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Your backstage pass to the world of surfing, hosted by MC and commentator Terry “Tappa” Teece. From pro surfers and legends of the sport to shapers, innovators and anyone with an epic story and a love for the ocean—The Green Room dives deep. Expect tales of epic wins, brutal wipeouts, and behind-the-scenes moments from life in and out of the water. Whether you’re chasing waves or just some inspiration, this podcast will leave you stoked to paddle out.
00;00;07;22 - 00;00;29;12
Tappa
Welcome to the green Room. Your backstage pass to the world of surfing. I'm your host, surf emcee and commentator Terry Tapper. Teeth diving into epic winds, crashing finals and wild stories with surfing's biggest names, as well as the legends working behind the scenes to keep that stack alive. A big shout out to our sponsor for this episode. The official break out with their new Jersey lager.
00;00;29;14 - 00;00;50;16
Tappa
So wax up, paddle out and join us in the green room with a surf chat. Never guys flat. Well, today on the green room, I've got a blank made. My third ever surfboard I had made my brother. We, First off, we got one board together. Then we got, Well, then I got a board. Another race that are all race shapes.
00;00;50;18 - 00;01;12;04
Tappa
And then. Well, dad went on our tour overseas. He went with the seagulls rugby league tour. The supporters tour with his boss, and he's over there in England, and he brings back home and. Yeah, pretty exciting. Dad Ryan from England and he has a chat to me, guys. Hey, Terry, I want to get you some souvenirs, but, would you prefer souvenirs or a new board?
00;01;12;08 - 00;01;31;21
Tappa
And there was no way. So it was just like new board. And so I dad went and saw honey, and he had this new blank there that was, ship and boards and my first ever real surfboard, not made from an old surfboard, was by this man. He's a he's a shaper. He's environmentalist. He's done done so many things.
00;01;31;21 - 00;01;37;07
Tappa
He's got more hats than on, and I don't think I've got in my cabin. Welcome to the green room, Nev Hyneman.
00;01;37;09 - 00;01;38;15
Nev
I'm stoked, mate.
00;01;38;18 - 00;01;53;06
Tappa
Man, I'm psyched to have you here. Because, you know, I, I think I must have been about 79 or 78 when I first first met. 777 there you guys, when I was 12. And, my. But you originally start in Western Australia, is that correct?
00;01;53;06 - 00;02;20;12
Nev
Yeah. Yeah. I started making surfboards in my dad's garage. Same old story. And then making surfboards during it when we're at school. Then, the day that Phil Usher and I finished high school in Perth, Western Australia, we opened Odyssey Surfboards in Perth and within. But in the prior to that, I came up here and in 74 for the Aussie titles, and I couldn't believe Billy Heads and all natural foot Western Australia was awesome.
00;02;20;12 - 00;02;37;22
Nev
But nobody really like lifts. All lifts. Yeah. And I made a decision, to leave. So by 77 I was only 18, I 18 or 19. I drove across the Nullarbor for about the 20th time and came up to Burley. And I've never looked back. It's just been unbelievable.
00;02;37;25 - 00;02;43;24
Tappa
Might now surfing itself there. Yeah. From Western Australia. Where abouts in Western Australia did you grow up?
00;02;44;02 - 00;02;56;10
Nev
Well, the funny part about this is I'm a Ginger. Yeah. My name's Neville and I was actually raised about an hour and a half from the beach in the eastern suburbs of Perth. Kind of like a Brazeau or.
00;02;56;15 - 00;02;56;22
Tappa
Yeah.
00;02;56;22 - 00;03;13;26
Nev
You know, a Westie or whatever. Unbelievable. So we used to have to wait for a guy to come up in his E.H. Holden. We would drive an hour and a half to go to Scarborough or Cottesloe in the afternoon, surf for about 20 minutes before they before got dark and then got home like 8:00 to do no homework.
00;03;14;04 - 00;03;19;20
Nev
So, Phil and I scraped through year 12, started Odyssey Surfboards, and.
00;03;19;23 - 00;03;28;15
Tappa
So did you, mate Phil because Phil, I see I see Phil now and again. I remember because he used to be like, come on, you know, they say Tony likes from Western Australia.
00;03;28;17 - 00;03;49;18
Nev
Well, I came first. Yeah, but Phil, Phil come over after. But the funny thing about Phil, now, if you just 1:00 way forward, we started Odyssey Surfboards together, right? Yeah. So it's been a long odyssey. Yeah. I want to go, Homer. Bad joke. And then, what is Phil do now? He has Odyssey private aged care using the same logo.
00;03;49;24 - 00;03;52;21
Tappa
Literally. No. What is? Same like the same logo.
00;03;52;28 - 00;04;03;01
Nev
And one day, Phil and I going to be, you know, 110 and we'd be lying in bed holding hands in separate beds. You know, that's that's how I see my future right now. You know.
00;04;03;03 - 00;04;04;23
Tappa
I know I've never thought of a future like that.
00;04;04;24 - 00;04;05;28
Nev
Now, I don't want that.
00;04;06;00 - 00;04;15;20
Tappa
Now, but but okay, so you've you've come to the east coast of Australia, you know, like you're the new boy on the block. And, so you've gone straight to Honey's now?
00;04;15;20 - 00;04;22;12
Nev
Actually, I this is a great story. Yeah. I only wanted to meet Richard Harvey and Bob McTavish.
00;04;22;15 - 00;04;23;21
Tappa
Legend shapers. Yeah.
00;04;23;21 - 00;04;43;10
Nev
Absolute gods. For me, living in Western Australia, I only knew them seeing them. You know, Richard Harvey at the 73 Aussie titles in Up that he won at the River. And anyway, so I, I drove up the coast and went into Lennox and asked the guy at the garage on the corner there where temperatures plus, which was literally around the corner in the.
00;04;43;16 - 00;04;44;21
Tappa
Alley, and the guy knew where.
00;04;44;21 - 00;04;46;00
Nev
He lived. Yeah, just a surprise.
00;04;46;01 - 00;04;47;03
Tappa
Lennox was about that big.
00;04;47;04 - 00;05;02;23
Nev
Absolutely. Yeah. So I drive into Bob's place and there he is, outside wit rubbing the bottom of a board, and I get out my Jeep four wheel drive, and I had boards on the roof and I sheepishly said, oh, hello Bob. My name is Neville. I've got some boards. Could you have a look at them for me, please?
00;05;02;25 - 00;05;21;27
Nev
And I took him off and he was so cool. He checked them all out and then and I said, look, I'd really like to meet Richard Harvey, you know, and. Oh, yeah, I'll be, gave me the address. Yeah. At Miami. So, but do you know what he was working on? He sometimes doesn't like to be told this because the body was rubbing.
00;05;21;27 - 00;05;42;25
Nev
Was the bottom half of a dolphin, not a real dolphin, but the full convex curve of the dolphin with fins coming out the side and he was wet rubbing that and testing. Would a surfboard work as a full convex with fins coming out in about a 3540 degree angle. So he's still kind of races his eyebrows because obviously that didn't work.
00;05;42;27 - 00;05;55;25
Nev
But, that was my meeting with Bob. Then I'll fly up the coast, walk in to Miami, I mean, not to, defense factory in Richard's factory. Yeah. I'm meeting gods again.
00;05;55;25 - 00;05;56;14
Tappa
Yeah, yeah.
00;05;56;14 - 00;06;13;02
Nev
And, and chat away. And then I said, you know, they love what I was doing. I could see that. I could say in glass shape the whole lot. And I said I didn't have any work for me. In other words, get lost, kid. But go up and see Jono. So I did. I went straight up to Jonah.
00;06;13;03 - 00;06;14;20
Nev
This is all on the same day, mind you.
00;06;14;20 - 00;06;16;03
Tappa
Same day. Well, the Lennox.
00;06;16;04 - 00;06;21;01
Nev
Is when Lennox straight up here after speaking to Bob, I mean to. Yeah. Bob McTavish.
00;06;21;02 - 00;06;23;29
Tappa
You get shit down nuggets that might.
00;06;24;02 - 00;06;29;16
Nev
And you know if it gets better, then I go to see Jono and all the boys are there. You remember the boys? Yeah.
00;06;29;16 - 00;06;30;16
Tappa
Yeah, man.
00;06;30;19 - 00;06;45;02
Nev
Oh, God, it's so good. And when I just goes, looks at my boys and goes, you're in. You can make all my boards from now on. And I was just going stoked because I was actually the last shape up on the Jono list of globally renowned shape.
00;06;45;02 - 00;07;06;24
Tappa
Everyone from my yeah well every Geoff Derby, I think I done most of the really good shapers have gone through honing his back, you know like all about up to yourself as the last one. But the I just remember as a kid, you know, I work because that's where we used to go. We bought everything for the only thing that I didn't get from ponies was socks, jocks and probably right shoes.
00;07;07;00 - 00;07;12;21
Tappa
That's the only thing I didn't get because we got our claws, we got our boards, we got our wetsuits. Everything from on us.
00;07;12;28 - 00;07;31;08
Nev
He. And he was right there opposite Miami High School and I. So on that same day, though, I leave was like, I'm stoked. Now I've got a job. So I fly up, I want to go up through surfers Paradise, which was the highest building in Surfers Paradise back then was, tennis courts or something. Yeah. The gateway.
00;07;31;09 - 00;07;47;00
Nev
It's just been built. Anyway, I drive up to Woodroffe, have it main beach, pull in the main beach in my jeep. There's a bunch of guys at the end of the street and a pretty hot looking chick and I pull in, get out to check the surf, my boards on the roof, they call Group around and it's it's a North in Boardriders.
00;07;47;07 - 00;07;51;12
Nev
Oh, nice. Everybody out of there. All the all the crew.
00;07;51;15 - 00;07;52;15
Tappa
Laid eyes on North End.
00;07;52;17 - 00;08;11;01
Nev
Hey, it was a year after they started. Wow. And, they will gather around, I wanted I showed them my boards. They're all stoked. They, I know, like, I mean, I could say this, but I, I probably pretty much took orders on that day or at least a few days later. And, and then I spotted this chick, and it's Bridget.
00;08;11;07 - 00;08;20;06
Nev
It's my first girlfriend. So on the same day I got my I got my girlfriend, I got him with the North End Boardriders, met my heroes and got a job. And one that in one day.
00;08;20;13 - 00;08;23;00
Tappa
That's a man that's doing some work. That's good.
00;08;23;02 - 00;08;42;10
Nev
You know, it was so good. And then I had my girlfriend there at a Tacoma bar, and I started making boards in a in a shed there. So while so is it home is I was, I was doing custom orders from shit. Yeah. Which was pretty morning at the earth, you know, it was pretty, pretty cool. But but then I come down to honchos and all these crew, and Joe.
00;08;42;10 - 00;08;58;13
Nev
Joe Ingle was the man then. Yeah. And all the other shapers of rocking in Melbourne and all the other guys are just coming in and saying hi. So I was meeting everyone in the industry and then you guys in, if you grunts like you, like you guys were seriously grunts. You were like about like 11 or 12 or something.
00;08;58;13 - 00;09;01;08
Tappa
Yeah yeah yeah yeah 12. Yeah. 12. Yeah.
00;09;01;10 - 00;09;06;01
Nev
Classic. I think my first real kinda team rider.
00;09;06;07 - 00;09;11;19
Tappa
Well, yeah I reckon Hony probably probably gave a get my just shot shape but for cheaper up now and.
00;09;11;26 - 00;09;12;25
Nev
I did it.
00;09;12;27 - 00;09;32;29
Tappa
Because yeah that board of mine was mint green a sort of like, mint pastel mint green. And my brothers was blue, for about a 510 ran a pin, which back then for us was really big. But I thought that single thing did set helped me so much with my style. So instead of having like, a lot of kids today, you know, they got more cry boards.
00;09;33;01 - 00;09;47;11
Tappa
But we basically had to learn how to use arrow and drive and turn. And you know that I think boards like that is, you know, I think lots of young kids should be like my to ride a single thing, just, just sail it out.
00;09;47;11 - 00;10;06;15
Nev
Absolutely. I had a guy come in the other day. Ryan. Elegance, if you remember, Ryan was on tour and he brought in two single fins that I made for, Ryan Sunny Garcia and a few other pros who realized they were high performance single fins. But that was sweet. And, you know, you could put you could probably put thrusters on them and that just as a thruster.
00;10;06;16 - 00;10;17;01
Nev
But. But that was all about pulling their turns, getting length in their turns. But it's too true. I started surfing on A76 single thing. I never I, I missed the longboard period by about two years or so.
00;10;17;01 - 00;10;21;06
Tappa
I started on a shot on like Shane Aran. I was talking to shine about that and he was saying that.
00;10;21;06 - 00;10;26;16
Nev
Yeah, but my first board was A76 single fin. Well, you know, three inches thick. Yeah.
00;10;26;18 - 00;10;31;06
Tappa
Like that's, that's sort of primitive by today's standards. And back then that was state of the art. Yeah.
00;10;31;07 - 00;10;32;08
Nev
Absolutely. Yeah.
00;10;32;10 - 00;10;35;27
Tappa
And what you did your first board you made, you made it for yourself.
00;10;35;29 - 00;10;56;23
Nev
Yeah. Yeah. So basically I made boards for myself, then realized my boards aren't good enough. So I ordered some custom orders from Jacko and then Tom Black in Western Australia. So I had the privilege of writing good boards. Yeah, whilst I was making boards for myself. And then I was making boards. As I said earlier, my dad's gradual, all the crew at school down the road.
00;10;56;23 - 00;11;15;24
Nev
And the funny thing is, is that, you know, I was feeling, you know, young Ranga from Perth not really chasing, getting chicks interested. And the cool crew were down, you know, sort of making surfboards. Holy shit. It just turned. I turned on a dime. It was. It was amazing. It was a really good experience.
00;11;15;24 - 00;11;28;02
Tappa
And if you just said, like, you know, you didn't at first you thought you said boards were a better side by getting these boards and writing them and then writing your own. Is that the way you sort of made your own feedback for yourself to work out what was going on?
00;11;28;02 - 00;11;52;20
Nev
Because I could tell the difference between my boards and then picking up and, disseminating the boards that I just bought. Yeah. And then trying to emulate what I, as I grew as a surplus shaper, I used to wait there was Star Surf Shop in Perth and he would get delivery, get a delivery of Gary Cohn on a ponies hop boards, McCoys, all of the boards in that era.
00;11;52;20 - 00;12;01;25
Nev
Yeah. Reno's and they would rock up and then Dave it used to own it is this I find I've just come in, and I'd go in there with calipers with.
