The Doc Interview

Last week we sat down with Thomas Bexon, aka Doc of Thomas Surfboards and chewed the fat. It's been a super busy last few months for the two lads, Doc and Jake from Thomas Surfboards. 

Doc, what’ve you been up to?

Heaps, been to Europe for nearly two months, spent a couple of weeks honeymooning with the wife, we drove around Germany, Switzerland & France. Did a few weeks work in France, Jake and I made 40 boards, mostly for customers and some for a couple of stores.  Spent a week in England catching up with friends and being cold before coming home to defrost.

What’s your favourite thing about France? Wine, baguettes, cheese…..?

Food, wine & the hospitality of the people, the folks we were working with were such great people and treated us so well it was pretty unreal.  Good food at work, cold beer in the fridge, what more could you want.

You’ve been shaping a heap of boards recently. Any of them stick out to you as being particularly special?

Been pretty stoked on the couple of new shorter boards we’ve been doing, and some midlengths, and any of the rare few that I get to make for myself, pretty excited about my new 12’3 cruiser. 

With the kinda ‘new’ direction in surfing at the moment with the resurgence of the log, people riding crafts of all shapes and sizes. What excites you in amongst the surfing nostalgia resurgence?

There's a broader market for the types of boards that I like to make, 6 or 7 years ago there wasn’t that many people who wanted to buy a log, or sub 6-foot fun boards.  It's cool to see a lot more people open minded regarding the boards they'll ride, we’ve made logs for pro shortboarders and shortboards for old guys who only ever rode longboards, it's cool. The hipsters are making it more crowded on small point days though...

What's a usual day in the life of Doc…..give us the daily grind….

At the moment, get up early and sneak in a half-hour body surf on the way to work. There's been a lot of work this time of year but that’s always good when northerlies are blowing.  When there's waves it's either sneak out of work for a long lunch break or knock-off early depending on the tide.

Summer's here. We all know that Sunday is the best day of the week, what does a perfect Summers Sunday consist of?

Waves, the wife, beers, doob’s and relaxed times..

Christmas……Love or Loathe?

Bit of a Grinch but I'm coming around, the work load is always mental and makes it tiring.

You had any point swells yet, looking forward to those long walks and tired arms? What's your trick to dealing with the Noosa crowds?

Yeah it's been good, we've had a few good point swells, on the day I got back from Europe and one day last week, it's been nice. You've got your techniques and ways to deal with it, who not to drop in on etc, if it’s a Chinese board you can go..

What, in your opinion is the secret to a successful beard? Constant maintenance or a more laissez-faire attitiude?

Just let the fucker grow and try not to get resin in it.

Thanks Doc, keep it classy.