The hinterland based shaping bay Tracks is utilising for the shaping of the sticks. Photo: Ben Bugden

The creative objective is an ambitious one – to build, paint and ride four boards in a single week. Posted up at the La Casa house in Byron Bay, the Tracks team are determined to pull it off.

The project got under way on Monday at Simon Jones’s idyllic, hillside shaping bay in the Byron Bay hinterland.

While the rest of Australia enjoyed the sunshine for the long weekend, Ben McTavish, Matt Hurworth, Dan Maconald [DMS] and Simon Jones were making it rain foam in the bay. The brief we gave them was pretty simple – embrace your creative instincts and shape something you’ve always wanted to but were never quite brave enough to do before. The results were impressive but the real fun will come when the boards are painted and ready to ride later in the week. We’ll keep you updated on their progress in this blog space but for the full story on what happens with our electric, cool surf experiment you’ll have to get your hands on Tracks January.

Right now, it’s fun out the front of the house, the whales are breaching and the Coronas are icy cold. Guess we better get back to work.

Matt Hurworth cats his crate full of tools and a couple of blanks into the bay. Photo: Ben Bugden

The hand shaping kit that Bob McTavish gifted his son Ben, containing the tools he used to create his board. Photo: Ben Bugden

An intimate view of Dan Macdonald shaving the stringer. Photo: Ben Bugden

While they wait for the finishing touches to the boards, the crew including Asher Pacey, Heath Joske and Torren Martyn lapped up the sun and some fun waves on a variety of craft. Photo: Ben Bugden

Asher goes for a slide on the alaia out the front while we wait for the waves. Photo: Ben Bugden