With an ingrained love of surfboard-ology shaper Luke Short’s foam apprenticeship is one to be envied.

Julian Wilson on an LSD and hacking (left), and the man behind the label, Luke Short in his lab (right).

If an ingrained love of surfboard-ology counts for anything, Angourie based shaper Luke Short’s foam apprenticeship is one to be envied. Luke was knee-deep in fiberglass and foam long before he ever considered it as a career opportunity (thanks to a converted garage and an equally handy older brother, Jeremy). The Short boy’s back yard boardroom was a hive of activity throughout the eighties and nineties and was situated a mere hill-less five-minute bike ride from Avalon Beach. Tack on four years as a carpenter and then a prized tutorage period under Mr Greg Webber and you’ve got half the picture. Before starting LSD designs, Luke also worked along side or ghost shaped for Simon Anderson, Maurice Cole, Rod Dahlberg, and Al Merrick… And as far as team riders go – he’s been shaping young surfing sensation Julian Wilson’s boards for 12 years. With this rich history in board manufacturing, and Julian’s current success on the ASP World Tour, Tracksmag.com thought it was time we talked to the man himself.

Tracksmag.com: How’s life as a shaper on the East Coast of Australia right now? And what does your normal day entail?

A bit of everything… I’m a bit of a one-man band at the moment.

I was contracting a bit of work out to BASE, but luckily I reigned that all in before it went belly up. Like any small businesses I have to wear a few hats. I guess everyone does whinge about it, how we (shapers) don’t make much money, but there’s definitely passion there and just making boards is what keeps you going. I don’t think of us as artists or anything, but that’s just what I relate it too; I enjoy creating something that looks nice and is functional. That’s what it is all about for me anyway.

If someone rings the factory wanting a Luke Short LSD custom do they talk too?

They speak to me. Which is something I think people appreciate. I also think the email system is a good way to communicate when it comes to boards, especially if people are a bit, not shy, but perhaps unable to get out what they’re feeling and what they want to say over the phone. Email works pretty well in the business of making custom boards.

Do you spend a lot of time in the water surfing with team riders?

Say with Julian [Wilson], whenever he’s home in Queensland (which isn’t very often), I’ll go up and stay a couple of days to go over boards. We go surfing and do all that as well, but it’s really hard to pin them down – guys like Julian are away so much. Also if he’s down here around Angourie we’ll catch up. Those opportunities are few and far between so a lot of the time I watch his clips online, or he’ll send me a video link and tell me his board’s doing this or that. And just whenever he’s in the country we get on the phone.

Aerodynamics are an important part of Julian’s day to day surf sessions.

Julian’s a bit of a one-man army nowadays, marketing wise? Must be expensive to look after his board needs?

It’s always a balancing act, making boards for world tour guys – you sometimes wonder if it is worthwhile? You can survive without them, but if you want to keep your designs and performance board reputation in the fore you have to keep them in the loop. And without the marketing behind them it would be harder to get your name out there. But it is a balancing act. Look, he’s really honest, and whatever boards he doesn’t break he gives back. If he sells on a few to his mates or whatever he’ll give me the money. He and his family know that I’m not rolling in the dough and they do the right thing by me on a personal level.

A guy like Julian really helps move board sales in places like Japan, right?

It’s funny, I’ve been doing him boards for 12 years, and it’s only been the last year? Two years? That investment has been paying off. And it can be a bit of a dagger to the heart when they start riding other people’s boards. We don’t have the money to lock someone like Julian down, so he has free reign to ride other shapes… That’s a little bit disheartening – but at the same time it motivates you to shape better boards then the other guys.

Somewhere near home Luke Short finds some time to do some testing of his own. Pic: Sean Davey

You invested in this kid 12 years ago and really picked a winner… He’s come a long way; ASP rookie of the year, a second place finish in France and heck, he may well have won the Triple Crown last year had they let him surf Pipe?

Yeah, I thought he’d get into Pipe? That was weird. Most importantly the thing with Julian and I is we have a good understanding. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is? But he’s quite good at explaining what the board is doing or not doing, or how it is feeling… he won’t say, “oh, it needs more tail rocker” or dah dah dah, he’ll say, “It feels like it lacks drive here,” or, “It feels great there!” So, we have an unspoken connection. Perhaps because it has been so long – I think he’s aware of that too, for sure.

