Spider Surfboards
Spider shaped his first board in 1965 at the age of 16 and founded War Surfboards before joining Graham Hynes at Safari as their main shaper in 1972 following the departure of Andrew Ogilvie. He is still in the shaping bay or on the beach everyday and has become one of the world’s most experienced and prolific shaper's.
Spider's creative approach to surfboard design developed through his relationship with Shaun Tomson. Their partnership broke with conventional design and the results were boards which suited Shaun's style of maneuvering far back in the barrel. In 1975 Shaun was making headlines in Hawaii on Spider's Pipeline Gun when he took the Pipe Master's Title, following with the World Championship in 1977
These victories brought world wide attention to Spider's shaping skills. Spider's Pipeline Gun features in the Quicksilver Masters Collection of boards that revolutionized surfing over the years. Under Graham's leadership Safari led the surf scene in South Africa and the rest of the world.
In 1976 Safari sponsored the Springboks versus the Bronzed Aussie Challenge at Cave Rock, on the Bluff in Durban. Having shaped boards for more than 20 World Champion surfers over a 45 year period, Spider has developed a consultative style that has and still does bring out the best from some of the world's most innovative surfers.
The future for Safari is continuing to use the collective experience of our team to ensure your board is personalized for stoke maximization, irrespective of your age or experience.
To keep things fresh Spider regularly surfs with our up and coming groms. Training with them daily gives him inspiration for new ideas and encouragement to dig deep into his wealth of experience. Safari’s groms are dedicated and over time have developed unique styles that are the formula for future champions. They grab onto anything new and different and strive for new levels in their surfing every day.
Spider is in the ocean at first light every day, testing new designs and techniques. His rigorous training and healthy lifestyle enables him to surf Safari’s Pro Models at their limit and understand fundamentally what makes them work. This dedication is critical to the feedback loop which goes into the shaping bay, where he is constantly improving and refining his performance shapes as well as innovations in fun board design.
Safari will continue to fulfil our customer’s highest expectations through our combination of surfboard design and hands-on experience in selecting and designing the right board for you. This is our future and yours.