Drawing Parallels

Robert Conneeley Expression Model for Hayden surfboards. Circa 1970

"Hayden Kenny shaped his first surfboard around 1959. This was done in the cow shed on his grandfather’s farm near Maryborough, Queensland. Shortly afterwards Hayden realised that he wanted to be more involved in the developing surfing lifestyle. He decided to make the move to Alexandra Headland and commence making surfboards on a full time basis.This was the “nucleus” of what was to become a world wide recognised “state of the art” surfcraft manufacturing company. Now some forty years later, the Hayden Team is launching a series of “Authentic Re-Issue 60’s Models”. These boards are a result of using modern technology and materials combined with many years experience at making surfboards in the traditional handcrafted manner."

This board has a strikingly similar outline to the biofoam birthday shredder that Manny shaped for me while he was here. Manny and I worked together on the outline, mixing a couple of different templates to make it. I even bought a fin for the board (even thought it hasn't been glassed yet) that is very similar to the one Robert Conneeley is holding.