ABOUT GLEN D’ARCY

Most surfboard shapers that emerged from the 50’s or 60’s started back yard in moms garage, not joes garage as sung by frank Zappa. I think my intro was rather different. I started in my friends grand mothers bedroom glassing surfboards suspended between two chairs as he did not have much affection for her as she was constantly p….ng him off, so to get even while she was out he would clear a space in her room and glass the boards there. This was back in 68 and when we told his grand mother that the Americans had just landed on the moon, she asked us if we thought she was nuts to believe that people were on the moon.

That seems a long time ago and I believe that experience comes with time. Going back in time I remembered my first shaping stint in the summer of 74′. I shaped 40 boards for Peter Maisch who was an outstanding craftsman and to this day makes the best fins in South Africa

In the 60’s it was a matter of look and learn and the shapers who had allot of influence on me in particular was an Aussie by the name of Robert Kennaway (Mooch).

He was an outstanding Surfer & Shaper (and party animal) and was really innovative for his time. I admired him greatly. Another shaper who I respect and who shaped me many a board which I glassed myself was Peter Daniels. In 1974 after returning from the forgotten island of Santosha I bought my first Skill planer (which I still use today) & a sander. That was the start of what was to become my professional career as a foam rat (and one of which I am proud).I first came to Jeffreys in the summer of 69 with my brother and 2 good friends and got hooked on surfing good clean point break waves ,what a pleasure. To further my shaping career I needed to shape lots of boards and in the winter of 75 in J-Bay I met a Brazilian by the name of Horacio who today is one of the top glassers in Hawaii but at the time glassed for Rico surfboards in Rio De Janeiro.

He offered me a shaping job ,so in ‘76 I left S.A. for Brazil via the Indian Ocean Islands where I had great waves and a great time. On the way to Rio with my then girlfriend and now lifelong soul companion (Lauren)we stopped over in Barbados and then onto British Guyana where we were imprisoned for not having the necessary visas.(scary to say the least) We spent 6 month’s in brazil and worked my fingers to the bone shaping 500 s/boards in 3.5 months but had a great time and met a lot of great people and started what was to become a 20 year love affair with Brazil. After Brazil we headed for Europe where we connected with a good friend who was a D.J. in a floating disco on the river at the back of St Jean de Luz. (Bazil Marcus Chadwick)We had a great time surfing around France and heading for Mundaca when the swell got too big in Biarritz.

In the September I ended up shaping surfboards in Spain for the founder owner of Pukas surfboards who in ‘77 made Jeronimo s/boards and introduced them to corn on the cobb which we kindly helped our selves to from the the farmers corn fields. After my sojourn around the world we settled in Warner Beach on the south coast of Durban and got married in the Dec of 77. In November 78 I got a job working for Shaun Tomson Surfboards who was then riding the crest of the world tour. We produced a lot of different labels ,Larry Bertelman, M.R, Shaun Tomson and Town and Country.

It was always a lot of fun with the legendary Ernie Tomson around. I shaped a lot of boards for the hot up and coming gromms including Martin Potter, Michael Burness who was a hot goofey carving up the bay bowl along with all the other hot youngsters. I moved to J -Bay in the April of 80 as I thought it great to be in a place where you can surf good waves and meet lots of travelers. I was exposed to a lot of foreign surfers and feel that I benefited from being able to test new ideas & designs on some of the best waves in the world. It was also a mellow place to raise our then 2 year old son Chad (22 years old now and a true J Bay local).

Many foreign shapers through the years had an influence on my shaping career,Mike Diffenderfer & Dick Brewer in the 60’s, Tom Parrish in the 70’s, Al Merrick in the 80’s and a good friend of mine who spends a lot of time in J-Bay, Russel Francis who makes Full circle surfboards in Philip Island Australia and is probably one of the most knowledgeable people that I know as far as surfboard design is concerned. In 82 I went to Hawaii with my wife and son Chad who hated the water but to day is a total surf grommett. I spent a bit of time shaping with Pat Rawson and later returned to South Africa with the Local motion label. As I have said before experience comes with time and I can proudly say that over the years I have shaped kneeboards, surfboards and malibus for some of the best surfers in South Africa and many foreign hotties. A few years ago I shaped a board for Derek Hynd which he loved but on a trip to Cape Town the board came off the roof of the car and the fins got ground down a few centimeters and when he surfed it again at Supers he said it went even better, just goes to show that a slight change in the fins can change the whole board. So for those of you out there that had the time to read this info and should wish at some stage to surf one of my boards you can do so with confidence.

Yours in surfing ,

Glen D’Arcy