The Innermost Limits Of Pure Enjoyable, With A Trendy Twist

Ever been swept away?

Not romatically, Romeo.

I’m speaking actually being caught in a rip that has your arms turning to spaghetti whilst you fail to shut the space between your self and the lineup.

It’s a reasonably widespread prevalence across the pointbreak areas of Northern NSW and Queensland, significantly throughout massive south swells synonymous with spectacular Superbank occasions.

It’s browsing’s reply to Sisyphus and his boulder, mainly — and your arms, legs, shoulders, and neck all hate you for it.

It’s no shock then that native shapers have baked some counter-sweep options into their boards — one instance being Luke Condon, a 25-year-old who simply hand-finished his four-hundredth surfboard or thereabouts.

He specialises in blades you possibly can nonetheless spank the lip on, however that may even get you again up the purpose with out paddling into the transport lanes. 

“What’s been getting me excited lately?” ponders Luke. “Mainly that round-nose quad I’m riding in the video. It’s just a nice shape with a lot of curve off the tail. Pretty much shortboard dimensions, but as soon as you get up you’re like, ‘holy shit,’ you’ve got this amazing speed and scoop under your feet straight away.”

“Piggy,” as his mates name him, is born and raised in Lennox Head. Home to considered one of Australia’s most iconic pointbreaks, which, as you possibly can collect from the opening tubes in his clip, affords otherworldly visions when the celebs align.

“The first couple waves in the clip are from when it was really pumping last year. Weirdly, it actually had a reverse sweep because of the swell direction,” he remembers.

These days, Luke works out of a manufacturing unit in Ballina, doing all the things by hand (glassing, sanding, shaping) between torture-testing his totems on the native beachies and absorbing knowledge from the resident shaping Yodas who share the house: Gunther Rohn, Neal Purchase Jr. and James Woods, to call a couple of. 

“There’s so much variety, and I’m learning heaps from all of them,” says Luke. “I can show Purcho or Gunther a board I’ve made and they’ll give me some pointers. Ellis [Ericson] was blowing his own blanks when he was based up here, so I’ve been super blessed to be in the orbit of that crew.”

While Luke’s not a purist about handshaping, he doesn’t really feel the necessity to fireplace up a CNC machine whereas he can nonetheless contact his toes.

“Gunther can do it, he’s old and used a planer his whole life. I’m 25, so I may as well start from scratch and learn the proper way. Good things take time. Plus, can you imagine going to do a shaping residency somewhere without ever lifting a planer? Embarrassing…”

Condon’s shaping origin story begins the place it ought to: sweeping flooring. He left faculty in Year 10, dodged the hammer, and wandered right into a shed within the hills on the lookout for an apprenticeship. Glasser Steve Subonj gave him his begin and opened his eyes to the deep rabbit holes Chris Brock and George Greenough have been dwelling in for many years.

“I was captivated by that innermost limits of pure fun era. I probably would’ve been written off riding one of my boards when I was younger, but the reality is it’s all stuff that’s been around since the ’70s. I feel like culturally performance-driven alternative shapes are having a bit of a moment too, so that’s all changing.”

And performance-driven options they’re, though on this clip they’re just about completely going straight. “Yeah, the waves were actually too good to see how the boards perform on the face,” laughs Luke. “I swear they work outside the barrel too.”

Luke says it took a couple-hundred boards to really feel actually assured in his skillset. Now he’s able to open his designs to a wider viewers. He’s engaged on mannequin names, “but fuck, it’s hard landing on something you’re happy with.” For now, customized orders come through the DMs.

His emblem, although, is unmistakable — a masterstroke from Shinya Dalby, Stab’s artwork director. At first look: a cairn of Lennox rocks (maybe the cruellest inanimate objects plonked alongside the east coast — complete with their own sadistic Instagram account), stacked like a grom’s after-school fort.

Look nearer and the initials resolve: LC. A emblem scavenged from the purpose itself. It drops within the clip with tiny clacks of stone — an area sigil for an area child who carved his hooves throughout those self same rocks whereas studying Lennox Head’s many moods.

Anyways, for those who do come throughout his intelligent emblem, squint first, then give it the armpit check.

You can find more of Luke’s designs here.