Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
I went to visit Quarry Beach Surf Shop on David St a few weeks ago. It was a Friday afternoon and parking was almost impossible to find. Space inside the surf shop was at a bare minimum. The place was packed. Even the dusty shaping bays that had by now been cleared out were filled with people telling stories of adventures they had with Graham Carse and his boards.
Carsey is one of Dunedin's pre-eminent surfboard shapers – scratch that – he is one of New Zealand's pre-eminent shapers having dedicated most of his life to creating surfboards for legions of customers over the years.
He's made them for some of New Zealand's best surfers, for All Blacks, for kooks, for business gurus – nearly every board he's made comes with a rich story that started with a featureless foam blank in the shaping bay at his David St factory.
It was almost impossible not to shed a tear that Friday afternoon as his friends and customers came to pay tribute to his incredible craft and tenure running Quarry Beach Surf Shop. Yes, he's still making boards – if you catch him on the right hop – but he's doing them on his own time and without the commercial pressure of running the surf shop as well.
We were lucky to work with a few of Carsey's friends who wanted to pay tribute to the legend at this juncture in the 69-year-old's life. Writer Curly and photographer Pat O'Neill teamed up to produce an incredible story about the journey Carsey has taken throughout his career shaping boards and guiding the sport here in Dunedin.
You can read the whole thing right here on New Zealand Surf Journal. It was a privilege to help pull this piece together. Enjoy. Keep tissues close by.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS I was quite skeptical about the new surf access step design. But I have to concede that most of the groms who used them to access the lineup for Saturday's SCBRA Ladder contest, reported nothing but glowing things. They certainly aren't simple to navigate at high tide, but then as far as jump rocks go, this is a pretty sweet one. Thanks to all involved – for the entertainment during the build – and for providing the surf community with a safer high-tide access point than the stairs of doom.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: