HAND CRAFTED
​UNIQUE SURF CRAFT

DICKS INSTAGRAM.....

Click an image to go to Dicks Insta feed..

WAVE RAVES.....

​"Well the 8'0" balsa gun is a gem!! Rode it at 4' lennox yesterday arvo and it flies!! Really fast for its size and shape..the fin feels great..I could push it hard through turns and it wouldn't pop out and slide on me...which is something g I have always had trouble with single fins doing... it flies dirk. So stoked!"
​DAVE RASTA - PATAGONIA
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I surf the mostly the rocky reefs and coast of County Kerry. The Kingdom as it's known, here in Ireland. Like the cattle and the sheep, we have no natural predators here and so, rather than risk life and limb surfing further north along the West Atlantic coast of Ireland, I often stick around the friendly waves here in Kerry, where I can get lost in my own little world riding the pure magic that is a 5'8 Wasp in emerald green. A moment in time. Timeless. Thank you DVS! - @Cathal McCarthy

WAVE LINES.....

Lennox Head Mar.15 last year..Rider Luke Daniels on DVS gun... Images Neil Campbell 
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You know who hanging inside..
 

PREPRODUCTIONS........

The Surfboard Agency has produced a collection of custom crafted reproductionsof 4 of the most popular Dick Van Straalen “fun” boards. They are constructed using his favoured materials of​ EPS foam, carbon fibre and epoxy resin
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MAL
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WASP
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MICRO
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SKATE
Dick Van Straalen is one of the most innovative and creative shapers in Australia. A fine surfer, he started shaping his own boards as a teenager and learn his art on the Northern beaches in Sydney in the 1960’s. It was when he moved to Burleigh Heads and started shaping under his own label in the 70’s that he really blossomed. The hollow sand bottom point breaks on the Gold Coast and his shapes were a perfect match, and his down railed, pintails pioneered riding way back inside the tube at Burleigh and Kirra.
Since then he has progressed into a master shaper who over the last 50 years has hand shaped all different types of ocean going vehicles from Open Ocean Racing Paddleboards, to Longboards, Reef Runners, Guns, Fishes and the many other designs that his fertile imagination comes up with. His combinations of rocker, vee, tail lift and outline templates are unique and produce a smooth, manoeuvrable, fast ride that allows you to maintain a high speed line at all times.
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RETAIL ORIGINALS........

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7'6" THRUSTER
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5'9" ROCKET FISH
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7'4" THRUSTER
Some one of a kind custom shapes available thru these outlets below local and global.​
From down the line screamers to loose fish for carving arcs. Check with Dick for current retail outlets.

CUSTOMER ORIGINALS.....

Dick Van Straalen is often asked to explain his models. Well they are all morphs of one kind or another.
The images here are a loose interpretation of the delicious shapes he has produced but each is an interpretation of the riders desires and Dicks past experience with similar shapes tailored for the myriad surf conditions the rider prefers...and of course, each is an artwork. A totem of passion for the art of surfing...

Click on them to view

PICS FROM SURFERS........

Surfers around the globe who ride Dicks boards are .individuals who like to express themselves with unique styles and surf craft. Send in your pics and words of the 'stoke' so we can share on Facebook and Instagram.

DIFFERENT STOKES........

Custom nose rider for Jamie Newman modelled on David Nuuwiha Bing from the late 60's. Concave nose belly and tail rocker lift for swift turns and hold under the curl while on the nose. Relative high volume for easy paddle power yet light for easy manoeuvre .
Rasta at Byron in heavy swell down at the Wreck. Twin keel skate with aboriginal motif
Legend lifeguard and Bondi Rescue star Harry Nightingale charging at his favourite jungle retreat G Land
"oh yeah,that's da Shakti #2!!! In Top Ten.!!! my EVEREST moment for 2012._Money's barrel #1.......at attention1*_went for so long & ended up carvin' thru hoopies & into glassy,small Shpeedies,26 sequence shots....shakti #1....same dimensions except it's 2 7/8'' thick. Whatta board!!!!!".  - Harry N

FINS.........

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Standard quad fins by DVS
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Foiled wooden fins by John Devereux
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Quad keels by styled DVS
Hi here is a sexy red to fusion black one.. its 5ft10 with a Joe Engle single fin with turned down flyers ...a real jewel
*FIN SYSTEMS ILLUSTRATED ARE RECOMMENDED BUT NOT SUPPLIED UNLESS SPECIFIED

VIDEO'S.......

