Creed McTaggart Talks His Y2K-Inspired Shapes
Action snaps by Georde Grigor
The early-2000s were a hell of a time, weren’t they?
I mean, I don’t know. I was, like, eight and I was an idiot. But catch any news of the year compilation off of some dusty DVD, and it looks amazing: trucker hats, wraparound shades, and those very oblong Mercedes that apparently only came in the lightest shade of blue. If I’m getting things correctly, everyone had a flip phone on their person at all times, a tattoo of some barbed wire around their arm, and were famous for either being in a band or appearing on The OC.
But you know what the best part of that whole time was? That’s right, the surfboards. The shapes of the naughties were still very influenced by the 90s, so they were long, barely glassed, and demanded dialed-in, rail-to-rail surfing. There’s a reason why positive phrases like ‘core’ and ‘power-surfing’ make your mind jump to Occy-heavy images or Andy Irons putting his feet on the wax of something that’s never less than six-and-a-half feet long. And sure, new-age trends have made way for wider, flatter, and more voluminous shapes since then. But that’s a side effect of the inevitable march of time.
Thankfully, there are a few professionals who don’t want to see those fibreglass toothpicks be reserved to the same fate as Ozymandias’ trunkless legs of stone wasting away in the desert. One of these professionals is Creed McTaggart. If you’ve been watching things with your actual eyes, you may have noticed that Creed’s recent string of appearances in films like Rage 400, The Fun Boys’ Second Summer Of Love and more have all featured much longer, narrower shapes. And his surfing’s looked better than ever because of it. We always love a chat with Creed, so we thought it’d be great to hear more about what it’s like returning to the classics. If you’re into talks about reconsidering your surfing for the better, strategic dumpster diving, and reminiscing on classic styles, then the contents of this FaceTime (the most strategic workaround for avoiding harrowing international charges on your mobile bill) are for you:
“But it wasn’t until Deany found two Dahlbergs, a 7’2” and a 7’8”... I started riding those boards a little bit, almost as a laugh, but then I couldn’t get enough of them.”
Creed! How have you been?
I’ve been good, man! I’ve just been cruising for the last few months. I’m living up near Yamba and have just been surfing a little bit and hanging out at home. We’ve been doing some renos on the house, so that’s been cool, to get everything fixed.
Sounds like things are all good over there then!
Yeah, it’s cool. Yamba’s a quiet little fisherman town, and everyone else’s pretty spread out now. We were all up in Byron for a few years and everyone moved down to the Central Coast and stuff so I haven’t really seen anyone here for a while, and I’ve mostly just been hanging here. It’s been pretty nice, though. No complaints.
Are you on a nature walk right now? Looks lovely.
I'm just on a little bush walk! I’m actually at a friend’s house right now, we’re doing a bit of recording, but he lives on a farm.
Oh, stuff for Wash?
I actually started this new project that’s just me and a few other dudes.
Is this a secret under-wraps-until-it’s-out sort of thing?
Yeah, I don’t know about that (laughs). But it’s a little acoustic guitar thing. It’s coming pretty soon. I’m frothing to get it out but we’re doing some backup vocals and tambourine'ing and stuff.
Let’s talk about some boards! We’ve been loving those, like, Y2K and early 90s shapes we’ve been seeing under your feet lately. I feel like we saw them first in that Ben Webb video you did and then they’ve been popping up in things like the Fun Boys stuff and more. What’s the story behind them?
I’ve always bought at garage sales and stuff and then been getting tips to try and find old boards. But it wasn't until Deany (Noa Deane) found two Dahlbergs, a 7’2” and a 7’8”, in Brisbane on Gumtree, and that was probably three years ago, a bit before COVID started, that I got the first ones. So I started riding those boards a little bit, almost as a laugh, but then I couldn’t get enough of them. I was riding the 7’8” for, I don’t know, three months, I reckon? I didn’t ride any other boards.
“...you don’t have to really worry about trying to get out of the water and do anything crazy. You’re just cruising and going with the wave itself a bit more instead of attacking it...”
Was that the same board you were mostly riding in the Rage movie?
That actually could’ve been a different Dahlberg because I ended up getting another. Now I have like three or four of them. I have a 7’8”, a 7’2”, an 8’6”, and some more normal-sized ones. For some reason, they just go, so…? Good? They’re so much more enjoyable, I reckon. It’s a bit easier, and you do a turn on it, and it won’t be like anything flashy, but it’s still crazy and looks great because it’s such a big board.