00;12;01;27 - 00;12;03;00
Tappa
With and measure.
00;12;03;03 - 00;12;18;09
Nev
Up, measure them up, and I go home and I go, Holy shit, I'm doing it all wrong, you know? And, it was a huge experience for me in that period. You know, I was just an I've always been an average surfer. I've never, you know, I've done comps and.
00;12;18;16 - 00;12;18;25
Tappa
All right.
00;12;18;25 - 00;12;36;06
Nev
Yeah, but I've but I'm not one of those guys that won all these events. And they like listening to Shane as a, as a separate shaper. Yeah. And, and so many other guys. But the beauty about that for me it's sort of jumping ahead a bit is that I listen to people I don't say this is what you should be writing because I rip and you should be writing what I'm writing.
00;12;36;07 - 00;12;38;11
Tappa
Yeah, because that doesn't work. Because everybody's different.
00;12;38;12 - 00;12;51;18
Nev
Totally. You got to list. You gotta learn to listen. Yeah. So, you know, it's been a great experience in learning the craft from a real organic way. Just learning it myself. Work that well.
00;12;51;20 - 00;13;07;23
Tappa
That's on room right now. What did you find you learned when you're at home? Because you would have been popping out a lot of boards, probably because he had the connection brand. I don't know if you did because I film I was in the that he was saying he did connection and something else that's out there. So you would have been doing a few different brands of boards.
00;13;07;28 - 00;13;09;08
Tappa
I was doing a lot of boards, but.
00;13;09;08 - 00;13;26;02
Nev
I've got a photo of Jono walking out of the store. It's an awesome one. Yeah, and there's six boards on the rack. They're all boards that I've done and there's connections up there. There's harnesses. There was no Nevilles or knives or whatever that I hadn't yet done a brand. Yeah. So I was riding Neville Hyman on the tail of the boards, but I've got a couple of boards in my collection.
00;13;26;02 - 00;13;46;25
Nev
An awesome stinger. That was, a connection. It was a no no, it was a Jono. And I've got a, you know, the classic seven six ridden yellow lightning bolt on the deck that I bought Jono. So, I was busy. Yeah, but I was also doing a lot, you know, I was shaping anyone.
00;13;46;25 - 00;13;50;26
Tappa
Yeah, everything on Mako was there on the album, and the heavy metal was.
00;13;50;28 - 00;13;51;29
Nev
Was there, but.
00;13;51;29 - 00;13;53;01
Tappa
But I was smack.
00;13;53;04 - 00;13;57;08
Nev
I was doing it all. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's what I really wanted. He didn't have to worry about it.
00;13;57;08 - 00;14;09;27
Tappa
Just you get one bloody work. It worked like crazy and I get it. But I suppose by doing so much the repetitiveness. Yeah. And but that you sort of learn a few things and you could put in a little experiment here and there.
00;14;10;00 - 00;14;30;20
Nev
I was, that was before really, you know, how it, how it evolved was that was 77, 78. Bridget and I went to Hawaii. Yeah. And that opened my eyes. I remember walking in to the lightning bolt shop on the North Shore of Hawaii, going, Holy shit, are you kidding? Look at these works of art. From a shape is perspective.
00;14;30;24 - 00;14;56;23
Nev
And, and a, artistry perspective. And I went, I can do this. And what do I need to do? I need to start shaping boards for guys that rip. Yeah. So I came home and, I had that in with the North End. Boardriders. Yeah. And I started making boards for all of those guys. I was already making boards for them, but by by 70, 78, 79, I was I had a lot of young guys on the Gold Coast riding my boards.
00;14;56;25 - 00;14;58;19
Tappa
That's still at. While you still at home. Nice.
00;14;58;22 - 00;15;05;01
Nev
No, no. So I didn't get any apart from you I left on. I was only after about six months, so obviously it's because I.
00;15;05;01 - 00;15;10;07
Tappa
Remember Phil was there too. All the boards with him that motivate Miami surf. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;15;10;07 - 00;15;34;26
Nev
So still come every 1988 or something like that. Yeah. But yeah. So I realized, yeah, I'll tell you a funny thing. So I, I realized I wasn't really in with the in-crowd on the Gold Coast yet. I had a lot to prove. But because I was in with the northern Boardriders guys, and I started making a lot of boards for them, and I started drifting down a bit early.
00;15;34;29 - 00;15;44;24
Nev
And because, I, I got, Shane Egan, the, the airbrush artist. Yeah. Brilliant artist to design me a logo at last.
00;15;44;24 - 00;15;49;02
Tappa
Yeah. I was gonna ask you about the line guy. The fish line guys. So Shane again came up with that?
00;15;49;02 - 00;16;06;28
Nev
Yeah. And you know that little Green Gables house down at chug and on the left hand side, it's on the lower road. Yeah, that's where Shane was living. I remember walking in that front door going, Shane has my logo. I was so excited because Phil and I did some really good logos with Odyssey Surfboards, but this time now it was, it was it was never him.
00;16;06;29 - 00;16;08;03
Nev
Yeah, I still wasn't there.
00;16;08;04 - 00;16;10;09
Tappa
Yet right I was, I was it never was never never.
00;16;10;09 - 00;16;29;06
Nev
Hyman. Yeah I mean who would I mean it's sunnyville home. And anyway, there's a whole lot like Waco Buster. My nickname was Buster and Phil and I actually, did my last day of high school. We did a, a guitar band called, at the amphitheater at Bentley Senior High School. Buster Hammond in the penetrators.
00;16;29;07 - 00;16;30;24
Tappa
Oh, no.
00;16;30;27 - 00;16;34;17
Nev
We didn't even get to open it. Deputy head just went.
00;16;34;18 - 00;16;35;06
Tappa
Shut it.
00;16;35;06 - 00;16;35;29
Nev
Down.
00;16;36;01 - 00;16;40;08
Tappa
Shut up. I don't know. You're a bit of a rock n roll. All right?
00;16;40;10 - 00;16;49;02
Nev
Yeah. It's so funny. So, anyway, I, I had my logo, right? And I started and, you know, guy, rod got boards off me, and then there was a whole bunch of guys.
00;16;49;03 - 00;16;54;04
Tappa
Yeah, because my we've had some magnificent team riders only. We'll get onto those later. But yeah. So like, I think.
00;16;54;05 - 00;17;19;28
Nev
And so the fish like I was really good. And so 7879 1980 I started realizing I don't like navels anymore. Yeah. So I did a logo that was near him. And like in the script. Yeah. All together in one word. And that was. Yeah, it's kind of better. And then, where I hit paydirt was I just went live and is that that iconic, naive lettering?
00;17;19;28 - 00;17;38;05
Nev
Yeah. And, and, you know, I've been in marketing all my life. I look back and know that that was, the whether it means anything or not, nave could be simply an acronym for whatever. Yeah. Because I've, I've traveled and people come up to me, you know, when I was doing really well and people going, oh, hello.
00;17;38;07 - 00;18;01;07
Nev
I didn't know you were. I didn't know it was a person. Yeah. So. So anyway, so the nib logo became it was perfect for the early 80s because everything was big, bold and beautiful and big hair, big everything. So with that big nib on the nose on my board, I remember pedaling at a bully going, Holy shit, I think I owned this place.
00;18;01;07 - 00;18;06;16
Nev
And I'm not saying that from an ego point of view, because in so many other shape is better known than me.
00;18;06;17 - 00;18;13;20
Tappa
Well, like the wine was on your boards, Peter Harris was on your boards. Yeah. You know, between you and Dick van, I think you had the market go on. It. And.
00;18;13;23 - 00;18;24;10
Nev
But the thing is, when you pedaled out, everybody had pedal past. You could see the logo on the nose of the board. Fucking big. You couldn't use it. And someone takes off on a wave. Yeah. Up on the hill. Oh, that's on the nib. Its distinctive.
00;18;24;10 - 00;18;25;16
Tappa
Very distinctive. Like that.
00;18;25;17 - 00;18;30;05
Nev
It was. It was, a big winner for me from that perspective. So logos are everything.
00;18;30;05 - 00;18;39;21
Tappa
And so off you at how nice you thought. Well, basically. Hi. I'm, I'm getting this much. I can do this all myself. Is that what you sort of got? Yeah, I what do I need to do it for someone else.
00;18;39;21 - 00;18;50;08
Nev
Yeah, absolutely. I, I set up, a separate factory at bundle. I had two separate factories that were brothels. So the one that bundle was a brothel. That's the one that.
00;18;50;10 - 00;18;51;28
Tappa
They signed something in it.
00;18;52;00 - 00;19;09;17
Nev
To be a bit of a trend. Yeah. But, you know, so I did that factory while I was also making boards in the horseshit. But then, then I, I started making a lot of boards, and I wanted to travel, so I went to Nikki Meadows at, at, Surfers Avenue.
00;19;09;17 - 00;19;10;02
Tappa
Yep.
00;19;10;04 - 00;19;33;19
Nev
So I think I've had the best address for any surfboard surfers. That planet. Yeah. So my address was. And I embellished it on my, my business card. It was, ten Surfers Avenue, Mermaid Beach, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia. And I traveled with that card, people going, what the.
00;19;33;21 - 00;19;36;23
Tappa
What? That's a safe address. Yeah. Everything's got,
00;19;36;25 - 00;19;38;26
Nev
It's so funny. I mean, Surfers Paradise was a little bit.
00;19;38;27 - 00;19;58;03
Tappa
Oh, my. Yeah, like the 80s. Shit was really the heyday for never, like, you know, like you had, like, I was saying, you know, and some of the sprites, your boards and I did fun. Did you go, like, purposely out to make them bright and get surprised on? Because I always noticed the nav boards like there was Dwayne's famous brick in the wall, you know, another brick in the wall.
00;19;58;03 - 00;20;08;22
Tappa
And there's all these boards, your boards always had color and brightness to them. Actually, I can't think of too many white names, except maybe later on when the prize or what, you know, and I didn't get.
00;20;08;25 - 00;20;39;21
Nev
Well when the, when the, top 3 or 4 surfboard, I mean, a clothing company said no more logos on the nose, which is we'll cover in a second. But but the actual, the whole thing with, you know, the team riders and, the logos and everything, and it was, it was a journey I was going through, like, and what I mean by that is that, sometimes there's a bit of that, that hoax thing where you feel like you really want to really one of the boys.
00;20;39;27 - 00;20;58;22
Nev
So, so it was a a long, slow ride, but in 1992, I thought, okay, I'm doing okay with some really good surfers on the Gold Coast, but I'm not going to have, a world champion while I'm on my boards. That's why I left Western Australia in the first place, because I knew I'd never make anything of my career in making surfboards if I stayed in WA.
00;20;58;23 - 00;21;12;00
Nev
You can do it now. I couldn't do it back then. I knew I had to be here. Yeah. So, So then I went, okay, if I'm not going to get in with the boys at the bar, you know, if I'm. And I was kind of in with the guys at Berkeley, that was good. Yeah. Northern guys?
00;21;12;00 - 00;21;32;10
Nev
Yep. For sure. So I thought, fuck it, I'm going to get in trouble. So I just got on, went on the road. So I did that first trip with Bridget, then, in Sydney, and then I did a trip, six months trip around the world. And I basically shaped around the world. Everywhere I went. I shaped surfboards and met people, spent a lot of time in Hawaii shaping on the North Shore at, right there.
00;21;32;11 - 00;21;51;28
Nev
Pipe at, one of the shipping guys there. And, just the amount of people I met was crazy. Then I'd come home and, and I remember driving down to, Dubai and parking my kombi at, at the about to go for a surf. And I came in, my windscreen was waxed.
00;21;52;00 - 00;21;53;09
Tappa
On,
00;21;53;11 - 00;21;55;27
Nev
Something like blowing.
00;21;55;29 - 00;21;56;22
Tappa
Like lights on a.
00;21;56;22 - 00;22;18;00
Nev
Storm. I, I obviously, and I almost know who is in. I don't care because they're all mates now. They're all total mates. But to get into the D bar scene or the Coolangatta scene was like off the charts had been the gurus, the legends of surfing, the legends of shaping. Yeah, they were not all damn that in far from it, but it was a much more clicky thing to do.
00;22;18;06 - 00;22;33;08
Nev
And I remember getting out of the water, sort of laughing when I saw the wax gun of, well, I've just bypassed you guys. And again, that's not my ego talking. I've just gone, I don't need to to bounce. Great to get to be cool with you guys. I'm just going to go and have international surfers rob my boards.
00;22;33;08 - 00;22;40;14
Nev
And by 83, 82, 83 hit, I was shaking bullets. I mean, like for everybody like. Yeah.
00;22;40;16 - 00;22;55;15
Tappa
And well, remember sunny on your voice? I remember when sunny hedge boards and all sort of going like, wow. Like, you know, like because it's like something to have someone of sunnies, you know, reputation in that. But on a never like it's sort of expect him to be on a Hawaiian board.
00;22;55;19 - 00;23;12;28
Nev
Well, sunny was a bit lighter. So really what the tipping point was for me was, well, really the tipping point was in Cairns. So, and then Minda of all people, I I'll explain that in a special way. Kanga was my hero in WA like he was a surfer.
00;23;13;03 - 00;23;14;00
Tappa
Anyway.
00;23;14;03 - 00;23;27;11
Nev
And, you know, I had an experience with Kanga that blew my mind. So I was after I was still at school. Right. I'm 16. I'm making surfboards in a house on Kenny Holloway. Not my house in some other house. Not my dad's garage. I've. I come up from dad's garage.
00;23;27;11 - 00;23;28;01
Tappa
You've already. Rick.
00;23;28;01 - 00;23;49;15
Nev
That's your house with Rick in that house we rented a house and I'm making boards in this house on Canyon Highway. And I got this great photo of me and this other guy, Paul Rogers, in the house. It's just awesome. And, there's knock at the door, I go to the door, it's Ian Cairns at the door. Like I'd seen him from a distance, and he said, g'day, mate to me when I was about 14.
00;23;49;17 - 00;23;50;24
Tappa
Having you knock on your doors knocks.
00;23;50;24 - 00;24;08;29
Nev
On the door. Luckily slide and knocking on your door just say, hey, hey, Nev, I understand you're, making some really cool boards and, you know, I'd like you to maybe if you want to display your boards at the Perth Concert Hall, we're having a a surf trade show. And, you know, of course, he's coming to see me because he's trying to put the dollars together.
00;24;09;02 - 00;24;29;07
Nev
Right? So, yeah, put that into the context. It completely blew my mind. It was like, a, I cannot believe this just happened. So and that's when he was going to surf cane a point. He had a ten six board, air tanks and everything, and he was going to go and had to have a go. So then he asked me to make him some boards.
00;24;29;10 - 00;24;42;10
Nev
In while I was up here by then. So, in 1980, he asked me to make some boards, so I did, and it was when I was fooling around with, three fins, but not necessarily a thruster, but, I.
00;24;42;10 - 00;24;43;19
Tappa
Made clean and a stabilizer.
00;24;43;19 - 00;25;07;19
Nev
Yeah, a small single fin and two large, stabilizers. All right, I so, that board still, the board that I made, the boards that I made him. It was when Kanga was in the bronzes and he surfed that at bills in 18ft bills. The classic bills thing that Simon introduced the thruster at. Yeah. And, that board of Kangas is still in, in Florida, and I'm going to copy that board as a, as a replica.
00;25;07;22 - 00;25;26;15
Nev
But the point being about it is that it was as close as possible to a thruster without being a thruster. When Simon introduced the thruster, Simon blew me away. When I saw Simon's board, I went, oh my God! Like he jumped without even me knowing. He jumped that extra mile ahead because we were hitting. A lot of people were hitting that down that road.
00;25;26;15 - 00;25;34;22
Tappa
Yeah, because I remember Zappa had the twin with the little stable $15,000 board. Well, we call it Marcus boy, I remember, yeah.
00;25;34;22 - 00;25;35;08
Nev
I was.
00;25;35;12 - 00;25;52;29
Tappa
Yeah. Well, Marcus, he had it. He got it off Zappa. And it was the board that he won the kite. Charles. Oh, it's called the 15,000W. He got it. And he goes, here, you have this. And for one month, it was the best board I ever had. Because. And then after a month or so, I gave him a run to get rid of this because I learned how to slot it.
00;25;52;29 - 00;26;06;15
Tappa
Once I learned how to slot it, it wasn't any good anymore because it must have behaved like, as I said, and it went through everybody, it and all this and came. And so that's that. It was everybody was sort of getting near them. Yeah. But so I'm Jeff.
00;26;06;21 - 00;26;20;15
Nev
Whitehead and he deserves everything. Take nothing away from him by saying that Kanga was riding three things. But, but what happened then was, that was in 1981. Yeah, yeah. Early March 1980. No.
00;26;20;18 - 00;26;22;04
Tappa
March. April bells. Yeah, yeah.
00;26;22;11 - 00;26;43;18
Nev
So, early 82 at the Stubbies. I'm, I've make you took me under a board and it's, like, bright as because I hung out with Andrew at at the, ballet pro in, in the year before, and, it was crazy. I made this beautiful. I really put a lot of energy into the bright spray, the whole thing.
00;26;43;21 - 00;27;06;00
Nev
So I got the board, and I was meeting down at Billy. So I go down and he's not there. Of course he's in the water like he. I meant to be giving him his board any surf and so like. And it was the grandstand was set up, but it hadn't started yet. So I got the board and I, I tactfully laid it up against the pine tree right in front of the grandstand when set up on the in the grandstand, just watching, waiting for it to come in.
00;27;06;03 - 00;27;24;16
Nev
Perlman walks past. He walks past the front of the grandstand, goes straight over to the board, picks it up, puts it under his arm, checking it out. Looks out at the surf, puts it back down again, is leaning against the tree and walks off. I'm waiting myself. Larry Bird on Larry just picked up my board, but so I'm all excited.
00;27;24;16 - 00;27;40;26
Nev
Now I'm gone. Well come on it like I want to go for a surf to get your ass in here. So I'm standing next to the board now and I'm looking at. And then there's a tap on my shoulder and I turn around. It's Sean Thomson Thompson, and Sean goes, hey, brew. So you make this board?
00;27;40;26 - 00;27;45;04
Nev
And I said, yeah, yeah. He said, don't. Yeah, but just told me about it. Could you make me some boards.
00;27;45;07 - 00;27;49;23
Tappa
Versus, Larry Bowman saying your board and then going, I shouldn't have a look at this. Yeah, yeah.
00;27;49;23 - 00;28;05;15
Nev
Wow. I mean, it blows my mind when I repeat the story because it sounds like it's. Yeah, it's just too good to be true. It's exactly how it happened. And, so I took some dimensions down and I said, yeah, Sean, look, no worries, mate, and I'll get onto it. And, I'll give you a call in a couple of days.
00;28;05;15 - 00;28;20;29
Nev
And he said, a couple of days. I said, yeah, yeah. And so he said, thanks, bro. And then he walked away. No conversation just here. And so I walked over to my Combee, got wind up the windows, head down.
00;28;21;01 - 00;28;22;22
Tappa
Oh, my God.
00;28;22;24 - 00;28;25;29
Nev
I got Sean Thompson's just ordered three boards of. Yeah.
00;28;26;02 - 00;28;28;09
Tappa
That's a world jam and boards off. Yeah.
00;28;28;12 - 00;28;46;13
Nev
So I, I went down, I made him three boards and finished them in two days. Wait, so so this is the this is another funny part. So then I go down to Kira because he was down at Kira, and we're in the car park at the little one before you get the hat. Yes. And, and so I pull the boards out of my my cubby.
00;28;46;16 - 00;29;01;29
Nev
Here you go, mate. And he's checking me out. All right. Fantastic, fantastic and blah, blah, blah, and, so. And he paid me for him because he paid and. Yeah. And, about, a few months later, he took him down to Joanna and Bells and everything, and, and he is. And I've still got this, too. Yeah.
00;29;02;00 - 00;29;23;19
Nev
The the only time I've ever had a letter, maybe even an email from a pro surfer saying, thanks so much for the effort you put into those boards. You know, some feedback on the boards and and what Sean said was, hope to see you with J one day. So so I know that's hanging on my wall now.
00;29;23;22 - 00;29;30;18
Nev
Then I heard all these rumors on the coast that, you know, that that nib had been giving boards away.
00;29;30;23 - 00;29;32;25
Tappa
All right, so let's guys say never get a frame.
00;29;32;28 - 00;29;51;29
Nev
No no no no, no, it was the, the other shapers on the Gold Coast that were a bit pissed off or couldn't understand. Maybe not pissed off, couldn't understand. Why would they be asking me to make them boards? But what happened from that was that I tell. I'm telling you, all the South Africans, all the Hawaiians, the Brazilians, they all started ordering boards of me.
00;29;52;01 - 00;30;00;17
Tappa
That remember some Brazilians on your board? This is before there were any actual, you know, it's not before the Brazilians still. No, no. You know, but, you know. But there was some good service.
00;30;00;18 - 00;30;10;07
Nev
Absolutely. And the Hawaiians guys like, I mean, the list goes on. I mean, I had everybody riding my boards and that's actually how never say never a never look never mind happened.
00;30;10;10 - 00;30;10;27
Tappa
Never look.
00;30;10;27 - 00;30;20;09
Nev
Back and never look back because, because I'm on so, so so that was 82. So 80. That was the start of my travels.
00;30;20;09 - 00;30;25;26
Tappa
So you actually must have got the hold of doing the thrust a pretty quickly right from. Yeah. You know, like.
00;30;25;26 - 00;30;27;14
Nev
I just put everything into that.
00;30;27;14 - 00;30;28;29
Tappa
I said you did a lot of like immediate.
00;30;29;06 - 00;30;43;09
Nev
Like I, I hated twin fins because I'm tall and skinny. Yeah. In the back in, I couldn't make a 20 work. I don't have the grunt to make a 20 work. So yeah, I really wanted the thruster work. And so it was an incredible amount of fine tuning, and I know I had the guys to work with now.
00;30;43;15 - 00;31;13;04
Nev
It was unbelievable. Yeah. So I made a bunch of boards for, in 82 for Michael Ho, Vince Klein, Mike Liddell. But, and a bunch of other guys. And, and then I went to Jay Bay and, Tom, Tommy would remember this. So I rock up in Jay Bay in July of 82, and Sean and Tom and Aaron Cheng, and they're doing a photoshoot for surfing magazine.
00;31;13;06 - 00;31;36;12
Nev
You should see my photos of Jay Bay. I was surfing and hanging with Sean and Tommy. Obviously I wasn't surfing as good as them, but every after every session were going back to, the photographer up to Aaron's place and, watching video of a surf and, and stuff. And I remember Sean saying to me, have nev so in the, in the JP in the barrel, you you got to stay the high line.
00;31;36;12 - 00;31;40;04
Nev
You got to stay the High Line. It's not barely heads, bro. It's you.
00;31;40;06 - 00;31;42;24
Tappa
You stay low, you stay low J. You stay high.
00;31;43;01 - 00;32;10;02
Nev
I mean, that was so fun. And then, and and we got it like, I mean, 8 to 10ft, like, as good as it gets. And I've got photos to prove. And one particular day, Sean and I and Tommy. Sean, surfer seven. Alves I said for five. Wow. And when I came in, my feet were so numb that I'm walking up the rocks and then go out up to the car parks.
00;32;10;02 - 00;32;21;21
Nev
You want to come in just before me and grab the something to eat? And he was back out there, but before he went back out there, he's look at we're talking about the surf. And he looks down at my feet and he goes, yeah, check your feet. There's there's blood everywhere on my face.
00;32;21;21 - 00;32;22;29
Tappa
Because you couldn't fail him.
00;32;23;01 - 00;32;26;07
Nev
And and this is the you know, we used to do text addicts.
00;32;26;07 - 00;32;26;27
Tappa
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;32;27;04 - 00;32;46;16
Nev
So I had a twin fin, which I shouldn't have had. And it was solid 6 to 8ft jay by and and you know Jay by you do the longest bottom turns you'll ever do in your life. You just hold it. Hold it, hold it hold it and then let it go. And when you do that you roll your toe, you roll your front foot and your your back foot like that.
00;32;46;16 - 00;33;05;03
Nev
So you're you're actually pressuring these two points on your big toe and, and they're. Yeah. And I was doing that like for hours when I came in I had worn I had four blood blisters that would burn deep like three mil deep on that my big toe.
00;33;05;05 - 00;33;08;10
Tappa
For five hours. And how many ways do you reckon you got in that? 40,000.
00;33;08;11 - 00;33;30;12
Nev
There's no current. It's just I was like, no, carry that. You just paddle back out and get another one. It was like it was mindless. It was one of those sessions where you just screaming, going, this is not even happening. Like I've said it many times, JJ and Billy and my other best wife in the world, as far as I'm concerned, and but yeah, it was, just an amazing experience to be there with Sean and Tommy and the whole thing.
00;33;30;12 - 00;33;41;04
Nev
I've got this amazing photos of Sean and Tommy out there on that particular day. So I traveled a lot and, then went, yeah. Okay.
00;33;41;04 - 00;33;42;23
Tappa
I'm back to the cast again or.
00;33;42;29 - 00;33;59;21
Nev
Yeah, well, again. Oh, yeah. I just kept coming back to the goalie, and then I set up, I had the the factory with, living water. So I was working with Nick down there doing my boards in his factory, and, so that enabled me to just uproot and go whenever I wanted to.
00;33;59;21 - 00;34;01;14
Tappa
Oh, cool. So, And that freedom.
00;34;01;14 - 00;34;19;17
Nev
Yeah, totally. And that's what I needed right at that point in my career. If I hadn't have capitalized on that the following year. I mean, that's when I was doing boards for dank Aloha and, and, and I forget. I mean, just recently I had a guy, Davey Boy Gonzalez, who used to be on the pro tour with, sunny and the boys.
00;34;19;17 - 00;34;39;23
Nev
He's, you know, 45 or something. From Hawaii. And he does my boards in Hawaii and, and we're down at the factory that we're setting up and I had all my records of all the boards I've shot for, for well-known surface. So not everybody, but just. Yeah. And I've got, like, four boxes full of cards with all the dimensions and and they're all mixed up.
00;34;39;23 - 00;34;58;23
Nev
And I said, I, Davey, could you organize these for me? Just take him home. I'll pay it. And I just put him in alphabetical order. He comes back the next day and he goes. He was like white. He goes, I cannot believe who you shape for this is ridiculous. And shapers tend to forget, in fact, who and I.
00;34;58;24 - 00;35;27;08
Nev
Yeah, I guess I must have shape boards for him or something like that. So again, is not this is not an ego thing. I'm just saying effects. And so, they're all like, all that traveling got me out of the Gold Coast enough to be recognized as an international shaper when they were shapers on the Gold Coast that had the skill, the reputation, the team riders, it could have easily have done what I do, like.
00;35;27;08 - 00;35;28;28
Tappa
Murray Burton for instance.
00;35;29;00 - 00;35;43;12
Nev
Of course. I mean, I'm legend shaper and but I and and the direct result of that period, 1992 83, was, my contract in Japan, which completely.
00;35;43;12 - 00;35;45;15
Tappa
Yeah, Japan was really big for you. Wasn't on this.
00;35;45;16 - 00;35;46;09
Nev
God.
00;35;46;11 - 00;35;47;28
Tappa
So what how did you get into that?
00;35;47;29 - 00;36;11;03
Nev
Yeah. This is this is gold. So I'm down there living water, making boards for all the pros. They're all, I'm a bit shocked, actually. And then this Japanese guy comes by Kazunori Kaneko, who I found out was the surfer pole winner in Japan. Really good surfer. And he goes, Mr. Nev, I have surfers, Shuji Kasha and Takeo Kouga.
00;36;11;05 - 00;36;32;06
Nev
Please make them surfboard. I'm going, sorry, mate, I don't really have time. Gotta get these boards and they're coming up in in less than a week, and I don't think I can do it. And he goes, Mr. Nepalese. And he comes back the next day. If you make board and they make main event, you very famous in Japan and got.
00;36;32;08 - 00;36;59;13
Nev
Okay. All right. So I made these two boards to Cal, made the main event. And if you remember what Shuji Kasih is used to surf like he used to surf like Karen. The guy was such a good surfer, and he just missed the main event. That within that was much, I was in Japan a couple of months later and, doing 100 boards and getting paid really well, and then I hand-shaped.
00;36;59;13 - 00;37;01;15
Tappa
How many 100 a week or something, you know.
00;37;01;18 - 00;37;20;13
Nev
Now, I was doing when I, when I was in Japan the first time, it was a few sharp elbows and was going there. There was 3 or 4. Thorton was kind of going a little bit later. Yeah. But all these guys would come and I'd stay for 2 or 3 months and I'd do a surf trip and, and they'd shape 100 boards or 50 boards or something like that.
00;37;20;15 - 00;37;27;10
Nev
And, I, my first contract was 100 boards. I was it for, you know, I was doing six a day and I could do six a day.
