History of Valla Surfboards

Original Home of Valla Surfboards

Valla Surfboards were born in 1970. The idea however was simmering in the young mind of Paul Joske, soon after moving to Nambucca heads from Melbourne when he was 12 years old. A love of the ocean and surfing blossomed along with an increasing desire to build surfboards. At that stage board building was a largely unknown profession and was looked upon unfavourably by his parent’s and others.

Growing up and surfing around the Nambucca coast, Paul learnt about boards where he could… fixing old coolites in a boiler room, reshaping old boards he got his hands on and learning to re-glass them; then later working for John Blanch, an early surfboard builder in Coffs Harbour. “Blanchy” as John was called was a bit of a surfing celebrity at the time, an incredible surfer and craftsman. Paul was allowed to fix the dings and soaked up as much information as he could along the way. However 6 months after starting with Blanchy, John moved to Western Australia .

Paul Sanding on the Front Verandah Circa 1970

Paul started building surfboards to support a lifestyle based around a deep love for surfing and surfboard design. If the surf was good it was nearly impossible to pin him down in the shaping room. Today in a lot of ways, not many things have changed. A perfectionist and pedantic by nature, