If Tom Morey stands at the head of the bodyboarding design pantheon, then Jerome 'Buzz' Morasca isn’t far behind. Morey may be the guy who invented the bodyboard, but it was Buzz who created the technology and construction practices that allowed bodyboards to evolve from flexy, mixed-rockered fun machines to technical surf craft capable of taking on the world's heaviest waves.

Buzz went into business in the late-80’s with friend Ben Steelhead and birthed Toobs Bodyboards [Buzz and Ben = Two B's = Toobs] in Morro Bay, California, and soon revolutionised the bodyboard construction process.

Buzz passed away in late-December 2024. To try to get an understanding of the legacy he left it seemed appropriate to speak with bodyboarding shaping guru Nick 'Mez' Mesritz. Mez now runs the Broady factory in Indonesia, the largest high-end bodyboarding manufacturing facility in the world which still uses technology and manufacturing techniques pioneered by Buzz.

Swellnet: Hey Mez, thanks for taking the time to have a chat. When did you first meet Buzz and what was your personal relationship with him like?
Mez: I was working at Rheopaipo in 1993 and had received a job offer from another Australian bodyboarding manufacturing company. I was shaping Chris Taloa’s boards at the time and he'd sung my praises to Buzz and Ben Steelhead, the owners of Toobs. A couple of months later I was on my way to Morro Bay, California. 

My early interactions with Buzz were intimidating and not what I had expected. I went from running Rheo’s production to the very bottom rung at Toobs. I’d been told by Ben that they wanted me at Toobs to help them increase production output. Years later I found out that Ben had sold Buzz on the idea that I was coming to learn from 'the Master'. So I was a bit shocked that I was back doing the basics with Buzz treating me like a newbie.

Inside the Toobs shop

In hindsight it was the best thing that could have happened to me, as I learnt Buzz’s shaping and manufacturing methods from the ground up. I really was learning from the master. 

Can you list some of the important innovations that Buzz introduced that have impacted bodyboarding design and construction?
Stringers: I know Morey had a form of stringer in their Mach 10’s and other board companies were experimenting with them, but Buzz pioneered the hollow graphite tube stringer and the method for inserting them into the core, which has become the industry standard. 

Calibrated Rocker Tension: Buzz worked out a completely unique method of controlling the slick and deck lamination, resulting in boards with perfect rocker and a dialled-in tension balance between top and bottom skins. 

Buzz's laminators have become the industrial standard. Do you know how he developed them, and what makes Buzz laminators so good? 
Then and now, most bodyboard manufacturers set the rockers by quite literally squashing the boards together in a stack, under weights, after deck skin lamination. When Buzz and Ben started Toobs they purchased a bunch of materials and a half-functioning heat laminator from a failed bodyboard start up. The failed board company couldn’t work out the board rocker conundrum and were no help when Buzz asked for assistance. He reached out to a few of the industry big wigs at the time, but from what Buzz told me they just laughed in his face.

So Buzz, with a background in engineering and a high-functioning mechanical mind, set about building his own laminator from the ground up. 

After some trial and error, Buzz identified that when you heat laminated the bottom skin to the core, the slick material would stretch / lengthen from a combination of heat and pressure. As the slick skin cooled it would retract, pulling the core into a reverse curve. Based on this observation Buzz worked out that he needed to accurately control the corresponding stretch and retraction of the deck skin to be able to counterbalance the reverse curve created during slick lamination. So Buzz designed a laminator which would allow complete control of the heat, the pressure, and also the speed that core passed through the heater unit of the machine. 

After some initial trial and error, Buzz settled on a design which is pretty close to what I use today, almost forty years later. With those three key control factors, a skilled Buzz laminator operator can balance the stretch and retraction of the deck and bottom skins, not only resulting in a board with perfect rocker, but also in-built tension balance between the two opposing skins. The tension balance gives the board amazing flex recoil, essential for high performance bodyboarding.

I wouldn’t say Buzz’s laminators are the industrial standard, as much as they are the industry benchmark. He only made them for a select few and each one is a true piece of engineering genius.

Buzz, at left, alongside his output, and indulging in pre-GoPro experimentation

What was Buzz like as a person and what did you learn from him - in bodyboarding, business, or personally - over the years?
Buzz was intense, private, argumentative, and creative. We’d spend hours talking about designs, constructions, and materials. Buzz was conservative when it came to progressing bodyboard design, whereas I was always trying to develop the next big thing every other week. 

He taught me to slow down and really think about the design principles of what I was trying to create. Think, research, and test why a shape, design feature, or material reacted the way it did. Then rethink and re-test until I could confidently say the new shape, design feature, or material was a true improvement. 

Buzz was my sounding board whenever I was trying to solve a production problem, whether it be construction, manufacturing, or design. His guidance, knowledge and objective thinking helped me countless times. We also chatted about music, politics, his beloved mountain biking, and the All Blacks. I turned Buzz into an AB’s diehard during my time in Morro Bay.

I am going to miss our chats, Buzz. Rip in peace, my friend. 

// NICK MESRITZ in conversation with DAN DOBBIN

For more information on the beginning of Toobs bodyboards click here.