00;37;27;10 - 00;37;29;02
Tappa
That's great. That's pretty hectic.
00;37;29;02 - 00;37;32;03
Nev
Yeah. And they were full hand ships with wings and belly channels. Yeah.
00;37;32;03 - 00;37;39;12
Tappa
Because what people don't understand back then, there were no machines animate for you. It's like get the to start with a block of foam and we'll.
00;37;39;12 - 00;38;04;05
Nev
Start with a blank and outline 2 or 3 at a time. And then I would machine 2 or 3 at a time, and then I would finish 2 or 3 at a time. And the Japanese guys were such artisans. The quality of the boats in Japan, then, was better than anywhere else in the world. Bannon in fact, I board came by me recently with, McMurphy had it and it was a 1986 nid Ernie's board from Japan and it felt like brand new.
00;38;04;05 - 00;38;25;25
Nev
It felt so light and it was so beautifully glassed. It was. And beautifully sprayed with flew, rose and the whole thing. So I started making doing that. But between 83 and 88 I was going once or twice a year, and by the time I finished in 88, I was shaping 15 boards a day. My fingertips were bleeding.
00;38;25;25 - 00;38;33;09
Nev
I would start at 630 in the morning, finish it, about 8:00, 9:00 at night. And but I was getting like I was making a fortune. I was about.
00;38;33;10 - 00;38;48;09
Tappa
Takes a toll on the body. Done that. Like like, you know, I was talking to Phil Mars and he said his, whoever looks after that, they trying to get him to stand better. You guys, it's not going to happen because I've been swinging a plane. Yeah, and I've been standing on this for that many years. You've,
00;38;48;11 - 00;38;49;15
Tappa
You've get a bit of that. Okay.
00;38;49;15 - 00;39;12;26
Nev
Well, I'm glad you raised that because, before I get to that, what that caused the, shaping. In fact, it was 16 the last day I shaped. I shape 16 boards. Wow. We're not. And again, all shapes, all cut out with the saw wings. Billy channels, swallow tails, everything. But it's like being an athlete. You you get it.
00;39;13;01 - 00;39;34;14
Nev
So I would, I would, outline five boards. Then I would handsaw out the outlines of five boards and so I'd shape five boards. Then I would have a bit of a break, then I would shape another five boards, a bit of a break, another five boards. But the point being is that, if you have to do a marathon or if you're an Ironman or something, you have those second wins and I know the second one's coming.
00;39;34;17 - 00;39;55;19
Nev
Yeah, I, I would be three quarters of the way through, eight, nine and ten of 15 boards and be like, have a, an anxiety attack on a he can't do this, I can't do this. And then all of a sudden boom. And the other thing about it is that I said to all the Japanese guys who are so nice, yeah, don't bother me.
00;39;55;21 - 00;40;13;22
Nev
Don't even ask me for a coffee. Don't even open the door. Because if my pencil is not in that spot and my my block is not over there, and I'm going clockwise around the board nonstop all day and you open the door and you speak to me for two minutes. That'll cost me ten minutes in production time. Yeah, you do that to me five times.
00;40;13;27 - 00;40;40;27
Nev
I've lost 100 bucks. Us $200 us. Just by to please. No. Thank you. So you become an athlete. But the thing about what, you know, who said there was film, film on the march? Yeah. Of course. So. And he's a he's a prolific shaper, but, and a brilliant shaper, actually. But I am, I found myself this is like going ahead now a bit, a little bit about health and wellness.
00;40;40;29 - 00;40;57;21
Nev
In 2011, I used to have a Billy brought in after 20 minutes in that a Billy, I my back would lock up after 20 minutes. I get a few wides in and then have to. I couldn't even stand up there. And I remember being in Bali with my son in 2012, almost in tears on the beach, on watching him surf.
00;40;57;23 - 00;41;18;24
Nev
And I could only last 20 minutes. And I'd seen chiropractors, everybody. So this is just a little, little episode on health and wellness about you back. I, I eventually I spend a fortune on chiropractors and everything, and I eventually went and who all said, you shoulders of this and you mix that and you post is this and that's why you've got all these problems.
00;41;18;26 - 00;41;36;25
Nev
So I went to my Roy about ten years ago, and the doctor came out and he said, I've got good news and bad news, which I've never had in my life. Good news is, I wish I had your spine. This guy was like, in his 30s. You know, I was 55 or something. And he goes, I can see you've never played contact sports.
00;41;36;25 - 00;41;55;01
Nev
And I said, no, I haven't played Aussie Rules yet. Kind of contact, golf, surfing, mainly surfing. And and so when I explained to him what I was doing with shaping, going clockwise, leant over the board with a planer, and the next on the whole time, doing that and then surfing with the hyper mobile lower back.
00;41;55;01 - 00;42;13;05
Nev
Yeah. When you're doing that all the time, everything's cool when you stop doing one or the other or both, and then you start doing it again. What your body does, if it's muscular, it actually gives you a warning because the doctor said to me, you've got no issues with your back or your shoulders or your neck, it's you're fine.
00;42;13;11 - 00;42;33;23
Nev
But, so if you've got a problem with your back and it's, you can be pretty sure that it's not skeletal, then if it's muscular, it's basically what you have to do is reset your muscles. It's like resetting a computer. And so I went to see the spec doctor and it's called kneeling and led me down. And I was in pain.
00;42;33;23 - 00;42;53;05
Nev
And yeah. Like I they're in my glutes, in my butt, in my, and he said, now don't turn around. So I turn around, he's got this needle. It's this big, right? Oh, no. And he goes in and goes into each of those spots with anesthetic. And he did it four times over three months. Cost me, you know, 150 bucks at a time.
00;42;53;05 - 00;43;12;09
Nev
Nothing in comparison to what it was costing me. Chiropractors never had a problem with it since. Yeah, basically it resets. It gives you it takes away your muscle. Muscle memory. Yeah. So, and now, even if I don't have any problems, and the only time I had problems after that was where I was about to travel again.
00;43;12;15 - 00;43;31;12
Nev
I started coming back at me again, and I went and saw him one more time, and he shot me up with, a pit that own, cortisone at one time. And that was 2013. Never had a problem with that since. So, he, you know, feels right with posture shaping and things like that. It can really work.
00;43;31;12 - 00;43;50;12
Nev
Yeah. But I my fingertips used to bleed. Wow. At the end. So the whole thing with Japan was it was just such an incredible experience because I met all these pro surfers. I was making really good money. I was coming back from Japan with cash, with a dual tax situation, you know, bought a beachfront property down at Palm Beach.
00;43;50;18 - 00;44;06;02
Tappa
And not a bad time. That's, Richard Harvey told me a story when the power band and you probably went to his house at Dawn parade, Miami, or somewhere in there. He got that house from the power band because I was trying to work out at the 50th year of the power band, and I said, because he won it, you know, you said.
00;44;06;02 - 00;44;23;12
Tappa
And the prize money in 1973 was $1,500, the same as first prize was. Then I said, what did you do with your fifth anniversary? Because that would have to be the same as a brand new car back in the day. I guess I put a thousand of it as a 10% deposit on a house and land at Miami.
00;44;23;18 - 00;44;40;16
Tappa
So that money was actually like a hundred grand. Yeah. If you look at today's figures, it's amazing, you know, the money and the way things are in prize money, how it's. Yeah. You know, I sort of come the full circle might with the shaping. Like, you got the Nev brand. It's cooking. And then all of a sudden they've gone.
00;44;40;23 - 00;44;41;20
Nev
Yeah.
00;44;41;23 - 00;44;45;07
Tappa
You know what, what happened there might. But as well.
00;44;45;09 - 00;45;11;13
Nev
I did a couple of things before that, like, develop the computer shaping systems. Yet every shaper on the planet uses. Yeah. A friend of mine recently said to me, Rob, photographer. He goes, Rob Leighton. Yeah, it's nev stop being bashful about what you've done. Yeah, I can own it. Yeah. So I'm gone.
00;45;11;15 - 00;45;32;16
Nev
Yeah. Okay. Or I'm going to own it. So. So the couple of things that I did in my career, as, as we will like 88 and this, this is a long story. So I'm sending it because it could take a while. I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but in 88, I had my little, surf wood shaping room down at Miami.
00;45;32;21 - 00;46;01;10
Nev
Yeah. And I had I think that's one of the first guys to have a shaping room with a window so you could stand outside and watch, and I had manga and Sonny and Craig Scott and all these guys writing for me. And so and I had, I couldn't keep up with demand. So, I, Tim Basil, the shaper from California rock into town and we're just chatting, talking about it and all and, and I and I heard that there was a shaking machine in Sydney at Force nine.
00;46;01;12 - 00;46;20;07
Nev
Yeah. So Tim and I flew down to Sydney when I saw the machine, and, And I couldn't believe it. It was a pantograph. So a finished board on one side, a sensor on the other. Yeah, a little grinder on the other side with a big gantry that you push back and forward and that copy the board and you flip it over and copy the deck and copy the bottom.
00;46;20;09 - 00;46;39;21
Nev
I couldn't believe I ordered 100 blanks right on the spot, because I was making a stunt to make a lot of boards. And, so and, and the guys who built that with the Smith brothers, Graeme Smith and his brother, and from then on they were driving up the coast with, with a, a truck full of blanks once a month just for me, but nobody else.
00;46;39;21 - 00;46;56;16
Nev
And so I was really the first guy to start doing volume mass producing. But I said, yeah, and but they were copies of my boards. I had a range of about 20 boards and I bent the glass, said, so the board gets copied. It's a finished board, never to be served. But the finished board from, you know, 60276 or something.
00;46;56;18 - 00;47;18;27
Nev
And, and that's what I was doing all my team boards from and everything. It was work. It was fantastic. So, that eventually, became Lucifer or Lucy because it was it was having problems. Then we moved from Miami to Central Drive, and that's when I was really doing about 100W a week. And, so we had Lucy at the back doing.
00;47;18;27 - 00;47;40;17
Nev
And, this guy rocks in one day. His name's Mickey Langton back. Jim and Guy to for a job as the general manager of NIF and, he didn't get the job, but he came out the back and had a look at Lucy and said, he's an engineer, he can fix it. So I worked with Mickey from two hours from 1992 to, 2005.
00;47;40;19 - 00;47;47;16
Nev
We developed the best pantograph from the original using German engineered stuff. I paid for everything.
00;47;47;22 - 00;47;49;15
Tappa
So I made for those. You then I pantograph.
00;47;49;15 - 00;48;08;11
Nev
What is a pantograph is like a, a key cutting thing for surfboards. So you got one master key and one that you call them. Okay, cool. And it's not a computer operated machine. It's manually operated with a machine with a grinder on one side and a sensor on the other. And you know, things were good.
00;48;08;13 - 00;48;35;03
Nev
I was selling it, but by the late 90s, early 2000, I was selling machines around the world. It was known as nibs machine. Not what it eventually became, which was the APS 3000. I paid to have a manual women. Who is the, the designer behind shape 3D come out from France twice. I pay for all the overheads down at Tweed for Mickey to develop.
00;48;35;06 - 00;48;57;05
Nev
There was only one customer. Me. So all of those boards have been put through the machine, and it was being developed rapidly. Yeah. Eventually the pentagram wasn't enough, and some other shapers around the world had already started with computer shaping, and I went. We had the best pantograph. We've got the best boards coming off the machine. I remember taking pre shapes, to trade shows in California actually earlier.
00;48;57;05 - 00;49;12;12
Nev
So in about 89 1990 and Rusty and American just walking in my booth going, oh my God, what the hell's this? Like the first time anybody had done a true pre shape. And I coined the phrase the pre shape and the ghost shaper.
00;49;12;14 - 00;49;19;09
Tappa
So the sign of the shirt, that was when they had the sort of the ruts in them like the little ridges all through them. Not you know.
00;49;19;11 - 00;49;36;21
Nev
Yeah. More so that they were held. The holding mechanism had little things sticking out the side of the nose and two on each rail. Yeah. And then one on the tail. So there were things you had to cut off. It didn't turn the whole rail. So there was a bet it was 6040. So 40% of the board still had to be shaped, but the majority of it was there.
00;49;36;26 - 00;49;55;24
Nev
And it wasn't one of the machines that you may have heard about where they've got two pieces of plywood and a router. Yeah. And just, you know, wasn't that this was actually really good, but eventually we turned that pantograph into a CNC machine using a program. And I copped a lot of flack for that. Yeah. You know, I mean there was.
00;49;55;26 - 00;49;59;26
Tappa
Pop out and now everything's set in it.
00;49;59;29 - 00;50;23;23
Nev
Well, you know, we talk about Murray and, I remember Murray, Burton doing an article in Surfing Life magazine with me, and I was saying the future of simple shaping will be using a machine. And Murray said, absolutely not. And we had an argument of a friendly argument in that. And, and then years later, Murray's one of the biggest exponents of, using pre shapes and shaping machines.
00;50;23;23 - 00;50;41;28
Nev
And in fact, he had a van there for a while. I remember his van that had datasheet of x shaper on the side. But, but we that is a lot more detail to this that I won't go into now. But basically what happened was, I had a fall out with Mickey, and because I was growing my brand again.
00;50;41;28 - 00;51;06;21
Nev
So in 2000, I was, I just been through, 2001. I've just been through a divorce, and I was, rebuilding my brand. So I refitted the shop up at my beach, and I was had these grand plans for doing stuff around the world. But one of my grand plans was to have small shaping systems all around the world and network which we called Mobius.
00;51;06;24 - 00;51;31;10
Nev
And then individual surfers could order their board and have it made locally anywhere in the world. But it would be authentically an EV because it would come straight off my file. And, so I did that. I ordered a machine to be put in my shop at Mermaid Beach. I'd set up the shop so you could sit on a couch with a computer and the big screen on the wall, and you could sit there and I would design the board for the customer.
00;51;31;13 - 00;51;51;20
Nev
Then we'd go upstairs, machine the board. We'd use you the glass in to finish the board right there in front of the surfer. So that was my plan to to propagate that around the world. And, for whatever reason, Mickey Lang and Beck decided that I was moving too fast for him, and he cut me out. And I don't mind saying that.
00;51;51;20 - 00;52;16;06
Nev
I'm saying it publicly because he cut me out. He ripped me off. Yeah. And I was going to litigate against him. Yeah, but I delayed the litigation because in the meantime, I've started far away. Now, why did I stop, fi? Why? Because Mickey shafted me. I had, a business plan. I had raised capital. I was doing this plan around the world.
