"Lack of colour is poverty of the mind."

Yesterday the shutter on Dick Van Straalen's Gold Coast shaping bay was closed for the last time.

Born in the Netherlands, raised at Avalon on Sydney's Northern Beaches, Dick moved to Burleigh Heads in 1968 as a 24-year old. It was there he hooked up with locals such as the Harris brothers, but he also put boards under the feet of fledgling pros Peter Townend and Rabbit Batholemew. Dick was often considered an Antipodean Dick Brewer as both shapers excelled at sleek, built-for-speed outlines.

In 1979, just as his sleek pintail single fins were moving out of favour, a factory fire swiftly ended his career as a production shaper. However, Dick kept at it, albeit with vastly reduced output. The other change was he appeared happy to shun the limelight as a new generation of shapers sought it out.

Despite operating in the apparent shadows, Dick's ideas kept evolving. As his peers settled on 6'0" Thrusters, Dick was a pioneer or early adopter of the Steve Lis Fish, stringerless blanks, epoxy resins, EPS foam, carbon wraps, concave decks, while also playing around with the extremes: short, stringerless surfboards and long strait-crossing paddleboards.

Concave deck, carbon wrap, Dick was never afraid to test new ideas - Aviso fish from fifteen years ago

These last two led to a revival in Dick's career when in the late-nineties he hooked up with ocean paddler Mick di Betta and teenage alt-pilot Dave Rastovich. A 1999 spread in The Surfer's Journal showed Rasta riding a stringerless 4'9" board made by Dick from the deck cutaway of an EPS paddleboard blank.

Though he's pulled the shutter for the last time, Dick says he'll continue shaping the odd board "when he feels like it."

The opening quote is a personal favourite from Dick; it exemplifies his holistic approach to surfing and shaping. It's pulled from this interview.