C’est en 1999, au cours d’un voyage en Australie, que nous avons rencontré Rodney Dahlberg. A cette époque il shape pour Joel Parkinson, Mark Occhilupo, Shaun Cansdell, Trent Munro et Benn Dunn. Rod est ce que l’on appelle un master shaper. Nombreux sont les surfeurs profesionnels qui frappent à sa porte pour s’offrir une planche magique. Laurie Towner, Taj Burrow ou Andy Irons figurent sur les carnets de commande. Dahlberg est l’un des tout meilleurs shapers au monde. C’est une légende du surf australien qui se tient à l’écart des dérives du surf business, du marketing ou autres effets de mode. La qualité de ses planches de surf est exceptionnelle, tant au niveau du design que du glacage et du poncage. Ses shapes illustrent à la perfection le shortboard moderne performant et polyvalent à l’image de son team, composé de Tom Whitaker et Jessie Myle Dyer. Son incroyable savoir-faire repose sur des années d’expérience. Rodney est un mentor qui a également su s’inspirer des influences de plus jeunes shapers tels Greg Webber ou plus récemment Luke Short. Rodney est un perfectionniste! Pas de production de masse, juste une shaping room non loin de sa vague mythique.
« That was a magic board. It didnt matter where I rode it: six foot waves, one foot waves, it was the magic carpet. Ive had one other board thats been close to that. This had that real nice Dahlberg rolled rail. The edge was hard and so was the tail, but it was softened up through the middle with glassed on DL fins. Rod lives at Angourie so his boards are designed for a point break, they have more drive, and not as much rocker so you can draw your turns out and get a bit more distance out of the turns.
The success I had on the board had a lot to do with the way I was surfing at the time. The key point was it had so much drive but it was easy to turn. I won J- Bay on it in 99 as an 18-year-old wildcard. I rode it for over 12 months in contests. I also won the World Junior championships and a few juniors on it. It made some serious coin, maybe 70 grand. »
Joel Parkinson STAB mag.
Proudly handcraft in Australia.
