A happy crowd of veteran surfers and partners celebrated Blaxell Surfboards 50th Anniversary at the Overboard Café on Sorrento Quay, Hillarys Boat Harbour on Saturday 12 May 2018.
Photo #1. Tom Blaxell with Russell Dunn & Vin Williams at Brighton, South Scarborough.
Tom Blaxell:Thanks to everyone who brought out a Blaxell yesterday. It was a whole lot of fun and great to see so many of the old relics seeing the light of day again. It brought back a flood of memories of great times that will always be cherished. Thanks also to the Longboard State Titleist’s for doing a Blaxell expression session on Bill Gibson’s vintage fleet at Parry’s Beach
Photo #2. Vintage Blaxell’s on display
Photo #3. Vintage Blaxell’s bringing back happy memories.
Photo #4. Passers by checking the boards.
Photo #5. Errol Considine chatting with Tom.
Photo #6. Gary McCormick and Tom with historic Blaxell surfboard logo.
Tom:This board features the actual logo that appears on the kitchen window, in a main scene of Simon Baker’s movie of Tim Winton’s story, ‘Breath’. It is screening in theatres now and was shot on location in Denmark and Albany. West Aussies Adrian Sheppard made duplicates of an old Blaxell bonzer for the character ‘Loonie”, Rick Rifici did a lot of the in-water footage, and Perry Hatchet managed the water safety aspects of the movie.
It’s a must see!
Photo #7. Bignell Perpetual Trophy courtesy of Benton Moran
Tom:This is the historic Bignell Perpetual Trophy showing open men’s champions 1977-1988 that Benton brought along last night. The trophy will be displayed in the WA Surf Gallery at Yallingup.
Photo #8. Tom giving his spiel on Blaxell Surfboards history.
This is Tom’s spiel on Blaxell Surfboards history – courtesy of Tom.
Hi everyone. Thanks for coming and taking the trouble to dig out your old relics. They bring back a flood of good memories and great times.
When I was 5 my Dad built a house on the beach for us at Scarborough. I became an instant beach nut. We would always be in the water, and when we weren’t, I took a liking to making things.
When I was 10, I made a canoe out of a sheet of tin. Dad was impressed, and later got some decent materials to help me make a small sailing skiff, the Meteor.
Dad also noticed that I had developed a strong interest in surfboards, and he bought me a book by the newly crowned world champion Midget Farrelly. It wasn’t just about surfing, but about totally immersing your life in surfing. That put me on a pathway.
Dad then made a concrete mould, so that we could blow a foam blank, in order for me to make my own first surfboard at the age of 14.
Today is a celebration of 50 years since I officially registered the Blaxell Surfboards business in 1968, however the genesis of it was really that concrete mould in back in 1964.
Sadly, Dad has just passed away 2 weeks ago at the ripe old age of 99, and it was really his encouragement and action, that got me started.
Then of course my mates wanted boards, and then their mates, and so the garage became pretty busy, much to my Mum’s displeasure. There was resin on the taps and dust everywhere!
Dad then talked Colin Cordingley into giving me a job, over the school holidays, which I did over a couple of years.
2.
This was a great privilege to be in the thick of a team of craftsmen at the top of their game, Colin and Rex, Charlie Campbell & Dave Ellis, plus the young rising star Greg Laurenson.
Back in the garage things were still humming on, in my spare time, until I had a visit from a man in a suit, a factory inspector. He had come to close me down!
There was a light-hearted side to this serious moment, however when he sat down on a chair to write out the closure notice. It had wet resin on it and I really struggled to stop bursting out in laughter when he stood up with a big wet patch on the seat of his trousers.
Dad organised a temporary move to my Uncle Ian’s place, just down the road, while he found a back lane shed to rent, in Ossie park.
By this time, I had finished year 12, and my pathway had become a freight train. I had 24 boards on order.
I was going to devote my life to surfing, as Midget had decreed.
Dad loaned me $1,000 to set up shop, along with the long-remembered advice that “All you have to do is work hard and success is guaranteed! “
I was off and running, and never looked back.
By this time Australian surfboard design was leading the world. The short board revolution was in full swing, courtesy of the Aussie aficionados – Midget, Nat Young, Wayne Lynch, Ted Spencer, Bob McTavish and co.
3.
Board design was charging along so quickly, that at one stage, by the time a board was finished, it was already out of date.
I was so busy, I needed help, and Steve Cockburn, Phil Henderson, Re Marshall and others came on deck to help the cause. We were making boards for the likes of Bob Monkman, George Simpson, Craig Bettenay, Jim & Bruce King, Ross Utting, Peter Bevan & Kevin Merrifield. It was exciting stuff.
