Brookvale is world famous for its surfboard shaping supremacy, from the 1950’s pioneering “Brookie Six” of Gordon Woods, Barry Bennett, Greg McDonagh, Bill Wallace, Scott Dillon and Denny Keogh whose shaping skills transformed surfing into a national obsession, through to Simon Anderson unleashing the three-finned, holy trinity thruster in Easter 1981 at giant, perfect Bells, and more recently being home to shaping icons Greg Webber, Mike Psillakis, Steve O’Donnell and many more.
What though for Brookvale’s surfboard shaping future? Aren’t all the kids these days eyeing off careers in Tiktok viral video productions, Artificial Intelligence and Mars occupation? Who’s going to step into the hallowed Brookie shaping bays, surround themselves with fibreglass and devote their lives to crafting exceptional surfboards for the wave-riding masses?
Enter Archer Drinan, a 26-year-old Beaches born and bred, tall, skinny, long-haired frother who’s spent the best part of his youth and early adulthood devoted to the craft of surfboard shaping. “Growing up in Manly, surfing has been a huge part of my life,” says Archer. “And as I was growing up, I was always looking to surf a huge variety of different types of waves, but in doing so, I realised how much I loved riding all sorts of different boards too.”
From that desire to ride alternative surfboards came the drive to create a full range of surfboards too, propelling Archer into the shaping business. He started out as the shop grom at Rhino Laminating in Brookvale, learning the shaping and finishing processes from industry legends such as Simon Anderson, Malcolm Campbell, Juan Tycross, and Carl Lamaitre. During this apprenticeship he shaped boards for friends, designed for the full array of local beach and reef breaks, becoming known for his ability to listen, collaborate and create quality personalised shapes, while also developing a range of models from high performance shortboards to alternative twins, mid-lengths and longboards.
What started out as a way to help his mates surf the boards they dreamed of evolved into an exciting local business, Archer Surfboards, helping connect surfers with their perfect board or quiver. “For me, the board designing process is still just the same, getting to know surfers on a closer level and learning about what they typically ride and where.”
Whether you are a longboard surfer looking for something easy to manoeuvre on bigger days or even transitioning to your first fibreglass board and not sure where to start, Archer is always around to chat boards and ideas for customised designs.
He’s also built up an Archer Surfboards team of riders, proudly supporting local surfers who not only rip and help refine models, but also are great representatives of the surf community here on the Beaches, including Sam Nolan, Tully White, JJ Tualima, Manuel Marti, Eloise Taylor, and Reef Maurice.
If you’ve ever dreamt of getting a custom board made just for you and your ability or designed specifically for your favourite waves but not sure where to start, and you’d like to meet the shaper in person to have more input in the shaping and glassing process, drop by Rhino Laminating and start the conversation!
Pop into Rhino Laminating at 42 Orchard Rd Brookvale, follow @archer_surfboards for all updates and surf the web to archersurfboards.com