Watch and read: Graeme Smith on living in the shadows of the surf industry
By his own conservative estimates, Graeme Smith has overseen the production of 200,000 surfboards, arguably more than any other shaper in Australia, yet you won’t find his name written down the stringer on any of them. Not one. Graeme, and his brother and business partner Murray, are shadow men of the surfing world, not only are their names not on the many boards they’ve built, but they’re almost unknown to the surfing public.
Graeme and Murray Smith’s involvement in the industry stretches back to the mid-80s. They arrived on the scene during the infancy of surfboard shaping machines, and by combining their skills - Graeme with computers, Murray with mechanics - they created some of Australia’s first shaping machines and so placed themselves at the coalface of surfboard production.
Video interview of Graeme Smith by Jesse Anderson
“We built these machines to address a problem,” says Graeme while sitting behind the keyboard of his computer, “and the problem was we couldn’t get enough [boards] made here to satisfy export requirements.”
Licensing was a solution, but it presented its own set of problems, mostly around patchy quality control. For internationally renown shapers the options were limited: put your reputation in the hands of overseas licensees, let the demand go unmet, or cast about for a technological solution.
The Smith brothers established Abroboard, and initially worked with Jim Lucas of Force 9 Surfboards at Cronulla, developing a pantograph that could shape two boards off a master shape. The pantograph was a shaping machine but wasn’t run by computer, instead a roller ran over heavily glassed master shapes and the cutting heads followed the movements of the roller.
Shortly thereafter they worked alone to build a pantograph that could shape six boards at once. There were other people swimming the same waters: Greg Webber was working with team rider Barton Lynch and Steve Fosterling on their own two banger machine, and John Gillis and software designer Ian Pearce were also developing their own system.
Each system had its strengths and weaknesses. Greg Webber had been experimenting with concaves since the mid-80s, yet his machine could only cut to flat, which was fine for Barton as he was still riding vee bottoms, but when concaves took off in the early-90s their system was redundant.
The Smith brothers pushed on, making the transition to a computer interface that allowed for greater flexibility. Using computer software the output was no longer dictated by a master shape, the range of curves far greater, and only bound by the movement of the machine. And when that became a hinderance solutions were usually found after a brainstorming session at the pub.
By the early-90s the Smith brothers were fulfilling the domestic and export requirements for some of our biggest labels: Nev, Insight, Simon Anderson, Maurice Cole. “Maurice would order 240 of the same board,” says Graeme.
The very last Maurice Cole preshape from the original Abroboard pantograph - 6'3" x 2 ⅜
However, the pushback was swift with a philosophical rift emerging, and what Graeme called the “guru effect” of hand-shapers: that their boards had more soul. Yet it wasn’t said out of spite. “If I was a surfboard shaper I’d feel the same [about computer shaping],” says Graeme. “They’re extremely proud of their work, and extremely talented, and they produce beautiful pieces of work.”
“We didn’t build these machines to put anybody out of work,” says Graeme, but the charge of techno displacement stuck.
Nev Hyman - who Graeme calls their “first and most enthusiastic customer” - immediately went on the front foot in the pages of Tracks. “I think it’s really important that I’m honest with the public,” said Nev, noting that some manufacturers were using machines without their customers knowing.
“I challenge anybody to at least phone me and ask me about it. I welcome other manufacturers to argue the point with me because its common sense that this is a benefit to the industry.”
Says Greg Webber of the handshaping debate: “Anyway, the coolness of the handshape was meaningless to the top pros. All they cared about was getting the same thing again, or the same thing again with a very slight change. That’s impossible with a handshape from scratch.”
Regardless, the argument rolled on and on. It would be many years before shapers could admit using shaping machines without requiring a justification. Interestingly, in the Tracks article, the Smith brothers were referred to only as “a board manufacturer who had quietly been developing a sophisticated shaping machine”. They retained their anonymity, much as they do to this day.
