Purcho’s Prize

There are certain boards out there that are so well crafted and beautiful they are almost hypnotic. The type of boards that deserve their own bulletproof case, the boards that you surf in your dreams every night. These boards are becoming increasingly rare, but if there’s one man who can shape one, it’s Neal Purchase Junior.

As part of the Burleigh single fin festival, Neal Purchase Jnr. shaped a Wayne Lynch inspired 7’4 swallow tail single fin to give away as a prize for the VONU most traditional style award as judged by the VONU team. As soon as Purcho started chomping into some foam, Wayne Dean rolled into the factory and they began brainstorming ideas for the board.

“Wayne is probably one of the best single fin surfers of all time, everyone always talks about how good Michael Peterson was but Wayne is an underground legend and knows a lot about single fins so I was stoked to get him in and help me shape this board,” says Purcho. Neal used some old templates of his fathers who was a well-known shaper during the 60’s and drew inspiration from the boards Wayne Lynch was surfing at Uluwatu in the early 70’s.

The thing with thrusters is you’ve got three fins to keep you in the water, single fins are a bit trickier so you have to know a bit about them before jumping on one. Purcho explained that the board will be quite easy to ride but to ride it properly you’ll have to know how to ride a single fin. “I’ve designed it so you don’t surf it like a 90’s surfboard, you’ve gotta know your rails, you have to keep your tail in the water so it doesn’t slip out.”

When asked about what makes the best style, Purcho explained how when you’re riding a single fin you have to surf it like a single fin, not try and surf it like a thruster. “There’s a classic single fin style, you can almost do nothing and go straight and look better than anyone else.”

At the end of the contest, the board was awarded to Dwayne Harris, a 30 year Burleigh veteran, who managed to make the rock hops and grovels still look stylish.