It all started with the fish when the innovative shapers and board builders out there decided to revisit the past for some inspiration. In doing so they brought back some lost skills such as resin tints and hand foiled fins.The Fish Fry has been a place for these fine craftsmen to showcase their skills. We have seen some amazing boards as shapers have pushed the boundaries over the last few years. As this new look at the fish has evolved to its many forms, it has influenced other shapes and designs along the way.This has spawned a renewed interest in other board forms by this same group and a wider following.Notably the Mini Simmons, Hulls, old school Logs and Pigs. It is pleasing to note that there are an increasing number of people building their own boards as well.All of this is to be applauded and celebrated as a positive for surfing.So it is only natural that these shapers and board builders continue to share their skills with us and include these other shapes at the Fish Fry.It has truly become a melting pot of ideas for like minded people.

Fish Fry 5 - 2011, a great day had by all once again.

Young shaper Aaron Wordley " Zella Surfboards " from Victoria fleww up for the day with a mate to be part of the action and this is what the Fish Fry is all about , passionate guys who want shape boards and have a shared experience.


Jun and his beautifully finished boards.

Riq de Caralho with his fishy knee board by Brett Munro from Byron Bay.

Captian Sage

Jesse Watson Mini Simmons

Mia from Six Ounce , Sydney checking out one of Jordie Browns boards

Terry Glass " Fluid Journey " from Ulladulla had this great looking craft

Ronny Goddard with 2 of his beautifully finished boards. I think the Tree Frog Green simmons was a standout for me.

Ferral Dave , always a great supporter of the Fish Fry had some new technology and great boards.

Don Burford , Rich Pavel and Murray Burton casting an experienced eye over things.

Jordie Brown had a some nice boards with some great art on them

Tom checking out what Eden has been up to.

The Santa Barbara crew of ( L-R ) Miles , Connor and Ryan Lovelace from Point Concept Surfboards had a great day in the park.

Sam Yoon waxing up one of his long fishes which he builds in the garden shed at home.

Jordan Nobel Note Surfboards from Victoria with one new fishes.



Roger Hall ( NZ ) Sharon and JB from Pacific Longboarder Magazine , Tom Wegener and Mike Cunningham ( NZ )

Matthew McGregor-Mento from New York with his wife was in town to show his " Monsterboards" movie at the Byron Bay film festival.


Jun from " Surfers Country Surfboards" enjoying the day

The Japanese boys checking the finish on one of Jun's boards

Valla Surfboards , are always good to check out.

Note Surfboards












Point Concept Boards



Dick Van fish


Roger Hall , Surfline Surfboards from New Zealand , always pushing the boundaries



Early 60's Mini Simmons from Barry Bennett Surfboards from Sydney

A DVS keel fin fish and the board in the middle is Rich Pavels first ever , now famous " Speed Dailer " , then a Pavel long fish quad.

Roger Halls boards

Some of my recent boards

A 5ft 4" Mini Simmons I shaped for a mate of mine Shane McGregor and he did the artwork.
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Fish Fry 5 - 2011, a great day had by all once again.

Tom Wegener finless fun




Tom with plenty of demo boards

Sam Yoon with his latest big fish waxing up to give it a run.

Nice Sammy

Von Weirdo surveys the days offerings

A few logs showed up with guys on their way up to Noosa for next weekend. Not ideal but it is a public park .

A picket fence of finless boards - Seaglass

Sage Joske with his Olo and Alaias and a great rider of both.

A nice school of Valla fish.

Fins to get your head around...



Jesse Watson and Jordie Brown get down to details


Some of the best foiled wooden fins in the business on the Valla boards

Tom and Carl discuss the finer points



All these shots a by : Mark Sutton/Board Culture. Thanks mate for your support and help on the day.
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Fish shapers night at The Gold Coast Surf World Mueum

A great facility that the Gold Coast should be very proud of.

Ryan Lovelace , Point Concept Surfboards from Santa Barbara .

Rich "Toby" Pavel from San Diego and the proud owner of "The Green Room"

Jordan Nobel , Note Surfboards from Victoria



A great night was held on Saturday night prior to the Fish Fry on Sunday. What a great facility and how relevant to be gathered there surounded with such an extensive collection of surfing history .Rich representing the older guard and Jordan and Ryan the new young guns taking us forward is so good. Young guys , hand shapers and passionate to the core. They all had a great message and some interesting questions were put to them.
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Ronnie has one all polished up for the Fry


Great looking boards by Ronnie Goddard for the Fish Fry in a couple of days. Balsa and redwood rails with Ferrari red laminate. It looks fast.Great to see the support we have for this years fry with guys like Ronnie building boards especially for the day. Unreal efforrt that is much appreciated.
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Now this is a quiver ...

" Big " Steve Schirmacher just sent me this shot of his Rich Pavel quiver. Impressive by any standards.

" This is almost all of my Pavels minus two or three. The fourth board from the right is honestly, the best twin fin board i've ever ridden in my life. Rich spent a whole day making the template for it and this board was the result. I'm hoping the 7'5" will be just as good considering it was kind of a fluke that it ever came into existence. Rich is going to make me a 7'7" when he gets back. It will replicate the board (#5 from the right) only it will have a bonzer bottom like the (#2 board from the right) and he will also shape me a smaller version of the green fish Simmons tri. When he is out there, you definitely should have him shape one of the big fishies. They ride incredible! Actually, every board in this shot works insane!
So from R to L, 6'1" Keel hauler with Gephart fastback keels, 6'5" flexdialer with canard cutawy lok box, 6'9" Quad with a very neutral bottom (like a Keel) and Gephart quads, 7' magic long fish with Gephart straight back keels, 7'2" quad with Gephart fins and speed dialer bottom, 10'11" fish Simmons tri with john cherry fins, 11' big swallow tail single fin, and the original 10'11" fish Simmons quad with gephart fins."
Steve you are a lucky man.

Rich has been busy building more boards for Steve , big and small.

All hand shaped


I pick Rich up from the airport tomorrow morning and look forward to having him stay a while. He is keen to shape a few boards while he is here as well so if you are after a classic board like Steve , Rich is your man. There is no one here in Australia apart from Dick Van Straalen that shapes these sorts of boards on a regular basis as far as I know. And you certainly don't see them very often if they do. So a great opportunity to talk to Rich on the weekend and meet a very talented and interesting guy for sure.

Check out Steve's blog at : www.the-big-slide.blogspot.com
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Boards for the Fry

Jesse Watson , from Black Apache Surfboards has been busy finishing a couple of sweet boards for the Fry this weekend. A 5ft 6" Simmons and a 5ft 11" Fish

Some nicely foiled fins from some ply I gave him a while ago.



Check Jesse out at : Black Apache Surfboards
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6ft 6" finned or finless

Made to be finned or finless , will have to wait and see how she goes.


6ft 6" x 22" and 1.5" on the stringer

The nose is inspired by a Greenough spoon , hull entry and full length concave.

The tail is inspired by the Alaia and flaired rails like a body board

It all blends together to make an interesting fun board. The fins are 6" long and 2" tall 5" up from the tail.

Full concave deck and side cut rail line.Some ideas I have had an thought why not just build it and see how she come out.
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