The Abroboard shaping machine cutting three identical boards
The late-90s saw the board industry change again with the rise of Asian shaping houses, and suddenly hand-shapers and machine-shapers had a common enemy. “It really annoys me that we buy so much shit from China,” says Graeme. “Why do we let the surf industry of China dictate what we buy? We should support these local shapers.”
Continuing with the theme, “At least that way you can go up the street to the guy who made your board and say thanks very much. If more people thought like that the industry would be in better shape.”
So despite cutting 200,000 boards Graeme Smith still believes in the personal touch. He’s a machine shaper yet he still considers the intimacy of the object. Which is all the more peculiar because Graeme Smith doesn’t surf. Never has. “Oh, I used to bodysurf at Cronulla,” he says by way of explanation.
Sound ridiculous? A non-surfer who knows more about your craft than you..? Greg Webber doesn’t think so, saying emphatically. “I had no issue at all with Graeme being a non-surfer. He was replicating forms, and anyway, the design program worked well.”
After thirty years behind the levers at Abroboard, Graeme Smith hasn't the slightest trace of arrogance when he says, “I could shape a board for anybody.”
Just not for himself.
(Special thanks to Jesse Anderson for the video interview)
Comments
well there ya go you learn something every day.....thanks for that.
Stu, he certainly keeps a low profile and does model yachts as well. Does he still supply the industry or is it now all in the past? A quick Internet search turned up 13 brands of CNC machines and, what I would presume are the common softwares which seem to be AKU and Precision, however his name and product doesn't feature. Seems a shame a local doesn't have a higher profile. I would be really interested (maybe too geeky for you) on what the pros and cons are for the various flavours out there and where it is headed as part of this design series. Shaping a board now a design process incorporating a computer ,a 3D scanner ,a cutting machine, a skilled pilot, a finisher, and finally the glasser. The local shaper is still very much a part of it as they work with the pilot (or are one) to produce a custom board rather than the models churned out by the big companies. You could even design it yourself online (if you had and could drive the software) and see it at the other end. Could get ugly though.
Yeah, still supplying the industry, but at a vastly reduced rate because, as you note, there are many players in the field now.
I assume the reason he doesn't have a name is strategic. In commercial terms, Abroboard is like a wholesaler, not a retailer, and because the surf industry is perception driven it wouldn't have helped the brands (the retailers) if the public knew where their boards came from.
I used past tense there because I dodn't think it's as much of an issue now as it was during the 90s and 00s.
I'd like to drill down into the history and evolution of machine shaping.
You would be surprised how boring it is to watch a board get shaped by a machine.
Spent some time on maui in haiku
They have old warehouse there with a machine in one shop that supplies precuts to all the local shapers.
I used to know how much they paid per board to have the blank shaped .....can not remember now for the life of me......
Think there is a certain length limitation also.
Personally, the boards I like wouldn't be found on a computer file.
Machine shaping limits innovation of board design imho.
Great way to reproduce pro's boards though.
Saving the arms an backs of many a shaper.
Look at Rusty though, than man would still be fit as a fiddle if he would have had to handshape all his boards.
I find it ironic that the pioneers are getting run out of town though.
Creative destruction?
What do you mean by the pioneers getting run out of town, LD?
Just that the initial computer machines are being outsourced.
Rather than having the boards machine shaped down the road or across the hall. Manufacturing completely exists in a foreign country.
I touched on this earlier in another post about the momentum generation, mareting, branding.
Having boards made overseas doesn't help the local surfing communities. Not to mention what it does to the local economy.
>>Machine shaping limits innovation of board design imho.
When you can produce and reproduce at speed and number, you can test, calibrate, change, and advance through generations of design much faster. Innovation with 3-D printing and engine design is a good example of this.
Name five huge innovations in surfing board design in the last thirty years?
Actually name one ?
SUPs?
Close tolerance blanks. The shape was very close to the blank, just under the skin where the hardest foam was.
Cons: everyone now had the same rocker - it was in the blank by and large. The bane of my shaping in the 90s, trying to find a blank with lower rocker and enough beef through it where I wanted it (yes you could cut down a longer or gunnier blank). Much better choice nowadays.