00;52;16;13 - 00;52;39;12
Nev
I'm using my shop as the showcase. The Quiksilver Pro was coming up. I was going to show the world what I was planning on doing. I'd ordered my machine to be delivered to the factory, and February 2005. Mickey, says you're out. And I went, you're kidding. What? We hadn't even had an argument. There was no negative feelings or anything like that.
00;52;39;12 - 00;52;55;20
Nev
It was like, you're out and I'm going, well, what do you mean you can't do that? Yes, I can, and he gave me back the $30,000 for the cost of the machine to be built in a check. And I'm going, well, I can't have my machine then. Is that what you're saying? So now I'm stuck. I've got investors.
00;52;55;26 - 00;53;24;28
Nev
I've got. Everybody's coming. I'm making the big board. I've got the 40ft surfboard out the back of my factory as part of the promo. Everything's going. Everything's heading in the right direction. Now. I don't have a machine. So, I heard about Bert Berger, flew away, saw what he did, bought his company, brought his family out here. And we then made in 2005, about 40 boards, all nids and logos, logo.
00;53;25;00 - 00;53;28;16
Nev
And they were the original flier was so. And we gave about.
00;53;28;16 - 00;53;30;06
Tappa
That with the parabolic around it all.
00;53;30;12 - 00;53;51;26
Nev
Yep, yep. So we gave all the top pros from, from Andy Kelly. Tosh. Like everyone, Nick, Joel they all have one. In fact, the photo you see of everywhere of Mick Fanning doing an air window with a really bright bottom of a board with all the palm trees in the background. That's actually one of the original boards.
00;53;51;28 - 00;54;07;19
Nev
And it had Neve on it, but, they airbrushed out the Nev and tape, so not like a, like, no big deal. So but, but that was really the start. That's so. So then it was nev with this new tech.
00;54;07;21 - 00;54;08;03
Tappa
Yeah.
00;54;08;06 - 00;54;11;23
Nev
So we did the trade shows in, so I traveled the world with these.
00;54;11;23 - 00;54;16;08
Tappa
Boards and is still producing Nev home and surfboards. Yes. All Nev yeah. Yeah.
00;54;16;09 - 00;54;30;23
Nev
Near future sites. I had my shop. Everything was going really good. And so I was then traveling the world with this new tech. So I went to Europe. I've been to all the events. I went to California, I got, you know, I was doing things like jumping off the backs of trucks onto these boards and.
00;54;31;00 - 00;54;33;20
Tappa
And I remember that I said, oh, I shouldn't do that.
00;54;33;22 - 00;54;56;21
Nev
No, no. And we sent one board. This is classic. We sent a board to, Florida to a trade show, no board bag. We just put a tag on it and shipped it. It got there, had tire marks on it. It had a few scratches. The nose was chipped. Nothing wrong with it. It was hilarious. Anyway, all that happened and then we did the trade show early 2000.
00;54;56;26 - 00;55;01;11
Nev
I served the big board in California. I got a lot of fun. And it's Napa for the.
00;55;01;11 - 00;55;02;02
Tappa
Yeah. Remember that?
00;55;02;02 - 00;55;25;00
Nev
Yeah, that's another story in itself. We come back and do that one another day. But but then, I know like, I'm, I'm in France and I'm, I've got the board, I'm with Tom Curran and, he's, he's, he's got wine and and Sonny got wine and everything, but I mean, at, at like in, Hasegawa and I'm up there in the big plaza area, and I got the board and I literally throw it into the wind.
00;55;25;02 - 00;55;46;00
Nev
It's hot. It's like a like an arrow spins like this in front of everybody. What's clear is nobody got hit. It lands in the car park, bounces around and people are just freaking. Where's the place? What's wrong with this guy? You know, so they were really strong and light. Yeah, but, but what happened was after the trade show in California and in, there was such an impact at that trade show about this new tech that never was doing.
00;55;46;03 - 00;56;05;29
Nev
And I had, Matthew Perry and Dougal Walker and board by then from Billabong and, after the event and then, Mark price, who used to rub my boards back in the early days in the 80s from South Africa, came on board to, get home. And then Mark, Dougal gets me at the airport and says, nip, we had a great trade show.
00;56;06;06 - 00;56;12;19
Nev
Everybody loves these boards. We can't call it nip. So we're going to have to find another name for it because it's an older brand now.
00;56;12;20 - 00;56;15;03
Tappa
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was all the old brand. Yeah, yeah.
00;56;15;08 - 00;56;22;12
Nev
So I went in within a couple of minutes. I said, yeah, I mean that's fine. So it took us a while to find a new brand name and Mark price. Come on.
00;56;22;12 - 00;56;24;20
Tappa
Where is it, where they come up from my. Well.
00;56;24;23 - 00;56;51;22
Nev
You know, we hired an agency. We tried everything. And this is like a long time ago. And even then, it was hard to find names that hadn't already been taken. And, and you never call a company a generic name. Forget it. If you're going to call your new brand your new company, something that's generic, like, poly urethane surfboards or what, I don't I don't do it, call it something like net, you know, something is different because people will remember it.
00;56;51;28 - 00;57;15;27
Nev
So Mark price walks into the office one day, we'll sit in there and he goes. He walks in, he's got a cable in his hand. And he's an Apple guy, right? Yes. And he goes, what about FireWire? This is a FireWire cable. Oh, wow. And we all laughed and went, what? Nah, hang on a second. And then he said, no, no, no, listen, FireWire, it's balanced via wire.
00;57;15;29 - 00;57;23;13
Nev
You know, it makes sense. We'd started calling it flywheel. I would design the logos, the whole thing. Then we get a cease and desist letter from Apple.
00;57;23;15 - 00;57;24;11
Tappa
Oh, really?
00;57;24;14 - 00;57;25;19
Nev
Yeah. And,
00;57;25;23 - 00;57;27;08
Tappa
They prove that they own FireWire.
00;57;27;09 - 00;57;40;23
Nev
Well, this is the point. We argued that. Are you. It's not Apple. It's not I. Surfboards. Yeah. Are you ever going to use this for surfboards or sunglasses or clothing? And they had. No, no. And I let us run with it, so.
00;57;40;23 - 00;57;41;21
Tappa
Oh that's good.
00;57;41;23 - 00;57;46;27
Nev
So that's what happened to Nev. Nev disappeared from 2006 to thousand and 18.
00;57;46;29 - 00;57;51;17
Tappa
And, the parabolic rise in that little timber rasp. How did you get that idea?
00;57;51;19 - 00;58;17;01
Nev
Well, that was a bit bigger. That was absolutely all credit to Burt. Yeah. And, the beauty about that at the time, we were the first to remove the stringer and you've got tensile modulus, which is this strength from nose to tail. Then you've got torsional flex rail trail, a Pu surfboard with a stringer has zero, tensile modulus.
00;58;17;02 - 00;58;44;24
Nev
Yeah. But it's got really good torsional flex because the stringer kind of holds it in the middle. And as you bottom turn, the inside rail twists and the outside rail twists off. Yeah. So, the beauty about via wire is that it allowed the board to have tensile modulus, the flex in the, in the middle of the board, as well as the the flex on the rail and the flex on the rail was stiffer than I, pew, but it sprang back quicker than a pew that theoretically that's what.
00;58;44;25 - 00;58;46;00
Nev
And people would feel that.
00;58;46;08 - 00;58;56;16
Tappa
Well, the big thing that sort of help the firewall I become a brand was tosh. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, just tosh. Everyone look what that tosh surfing, you know?
00;58;56;19 - 00;59;21;21
Nev
Well, and your irons at J Bay was heard to be in a state of panic, running up the point, going what? The fuck is Tosh writing? He was screaming it at the top of his head, so I might be I might be embellishing it a little bit, but he, the white tosh, was surfing at at a j b this is after he's come over taken that Bill's I think in that year or like and so that was that was 2006, 2007.
00;59;21;21 - 00;59;27;21
Nev
He won bills and J. Bay on his file was first time that a nontraditional surfboard had.
00;59;27;21 - 00;59;33;04
Tappa
Been because it's how a lot of technology there when the fire was in that whole lot, a lot of stuff that goes in them.
00;59;33;06 - 00;59;58;17
Nev
And what happened was prior to that, when, when we had all the, after I'd given all the pro surfers, the nibs, then it became firewall, and then we started making boards for, a whole bunch of pros, including Kelly and Kelly came down to the coast and, we did some testing sessions at Casuarina. Then we went to South Stradey and we had toge, Diamond Nichols.
00;59;58;19 - 01;00;22;18
Nev
A bunch of guys, testing the new Firewise unicorn and so and Trevor Hindi and a few others said, we're all over this. It's all being filmed. I got great footage of it, but the thing that really blew me away was this, I'm watching everybody surf manga was out. And then on on his new one, and then I see Kelly take off and his wife and he says, banging it down the line on this board, just building up.
01;00;22;22 - 01;00;43;29
Nev
And he's just like racing it, racing it. And then he goes to do that with all that speed to then come off the bottom and do this big hack. So he goes in to load up his bottom turn. And the board did a little, little wobble. And then he lost it. And then he didn't do that. And he came in, he said, I need more, resistance onto my front foot.
01;00;43;29 - 01;01;03;08
Nev
The board did a little over flex under his front foot. So that gave us the, understanding. He loved everything else about the boards. In fact, he was very close to signing with this thing. And I'm sure he won't mind me saying very close to signing with this, but his relationship with al was so close, he couldn't bring himself to do that back then.
01;01;03;11 - 01;01;25;16
Nev
So Tash comes along and we saying, yeah. And Tasha's boards were completely different. Tasha's boards were, so narrow in the tile and knows, like we're talking, five, 11, ten and three quarter nos. 13 in that 13 three quarter inch tile, but a really narrow little round square. And so a lot of curve in the outline, a lot of curve in the bottom and enabling Taj just to be everywhere at once.
01;01;25;20 - 01;01;27;25
Nev
And he was so fast he could keep that board riled.
01;01;27;26 - 01;01;32;06
Tappa
Right. Well she was well well always fast but amazing. He always fins out the back to.
01;01;32;08 - 01;01;52;28
Nev
Oh my some I saw some footage just the other day of I can't read what's cool, but oh my God. Now he he felt the same thing. So what we did, what the burger suggested we should do is we we put this pedal pump like a giant pedal pump. So that and then put grooves in the pedal pump so that the resin sunk into those grooves and stiffened it.
01;01;53;00 - 01;02;07;17
Nev
We didn't want a vertical stringer because we still wanted that, that, tensile modulus flex. So, so we put the pedal pop in and tells us going like, I don't like it, I can see it, I don't want it. And so we had to kind of spray it out sort of thing. Oh.
01;02;07;18 - 01;02;10;20
Tappa
So it's it's like as or if you don't see it, you don't see it.
01;02;10;20 - 01;02;28;13
Nev
Yeah. And that made all the difference. But then, then in 2007 and this is a really, really good story that I'd completely forgotten about until I found the little item that I'm going to explain to you. So he's now doing really well. So in 2006, he actually it was, you know, doing really well and people were really noticing 2007.
01;02;28;13 - 01;02;51;05
Nev
Now he's winning. So so he's won. Now he's no, no. So that was Bill's. So he's down at Bill's and I'm there with Johnny Gannon, his coach and myself in touch. And, he's at at Bill's and he's got on boards, great boards, feels good, but just feels a little flicky off the top. I don't have enough to carve through my turns off the top.
01;02;51;07 - 01;03;16;08
Nev
So. And I said, okay, okay. So now I'm panicking because everybody's looking at Taj got on my boards. And so I said, hang on. So I flew home, got a guy to design me a little round disc thing. Yeah. Out of aluminum, machined well, kept on it. And I've got little slivers of lid, each 100g. And I had, 500g.
01;03;16;08 - 01;03;33;07
Nev
I think something like that. Maybe that could have been 50g. Anyway, flew back down to the Taj we're in in the house. All the pros are there in the house. And I said, I touch it. So this is what I'm going to do. And he said, can. And I had a whole saw in my hand. I said, you ready?
01;03;33;07 - 01;03;50;22
Nev
And he goes, what? I said, I'm going to put this in the board. Oh my God. Yeah. All right. So I get the drill down and I go, yeah, straight through the board. I look at him through the board. Everybody's breaking up laughing in the room and we're talking all the price going, what have you just done? That's not so I got the thing with some.
01;03;50;22 - 01;04;12;10
Nev
Our light stuck it in, put some led in it. And I waited up about 500 about 300g. Yeah. And put it 12in in the nose, the swing weight. So Tash pedals at it. Bird rock and, and we could see a difference. And it comes in, I could feel it. And we played around with it and we put it, I don't know, 5 or 600.
01;04;12;10 - 01;04;30;15
Nev
We put about, 300 and that 400g in there or something. And and he ended up winning bills. So, you know, that was all about swing weight. So you can have a really light board. But if you're going to put weight in anywhere on a board, you put it up somewhere in the nose area, preferably not on the nose but back somewhere.
01;04;30;15 - 01;04;34;17
Nev
So that's swing weight. But Tasmania, I'm one.
01;04;34;20 - 01;04;47;11
Tappa
Where am I now? You're you're shape of mine has like how do I know like organize and shape is went through there and like Mary had Jess and they how have you had any shape is underneath you that have sort of come through and learned a bit of your skills.
01;04;47;14 - 01;05;12;00
Nev
You know, I'm a selfish bastard. But but seriously, I've been to, to cut up, caught up in my own little world. Yeah, yeah, I've been too busy. I mean, you know, there's sometimes. And this, this happens a lot when you're. When I got really big, like when I was doing 100 and 2,050 pounds a week. And I know guys like Jess and they're doing more than that now, but back, you know, 25 years ago there.
01;05;12;00 - 01;05;14;14
Tappa
Yeah, that was a lot of it. Yeah.
01;05;14;17 - 01;05;32;21
Nev
And, if someone came in with a new idea, I didn't even have time to talk to them. Yeah, that's why I firewall. What was so good? Because they had a whole lab, and they're coming up with new tech and things like that. But, for me to share my craft, I certainly didn't mind. Like, I'd have guys in my room, and I'd always.
01;05;32;21 - 01;05;53;09
Nev
I mean, I was a very, visual shaper. In other words, people. I would let people come and hang out my shaping room and somebody I never taught people how to shape it. And but the thing is, I don't think I've ever found one pro surfer that spent more than ten minutes in my shaping rooms. I was like, oh, yeah, like in if I Can buy.
01;05;53;09 - 01;06;02;01
Nev
And so we chat, we chat and then we work out what they're going to want. And then they stand there in the corner and I start my own foam. It's noisy. There's dust going everywhere.
