About Tomo
Learning to surf are among some of my earliest memories at around the age of 3. I had a unique childhood Growing up in a rainforest by the beach at Broken Head NSW with neighbours’ such as George Greenough. Being quietly observant to countless designs rants and projects over the years with my Father Mark and several encounters with Travelling surfing legends such as Brad Gerlach Tom Curren and Donovan Frankenriter gave me a natural desire and interest for high tech equipment and extraordinary style and performance. I first had shaping tools in my hand from as early as 5 years old with Dad shaping me my first custom board and getting me to help cut rail bands or something although I admit I was probably pretending the surform was a Tonka truck.
For years I sat in the shaping room watching my Dad go through the motions with the power planner and scratching around on my custom boards but it wasn’t until i was about 14 when i started getting the desire to shape my own sticks. I guess it was around this age is began developing an awareness of what i wanted in my equipment which something i was having problems with from other shapers. So i began translating what i wanted to feel in a surfboard and from then on slowly developing my physical skill with every new board. It wasn’t until my late teens i began to shape for my mates and other people interested in my designs, and as my the contest scene got more and more tedious i focused most of my attention on just surfing and developing my skill both in and out of the water.
Surfing to me is greater than just riding waves. I see all things related to the sport as an opportunity to understand more about nature and developing our own spirituality. For me, the equipment we ride is the medium between physical performance and spiritual interaction with the ocean.
- Daniel Thomson
In 2004 i met Richard Kenvin (Hydrodynamica.com) through a chance meeting with my Father and the dual fin fish was introduced to me at that point. I was instantly intrigued by the simplicity of the design and the pure nature in which it performed. I really fell in love with the fish as it re-kindle my passion with surfing because at in time i was feeling burnt out on riding 6’0 thrusters day in day out. Naturally, after time i began noticing the potential of the design and began refining the curves and reducing the volume in order to maximise the performance. Over time i have studied and modified the design to the point now where i consider it to be a genuine future performance craft.
I thoroughly believe that the next breakthrough in surfing will come in the form of an equipment innovation revolution rather than another extraordinary athlete. I feel that the leading performers today are limited to the capabilities of their surfboards designs which have barely changed in 20years and the materials which have been the same for 50years.
I see my self as a student of surfing and i feel i have developed a unique understanding of physical nature of the surfboard and how it interacts with the ocean. I see surfboard making as a science and an art form and believe that surfing performance is limitless and walks hand in hand with surfboard design potential.