I was being a bit playful with the SUPs suggestion, but wasn't getting single concaves to work really solved in the 90s?
Are you suggesting that without machine production there would have been five huge innovations? The ability to speed up generations of design (typically thorough technology) allows for change to be tested, tweaked and run again faster, which aids innovation. That's regardless of whether this process has happened in surfboard design. It's like saying the printing press prevented innovation in writing.
Can I have a foot in both camps here?
Agree that machine cutting can speed up production so more ideas can be tested and refined, but the 'accidental breakthrough' is a handshaping specialty; mistakes made by a shaper that serendipitously lead to development.
The reverse Vee was a "happy mistake" made from preshapes that had rockered out more in the container from OZ to France......preshapes are a base of a design , that needs fine tuning , sometimes the machine/operator make happy mistakes....hand shaping is so inaccurate and manually tedious and with more complex designs as in deep concaves etc , not realistic to handshape.
I laugh at all the so called soul handshapers , who plagiarize designs from the past , call it soul and have never had an original thought in their life!
Just want to thank one of surfing's most innovative shapers, designers. For gifting us some of the most important design break throughs of the last thirty years.
When looking at boards and influences in design in the last thirty years I wonder where we would be without those happy accidents.
Thank you sharkman!
Yes and more than Five....
Surfing has been in stagnant waters ....
Look at the innovation from 68 till 89...... Then what happened?
@stu - fair call on the accidentals
@LD - maybe technology did stagnate (rather than enable) innovation in surfboard design in contrast to most other human endeavours - I doubt it but I guess we'll never know
peace
The reverse Vee in the early 90's , then concaves , boards went from big thick bulky pieces of foam to finer thinner , better foiled designs , fin systems allowed experimentation with a diverse range of fins , quivers were created from 6 0 's > 8 6's ....I would agree with you but would say the last 15-20 years there has been very little progress in design and or technology!
FCS, shaping machines, concaves, composite board construction, EPS stringerless,
1 I have a morey pope with a box fin (removable fin system) shaped 1967.
2 This article states 1988 early though.
3 concave outer islands surfboards 70's
4 composite morey pope 1967
5 Eps had an esp board in the early 80s it was stringerless.
Okay, hard to argue with that.
Lanky in my profession we used to spend hours hand drawing and colouring plans for clients who would look at them and say, yeah, nah change that bit. Back to the drawing board to erase, re draw, re print, re colour. FT never again so computers were a god send. Also drawing a perspective by hand was a long and inaccurate process, which now is easy once the model is generated. Everyone who is not an artist is a creative designer ie; if you haven't studied and worked on as an artist don't be under the misapprehension you are THE ARTIST. Architects have a real issue with this particular issue. I still really enjoy the creative process of sketching by hand however it is only 5% of the process (the fun bit) rather than 100%. I would think board design is similar; dick around with a few ideas (either hand or computer shaped or bit of both) and provide the feed back to the computer. It stores the information, you can look at it in 3D and minutely change aspects to fine tune the deal (at a local shaping machine/blank blower). This is so liberating for design as you can get the ideas out quickly and test them. Of course production is boring as anyone who has worked in a factory can attest which is why you want a computer and CNC machine doing it.
Dead on Memla. Wish I read your reply first and then needn’t have commented
Can’t you see the beauty in a tool path precisely following a curved line that a human being has created with his own eyes and decades of experience? And yes when a master shapes a board from scratch there are some great moments when the hand tool or electric planer cuts the same smooth lines. Try watching a robot cut a surfboard like Jim Lucas’s one in Caringbah. Fucking glorious to watch. And I’ve seen so many hand shapers hack away with so little feel for the board that I’d say in the most part it’s not a highly refined craft. It’s not like one of the sword makers in japan for example.
My reply was to Lanky dean but is way below in the thread maybe I’m just expecting it to be nearer to his comment.
In no way am I against machine shapes or production.
Not sure how much time you spend on here ( swellnet).
I do ask critical questions from a range of perspectives.
