I was riding out at Burleigh Heads a few weeks ago, it was a pretty benign day to be honest, only 3′ or so, but I wiped out anyway, legrope snapped and my 6′3″ Mt Woodgee thruster washed right up on the rocks in front of the national park. I managed to retieve it finally, but you can imagine the dings it copped, after taking a 5 minute punding on those big blue rocks. I was gutted! The surfboard was pretty new, shaped by Ian at Mt Woodgee for me and four months in I had already smashed it.
When I got back to the car, I whipped out the iPhone and called my usual ding repairer. I got the recorded voicemail message, he was on his annual surf holiday and would not be back for three weeks. So I started searching on the internet to find an alternative, all I could think about was fix my stick so I wouldn’t miss the next swell. This was the start of a new building swell too, so I wanted it fixed fast.
This exercise made me realise just how hard it is to find a Gold Coast ding repairer on the internet. They are impossible to find. Unless you know exactly who you needed to speak to and what their website is already, you wouldn’t be able to find them. Most results in Google are just age old forum pasts and other garbage. This completely defeats the point of the internet. The internet is there to help you find people you need, before you know who they are, not go to their website because you already know what you are looking for!
Surfboard shapers are the same. If I wanted to get a surfboard custom made for Christmas, I’d have to go to the shops to find a shaper. It is so hard to find random Golf Coast shapers by searching on Google with anything you’d think is relevant. Its bizarre, I thought this was a competitive, cut throat field and I’d be overwhelmed with choice.
So, being a little internet savvy, I decided to put this website together. What I have done is create (and I will maintain it too) a list of surfboard shapers and ding repairers who operate their business on the Gold Coast. Just drop your email into the sign up form above and I’ll send you a copy. It is in pdf form, so you can print it off. That way it is handy when you need it. I have found it particularly useful already as on the occasion above, the first alternative ding repairer told me he was busy and there was a two week wait till I’d get my surfboard fixed. I just grabbed my list and kept ringing till I found someone who could fix it as soon as possible. I ended up getting my board back in 4 days flat so I didn’t miss too much.
So leave your details above and I will send you a copy of my list. I’ll review it every 6 months or so and email you an up-to-date copy. I hope you enjoy it, but that you use it mainly to buy your next custom shaped designs, not for repairs.
Cheers
Damo
Gold Coast Surfboards