01;06;02;02 - 01;06;03;00
Tappa
I,
01;06;03;03 - 01;06;05;15
Nev
Yeah. I'm just going back and check burly get.
01;06;05;15 - 01;06;22;22
Tappa
I fax a big thanks and shout out to our mates at the official beer they've sponsoring this episode and of course, their new JC lager. Low carb. I'm trying to get him to make me zero, but I haven't done it yet. But they will. They will. It's an easy drinking, like our beer brewed on the Gold Coast by a master brewer.
01;06;22;25 - 01;06;43;24
Tappa
So next time I'll make you like I'll grab a sexy, grab a cartoon when, If I haven't got it on tap. But you like a pop? Yeah. What? Haven't you got it? I don't check official beer archive. So next time, remember, you're asked to call one. Make it official. Make them. Of all the guys you've shape for over the years, like, well, sort of guys.
01;06;43;24 - 01;07;01;03
Tappa
Back to when? When I was. Why annoy the hell out of poor Terry Vosper? He had a key. He had a kewpie doll. Might have wetsuit rubber with, with Terry tapes written on it, hanging in a noose from these jiving bikers. You know it already. It was shaped. It was there anyone that was like a bit of a frother for you that,
01;07;01;05 - 01;07;08;15
Tappa
But when you when you, you they knew you were doing them some boards, it was like always all I've. Yeah.
01;07;08;17 - 01;07;14;20
Nev
There's a few. But I've got to tell you one really good story about manga. Yeah.
01;07;14;22 - 01;07;21;26
Tappa
What what a what a surfer, what a legend. Yeah, mate. Like, he's like, I'd say he was one of your flagship. Yeah.
01;07;21;26 - 01;07;43;27
Nev
They, Yeah. Okay. So there's, you know, there's all these other guys that I've shaped for, but, when a shaper has won surfer, the people like El Merrick had two. Yeah, yeah. Tom Cameron and Kelly Slater. You know, rusty had hockey. Yeah. And and to a, you know, I shouldn't say illicit a great. But I had manga and everybody recognized, nev and manga as, as an.
01;07;43;29 - 01;07;55;11
Tappa
And what a quality surfer like mine. Hey, he proved your board's worth at sunset and at burly heads like he. It wasn't just showing that your board boards. Yeah. At Burley, when it's 4 or 5, four or something.
01;07;55;11 - 01;08;16;17
Nev
Let me tell you the best story I've got about manga. About surf in Burley. So it's epic Burley this one day, right? Yeah. I'm running behind manga at the point to get get off the jump of rock, and it's like high tide. It's 6 to 8, it's glossy, a bit of high tide. And you know as well as I do.
01;08;16;18 - 01;08;17;06
Tappa
Coffin Rock, the.
01;08;17;06 - 01;08;32;22
Nev
Hottest place on the planet. To get it off the rocks is Burley on high tide. I don't care what anybody says. Yeah, your heart is in your throat. I would rather paddle out in 15ft sunset. Then get off the rocks at eight foot early on high tide with those double socks. What?
01;08;32;24 - 01;08;48;23
Tappa
You had Sonny Garcia in at the Boardriders club wants. And they're asking, you know, how hard is it to get the girls? How does it get anyone? Guess easy. That's what I guess. Where's the hardest place to paddle out in the world? The early hits. And that's what that's from Sonny Garcia. Anyway, back to back to see who am I?
01;08;48;26 - 01;09;07;22
Nev
So he's, you know, monkeys hitting me. He runs down and he just gracefully jumps over the rocks. I'm thinking, right. Shouldn't have thought he's gone. And then I'm following him, and then I see where he's going. And then he gets to the jump of rock and he. And then you know big surge jumps it. He's he's he's on the way out and he's paddling.
01;09;07;22 - 01;09;24;15
Nev
So I pull back and I'm standing up high watching him. And then I see him paddle and he's ducked dived a couple and he gets he's almost out and this set comes and he's just, just getting through. And he gets to this one that's just feathering. And he he looks like he's just going to get through it.
01;09;24;20 - 01;09;28;26
Nev
But at the last second he tight. He actually takes off sideways.
01;09;28;28 - 01;09;29;25
Tappa
Oh wow.
01;09;29;27 - 01;09;53;29
Nev
Like he's paddling up the face. And then he jumps up. And then he saw it. So it's kind of kind of sights. Looks down gets to the bottom, cranks his bottom turn, pulls up into the barrel and gets checked all the way down to the point and then doggy doors at the point. Now I'm standing there hearing TTD TT of human lead, McLeod cloud and Bruce.
01;09;54;02 - 01;10;18;11
Nev
Yeah, because it was Shannon. That photo is the iconic photo of Billy and Manga. That's that mysteries of the deep photo with the perfect lip line. It's like it's so glossy. It's ridiculous. And he's 16 and he's in his pit. So, you know, manga writing for Billabong was really in the early stages, was an incredibly good surfer.
01;10;18;13 - 01;10;38;01
Nev
Then he became an incredibly good professional surfer. Then he became an incredibly good free surfer. Whilst he was a pro, doing all the Bunyip trainings and the the green iguanas and the trips up the North West. So he created such a following of people going I want to, I want to be like manga. So that's why he was so different.
01;10;38;01 - 01;10;50;00
Nev
He was different than Tom. Karen because I want to be a pro surfer like Tom Curran and be the world champion. I want to be like Aki, you know, I want to be a grunt power surfer. Yeah, but everybody went. I want to be like, manga.
01;10;50;02 - 01;11;07;00
Tappa
Well, like, you know that shot, the manga. It's so iconic that one of him at sunset. Yeah, like the drop and the angle might. It's quite that. But like, as view for a shaper, that's got to be like a thing to see your boards performing in those crazy conditions like Big Sunset like that.
01;11;07;00 - 01;11;31;20
Nev
But let me tell you, when you get a surfer of the caliber of manga and then past that was sunny and all the others, it opens the doors for, for a shaper to start collaborating with other shapers. So I started I had the ability then to be able to work with great shape as like, Glen Minami, Glen Pang, you know, l'Amérique indirectly.
01;11;31;22 - 01;11;54;16
Nev
And you know, it happens now you a lot of surfers share there's a shared amongst, their shapers. But back then it was almost okay to have like, there was some time, like with sunny, there was a nav logo, a Channel Islands logo, and the Monami logo. And I would look at the board game. Which one did I say?
01;11;54;19 - 01;12;04;28
Nev
Did I like that one? And, so, boards for sunset. I mean, I met a lot of guns for Western Australia, so I had I had a really good understanding because.
01;12;05;00 - 01;12;07;23
Tappa
Why like it's a way that's that's power.
01;12;07;24 - 01;12;33;11
Nev
Yeah, absolutely. And I was selling a lot of boards in California for not for northern California for big waves in Ocean Beach and not so much maps because maps wasn't really well known then, but like were surfing maps. But so I learned a lot about my guns. And, but then to be in Hawaii, because I spent a lot of seasons in Hawaii shaping on the North Shore and and so and having surfers of the caliber of, of sun.
01;12;33;11 - 01;12;33;14
Nev
Yeah.
01;12;33;14 - 01;12;37;20
Tappa
So did you learn a lot of your surfers like learn a lot through their feedback.
01;12;37;20 - 01;13;01;26
Nev
And I learned more from the other ship is that I was working with like Glen Minami is a he's a numbers guy. Yeah. And I'm a numbers guy. I mean, I failed math, but I keep, really detailed records. That's why that's why I'm doing these, like, for example. Thank you. Lower, legendary replicas or, Christian's boards, Christian Fletcher's boards or mangas boards.
01;13;02;01 - 01;13;06;14
Nev
I've got so many measurement cards with the exact dimensions of those boards from when I.
01;13;06;18 - 01;13;09;12
Tappa
Was a little bit. I know with all your records and stuff, mate.
01;13;09;14 - 01;13;28;04
Nev
But I'm anal with it. But there's a there's a particular way to measure a surfboard, a lot of a lot of surfers, a lot of shapers think that the more measurements you take, the better. But if you take particular measurements, one of them is a good example. When you pick up a board with your hand, you fill in the rail.
01;13;28;06 - 01;13;35;09
Nev
Yeah. So when I measure a surfboard, where do I where do I measure? I measure four inches in because that's four inches in front. I put it when.
01;13;35;09 - 01;13;36;24
Tappa
It's under your arm I like.
01;13;36;29 - 01;13;37;25
Nev
It, but you're holding.
01;13;37;25 - 01;13;39;02
Tappa
It. Yeah, yeah.
01;13;39;09 - 01;14;01;09
Nev
And, Yeah. So, so your mind is telling you that that that's what it's registering. Yeah. Four inches in on the top of the rail and then one inch in where your hand wraps around the rail. Yeah. So I only take two measurements of a rail. The, the algorithm in shape 3D is that damn good that, that it takes those points and joins them together perfectly.
01;14;01;09 - 01;14;25;24
Nev
Exactly as I would do it if I was, hand shaping the board. So Glenn showed me, how he measured boards and, and it was so systematic that when I went and measured a board or, I, I knew that I could take those measurements and turn it in by hand, shaping it, turn it into a board that I knew I knew that was going to work.
01;14;25;26 - 01;14;38;03
Nev
And and when you're in Hawaii, you learn things about design that you wouldn't learn elsewhere. You know, things like, you know, brewers, secret formula, you know. Yeah.
01;14;38;03 - 01;14;40;15
Tappa
Well, Dick Brewer is known as a legend. Big, white big.
01;14;40;17 - 01;15;04;00
Nev
Absolutely. And he would say things like, you know, you talk about the Riley volume and the dynamic, the, of water flowing around a full rail. It's going to hold in better in a big wave than a more knife rail. But, you know, but then it's a slower rail. So. Because too much water is. So when you have a tapered rail, it's a faster rail, but it doesn't hold as well.
01;15;04;07 - 01;15;12;28
Nev
So there's a whole bunch of variables that come that have got a lot to do with your weight, your, your physiology. Like you and I are completely opposite. Opposite body.
01;15;13;02 - 01;15;13;24
Tappa
Guaranteed.
01;15;13;24 - 01;15;35;27
Nev
Right. So so but but you're you're doing better. Like I like I like to be able to say you're more like oaky and or even a, like but Kelly's physique, like Kelly's got that bigger shoulders. You know, narrow waist, small waist and skinny little legs. Right. Okay. Kind of got the same shape, but he's got negative legs, you've got negative legs.
01;15;35;27 - 01;15;58;28
Nev
You you've got a low center gravity. You're. Whereas I've got the longer, sort of the shorter body length, longer legs. So I'm more upright. No matter what I do, I can't be less upright than what I am. And I've got I, I need sensitivity in my boards, like Mikado or, or, Phillip Toledo. You know, if you're light weight, you need sensitivity.
01;15;58;28 - 01;16;04;17
Nev
You you need to be able to just touch your toes in the bottom turn. Yeah, you need grunt.
01;16;04;22 - 01;16;05;29
Tappa
So, yeah, I need to be able drive.
01;16;06;00 - 01;16;18;18
Nev
You need to drive, and you need resistance in the in the area and thickness of the tail of your board. So it's pushing back at you as you're pushing it in. I want my board to my tail to berry. That's why I could never ride twin fins. I hated them.
01;16;18;24 - 01;16;20;05
Tappa
I'm pretty heavy on my back foot.
01;16;20;05 - 01;16;35;24
Nev
Yeah. And I'm not. Yeah. You know, I try to be heavy on my back foot. And there's a lot of surfers like me that are lightweight that just don't get it. They're riding boards with thick tiles and they're, they're holding their turns. I can't turn, you know, like, I've got to have a narrow and narrow tail for my boards to work.
01;16;35;27 - 01;16;37;25
Nev
I can't get it on rail.
01;16;37;27 - 01;16;48;25
Tappa
My, if you got templates like that, I've used for, like, forever Lives, right? Because I know, you know, a lot of, like, their shape is like, little valuable gems, aren't they?
01;16;48;25 - 01;17;08;26
Nev
Well, it's it's not just the templates, but the templates. It's true. I've got a whole series of templates. I've got one template. So I'm going to own it. Just like what Rob told me today. I own it. Net. So in 1980 the outline of tell the board was either a cut wing or a big bump. Yeah, like an electric big bump.
01;17;08;26 - 01;17;23;11
Nev
He just started doing that. Simons bump. Cut wings. And I was looking for something different because I just wanted a break point in the outline running off the tail, I didn't. You do a nice round pin that has no break point.
01;17;23;11 - 01;17;26;03
Tappa
It looks so make for those who don't know. What's a break.
01;17;26;10 - 01;17;43;21
Nev
Well, what I mean by that is if you're looking at the outline of a board that's the only thing you're looking at. Visualize that when the curve from the from the center of the of the board towards the tail runs towards the tail in a normal nice little round tile, it'll just keep running around with no broken curve into a nice little round pin or a round tile.
01;17;43;21 - 01;17;46;08
Nev
There's no break point. So where is that?
01;17;46;08 - 01;17;47;06
Tappa
Like in the line?
01;17;47;06 - 01;18;09;19
Nev
Yeah. Whereas a wing gives you a distinct break point, a bump gives you a bigger, a bigger break point, but it's a softer break point. And what what do you need a break point. You need release as you as you're going through a turn, when you're setting up your bottom tune, if you've got a wide tile board with no break point in it, it's going it's not going to release, release, meaning it's not going to come around is quite as quickly.
01;18;09;19 - 01;18;37;00
Nev
Yeah. Because it's, and it's also a way of reducing the tile area behind the break point. Yeah. So I was working with Merritt Davis, the pro surfer, who was the Australian junior champion, an absolutely brilliant technical surfer. I mean, I, I've seen that guy in Japan in 83, 84. Take off on a lift, go straight out into the flats like you can't go any further.
01;18;37;00 - 01;18;55;19
Nev
Merrick. You can at the bottom turn some time, you know, then bottom ten straight back up the same track. You know, like that. That amazing because he's got the same body shape again. He's got big shoulders, small waist, really powerful low center of gravity. So he can just get that pivot and power off the bottom and just go, how the hell did I get all that speed gone back?
01;18;55;19 - 01;19;20;17
Nev
Yeah. So so what I did was, around 1980, 81, 82, I wanted to create this break point. So I just went 18in up from the tile and just turned the curve towards the tile. And that template I still got, and that's my pride and joy because no one was doing that type of break point in the out.
01;19;20;19 - 01;19;38;14
Nev
It's a simple thing when you look at all boards now that, that don't have wings and everything, they have that same break point. And then there's another thing that, I've got to own, and I don't mind saying this, and maybe somebody did it before, but who cares? It's another really simple thing that's in every high performance sport.