I just personally have watched surfing grow change /develop since when I started in the early 80s.
Lately I have been commenting on the birth of branding in the surf industry and alluded to the time when shaping went behind closed doors in the early nineties.
I found this article so interesting as its something I had been talking about. These guys were almost like the matrix of surfboard production.
What's interesting though is that for most shapers once these guys turned up on the scene the whole reason for shaping changed.
I feel a lot of the Intrinsic rewards of surfboard shaping were replaced by Extrinsic rewards.
Naturally most shapers parked the brake Branded up. Then watched the " extrinsic rewards " flow in whilst the "intrinsic rewards" designs stagnated or decreased.
Cool vid also !
Let me be devil's advocate here. Non-surfer gets in first with an inevitable piece of technology and presumably does pretty well out of it. What exactly are we celebrating about him? The surfing industry once pretty much demanded some connection to actually surfing, or doing something related. Old mate comes along, sees the main chance and goes for it. More and more of them as time went on.
I don't think he was ever in it for money. Nor do I think he and his brother are rolling in it.
What impressed me was the love for engineering.
Acknowledging BB's contribution, but also the counter view, I'm fascinated by the authenticity debate. For many years, shapers didn't want us to know where their boards came from, that they were machine cut blanks, because the perception was they were lesser boards. But the fact was we were riding machine cut boards long before we knew it, and some of those boards were even cut by a...deep breath...non-surfer.
I recall being stunned when I first found out the guy I get most of my boards from was using machine cuts. He had all the boards I'd ordered saved on file. I had no idea! But then I didn't think to ask.
I remember when I was glassing for Midget in about 73' and he had a shaping machine then. Very secretive about it. Would ban everyone from going into the room lest they stole his ideas. Only him and Warren Cornish were allowed in.
Didn't he have some sort of rack with planers mounted on it? I have this vague memory of Colin Gow telling me about it. They clamped the blank in and manually pushed it through the mounted planers.
Wow , that sounds really dangerous!
No wonder they didn't let anyone else in........
sounds pretty hectic!
Wonder what Weazel would say. There’s a surfer who’s experienced the shadows, the dark side of the moon in surfing. I remember staying in him and Cooka’s hut, dug out in side of the sandhill at daily’s, for free, with cactus legend Marty and my best mate, his brother Terry. Weazel loved surfing so, so, so, so much. We all did. Weazel’s a real fucking legend. He loved making us groms sick boards and taking us surfing. ‘Just fix us up when ya get a chance.’
https://www.100percentsurf.com.au/about-1.html
Anyway. They sucked the fucking blood out of the legend. As well as surfing. But he’s still a legend.
Anyway. Where were we... smitty ya reckon... hey you shoulda seen the day I went into the shop of a couple bad boy, connected, hard nut mutha’s down on Brighton fucking road.
Drove all fucking night from Ellie, missed waves, was so fucking pissed off. Shoulda seen their fucking faces... especially by the end of fucking proceedings. They were good boyz by then. Priceless little buggers!!!
Remember SHANE standards?
1970 era
Shane Stedman.
We used to call them "pop outs".
The stringers were made of cotton.
Ah, Hillsintas you bring back some fond memories. The day I walked into my local Waltons store and viewed a rack of Shane pop outs, surfer sam skateboards and nylon Traker boardshorts was the day the music died for me, surfing commercialism had hit the mainstream. Looking back though that egg shape and shorter than most boards about at the time was pretty cool and probably surfed a lot better than Nat Youngs kayaks he was shaping. At the time I saved hard went out to Farrelly's at Brookvale and ordered me a mouve Farelly whisker, equipped with a speed bump were your back foot stands. So although Shanes were shamed I was probably riding a custom Farelly pop out at the time.
I was working across the road in Keyos at the time and Danny and Norm Fitzgerald were working on their own pop out but could never get the foam formula quite right or something. It's worth a thought that at the time Shane had both Terry Fitz and Simon Anderson working for him so the fact that the pop out was a reasonable design was more good management than good luck.