The shed was located behind Lyn McClement’s swim school, and we would regularly slip into the pool, to wash the dust off. Pity about the poor students.
We would also regularly shut up shop, to drive away on surfaris, including to the east coast, to catch up on the latest ideas. Nothing to do with sampling exotic waves. It’s what you call R & D.
Then we made the move to a Scarborough Beach Road shop front, just opposite the VW dealer Regent Motors. I also went into a retail outlet venture in Nedlands, the Sand n Sea Inn Shop, in partnership with Trevor Burslem and Steve Cockburn.
Tom Hoye and Tony Hardy came on board in the shaping bay, at yet another exciting time. The short board revolution had gone too far.
We had made our shortest ever board, a 4’10 for Steve Fordham, and I can clearly remember testing out a wide tail 5’2, out at Margarets on a big day. I took off down on a steep right hander, waited, and then laid into the bottom turn It just kept going down. No drive, or traction out of the turn at all. I got smashed.
4.
Tom Hoye stepped into the fray with his longer, slimmer, drivers. They were a revelation and a refreshing change of direction.
Tony Hardy was the best power surfer in WA at the time, in my opinion, and he could tear it up on an ironing board, but he became a refined, and sought-after shaper on his watch.
Dad also encouraged me to get involved in fibreglass moulding, which later led me to boat building, but he wanted me to make a big feed bin, for his chicken farm. Then he wanted me to test it for strength.
So, I filled it up with water. This thing was about 4 metres high and 3 metres in diameter. I stuck the hose in and turned on the tap. After about 3 hours the water level was building up, when all of a sudden one of the seams burst, shooting out a great jet of water.
My instant reaction was to run around the back of it, to turn the tap off. I nearly got killed as the monster propelled itself into the wall right next to me!
Later we moved into a brand-new shop, down near the Nookenburra Hotel. This is when the revered Aboriginal logo came into being. It is also when Margo came on board, to take care of the books. This was a task that never excited me but happens to be a very important part of any successful organisation.
Tom and Tony then wanted to relocate down south, so we set up Tom as a subsidiary of Blaxell, under his name at Surfside. We also set up Tony as a contract shaper in Margarets, where we sent blanks down in boxes, by rail, for him to send back the finished shapes.
5.
This brought Rohan Aird into the shaping bay, at Ossie Park.
I consider him to be one of the best shapers we ever had!
Over the years there was a cosmos of gifted designers, gracing our lineage, including Mike McAuliffe who brought in a fresh and enthusiastic edge, Greg Laurenson, Alex Korwin, Al Bean, Darryl Wilkes, Nat Young’s brother Chris, Ken McKenzie, Colin Earle, Greg Trotter and Benton Moran.
We had also always nurtured a team of sponsored surfers, to test our designs, and provide feedback & ideas. There are too many to mention, but their contributions, and successes were all very highly regarded, and valued.
They all brought their various themes and ideas, and all contributed to the matrix, of what a Blaxell Surfboard was.
In 1984 we made another move, up the road to the Oxford Marine premises and set up a big scale factory in King Edward Road.
By that stage we had a team of 44 staff on board and an annual turnover of more than $2 million.
This was followed in 1987, with Ian Cairns approaching me to join the big end of town. It was going to be franchised worldwide, launched on the stock market, and was going to be bigger than Ben Hur.
It was an offer that was too good to refuse, and too good to be true. And so it proved to be!
At first it was like Hollywood, with so much money being spent – rebuilding the shop, making TV commercials at Coral Bay and Kalbarri, fashion parades and launch parties, etc, etc.
But then the money ran out. Major retrenchments of long faithful staff were brought down, including myself, Murray Smith and Tim Duff. In a few years it was all closed down.
The shareholding had gone up in smoke, and 20 plus years of hard toil had gone down the drain. I was shocked. That’s when I came here to Hillarys, and I’ve been here ever since, having fun.
Life is short. Make the most of it.
Thanks for coming, and thanks for the memories.
It’s a pity that it was all cut short, but we did do some wonderful things.
Photo #9. the gang listening to Tom’s spiel
Photo #10. Finalists State Longboard Titles at Parry Beach yesterday.
Tom:State Longboard Titleists held a Blaxell expression session on Bill Gibson’s fleet of vintage Blaxells at Parry’s beach yesterday.
Thanks Tom. It was a lot of fun and many good memories were brought back to life.