01;19;38;14 - 01;20;02;07
Nev
Now. Yeah. That is if you look at a board say, 19, 90, 91, 92. Yeah, a six. So like the manga, it will have, two inches, maybe two and an eighth rocker in the tail and the bottom curve, the rocker of the board running from the center. Forget about the nose for a bit.
01;20;02;08 - 01;20;28;09
Nev
Yeah. Is even all the way through to the tail most often? No. Concave, because there wasn't a lot of rocker. Yeah. You have concave. If you have a lot of bottom curve, you don't have concave. If you've got a flattish rocker and I'll, I'll, I can elaborate on that in a minute. So I was looking for a way to, to release the tail through your top turn.
01;20;28;16 - 01;20;34;13
Nev
Yeah. More because that's what manga and these guys were doing. If you look at the whole footage, I would just break. They was starting to break the fins out enough.
01;20;34;13 - 01;20;35;21
Tappa
It feels better when you do that.
01;20;35;21 - 01;20;56;23
Nev
No. To be able to do control drift. And it was really it was other guys were doing the full carve, but all of a sudden guys are starting to break the tails out. And it just amazing. So how can we enhance that more so at the same time Webb is doing the banana board. He just started like early 1990 like late 1991 92.
01;20;56;26 - 01;21;14;25
Nev
Yeah. And that was the full curve all the way through an unbroken full curve. I didn't like that. With greatest respect to Greg. It didn't turn me on. I didn't I didn't even want to try it. I got to be honest. Yeah, but I realized that I was on, on track with what I wanted to do called the kick tail.
01;21;14;28 - 01;21;42;03
Nev
Now, the kick tail was pretty much a three stage rocket you got, you know, the entry rocker and its rocker and then kick it through the tail. So I did a bunch of experiments with Jason Frost. This is around 91, 92. Yep. Even another guy, Shemp, you said. Right. So DBA big guy. In my collection of boards, I've got a 66 board that I'm that I ten and a half, two and a half that I did for ship and ship and, it's got like almost four inches tail rocker in it.
01;21;42;03 - 01;22;04;03
Nev
I had to get burford's to bend up a blank so I can ship it in it. That was too much. But if you pick up the tail of a board now, any any high performance board with, we can't get single, double, full, concave, whatever, fins up and look from the very top of the board along the rail towards the center.
01;22;04;05 - 01;22;31;17
Nev
You'll see again what you could call a break point on the bottom curve this time. So on the bottom, it gets to about 18in from the tail and then it automatically starts turning towards the tail. So there's a point where it does break. So you've got this what I, what I call the kick tail. So keep tail on a, on A6I might have two and a half, two and 5/8 rocker in the tail instead of two, and a two on a night that allows you to come off the top and break things out.
01;22;31;19 - 01;22;55;29
Nev
And guys were loving it. I did ads in all the magazines, call them the kick tail, and but it never got the same level of press that Greg got from the from the banana with, Shane Herring and Kelly riding and stuff. But I can honestly say that that break in the outline married with the break in, the rocker in the bottom was really the first time it was really being done.
01;22;56;01 - 01;23;13;28
Nev
It's all been done before. Like somebody probably shaped, a longboard or something like me to have his. But, you know, he's got that kick in the tail. I don't know when McTavish first did that, but for a high performance board, going from a flat rocker to a rocker to like, I'm pretty confident. Happy to be, told.
01;23;13;28 - 01;23;20;07
Nev
Not that that I created that. And every, every high performance surfboard has got that in those boards now.
01;23;20;10 - 01;23;25;20
Tappa
Well, cool. All right, mate. Now next up FireWire. You're not associated with FireWire.
01;23;25;20 - 01;23;28;21
Nev
In love with the bits. Yeah. Best mates but no.
01;23;28;23 - 01;23;30;07
Tappa
You just stepped away from that one.
01;23;30;07 - 01;23;46;17
Nev
Yeah. The interesting thing with that one was that, when we started FireWire, I had to drop my brand, and the only time I had my name on the board was when I wrote on the board by NIB for touch. That was the only time. Never never never never.
01;23;46;20 - 01;23;47;07
Tappa
Never.
01;23;47;10 - 01;23;49;19
Nev
Never never footage,
01;23;49;21 - 01;23;50;25
Tappa
Of water. Yeah.
01;23;50;28 - 01;23;55;00
Nev
So therefore, Tosh, that's a like.
01;23;55;03 - 01;23;58;03
Tappa
Yeah, yeah. Well.
01;23;58;05 - 01;24;11;21
Nev
And, because for a while I didn't want to be surf tech. I didn't want a whole bunch of surfer brands. So I had to wear that on the chin. Yeah. And, so what happened then was, So what?
01;24;11;24 - 01;24;17;01
Tappa
I've forgotten where we go. From what? Leaving FireWire. Oh, yeah. So the brake. Firewall.
01;24;17;01 - 01;24;42;14
Nev
Yeah, yeah. So, the, I wasn't able to use my brain for all that time. I was the head shaper for a designer for FireWire up until 2012. So from 2006 to 12, six years, I did all of the boards for Michelle and and Philip Toledo and, and Stuart Kennedy and Sally Fitzgibbons and all the rest.
01;24;42;14 - 01;24;46;01
Tappa
Well, I didn't know that Philip Toledo was on fire while I see.
01;24;46;03 - 01;25;07;15
Nev
Philip was at Berkeley when you'd remember it. He was like a knight 16 or something. All right. And, I had just done Taj a what I called the hell Hellraiser, where I was, I was the Hellfire for a while, but it was a it was a more high performance one. I did it for Taj. Taj didn't even want to look at it like I'm saying, I need this board.
01;25;07;15 - 01;25;20;22
Nev
It's it's five nine. It's, you know, love it. A little diamond tile. You know, I had that little drop sort of rail through the tile. And I know and you didn't, you know. And I'm not knocking Taj. He just didn't even want to look at it.
01;25;20;23 - 01;25;21;21
Tappa
What's this thing in space?
01;25;21;22 - 01;25;39;09
Nev
So I was sitting down at FireWire and, and we say, Philip, I'm going, Holy shit, look at this guy. Oh my God. And, I can't remember. Someone introduced us and I said, I, Philip, you know, like. Yeah, sure. I'll, because his dad's an old mate to Brazilian, you know? Yeah. And, I said, I got this board and I'll go and get it.
01;25;39;09 - 01;26;02;12
Nev
So I went and got it, and it was right up your alley. You guys had a Billy, and he's just ripping. So he, he ended up writing for us for, a reasonable, like, I don't know, a year, 18 months or something, I can't remember, and, Yeah. So. But, the thing with FireWire is that I, I started getting a bit jaded.
01;26;02;15 - 01;26;30;09
Nev
I've had two jaded periods in my life. I'll give you two really good examples. It looks really glossy from the outside. Yes, but, in 98, 99, I probably had one of the best surf teams in the world. I mean, at that point in time, and if I leave people out to give me a bit, you know, I had, manga sunny, Rob Bane, Danny Wills,
01;26;30;12 - 01;26;32;19
Nev
I mean, I mean, in a whole bunch more.
01;26;32;24 - 01;26;35;10
Tappa
I've lived down, like. Oh.
01;26;35;13 - 01;26;36;25
Nev
Yeah, I've left legend.
01;26;36;26 - 01;26;37;20
Tappa
Danny.
01;26;37;23 - 01;26;55;11
Nev
Yeah, and a bunch of girls like Wendy Bowser and. Oh, yeah, and pretty and and, you know, I just, I had and then I was getting calls from pro surfers as I come to town of wherever they were. Yeah. Hey, Nev, I, could you make me some boards and I could. I can't say no. Yeah. So.
01;26;55;11 - 01;27;14;21
Nev
And every time, at that time, it's probably still the same that every single time I process for all these boards off you, they all have five boards at a time. Yeah. So shape has put a lot of energy into those five boards. No matter how many times you think about it. I get my knickers in a twist. I get anxious if I'm shaping boards for a top pro surfer.
01;27;14;23 - 01;27;16;04
Nev
Yeah, I put everything into that.
01;27;16;05 - 01;27;22;01
Tappa
Well, you know, it's going to be scrutinized and the last like big 10th of a millimeter or 100 that will.
01;27;22;02 - 01;27;23;01
Nev
Help is to.
01;27;23;01 - 01;27;26;19
Tappa
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. Yeah. Not just them like the other, you know.
01;27;26;19 - 01;27;46;15
Nev
So like I and I was doing that for my whole career. Yeah. And then towards the end, you know, 98, 99, 2000, 2001 before Nip became fight. Well, a couple more years that, like, it got to the stage where I and I'm not exaggerating, in about 2002 and, you know, it's gone through stuff with the divorce and everything too.
01;27;46;17 - 01;28;01;13
Nev
And Jamie O'Brien was running for me at the time, and he was asked, and he's great guy, and he was asking for ten boards at a time, you know, I mean, I'm exaggerating, but it was it was like a lot going on. Yeah. And so and it if, if Kelly had called me at that time and said, hey Nev, would you shake me five boards?
01;28;01;13 - 01;28;07;03
Nev
I'll have shape boards for Kelly. But like this, I say he did that. I would have said, yeah, sure. Great. Awesome.
01;28;07;05 - 01;28;07;28
Tappa
There's another five.
01;28;08;00 - 01;28;19;23
Nev
And then go, fuck, I can't do this. I don't want to do it. And I was that jaded. I would have said no to Kelly, you know? And again, that's not a boast. I'm not saying that for any other reason apart from the fact I was doing it.
01;28;19;23 - 01;28;22;22
Tappa
You were sort of getting a bit of burnout. I side that, yeah. Yeah.
01;28;22;25 - 01;28;42;02
Nev
And I didn't start. I didn't see the rewards. And I mean, yeah, I had I just left out Dino Resta Parco that that's the other three guys I had on my board at that same time. Yeah. Everyone was winning. Danny should have won the world title in 98 on my boards and fell off at pipe on one turn, one turn.
01;28;42;04 - 01;29;04;02
Nev
One wife took the world title from Danny. He was ripping through the whole event. And then for some reason, he fell off on the bottom 10th. And I was there on the beach going, oh my God. So, that was one time I got jaded and the second time was with fire y. Yeah, I'm doing all this stuff, but not jaded because of firewall.
01;29;04;02 - 01;29;08;19
Nev
I was loving it, but I was also doing this thing called nip House.
01;29;08;21 - 01;29;25;20
Tappa
Yeah, this is what I wanted to get on to. Never has because we had James Lewis in here. I think you've heard the. Yeah, the podcast with James, and he's been over to the helping to raise the land and that and your nev house particularly for Pacific. They said let's let the people know that never has because I think might.
01;29;25;23 - 01;29;29;17
Tappa
It is one freakin amazing thing you've got there.
01;29;29;20 - 01;29;52;11
Nev
It is indeed. And just before I do, I'll just tell you why I was delighted with Firewatch, because, I was at the, 2012 event at Christmas. Yeah. Now, I was invited to that event to do a Nev House promo to build a house on the beach at Christmas to promote, recycling, plastic recycling in Bali. And Michelle was running my boards.
01;29;52;11 - 01;30;15;18
Nev
Felipe was still on the boards. And Kelly. So Michelle comes second in the event packet building. And, and then two Irena, who was from the momentum period, incredible surfer from California who's the team manager for flywheel. He calls me says Nev. Michelle loves those boys. She doesn't like such and such, such and such, but he loves this one.
01;30;15;21 - 01;30;35;11
Nev
Okay, so I made it, made a night and, Sally wants you to do another one of her board, but just make it six. You okay? Got it, got it. So I go into the surface area. I'm looking at the boards. I take photos of the boards. Which ones? I chose the wrong board of Michelle's. So I repeated the board he didn't like.
01;30;35;11 - 01;30;36;17
Tappa
On,
01;30;36;19 - 01;30;57;08
Nev
And then with Sally's, I had, written on the rail, on the order sheet because it was made in Thailand, so I designed it. It was Shannon. Yeah. Know that come out perfect. And, I put the wrong I think I put two on an eighth on the rail, but it was actually two and 3/16, and then she wanted it to be a 16th and, you know.
01;30;57;09 - 01;30;59;25
Nev
Oh, I can't even remember the sequence. But I said, this.
01;30;59;25 - 01;31;00;27
Tappa
Has happened because.
01;31;01;03 - 01;31;20;01
Nev
I'm too busy, I'm burnt out and I'm just going, it's a story nib. You're not focused, man. You know, like, yeah, like and that's when we brought by Alice and Luke, short and then Tomoe and others on board. I said, guys, I want you to bring out the other shapers on it. And I were thinking that way anyway.
01;31;20;03 - 01;31;39;06
Nev
And, so that's how slowly. But surely I became less important to FireWire, and I was quite happy about that in many ways. Yeah, I didn't want my plate. The options were I do what Tomo had to do and that is become the guy I already been, the guy I didn't want to be.
01;31;39;09 - 01;31;40;07
Tappa
Many times, mate.
01;31;40;08 - 01;32;01;20
Nev
I know, you know, I mean, I didn't want to go. I'd like. I thought that's what time before about the. It looks all glossy from the outside. Yeah. When you go to a surfing contest anywhere in the world and you're a well-known shaper and you rock up at that concert, that that, concert, you rock up at that contest and then you see other shape is hanging out in the surface area and your level, your levels of anxiety.
01;32;01;20 - 01;32;15;08
Nev
And, and what do I call it when you, that, that syndrome where you're, you don't think you're worthy, whatever it is. And then then you're feeling like, do I really want to be here and I love people. I love talking.
01;32;15;08 - 01;32;15;20
Tappa
You know, I.
01;32;15;20 - 01;32;33;15
Nev
Thought, yeah, but but there is a there is a sense of, do I really want to do this? And, so you're down there and, and you're talking to people and everything, and I just, I, I didn't want to have to be what that boy is doing or what the H or J's are doing. Yeah, I was over it.
01;32;33;17 - 01;32;58;15
Nev
And so I just said like, fine, just. And I was looking at moving out completely and I did in 2018, I was out. And only because Kelly came in and bought the company in 2015, I was not really doing anything. Dane Man started doing boards and I started doing boards for Kelly. I didn't even want to do any boards, to be perfectly honest, and I was really focused on I was on landfills all over the world.
01;32;58;18 - 01;32;59;15
Nev
That's what I was doing.
01;32;59;18 - 01;33;10;24
Tappa
And so this brings us back to the Nev housemate. Yeah. Where did you like why now? Obviously there's ideas in your head all the time, but where did the idea come for the nevus?
