BIO: Mark Richards

Posted on October 19th, 2009 in Blog, SHAPER BIOS by MILO

SHAPERS ROOM: Mark Richards “MR”

My shaping career began at age 13, when I got an electric planer for Christmas. There was no such thing as Pro Surfing in those days, and if you surfed, the dream career was to work in the surfboard industry. I’d been a keen competitor since working my way through Schoolboy, Amateur, Cadet and junior events. I came second to Terry Fitzgerald in the Australian titles Open division while still a Junior in 1973. Around this time a few prize money events started to appear around the world, and it was a logical step to give these a try. The International professional Surfers (IPS) Tour kicked off in 1976. I competed selectively up until 1980, mainly in Japan, Hawaii, and Australia. I was concentrating on two careers. Pro Surfing and shaping. Only surfing in a few of the World Tour events gave me time to hone my shaping skills. During this time I was fortunate to work with, and learn from, some of the world’s greatest shapers, including Geoff Mc Coy, Ben Aipa, Jim Richardson, Tom Parish, Gerry Lopez, Spider Murphy, Reno Abellira and Dick Brewer. Spending a month working with Dick Brewer in Hawaii at his Chuns Reef shaping room in the winter of 1976 / 77 was when it all gelled. Up until that time, I could use the tools and I had ideas and pictures in my head of what I wanted to shape, but the hand technique wasn’t there. Dick Brewer taught me the technique so that I could create what I had pictured in my mind. The seed for the idea of the reborn twin fin came from these shaping sessions.