitalized. In fact, there were more board builders in Noosa than before the financial crisis. My focus turned to why the surfboard industry was so resilient and quick to bounce back when many other industries did not, ie the Australian auto industry. I self-published my findings in my book, Surfboard Artisans For The Love.\n\nAfter the university experience and selling my book, I had a clear understanding of the very high value the surfboard artisan has in society. I felt a new fire inside to make surfboards. In 2017, I found there was a new Australian source of super dense EPS and XPS foams and started on a project to improve on my albacore with the Paulownia Sheets Method. With the help of Boatcraft Pacific and genius chemist Bruce McConky, I was able to source the products needed for the project. It all worked out better than expected and opened the way for making corky versions of most of my boards.\n\n## Further Movies on Tom Wegener\n\nIn 2018, Photo Journalist Dean Saffron made a short movie on me for the National Libraries. The film won the best short film at France’s Anglet Surf Film Festival.\n\n![Salt of the Earth — Anglet Surf Film Festival](https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F91c0819bd8\u002Fsalt-of-earth-poster.jpg)*Salt of the Earth — Anglet Surf Film Festival*\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=GelVu80P3pI>\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=BzwqXntaaZ8>\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=z1FzKnD2pNI>\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=Yo-5wT9sTfo>\n\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=GSv-csKKr18>","Welcome to the Tom Wegener Surfboards Archive",[298],{"_uid":299,"title":300,"layout":301,"buttons":302,"component":312,"description":313},"9f1e94df-9a7c-43a0-8779-fbc068bbccef","Feeling inspired?","row",[303,308],{"to":278,"_uid":304,"label":305,"variant":306,"component":307},"dbda93e4-e990-494d-9ec0-398d2478f6f3","Shop WTC","solid","home_cta",{"to":237,"_uid":309,"label":310,"variant":311,"component":307},"0af0943c-47d4-4d27-95a1-76a8dcdcc016","Get in touch","outline","callout","Shape your surfing life with support from Wegener Tool Co.","about",{"id":316,"alt":222,"name":222,"focus":222,"title":222,"source":222,"filename":317,"copyright":222,"fieldtype":318,"meta_data":319,"is_external_url":217},222980903364208,"https:\u002F\u002Fa.storyblok.com\u002Ff\u002F294641482445311\u002F2996x1674\u002F546f73692e\u002Fworkshop-hero-new.png","asset",{"alt":222,"size":320,"title":222,"source":222,"copyright":222},"2996x1674","Tom Wegener Master Shaper",-30,[],0,"973d912e-bc9b-409b-a9de-953a4919cf53","2026-09-09T04:47:23.273Z","default",[],1791339004,[],[],{"age":333,"cache-control":334,"connection":335,"content-encoding":336,"content-type":337,"date":338,"etag":339,"referrer-policy":340,"sb-be-version":341,"server":342,"transfer-encoding":343,"vary":344,"via":345,"x-amz-cf-id":346,"x-amz-cf-pop":347,"x-cache":348,"x-content-type-options":349,"x-frame-options":350,"x-permitted-cross-domain-policies":351,"x-request-id":352,"x-runtime":353,"x-xss-protection":354},"2250","max-age=0, public, s-maxage=604800, stale-if-error=3600","keep-alive","gzip","application\u002Fjson; charset=utf-8","Wed, 07 Oct 2026 02:17:16 GMT","W\u002F\"3baf6a0309ff9cc88ef587e5b5d49162\"","strict-origin-when-cross-origin","5.980.1","nginx\u002F1.29.1","chunked","Origin,Accept-Encoding","1.1 1d795b8d07d5ac763bddd0ebbf68fdfe.cloudfront.net (CloudFront)","JpK4B82PWk_9HrHo-R66aMUTcLiM1NpJ1Pkx3lWi1PY0e24__Xde5g==","BNE50-P3","Hit from cloudfront","nosniff","SAMEORIGIN","none","a973654f-6025-4582-b5f9-f425886912e0","0.018677","0",1791341684603]