01;33;10;27 - 01;33;34;06
Nev
Well, what do you do when you've been through a divorce? When I mean, I've got to admit something that I was doing really well financially back in the 2002, 2003, you know, business was going great. I had beachfront property and all that sort of shit. And, so I but then I went through a divorce, and and anybody's gone through a divorce.
01;33;34;06 - 01;33;51;07
Nev
It's not fun. And you lose your focus. So all of a sudden, my big shop up and move might start to losing money because I'm not doing. I'm not doing my job. Right. Yeah. And I've got licensees all over the world, and, you know, it's like a lot of shit's going down. Yeah. So I'm, I'm taking my focus off and, I'm,
01;33;51;10 - 01;34;03;14
Nev
But then I've gone through divorce and I've come out the other side and I've got a little bit of money. And I went and I saw this plastics recycling guy. I was living at the Glades Golf course, and this guy rocks up in a in a golf buggy, you and you. And he goes, hey, never interested in this.
01;34;03;17 - 01;34;25;14
Nev
And, and it was to invest in a plastics recycling company, a European technology that takes low grade plastic like everything that we hate about plastic and turns it into products. So I invested in it and bought. But that guy died in 2010 that I invested with. So 2004 to 2010, I was just doing everything else I was doing by wire and everything.
01;34;25;17 - 01;34;41;09
Nev
But then I had to take over the company because if I didn't take over the company, I was going to lose my investment, which was, you know, a lot of money. And, so I took over the company and then I then it was it was called jet, and I started investigating how I could, sell this on.
01;34;41;13 - 01;35;03;27
Nev
Yeah. And or build a company. So I started negotiating in Papua New Guinea to build a, a recycling plant in Port Moresby. And we did the deal. It was a $15 million deal. Signed. Sealed. Good faith time. It made upfront. Everything's good. Papua New Guinea has come out. Signing ceremony at at Hope Island. This is in, about 2011.
01;35;03;29 - 01;35;22;02
Nev
Yeah. And, and then I'm off to the US to go and visit a factory and get this whole thing going. I get a call while I'm in the US saying the deal's off. I'm going. What? They tied us all this money up front? What do you mean, the deal's off? The deal's off because the CEO of that company, it was,
01;35;22;04 - 01;35;50;09
Nev
It was a logistics public company. The guy that was biggest shareholder pulls out at that company to become the head of Papua New Guinea Power, which is basically a ticket to become a billionaire overnight. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So the deal's done. So now I've got this company and I'm going now what do I do? So, so I go to Bali, I'm sitting with could put me into and this guy puts his name guy.
01;35;50;11 - 01;36;09;09
Nev
Guy Joseph, he puts this thing in front of me, and it's a picture of a house that the Indonesian government give to the poor. Like a it's a little block house, 20, 22m². And I looked at I went, we could make that a house out of plastic, out of recycled plastic. So I went on this journey of trying to figure out, could we do it?
01;36;09;09 - 01;36;39;23
Nev
And I engaged in an architect by the name of Ken McBride in Sydney, a brilliant architect, and, and he was passionate about the same thing. And he had done a lot of architectural design for indigenous housing. And so he understood where I was trying to go with this. So we designed a house that would be a category five cyclone rated, rapidly deployed house that could be built in a couple of days, architecturally designed with a cathedral ceiling, no load bearing walls, no tie downs, no concrete.
01;36;39;26 - 01;36;54;11
Nev
And we designed it. And, that was 2012 then. I had I knew I couldn't use the technology that I had invested in because I couldn't get a piece of plastic longer than 12ft at all.
01;36;54;15 - 01;36;56;19
Tappa
And obviously, if you're a house, you need longer than 12ft.
01;36;56;19 - 01;37;13;11
Nev
And you need load bearing things and stuff, and I couldn't get it out of the plastic. So, so we had a shift in the whole thing and we called it Nip House because I've been in branding all my life. Like I told you before, don't call it something generic. It could have been poly house or recycled plastic house.
01;37;13;14 - 01;37;16;11
Tappa
But never has stood single because yet, like you said, was like, yeah.
01;37;16;14 - 01;37;16;25
Nev
What is it?
01;37;16;27 - 01;37;17;11
Tappa
What's the name?
01;37;17;16 - 01;37;20;16
Nev
It's not me, it is me, but it's not me. It can be any universe.
01;37;20;18 - 01;37;22;16
Tappa
Yeah, yeah.
01;37;22;18 - 01;37;44;23
Nev
So, I, I'm leaving so much out, but basically what happened from there was, I met some people in Bali. Before I go into that, I had this really crazy experience in Indo. Yeah. You know, I spent, I've been in there a lot. I've searched everywhere in Indo. And here I am in Jakarta for seven months.
01;37;44;25 - 01;37;46;05
Tappa
Seven months, seven months.
01;37;46;05 - 01;38;08;05
Nev
In 2013, I was negotiating, trying to raise capital to to do something in Indonesia. I was back and forth with Gavin at the Stigma of Bali. He took me to one of these villages to show how they give away a house, and I even got one of those religious bells, a Hindu bell that the priest used. He gave it to me because he knew that I was going to do some good.
01;38;08;08 - 01;38;29;15
Nev
So it's been a lot of good things happen, but I ended up meeting these guys in, in Bali. In a bottle is one of those places that people disappear to. Yeah, it's they've had some problems in their lives. It is a lot of those people in Bali. And so I met these guys and they love what I had proposed and they invested in.
01;38;29;15 - 01;38;51;05
Nev
And then we raised a whole bunch of capital. The one guy was a, financial engineer that had a dodgy past. Now, I googled him to find out what his dodgy past was. Yeah. And, he was acquitted in the High Court of, in the UK of all charges. And the people below him went to jail.
01;38;51;07 - 01;39;19;16
Nev
So I went, okay, I believe you, right. And, but he was brilliant and he, we raised capital. We, we ended up being invited by the, the government of the Philippines, the Aquino government to come and meet with the vice president after after this Tacloban. Hurricane that went through there. Yeah. Back and forth to PNG, I mean, so many different places, all over Indonesia.
01;39;19;19 - 01;39;36;17
Nev
But here, just prior to meeting those guys, I was in Jakarta for seven months because I couldn't pull it together. I, you know, one day I'll tell you the rest of the story because it was a really dark period in my life. And whilst I was there says pumping like I'm and I'm not. I believe in God for surf.
01;39;36;17 - 01;40;00;24
Nev
And then I was going back and forth to Bali, hanging out with Manda. I got dengue fever because I was run down. I never get sick, right? But I was really run down. But eventually we raise the capital and, and then we eventually delivered in Vanuatu. We delivered 15 classrooms and, community centers in over five nakama in one of the most remote places I've ever been to.
01;40;00;24 - 01;40;24;07
Nev
And it's only 2.5 hours from here. And, you know, grass skirts, penis sheaths, topless people and grass goods. I mean, it's like crazy volcanoes, cults. If you want to go somewhere for a really crazy holiday. Tanner Island, Tanna island in Vanuatu. And I can tell you a story about Tanna Island. About the first surfers that have ever that surfed in Australia.
01;40;24;11 - 01;40;31;15
Nev
Yes. Tommy Tanner was the first surfer from town. I met Tommy Tana's, family.
01;40;31;17 - 01;40;32;04
Tappa
Oh, wow.
01;40;32;05 - 01;40;35;21
Nev
From I, Tommy Tanner went to, That's another story, I'll tell you that one.
01;40;35;21 - 01;40;40;05
Tappa
But my with the Neff house now, it's made from totally from recycled plastic. Is that correct?
01;40;40;05 - 01;41;00;12
Nev
To a point to. So what we did was I had to compromise in the design to have a laminated veneer lumber, which is a really high priced, beam of sustainable timbers in a pressed together kind of like plywood bit on steroids. Yeah. And because of the design of the house, it's all cut on C and C machines.
01;41;00;14 - 01;41;24;03
Nev
The guide to get the like a meccano set. And so the frame of the house is a really important part because it's got the cathedral ceilings is no internal walls. And it's gorgeous looking. And then the, the panels on the outside, especially for Tanna, we were using, I recycled plastic scenario out of China. We weren't able to use the technology that we had developed.
01;41;24;08 - 01;41;45;16
Nev
Yeah. Because, we hadn't done the final testing for it to meet the code in certain places. So instead of doing that, we, use these particular panels. And if you look at the photos of the houses in Vanuatu on the NIF House website, you'll see that, it's just a beautiful design. Yeah. So, I was very proud about that.
01;41;45;16 - 01;42;14;20
Nev
And there's a lot of really good things that came from that and a lot of good things that we're going to do. The sad part of the story is this I've got 180 shareholders. And at the time when the shit hit the fan, I had about 160 shareholders. And some of them are, well known in the surfing industry, in surfing culture and others friends and family, etc. but, the guy that was acquitted was still a crime.
01;42;14;22 - 01;42;36;04
Nev
So when we had raised all this money, he the and when when we had contracts almost on the table, like, seriously big contracts with the Vanuatu government, with the Papua New Guinea government. We're looking at, this guy started spending the money badly, and I had the second. So I sacked this guy. Then I had no CEO.
01;42;36;06 - 01;43;01;22
Nev
So I put on another CEO, this guy Gordon Bond Gordon Bonds not good months. We love Gordon Burns from outside it. So, this guy from Deloitte. And he became my CEO in six months. I sacked him for gross misconduct. I've tried to burn all my shareholders. Basically said to me, they're done. They're finished. Right. We're going to bring in the top money from Sydney.
01;43;01;24 - 01;43;20;04
Nev
We're going to close these contracts in Vanuatu, and we'll go on from there. And then I'm going to retire. That's what he said to me. So I sent him and then I had all this legal dramas. It's cost me pretty much everything. And I'm not being I'm not whingeing about that. But that's what happened there. And then, and I'm leaving out heaps.
01;43;20;04 - 01;43;30;19
Nev
But basically I got a new team around me, and the new team allowed me to reestablish the nib house dream of delivering nib house.
01;43;30;19 - 01;43;39;00
Tappa
Oh, that's cool. And that's going to give sustainable housing people. They might. Next one, I want to get you back. You're back making your boards again there.
01;43;39;05 - 01;43;40;01
Nev
Yeah, yeah.
01;43;40;04 - 01;43;46;20
Tappa
So you're back making your boards. You've got the Neve boards coming back. Yeah. And like the old retro models and that sort of thing.
01;43;46;23 - 01;44;05;13
Nev
Absolutely. And I know you're going to take this bit out, but let's talk later about the rest of that story because either delete that or just talk some nice stuff about it because there's a really good story in that. Yeah. In at another session. Yeah. So but getting back to what I'm doing. Yeah, that's a great, great save.
01;44;05;18 - 01;44;25;27
Nev
Yeah. So, the funny thing is, is that I started, making some boards again because my kids, Rene, Jayden and Tara had never seen me type a surfboard, and I'm gone. Yes, you have. And I said, no, no, Deb, we haven't, like, hanging with Nick. No, we haven't because you wouldn't finishing pre shapes. So I went and shaped a couple of boards for Gidon Larsen.
01;44;25;29 - 01;44;49;04
Nev
And and then I made boards for the kids and one for myself. A billion, walk out the point a billion guys again. Oh my god. Never make me one. I'm going oh no, I don't want to. I'm over it. No. Yeah. But. And then the 80s became the new 70s, and then I started getting orders for boards, and I started making remakes of mangas boards and and sunnies boards and things.
01;44;49;06 - 01;45;07;02
Nev
And then, I had Sam Parsons down there at Berkeley finishing my boards. He was doing Dixons boards at the time. And then, and things started to roll. So what's happened is I've engaged a really good digital marketing agency. You gotta have a good marketing of my whole life. But I can't do it like the experts do it.
01;45;07;05 - 01;45;21;18
Nev
And this machine at the ballpark, and, I'm telling stories, all my stories. And it's a different way to present my brand. Yeah. And I'm proud about what I'm doing. I love it, and there's a billion stories everyone's going to Billings doing right.
01;45;21;18 - 01;45;36;18
Tappa
We're going to have to get you back in again, because I think that there's, there's so much you do. And now the boards you're selling, the ideas, they're coming back. And but I tell you what, if I had a magnificent. Well you still got plenty to go yet.
01;45;36;23 - 01;45;52;21
Nev
I'm the size I'm going to sell to 100. Philip Poma has invited me to be. Yeah. You got an ambassador for 6 to 100. So we're going to do a promo. Yeah. So I'll go with him to rotate, and I'll talk about boards and and surf and and stuff. And at my agent, he's going to talk about health and wellness and several hundred.
01;45;52;24 - 01;45;53;13
Nev
We're going to be surf.
01;45;53;13 - 01;46;03;04
Tappa
Until I might. That is that is bloody awesome. And I'm glad to say the nerves are back. Never look back. Nerves are back. But my go to wrap it up now.
01;46;03;10 - 01;46;04;09
Nev
I know we love.
01;46;04;16 - 01;46;14;10
Tappa
It, brother. Hey. Yeah, well, thanks for coming on the farm, Dave. I love them and, Matt, we'll get you back in again and we'll go to some of those other stuff as well too. Like, I might. Let's see what.
01;46;14;10 - 01;46;16;21
Nev
See you out of early, buddy. Don't drop in on me, please.
01;46;16;23 - 01;46;19;04
Tappa
You're the one that drops in on me, Mike. Come on.
01;46;19;06 - 01;46;35;07
Nev
You know that, like, party, party noise. Alan Boone, we love Dale. You know, best guy ever. Yeah. And but every time, every single time I was at a Billy with L, he would paddle full wave. I'm on it. And he'd be. Look at him, he'd wink at me and. Yeah. And then go, I just drove him.
01;46;35;14 - 01;46;57;00
Tappa
That's I bud. That's awesome. Napkin. My hat. It's been a pleasure. Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Thanks for tuning into the green room. Hey. Thanks. Would you like to get your name in the Green Room podcast? Well, we are looking for sponsors, so if you want to get a sponsorship, check it out at Pod Fire. Lots of people can hear about your product on one of the best podcasts around the green room.
01;46;57;00 - 01;47;17;02
Tappa
So, check it out. Pod fire. Thanks for tuning into the green Room. A big thank you to our guests for sharing their stories and insights and Pod Fire for bringing this podcast to life. Don't forget to subscribe, like, leave a review and share the green room with your friends. We'll catch you next time for more conversations with the Legends of Surf and beyond.
01;47;17;05 - 01;47;19;07
Tappa
Until then, catch you in the waves.