INSIDE THE FACTORY

AUSTRALIAN MADE

Surfing is an iconic Australian sport roughly starting in 1914 when Duke Kahanamoku visited Australia demonstrating surfing on a longboard at Freshwater Manly NSW on Christmas Eve. His board, made locally for him of sugar pine, was 2.6 metres long, 60 cm wide, 7.6 cm thick and weighed 31.8 kilograms.

Shortly afterwards Tommy Walker delivered another demonstration at Yamba main Beach NSW, the rest is history!

In the 1960’s Australian surfboard designer Bob McTavish invented the V-bottom surfboard considered instrumental to the development of shortboard surfing. 

In the late 1970s, Australian Mark Richards dominated world championship surfing. He introduced a short, twin fin surfboard suited to his lightweight which also impacted the history of surfboard design.

In 1986 Made by Dale Chapman was born, we started with shortboards and re-invented ourselves in the 90’s making stand up paddle surf sups and race boards. Moving into 2020 we are making primarily foil surfboards, foil stand up paddleboards and shortboards. To date, they have made nearly 40, 000 boards and will continue powering through the future.

The team and I feel strongly about keeping Australian Surf History and Surf Industry Manufacturing in Australia. By supporting Australian made surf craft, you are keeping talented shapers, designers, glasser’s and Australian suppliers in work, and keeping our iconic Australian surf history and surfboard manufacturing alive and in Australia.

Many big brands have taken their operations to Asia to produce surf craft. It will be a sad day when we have to tell our little groms that they need to pack a bag and work in a factory in China if they wish to pursue their dreams of becoming a surfboard shaper.

We are proudly 100 % Australian owned, operated. 

THE FUTURE

The team and I are passionate about pushing the boundaries with design, and we love a challenge. Our business has evolved from making thousands of shortboards in the early ’80s to sup race boards, wave skis, clubby boards, and surf sups through to 2020. This year we have seen a dynamic change in board production and design. We mostly produce foil surfboards, foil wingding boards and foil standup paddleboards and would you believe, we have come around full circle and making a vast number of shortboards, once again; big wave guns, mid-length boards and short surfboards. To our surprise 2020 has seen a collaboration of our classic Dale Chapman Signature Series short surfboards and futuristic foil surfboards.

The next five to ten years are super exciting. If you asked me ten years ago if I was going to make foil surf and foil sup boards, I would have laughed and liked the idea at the same time! 

We have always been an evolving business when it comes to new trends and the development of surf craft design, this combined with 35 years of board design and production experience, we are very excited for the future!

We have the capabilities of improving surf craft design daily as we cut, shape, glass in house. We research, test, develop our designs daily and have input from a selection of Australia’s top watermen and waterwoman.

We are notorious for taking on jobs others will not. If we can help you pursue your dreams on the water, we are going to give it a red hot go!