I have something similar that’s 6’6”, and even though I’m definitely not surfing it professionally, I’ve for sure noticed that turns and everything maybe don’t look particularly good, but if I nail even the smallest thing, it feels a lot better. Like, it just feels great. It’s worth a little fist pump on the ride out and everything.
For sure, I definitely do that all the time (laughs). But it’s funny because I find that once I started surfing those boards, I just enjoyed surfing heaps more. And I love the fact that you don’t have to really worry about trying to get out of the water and do anything crazy. You’re just cruising and going with the wave itself a bit more instead of attacking it, you know? It’s cool, I like it. But now I get stuck on them, and I ride them all the time. And I feel like people trip out on me all the time too. Like, the waves will be three-foot and I’ll be on a 7’8”. It may look a little weird, but it’s okay because they’re just heaps of fun.
I’ve been seeing them around in a few lineups here too. And, sure, maybe it’s a bit of a reclamation and return to form, but it’s not just like how you see a bunch of dudes riding mid-lengths and whatnot because it’s cool and retro. I mean, it certainly is a bit of that to an extent, but they also have the added benefit of drawing out your turns and making you focus on your surfing a bit more.
It’s one of those things where it’s easy to do, but hard to do well. Yeah, it’s easy to a certain degree, but making it look good, it’s so hard, in a way, because you have to be so precise about everything. It definitely makes you approach the wave a bit differently. And all those shapers from that era… I’m not sure, but it was maybe the early 90s or late 80s, those boards were so rockered out and narrow, and the rails were really low. It was only about five or six years there when they were shaping these amazing boards before it went all a bit modern and transformed into what they are now. But I just thought those boards back then were magical, and they’re so aesthetically nice. You watch Curren and Occy and Margo surf them, and it’s just crazy.
“The guy who I got the 7’8” from, this guy Alan, he was going to Fiji and he never went, so the board was there...”
I mean, the internet is always unreliable and all over the place, but you definitely see pages like Pulse and those other ‘retro’ accounts really getting people excited lately over the standard, more high-performance-based edits. Maybe it’s because it’s just something different but it’s still something being like, shared, and just talked about more. It’s nice seeing that as the reference point instead of just the regular run of the show.
I find that also there are certain things that you can do on those old boards that you can’t do on your normal shortboards. They have that endless drive and hold that’s got your back no matter what. And also it’s got that crazy rocker in it too, so you can do these turns where you think you’re going to nose dive, but it pulls through. And I find the approach is so different from the early-90s to what it is now. As soon as people started doing airs, it all changed. I mean, I’m still doing the odd air here or there on them (laughs), but it’s funny, the back foot surfing stopped in the early aughts and switched to the foot front stuff with nose picks and air reverses. Which is sick, but yeah, it’s different. It’s refreshing, though, when you see on the internet or wherever someone doing a big carve on a big, old board. It looks pretty crazy.
So are you getting them through just a Gumtree situation, or have you found a magical set of numbers to hand off to a shaper while hoping for the best?
Not yet! I’ve got them all from Gumtree and Marketplace and then a couple from junkyards, actual garbage tips, and stuff. But the ones that I get off Gumtree are all in mint condition. I think that the 7’8” I got hadn’t even been surfed before. The guy who I got the 7’8” from, this guy Alan, he was going to Fiji and he never went, so the board was there (laughs).
I love it. Well, where are we going to see you next?
I think the new Epokhe film! That’s rapidly approaching in the next month or so, I think. I’m not sure what the plan is but they did say they’re pretty keen to do a tour around Aus and then there were some whispers to do some shows around the states too maybe.
Come out! There’s always a place to lay your head here
I’m super keen! It’s just so expensive these days.
It’s for a good cause, though!
(Laughs) You just have to be a bit more selective with your trips! This Epokhe film’s been a bit on the back burner, but Kai’s been really busy with other stuff. But he did say he was going to start editing it in March, so, now. I’m keen to get it out there, though because I’ve been sitting on some of these clips for ages.
Well, if you’re back on these old-school shapes, you gotta do a full VHS release!
Yeah!
Well, thank you for hopping in on the board talk, Creed! We’ll see you soon.
Thanks, mate.