A happy crowd of veteran surfers and partners celebrated Blaxell Surfboards 50th Anniversary at the Overboard Café on Sorrento Quay, Hillarys Boat Harbour on Saturday 12 May 2018.
Photo #1. Tom Blaxell with Russell Dunn & Vin Williams at Brighton, South Scarborough.
Tom Blaxell: Thanks to everyone who brought out a Blaxell yesterday. It was a whole lot of fun and great to see so many of the old relics seeing the light of day again. It brought back a flood of memories of great times that will always be cherished. Thanks also to the Longboard State Titleist’s for doing a Blaxell expression session on Bill Gibson’s vintage fleet at Parry’s Beach
Photo #2. Vintage Blaxell’s on display
Photo #3. Vintage Blaxell’s bringing back happy memories.
Photo #4. Passers by checking the boards.
Photo #5. Errol Considine chatting with Tom.
Photo #6. Gary McCormick and Tom with historic Blaxell surfboard logo.
Tom: This board features the actual logo that appears on the kitchen window, in a main scene of Simon Baker’s movie of Tim Winton’s story, ‘Breath’. It is screening in theatres now and was shot on location in Denmark and Albany. West Aussies Adrian Sheppard made duplicates of an old Blaxell bonzer for the character ‘Loonie”, Rick Rifici did a lot of the in-water footage, and Perry Hatchet managed the water safety aspects of the movie.
It’s a must see!
Photo #7. Bignell Perpetual Trophy courtesy of Benton Moran
Tom: This is the historic Bignell Perpetual Trophy showing open men’s champions 1977-1988 that Benton brought along last night. The trophy will be displayed in the WA Surf Gallery at Yallingup.
Photo #8. Tom giving his spiel on Blaxell Surfboards history.
This is Tom’s spiel on Blaxell Surfboards history – courtesy of Tom.
Hi everyone. Thanks for coming and taking the trouble to dig out your old relics. They bring back a flood of good memories and great times.
When I was 5 my Dad built a house on the beach for us at Scarborough. I became an instant beach nut. We would always be in the water, and when we weren’t, I took a liking to making things.
When I was 10, I made a canoe out of a sheet of tin. Dad was impressed, and later got some decent materials to help me make a small sailing skiff, the Meteor.
Dad also noticed that I had developed a strong interest in surfboards, and he bought me a book by the newly crowned world champion Midget Farrelly. It wasn’t just about surfing, but about totally immersing your life in surfing. That put me on a pathway.
Dad then made a concrete mould, so that we could blow a foam blank, in order for me to make my own first surfboard at the age of 14.
Today is a celebration of 50 years since I officially registered the Blaxell Surfboards business in 1968, however the genesis of it was really that concrete mould in back in 1964.
Sadly, Dad has just passed away 2 weeks ago at the ripe old age of 99, and it was really his encouragement and action, that got me started.
Then of course my mates wanted boards, and then their mates, and so the garage became pretty busy, much to my Mum’s displeasure. There was resin on the taps and dust everywhere!
Dad then talked Colin Cordingley into giving me a job, over the school holidays, which I did over a couple of years.
2.
This was a great privilege to be in the thick of a team of craftsmen at the top of their game, Colin and Rex, Charlie Campbell & Dave Ellis, plus the young rising star Greg Laurenson.
Back in the garage things were still humming on, in my spare time, until I had a visit from a man in a suit, a factory inspector. He had come to close me down!
There was a light-hearted side to this serious moment, however when he sat down on a chair to write out the closure notice. It had wet resin on it and I really struggled to stop bursting out in laughter when he stood up with a big wet patch on the seat of his trousers.
Dad organised a temporary move to my Uncle Ian’s place, just down the road, while he found a back lane shed to rent, in Ossie park.
By this time, I had finished year 12, and my pathway had become a freight train. I had 24 boards on order.
I was going to devote my life to surfing, as Midget had decreed.
Dad loaned me $1,000 to set up shop, along with the long-remembered advice that “All you have to do is work hard and success is guaranteed! “
I was off and running, and never looked back.
By this time Australian surfboard design was leading the world. The short board revolution was in full swing, courtesy of the Aussie aficionados – Midget, Nat Young, Wayne Lynch, Ted Spencer, Bob McTavish and co.
3.
Board design was charging along so quickly, that at one stage, by the time a board was finished, it was already out of date.
I was so busy, I needed help, and Steve Cockburn, Phil Henderson, Re Marshall and others came on deck to help the cause. We were making boards for the likes of Bob Monkman, George Simpson, Craig Bettenay, Jim & Bruce King, Ross Utting, Peter Bevan & Kevin Merrifield. It was exciting stuff.
