Doctor of Surf Culture

My research into the sustainability of the surfboard industry has earned me a Doctor of Philosophy of Surf Culture at the University of the Sunshine Coast. It was a six year journey of research and writing, followed up by many edits and rewrites.

"I am infinitely grateful to my wife Margie for her support and encouragement. For three years I was buried in the thesis and often vacant from the real world, and then for almost another three years I was left wondering if my work would pass the board of examiners. It was a difficult time for the whole family and coincided with having two teenagers going through high school. We are on a new path now, out the other side.

Many times one of us wanted to give up, but fortunately we never both gave up at the same time. The PhD is opening up all kinds of exciting opportunities to further my work in the surfing industry."

Margie and I have enjoyed enormous success from our humble home and surfboard factory in the Noosa hinterland including the 2009 Shaper of the Year accolade, a 2010 Smart Business Award and a 2011 Innovation Award from the Sunshine Coast Council. We have worked with leading filmmakers Thomas Campbell, Jack McCoy and Nathan Oldfield. Now we are sharing the deep cultural and intellectual philosophies behind surfboard shaping and creating new opportunities to share.

Our focus has shifted from purely creating and producing surfboards to now sharing and teaching surfboard design, surf culture and history.

The thesis and book, Surfboard Artisans, For The Love, is now available to download online at http://research.usc.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/usc:28442

Simply follow this link to download and read the book. It starts on page 70.

Surfboards are just the output of this beautiful machine called surfing. Margie and I are now working on the machine itself with great developments coming in 2020!