HISTORY.......

THE ART OF SURFING........

Dick & Anne an Straalen have a rich heritage of art as the surfers way. An early Burleigh Heads venture traded as Sea Island, producing unique silk screened fabrics then fashioned into surf wear. Sea Island was a hub for creative artists and illustrators.
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T SHIRTS.......

Depends on the art of the time..always unique...these are samples only and print designs are limited to each run..which makes them collectable..contacts below for latest

CARBON OR BALSA.....

CARBON......

Dick has been an early adopter of new technology with extensive experience in high performance materials like Carbon fibre. Pictured here is an Aviso model fish.
These were totally hollow wings developed along aircraft design principles.
Pictured here is Carbon fibre on polyurethane fish. This is the ultimate and reliable combo for this type of enduring craft. Carbon fibre craft last and last and have amazing response to the energy of waves. As they mature they also become more 'alive' unlike conventional surfboards.

BALSA........

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Rocket Fish with twin timber laminate keel fins
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Single fin balsa classic with roving leg rope point and medallion logo insert....
CLASSIC WATERMAN
Contact Dick Van Straalen on mobile 0409 262 729
PO Box 267 Burleigh Heads Qld 4220
Factory closed Wed and Weekend 
Email cwdvs@bigpond.com
Website by Seawolf...first team rider
https://www.swellnet.com/news/talking-heads/2019/01/29/audience-dick-van-straalen

​INTERVIEW WITH DICK FROM SWELLNET


​Swellnet: G'Day Dick, it's Stu from Swellnet. I wanted to talk to you about your concave deck boards.
DVS: Right. I heard someone on Swellnet was claiming to be the first person to make them.

Swellnet: Oh no, Greg didn't say he's the pioneer. I said as much in the article. He's not claiming to be the first shaper to do it.
No, and we'll probably never know who was first, although Dave Rastovich rode a concave deck 18 years ago.

Your board?
I've still got the board here in one piece and we've been making the same board for 18 years. Haven't changed it.

Why do you think concave decks haven't become more popular?
Because I don't need the work. I'm really aware of my footprint. Surfing is the most toxic industry in the world, right? I've been shaping boards for nearly 60 years, and I'm really aware of the waste we're creating. The most boards I've shaped is about 10 a week. 

If concave decks work, have you wondered why other shapers haven't copied the idea?
Because they've got their heads in the sand?

OK...
Or maybe I'm hard to find..? People don't see my boards. I've only been on Instagram a year and I've got people contacting me there that have been trying to find me for years. I don't advertise, I don't do anything like that. I like it that way because then I know the motives of the people who find me. They're prepared to accept what I do because they're open to it. Y'know, in the end, surfboards are only a bent piece of plastic [both laugh].
We overanalyse it far too fucking much. People think an eigth of an inch is gonna make a difference...?

Careful Dick, you're undermining your guru status. I was reading about your concave decks and noted the back foot sits lower on the board than the front foot.
Definitely. That's exactly right. So you don't have to move your weight too much to go into trim. It's all about your balance and where your feet are. Also, if your toes are higher than your heels, you can get far more pressure on your foot. Compare that to a round deck where your toes are lower than your heels. It's all about dynamics.

Does that make sense?
I'm moving my feet around as we speak.
You wanna know what's really pissing me off at the moment? [laughs]

No idea. But I figure I'm about to find out.
What really pisses me off is people in the industry selling mass produced boards with fake carbon on them. And no one says anything about it! When we were all kids we would have hated being conned like that. I just...I don't know...I've made boards because I enjoy doing it, I'm not doing it for the money, because you don't make money out of this industry. I've been lucky enough to survive, lucky enough to meet Dave Rastovich. He came out of the woodwork and everything changed. 

Okay, well let's talk about Dave. Dave's very conscious of how his body works. What's his thoughts on riding your concave decks?
Well, he thinks they're really good. He's ridden them for years, since he was a kid. As a kid, Dave was a far better surf than he is now.

He was..?
Yes, because he was far more open, and as you get older you start to close down a bit. Dave and I talk about this a lot, Surfing's really mental, right? So he says to me, "Oh, this board feels good." And then later it doesn't feel good. And I say, "Dave! The board is the same, it's how you're thinking about it that's changed. You wanna change the board, then change your thinking."
You're more open to new things when you're younger.