The shed was located behind Lyn McClement’s swim school, and we would regularly slip into the pool, to wash the dust off. Pity about the poor students.
We would also regularly shut up shop, to drive away on surfaris, including to the east coast, to catch up on the latest ideas. Nothing to do with sampling exotic waves. It’s what you call R & D.
Then we made the move to a Scarborough Beach Road shop front, just opposite the VW dealer Regent Motors. I also went into a retail outlet venture in Nedlands, the Sand n Sea Inn Shop, in partnership with Trevor Burslem and Steve Cockburn.
Tom Hoye and Tony Hardy came on board in the shaping bay, at yet another exciting time. The short board revolution had gone too far.
We had made our shortest ever board, a 4’10 for Steve Fordham, and I can clearly remember testing out a wide tail 5’2, out at Margarets on a big day. I took off down on a steep right hander, waited, and then laid into the bottom turn It just kept going down. No drive, or traction out of the turn at all. I got smashed.
4.
Tom Hoye stepped into the fray with his longer, slimmer, drivers. They were a revelation and a refreshing change of direction.
Tony Hardy was the best power surfer in WA at the time, in my opinion, and he could tear it up on an ironing board, but he became a refined, and sought-after shaper on his watch.
Dad also encouraged me to get involved in fibreglass moulding, which later led me to boat building, but he wanted me to make a big feed bin, for his chicken farm. Then he wanted me to test it for strength.
So, I filled it up with water. This thing was about 4 metres high and 3 metres in diameter. I stuck the hose in and turned on the tap. After about 3 hours the water level was building up, when all of a sudden one of the seams burst, shooting out a great jet of water.
My instant reaction was to run around the back of it, to turn the tap off. I nearly got killed as the monster propelled itself into the wall right next to me!
Later we moved into a brand-new shop, down near the Nookenburra Hotel. This is when the revered Aboriginal logo came into being. It is also when Margo came on board, to take care of the books. This was a task that never excited me but happens to be a very important part of any successful organisation.
Tom and Tony then wanted to relocate down south, so we set up Tom as a subsidiary of Blaxell, under his name at Surfside. We also set up Tony as a contract shaper in Margarets, where we sent blanks down in boxes, by rail, for him to send back the finished shapes.
5.
This brought Rohan Aird into the shaping bay, at Ossie Park.
I consider him to be one of the best shapers we ever had!
Over the years there was a cosmos of gifted designers, gracing our lineage, including Mike McAuliffe who brought in a fresh and enthusiastic edge, Greg Laurenson, Alex Korwin, Al Bean, Darryl Wilkes, Nat Young’s brother Chris, Ken McKenzie, Colin Earle, Greg Trotter and Benton Moran.
We had also always nurtured a team of sponsored surfers, to test our designs, and provide feedback & ideas. There are too many to mention, but their contributions, and successes were all very highly regarded, and valued.
They all brought their various themes and ideas, and all contributed to the matrix, of what a Blaxell Surfboard was.
In 1984 we made another move, up the road to the Oxford Marine premises and set up a big scale factory in King Edward Road.
By that stage we had a team of 44 staff on board and an annual turnover of more than $2 million.
This was followed in 1987, with Ian Cairns approaching me to join the big end of town. It was going to be franchised worldwide, launched on the stock market, and was going to be bigger than Ben Hur.
It was an offer that was too good to refuse, and too good to be true. And so it proved to be!
At first it was like Hollywood, with so much money being spent – rebuilding the shop, making TV commercials at Coral Bay and Kalbarri, fashion parades and launch parties, etc, etc.
But then the money ran out. Major retrenchments of long faithful staff were brought down, including myself, Murray Smith and Tim Duff. In a few years it was all closed down.
The shareholding had gone up in smoke, and 20 plus years of hard toil had gone down the drain. I was shocked. That’s when I came here to Hillarys, and I’ve been here ever since, having fun.
Life is short. Make the most of it.
Thanks for coming, and thanks for the memories.
It’s a pity that it was all cut short, but we did do some wonderful things.
Photo #9. the gang listening to Tom’s spiel
Photo #10. Finalists State Longboard Titles at Parry Beach yesterday.
Tom: State Longboard Titleists held a Blaxell expression session on Bill Gibson’s fleet of vintage Blaxells at Parry’s beach yesterday.
Thanks Tom. It was a lot of fun and many good memories were brought back to life.
Coming soon Bring Out your Blaxell social pics
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