Photo: Ariadi

WHAT’S THE STORY?
I couldn’t afford new boards on my paperboy weekly wage so had a go myself in my dad’s garage/garden. Kept it going as I got older, started shaping minimals and fun boards for the surf shop I was working for and before I knew it I didn’t have time to work in the shop anymore, so I left and started ‘Luke Young Shapes’ as it was then.

HAVE YOU EVER READ AN INTERVIEW WITH A SHAPER WHERE HE DIDN’T MENTION ANY OF THE NAMES OF HIS CURRENT MODELS?
Probably not.

LAST SURF YOU HAD…
This morning before work, 2-3 ft onshore but breaking over a slab of rock near my house, so it was pretty fun, thanks.

WHAT’S THE FLOTILLA LIKE IN SOUTH DEVON? DUDES ON MALS? DUDES RIPPING SHORTBOARDS? BODYWHOMPING?
Yeah everything really, a lot of bodywhomping, but I’m not to mention any board models… Some dudes on small pointy ones, some dudes on long rounded at the front ones, some dudes on ones with a triangle shape cut out of the back, dudes have all different numbers of rudders too.

WEIRDEST REQUEST FOR A CUSTOM?
One guy turned up at the factory once in black cycling shorts, black socks and sandals and a knitted smock, he was about 15 stone with a curly ginger pony tail and beard. He came armed with his own template and rocker curve
very crudely jig-sawed out of ply. The rocker resembled a ski with no lift at all in the tail. His requested dimensions were 7’2” x 17” x 2” with channels. I also built a board for a dude a few years ago who had fallen chest first onto his beer bottle whilst out on the pop – subsequently breaking his sternum. As it healed it left him with a bony lump on his front, so I had to mill a large hole out of the deck of the finished shape, glass it, then fill the hole with sponge then put deck grip over that.

SHAPING HEROES?
Eric Arakawa, Wade and Kerry Tokoro, Darren Handley, Rodney Dahlberg, Pat Rawson, Brian Bulkley, Matt Biolas, Mark Phipps. These are the main blokes who’ve really attracted my attention one way or another at some point.

DESCRIBE THE IDEAL BOARD WITHOUT SAYING ‘FAST, LOOSE, DRIVEY, RESPONSIVE’.
Forgiving, reactive, effortless to surf but mostly, fun.

CAN YOU TELL IF A BOARD GOES BY HOLDING IT UNDER YOUR ARM… BITING IT?
Licking and biting can be misleading – you shouldn’t rely on those alone. I think you can get a feel for a board by holding it under your arm, but you never know – sometimes what looks like the sleekest, fine tuned shred-sled can turn out to be a bit of a dog, even if it’s the same model and dims that you’ve been riding for the past few years… and vice versa.

COMPLETE THE SENTENCE, “THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE IF…”
We all breathed helium rather than air.