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Simon Anderson grew up in the 60's at Collaroy on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. He was lucky enough to witness the evolution of the modern day surfboard in his own backyard, ridden by a host of world class surfers including Nat and Chris Young, Butch and Steve Cooney, Rob Holt etc.

From the early 60's 9'6 longboard to the ultra short 5'4" single fin in '68, surfing was going through a dramatic design revolution; massive vee bottoms, trackers, tear drops, pins, double enders. Every 6 months there was a new leap forward and an extra 6" cut off the length of the board.

Simon Anderson gravitated to North Narrabeen in '69, to a culture of hardcore surfing with a strong link to board manufacturing at nearby Brookvale. He entered the industry as a ding fixer at Shane Surfboards in '70. His shaping career began at 17 after winning the '71 Australian Junior Title at Bells Beach from Peter Townend and the hottest junior of that year Andrew McKinnon.

Drawing inspiration from legendary local surfer/ shapers Bob Kennerson, Terry Fitzgerald, Geoff McCoy and Col Smith as well as the stella staff at Shane's, Frank Latta, Ted Spencer and Butch Cooney, Simon Anderson had the best possible apprenticeship.

In 1973 Simon Anderson competed in the first professional Australian contest at Bells Beach placing 3rd behind winner MP and 2nd Anthony Hardwick (NN Surfer). '76 saw the beginning of the World Tour. Simon Anderson had wins in '77 at Bells and the Coke 2SM Surfabout finishing the year ranked No 3. In 1981 he had 3 more victories the Bells/ Coke double again and the Pipe Masters on a new innovation "the Thruster", the modern day surfboard.

Simon Anderson is still motivated to improve surfboard design to benefit his own surfing, team riders and surfers in general, including Kelly Slater in 2005 who won at J - Bay and Trestles riding one of Simon's shapes. Simon Anderson uses his many years of experience in shaping, surfing and working with team riders to create the best possible boards for all wave conditions.

Bred in Kirra on Queensland's Gold Coast, Darren Handley has lived and breathed surfing his entire life. At the age of 12 he started sweeping floors at the local surfboard factory, which eventually led him to Murray Bourton's infamous Pipedream factory. This is where Darren Handley learnt all aspects of board production. After 10 years with Pipedream Surfboards he branched out to launch his own label DHD (Darren Handley Designs).

Darren Handley has travelled the world, surfing every type of wave to create the perfect surfboard. But it's the famed "Superbank" surf break on the Gold Coast, that provides an incredibly high performance environment that allows Darren Handley to make the fastest, most responsive boards in the world, ridden by the best surfers in the world.

Apart from having the world's best riders lining up to ride his shapes, his staff are at a very high level of surfing and this has been the catalyst for DHD (Darren Handley Designs) reaching such high standards of production.

Darren Handley continues to remain at the forefront of cutting edge surfboard design and sets industry bench marks for quality and performance.

Murray Bourton first picked up a planer back in 1970 and has not turned it off since. He has seen the evolution of surfboard design from almost the beginning and his knowledge in hydrodynamics through trial and error over the last 35 years is second to none. Many well known top shapers like Darren Handley (DHD), Jason Stephenson (JS) and his son Skye Bourton (On Fire), owe their starts to Murray Bourton.

Murray Bourton started Pipedream surfboards in 1976, and his shapes are well known and represented not only on the Gold Coast, but all around the world. The famous Coolangatta Pipedream store has always been a favourite hang out for local and visiting surfers, where Murray Bourton is often seen in store sharing his many years of design experience.

Now 30 years later Murray Bourton has released Bourton Shapes, as a re-invention of Pipedream. Bourton Shapes are top end, high performance surfboards while Pipedream surfboards are still available, they will remain an entry-level and more affordable surfboard brand. There are also a great range of Pipedream Retro boards on offer, that are exact replicas of models that Murray Bourton used to shape back in the 70's and 80's.

His versatility from Indo guns to tow boards ridden by Tony Ray and Ross Clarke Jones and his cutting edge contest boards ridden by the hot young guns Troy Brooks, Luke Munro, Ry Craike, Jarrad Sullivan and Lee Wilson, leave no questions asked of Murray Bourton’s commitment to modern short board design.

Add to the mix a creative passion for hybrid design where old Ideas get blended with new giving birth to some tripped out but functional alternative designs illustrates he has all bases covered.

To talk to Murray Bourton about your new Bourton Shape click here to send him an email. bron: www.basesurfboards.com