A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

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aerial

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Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

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Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

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Andaman Islands

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Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

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angle

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Apocalypse Now

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Bay of Bengal

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Belgium

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Benson, Becky

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Beschen, Shane

Quiet and diligent surfboard shaper from Durban, South Africa; best remembered for providing the mid-1970s boards upon which fellow Durbanite Shaun Tomson reinvented both frontside and backside tuberiding. "If Spider had lived in the United States," Tomson later said, "he'd have been recognized as the top shaper in the world."

Murphy was born (1947) and raised in Durban, began surfing at age 12 on a small wooden paipo board, and started shaping at 16, mostly out of frustration that the boards in use at the time were too big for Murphy and his friends. "We wanted to surf," he later recalled, "but we wanted to ride boards our size.

So I ended up going to a refrigeration company and buying three-foot-long blocks of Styrofoam, gluing them together, and shaping an 8' 6" out of them. I had no tools, so I got my mom's bread knife, drew out a pattern and cut the shape out like that. Straightened it out with some sandpaper and did all the rails [the edges of the board] with a cheese grater–it was all I could find.

San Diego master shaper Mike Diffenderfer visited Durban in the 1960s and was an early influence on Murphy, but like most boardmakers he was essentially self-taught.

In 1970, Murphy co-founded a small label named War Surfboards, and two years later he began shaping for Safari Surfboards. He also trained and worked as a carpenter, but gave that up as boardmaking grew enough to fill his work hours.

A roundpin gun that Murphy made for Tomson in late 1974—measuring 7'10" by 18" by 3.25", with a coral-colored swirl design on the deck—was initially written off as a mistake for having too much rocker. "I took it out for the first time at Sunset Beach," Tomson later recalled, "and it was a dog. No speed—just a dreadful board." Unable to get another gun on short notice, Tomson tried the board at Pipeline, and it was magic. The added rocker allowed Tomson to drop cleanly down the steep-faced Pipeline waves and even encouraged him to do hooking turns high in the pocket—something that had never been done there before.

Meanwhile, a blue-and-white seven-footer, also shaped by Murphy, worked just as well for Tomson at Backdoor Pipeline and nearby Off the Wall.

World champion surfers who have ridden, and usually sworn by, Murphy's boards include Mark Richards, Kelly Slater, Tom Carroll, Peter Townend, Wendy Botha, and Sunny Garcia. At age 15, Martin Potter made his world tour debut on a zappy 5' 5" Safari twin-fin shaped by Murphy.

In part from spending so much time in the water with his customers, Murphy himself developed into an excellent surfer and won a handful of South African titles in the 1970s and early '80s.

Murphy, Matthew "Spider"

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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The Sunday Joint

Videos