The whole story of the Standards, wave skis, vanity basins etc is to be revealed in Shane's book, The Shane Gang, coming out later this year. I've had a few sneak peeks and it's a ripper!
Fuck! There's a fella who can spin a tale. Should be good.
......... what no Ugh boot stories?
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/mshane.html
The gist is, weazel had an effect on us. On me anyway. We’re surfers.
So you think, why the fuck would they do that. We shook hands, looked each other in the eye, shared surfing stories. Then a trusted mate tipped me off. Worse is they thought nothing of using my name to shaft other people.
McCabe told us some great eye openers. Watch out for bolts of lightning. The indo’s really, genuinely liked McCabe too.
You’d think it would be hard to beat lance armstrong though. Weazel epitomised the Surfing Spirit. I guess he thought armstrong’s were only land lubbers.
That interview is one of the best I have had the pleasure to watch involving surfing for a long time. No BS talking cryptic crap. I lived in Umina for 30 years and had no idea this guy was making the boards for every major surf shaper world wide. Really well done, thank you.
Glad it had that effect on you Cookstar, cause it did something similar to me. Surfed for decades, thought I knew a bit about how things operate, and then after watching that I realise I knew very little.
No doubt it's more surprising for you owing to proximity.
All the credit should go to Jesse Anderson who, after a meeting with Graeme (he was ordering a board), realised the balding guy behind the computer had quite a tale to tell. Jesse returned a week later with his camera and mic.
Hi Stunet, yeh amazing stuff. I live at Noosa now and just contacted my shaper at Umina.(just got a 6ft Twinnie delivered off him). He said the Smith boys were intricate in helping him when he first began crafting surfboards. He informed me the early alternate boards in my quiver have his refinement in them. Must say, never had nothing but awesome results from my man. Cheers
Ah the Whiska! There's a story there, but probably not for publication.
Fantastic interview - congratulations Jesse.
More like this please. I’m sure, like me most people would never heard of the smith brothers. Nice to hear an interview without the usual industry spin.
Would love something similar with Geoff mcccoy
We still recommend people to Smithy (as our machine is a small one shapes up to 7'2) He helped most surfboard shapers on the coast and is still a massive part of the shaping community on the Central Coast.
He hit the nail on the head, people are hip pocket sensitive, and most don't care if made in china v here if you are saving $500 on a board for a few surfs a week.
He probably didn't help by selling a machine to china which he said was a mistake.
You can actually watch his demeanor totally change.( about the sale of the machine to China.) His posture slumps and you can see it still really affects him.
It maybe the biggest single regret he has in business. Really interesting to think how much things have changed in the last five to ten years via board production.
Not sure when the volume in production reduced for these guys but they must feel pretty insignificant now days in comparison?
Ok to throw a spanner in the works, here is one great thing about machines: the design programs helped less talented shapers the world over to make very good boards since the curve programs were based off the best designers curves at the time. Sad for the best shapers since the gap just closed due to good curve programs but millions of surfers gain. An inexperienced shaper could all of a sudden make a pretty fine board as a result.
Now for problem 1: each curve making program has its own theme or look. I could tell an Abro surfboard from over 100m away due to the nose planshape and from close up due to pinning points. Same goes today for an Aku visually from 100m and when I feel both rails I can tell if it’s an Aku. So that would seem to say that design inovation has been stifled. But has it? No it hasn’t since the programs also allowed for a high degree of experimention while still offering multiple views of the form to see if its looks right before its cut.
Problem 2 is the nature of the curves that are possible. There are certain nose planshapes from the 70s that are impossible to get from any program I have seen so that means I miss out of making certain boards that I’m keen to try. And then! When I want to make an eliptical nose or tail planshape the programs are glorious.
So overall I have no clear thing to say one way or the other. Sorry. Same goes for contest surfing. Or should I say context surfing.
"So overall I have no clear thing to say one way or the other. Sorry. Same goes for contest surfing. Or should I say context surfing."
Fuck now there you go that's the most intelligent statement I have heard from you!