Wollongong, Australia – February 11, 2026 – Surfboard shaper Maurice Cole, a figure as complex as the ocean itself, is revisiting the past—both in his designs and in his own life—after decades spent in relentless motion.
A Legacy Forged in Waves and Reflection
The enigmatic Maurice Cole, once the world’s most in-demand shaper, finds himself drawn back to his roots, blending decades of innovation with a renewed appreciation for classic design.
- Cole’s career spans continents, from Australia and France to Japan and the US, marked by both success and turbulence.
- His innovative “Reverse Vee” design revolutionized surfboard shaping in the 1990s, propelling Tom Curren to a World Title.
- Now, Cole is integrating vintage elements, like fluted wings, into his modern boards, sparking a new wave of creativity.
- A troubled past, including time in Pentridge Prison and battles with mental health, has shaped his perspective.
- Despite his global reach, Cole feels most at home in his native Victoria, Australia.
Maurice Cole isn’t just building surfboards; he’s piecing together a life story as vast and unpredictable as the sea he’s dedicated himself to. The legendary shaper, known for pushing boundaries, is currently spending time in Wollongong, three days before Christmas, crafting boards at the Glass Hut and staying at the Novotel Hotel overlooking North Beach.
“I feel like I fit in with the blue collar boys,” Cole remarked, a hint of surprise in his voice. This is a man who’s spent decades traversing the globe—Warrnambool, Torquay, France, Margaret River—yet often felt like an outsider. He’s tried settling in Byron Bay and Sydney, but found himself unable to connect. “I’m a Victorian,” he stated firmly. “I’ve been shaped by that state.”
That shaping, however, includes a three-year stretch in Pentridge Prison in 1976 following a minor hash bust. Shortly after his release, Cole turned his back on Australia and sought refuge in France, where he spent a decade in Hossegor, raising a family and establishing himself as a highly sought-after shaper.
“I’ve always been a very forward-thinking shaper,” Cole explained. “My best board was always going to be my next one so I often discarded whatever I was working on and raced onto the next idea.” This relentless pursuit of innovation was both a professional triumph and a personal survival mechanism, a way to keep moving and avoid confronting the wreckage left in his wake.
Revisiting the Past, Reimagining Design
But the shaper once defined by constant progression is now slowing down, looking backward as much as forward. This isn’t merely a design shift; it’s a personal reckoning.
A week before our meeting, a visit to the Glass Hut revealed a curious detail: a series of shortboards and step-ups, sprayed in single primary colors and devoid of logos, each featuring a single, chined flyer on the underside. These fluted wings, once a purely aesthetic feature, hadn’t appeared on Cole’s shapes before.
Those boards were indeed Cole’s, and the story behind the vintage addition is rooted in a 1973 encounter with Hawaiian surfer Reno Abellira while filming Paul Witzig’s Rolling Home. The two connected at Cactus, enjoying a week of excellent waves, and later reunited in Hawaii. Cole’s darker complexion, which often drew unwanted attention in Australia, provided him access to Hawaiian lineups. He lived on the point at Sunset, ordered boards from BK, and admired Abellira’s refined planshapes, including the fluted wings—popular at the time for breaking the outline and reducing tail area on big wave boards.
France, early-eighties. Maurice surrenders himself to crystalline perfection (Photo Cazenave)
Fast forward fifteen years, and Cole is living in southwest France, shaping boards for Tom Curren. When a shipment of pre-shape blanks arrived damaged, Cole improvised, creating the “Reverse Vee.” This design propelled Curren to his third World Title in 1990 and fundamentally altered surfboard design. Prior to this, surfboard bottoms were often viewed as single planes. The Reverse Vee placed the vee only under the front foot, spiraling down to a flat bottom under the back foot, changing how shapers viewed the underside of a board.
“That was the making of me as a shaper,” Cole said. “It fucking blew everyone out. A lot of people saw me as a surfer and a shaper, but not, you know, a designer.” This distinction solidified the idea that true innovation requires discarding the past.
The Evolution of a Curve
So, what explains the return of a 1970s flyer on a 2026 board?
“You haven’t taken a really good look at them have you?” Cole quipped, grinning. He then grabbed a yellow-railed, eight-foot “Vee Con III” model, scrawled with “Normal Is Da Freak ’N Enemy” along the stringer, and positioned it bottom-side up. Running a finger down the stringer, he revealed a Reverse Vee up front that transitioned into a concave.
“Now follow the rail line,” he instructed, tracing the rocker. The curve extended along the flyer before disappearing into thin air. This wasn’t simply about aesthetics; it created an exaggerated rocker near the board’s pivot point—the front fins—allowing the board to turn off that curve.
While 1970s Hawaiian pocket rockets featured flyers primarily for visual appeal, Cole’s current designs utilize them functionally. If the Reverse Vee redefined the relationship between stringer and rail line, Cole’s latest innovation adds another curve, extending and exiting through the flyer.
“What helped me with the Reverse Vee concept was being away from everyone in France,” Cole explained. “Being in my own space. I realised that I could visualise and conceptualise boards. It was probably too much coffee and hash, to be honest, over-thinking, over-analysing, and just whittling away and taking days to shape a single board.”
After Curren’s victory, Cole wouldn’t have the luxury of spending days on a single board for years, as demand surged from the US and Japan. He even filled 60 orders during a single European tour.
Ironically, despite his global success, Cole’s weakest market remains Australia, specifically his hometown of Torquay.
Confronting the Past
There’s baggage, of course—a temper, a history of violence. Cole admits to having “fucking terrified a lot of people,” acknowledging that his intensity and aggression masked deep-seated insecurity. “I used to think, I never hit anyone that didn’t deserve it,” he said. “But at the end of the day, going to violence is pretty fucked up. I was so tough on myself and that made me tough on other people.”
Cole’s journey has been marked by extremes. He was an altar boy and a top scout leader in Warrnambool before abruptly abandoning those roles at age 18. He spent 44 years away from the church before returning, seeking solace and faith. He’s battled depression, PTSD, and untreated psychotic episodes. “The voices in your head are just so belittling,” he explained. “You’re a loser, you’re this, you shouldn’t be here. I totally understand the psychology of people who suicide because they can’t stand it anymore.”
Now, he finds himself engaging in online debates, even taking on “white evangelists” on Christian forums, challenging them to live up to the teachings of Jesus. While he’s mellowed, he hasn’t lost his edge, and still enjoys a bit of online trolling.
“I don’t care what people get from me, if it’s not the best board of your life, it’s a failure,” Cole insisted. “It’s a black and white line.”
Shaping in the chook shed behind Bells Beach. Note the rocker curve coming off the flyer and how that differs to the tail rocker which begins to straighten (Photo Sowry)
// Stu Nettle
Postscript: While writing this story, Maurice again visited Wollongong, shaping more boards at the Glass Hut and hosting a Friday afternoon BBQ, complete with sausages, bread, tomato sauce, and beer—the only missing item being a serving table. In a fitting display of his unconventional spirit, he used one of his own boards as a makeshift picnic table, declaring, “That sauce will wipe right off.”
Worth a look