I envisaged his surfing then, Luke, and his explanation, “Yeah, as I’m flying through the air doing a 720 the aerodynamics on the rail…” [Laughing] It could be out of this world what he’s thinking, surely?

Yep. He’s surfing is crazy. I think him getting on other boards is just like tasting some different food and that’s exciting for him…

He’s sleeping around, Luke?

It might be exciting for him, but when it comes down to winning a contest, I don’t think he’s won one on anyone else’s boards but mine.

That’s a great stat – something to be proud of for sure.

I’m 99% sure.

What about boards for Hawaii? Do you shape guns for Julian or do you leave it to the Island specialists?

I’ll do up to 6’10” and he’ll be like, “I’m going to get some boards from Wade [Tokoro] too.” In a way I think it’s a mental thing for those guys a lot of the time when they go to Hawaii. It’s such a big expense anyway, three 7’2”s and two 7’4”s and whatever. In a way I’m happy to relinquish that responsibility to those guy. And as you said those guys are so familiar with the place, the details, the best measurements etc.

You could turn it around, if someone said, “I’m going to Australia I’m going to get Wade Tokoro to do all my boards.” You’d be, what? Why?

Exactly.

Speaking of boards and Australian beach break type waves your Chubby checker model looks to be a good go-to board?

It would be a standard board for a guy in Sydney. It’s like, I wouldn’t go as far as saying bulky, but it’s a little bit wider and more user friendly. I’ve made boards for guys who are thinking it’s going to be their groveller and it turns into their normal everyday board.

Back in 1986 you and I snuck into the surfers area of the Coke Classic at Manly [sorry Mick Mock] and you actually held Tom Curren’s board while he scribbled his signature for us – you remarked to me later how bulky his board was – funny how we’re back to those boards 20 plus years later?

Yeah, yeah, I think the whole retro thing, now people have come back from that, or felt how that feels, to have thickness and glide and everything. Now it’s gone half way between that, and your little knifey performance board.

Having a bit of cork out of rail turns is a beautiful thing.

Julian’s always liked that volume too, he’s always had, say two and a quarter, but quite a big boxy rail.

JW’s love of air is balanced out nicely with his love of burying the rail (left), and that recognisable head, and logo (right).

Hurley/Billabong are bringing the Australia Open to Manly in 2012 which got me thinking back to the experiences you and I had meeting the pros as kids, do see these events in a positive light now?

Yeah, it definitely had that positive influence on me. I even remember well before that, when I was only just starting to surf, Mum took me to watch the Stubbies or something? At home at Avalon, although you’re not so much wrapped up in the hype of it, you’re also stoked to see them (pro surfers) come to your local beach. Seeing them surf waves you surf everyday – at your city home beach or whatever – not so much the Search, or one of those events on some remote island somewhere gets you stoked.

Yeah, less about perfect barrels more about big old close out re-entry’s, bam!

And Butto [Jason Buttenshaw], breaking his leg at the Coke!

That’s right. Do you follow the tour? Watch the webcasts?

I do watch, I don’t watch every single heat. But I’ll watch if say someone’s riding a friend’s board, or Dan Ross is surfing (he’s a friend and he lives up the street). Obviously I watch Julian’s heats… I get into it. I’m not really into any other sports – like I don’t watch footy or anything like that. That’s my little thing. I will sit down and watch. We’ve got a machine here that cuts blanks and if the comps on I’ll take that day to cut blanks so I can watch the comp. Or I’m in bed with the headphones on with my wife giving me dirty looks. She hates it because I’m fully distracted, she’s trying to talk to me and I’m watching it. Actually the one comp in Portugal, she got into it with me watching Julian. She got a bit of a buzz from him doing well cause she knows him.

Who else do you shape for?

Apart from Julian, whose profile is huge; I’m also working with Noa Dean, who lives up at Coolie [Coolangatta], that’s Wayne Dean’s son. I’ve got a good relationship with Noa and his family – because his dad shapes as well. He’s kind of a big intimidating guy, Wayne, but we just got along straight away. He’s quite happy to hand over the baton to shape Noa performance based boards.

Lets face it; you have pretty cool logo running with the psychodelic LSD dots?

[Laughing] I wasn’t thinking about acid when we did it, but yeah, good marketing helps.

John Lennon wasn’t thinking about LSD when he wrote ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ either… Thanks for talking to Tracksmag.com Luke, all the best.

Interested in a custom LSD stick? Go to the website HERE

Noa Dean’s blog/website is live now, check it out HERE