Does the same thing apply to shapers?
Of course. But hand shaping can keep you exposed to new ideas. The amazing thing is hand shaping is coming back in a pretty big way. I spoke to Darren Burford and he said ten years ago, they [hand shapers] were only about two percent of their buyers, but now it's up to ten percent now.

Big jump. Why do you think that is?
Because people realise they want to do something with their hands, like the creativity of making a board. Hand shaping puts you in touch with the process, every step of the way. Puts you in touch with your boards. Someone was in here today and we were talking about this. I've just got three boards in here, and they're all painted different. We lack colour in surfing, yet you look at the early days of surfing and everyone rode something different.

Just a sec...when you said 'colour', was that metaphorical, or do you actually mean the colour of the boards?
I mean the colour on the boards. Lack of colour is poverty of the mind.

OK, and I'm with you, Dick, all my boards are coloured. They're all one colour, but they're coloured.
Yeah, when you look at your wardrobe, there's colour everywhere. That's what I say to a lot of people when they ask what colour their board should be. I say, "Go and look at your wardrobe and see what colour you lean towards, because all colours are a rhythm."
Now go and look outside, there's colour everywhere. Everything's colourful! Everything's a rhythm! And colour doesn't age a board.

True.
Interesting, yeah? Clear boards go brown after a year, right? So colour does not age a board. You have a colourful board, ten years time it still looks brand new.
"Lack of colour is poverty of the mind."

Well, let me put it to you, Dick. Some of the concave deck boards that I've seen of yours, they're black all over. Those Aviso ones.
They're carbon.

Full black. How does that rhythm make people feel?
Oh, if you know about carbon it'd make you feel good. The Aviso technology, it was the most technically advanced surfboard ever made, and people didn't realise it. They've got no idea. They have no waste in the factory. It's a generational family company: the grandfather helped put the stations on the moon, the father made America's Cup yachts, the son was doing Aviso. They made the mistake of doing fashionable boards rather than boards that are classics. 

It wasn't the only time you dipped a finger in alternate materials was it?
No. A friend of mine that's a good surfer and also makes surf boats, we shared a factory for a while, and he used to take me to all the composite shows. Epoxies, carbons, everything like that. That's why I learned all about it, and I'm the first person in surfing to use a lot of carbon. Carbon is really good. Dave says the carbon boards tube ride better than anything because they hold their line. They don't give. The epoxy doesn't lose its memory. I've just done some epoxy fishes with textured decks.
Squeegeed all the resin out?
Yeah.

I've always loved textured decks, I think they're great.
Yeah, I reckon they only stopped doing textured decks back in the day because deck grip wouldn't stick to it. But wax sticks to textured decks really easily. Surfboards have far too much resin to fibre content anyway. I did this thing with the Sustainable Surfboard Project a couple years ago at Byron, and I went, "What a bunch of wankers, they're just trying to make money." You've gotta use their products to add a label that says the boards is sustainable.
I said to the guy, "It doesn't matter what they're made of, sustainable is something that lasts for more than fifteen years." I said, "What's the use of all these materials if it breaks down in six months."

So are your boards sustainable?
I don't know, but I'm not telling people they're something they aren't.

You think that's a con?
Yes.

Let's talk about Instagram. For years you were a digital hermit yet you recently arrived on Instagram.
I'm really bad at IT. I'm badly dyslexic, you probably saw that in our emails!  But on Instagram, I can go on there and see Mitchell Rae, Michael Mackie, Ronnie Goddard...there's all these shapers you can connect with and you can all talk to each other about what's going on, and that's what I like. 
I had a guy I know who's really good at IT and he told me to use Instagram as my shop window. I don't hashtag anything. I just put boards up with a bit of a story.

I'm looking at your Instagram page now.
I've just put up a photo of two fish with concave decks.

I can see. Stringerless...
All the boards I do with hydro hulls have no stringers. I want the boards to twist and I happen to believe that stringers are actually the weak part of the board.

Twist? So the tail will flex laterally?
Yes. Like in the old days we used to glass with really wide laps up near the nose, and they'd taper down towards the tail. Stiff nose, stabilise the middle, and flex in the tail.
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And you can do something similar with your decks?
Yes.
(We'll run the full interview with Dick in the future)