BASE Surfboard Design

Collectively BASE have more than 100 years of shaping experience and knowledge under one roof. The four Australian shapers at BASE are Simon Anderson, Darren Handley, Murray Bourton and Sparrow.

The surfboard designs created at BASE are all truly unique for each shaper and they are all primarily focused on contemporary high performance surfboards.

Simon Anderson revolutionised the surfing industry with the invention of the three fin thruster in the early 70's and he has continued to be at the forefront of surfboard design since his inception in the industry. World class surfers are appreciating Simon Anderson's wealth of experience and are choosing to ride Simon Anderson surfboards at top competition level.

Murray Bourton has been a leader and a teacher of surfboard design since the 1970's and he is a master in the art of computer surfboard design technology. He uses these skills to create revolutionary surfboard designs, from designing high performance Bourton surfboard shapes for his world class team riders to experimenting with diverse and contemporary design ideas.

Darren Handley was taught by Murray Bourton back in the late 70's and since then he has fine tuned the art of creating surfboards which perform exceptionally well for the world's best surfers including Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson. Darren Handley creates surfboards that ride with speed and style and he continues to work closely with his world class team riders to perfect his designs for all to enjoy.

Sparrow is the current junior shaper at BASE. He is being trained by the other top Australian shapers at BASE, Simon Anderson, Darren Handley and Murray Bourton. Sparrow is designing top quality shapes and he is progressing light years ahead. Sparrow now has the confidence of his own direction with some of the best juniors in Oz ripping on his shapes.

Being at the cutting edge of modern shortboard design would be an impossible task without the support and feedback from the BASE team of professional surfers. This valuable surfer/shaper relationship is the key to all surfboard design features.

Perhaps the most well known relationship is between Darren Handley and Mick Fanning, which has been nurtured for the last 10 years and will no doubt sometime in the near future produce a WCT crown. Mick Fanning's contribution to the success of the DHD label is highly recognisable in the DHD surfboard range as his valuable input has had an overall impact on the designs of the surfboards that are available today. Darren Handley has been working with Mick Fanning exclusively to come up with specific Mick Fanning models so that all surfers can experience "ultimate surfboard design" from the point of view of one of the world's best surfers.

Murray Bourton, although being the oldest shaper in the group ironically boasts the youngest team made up of guys like Troy Brooks, Luke Munro and Ry Craike all of who have been with Murray from day one of their careers.

Sparrow and the emerging Sunshine coast junior star Wade Goodall also manifest the success of our close personal relationship with our team riders; both guys have put in serious time in design together and are getting high end results.

Simon Anderson also works closely with a wide range of professional surfers including Kelly Slater and Andy Irons to improve and develop his surfboard design into the future.

There are many other team riders associated with the BASE shaping team of which can be viewed on our Team Riders page.