The History of Aftermath Surfboards:
1980’s
I shaped my first board back in my parents garage when I was 15 yrs old. Actually came about by complete accident.A friend needed a board and I just so happened to have some tools…how hard could this be… right!!!. Well all these years later and tens of thousands of boards created it has been a journey to say the least. Mostly enjoyable but also very demanding and challenging shaping boards at times for some of surfing’s elite.
I grew up in a small town just south of Durban in South Africa. With plenty of world class waves and surfers surrounding me… the ocean became part of my life very quickly.
Coming from South Africa with it’s incredible surf definitely had it’s influences on both board design and construction. I learned very quickly how to do everything, and quality both in shaping, construction and board presentation was first and foremost. My biggest influences in board designs came from guys like the late Peter Daniels and Mathew(Spider)Murphy, who collectively put South Africa on the map as some of the greatest shaping talent.
1990’s
After having my own successful local surfboard label’s well as Ghost shaping on the side for Spider Murphy/Safari surfboards(Shaun Tomson fame), I came to California in June ’95 to gain more experience in what I felt was the core of the surf industry.
After taking a few odd jobs getting my feet wet in the California surf industry for a few months I started Ghost shaping for Spyder surfboards in September 1995. It didn’t take long for me to develop a completely revolutionary way of doing high production Ghost shaping. Shaping for a label that was on the rise in the 90’s enabled me to redefine my own style of shaping.
After becoming Spyder’s main shaper, I was able to shape boards for some of the worlds surfing elite and this brought a new edge to the previously generic surfboard designs that i felt were being offered to the public back then.
Together with a business partner I ended up purchasing the licensing rights to the Spyder label in Dec of ’99. After developing many new very successful surfboard designs, Spyder had run it’s course in history as the prominent surf label and change was becoming inevitable!
2000’s
Whilst making boards as a licensee offered me many freedoms, I felt something was missing and with the wealth of experience that I had garnered I felt it was the right time to start putting more focus into something better, more exciting and most importantly, my own….. and in 2004 Aftermath Surfboards was born. Business soon took off and in 2006 I parted ways with the Spyder label for good and haven’t looked back since. It’s been great to start a new surf label and to see the growth of the Aftermath brand! Most importantly it brought back my focus on making cutting edge designs that I’ve built my reputation on.
Aftermath is my evolution as a shaper. Please come and join me on this exciting ride….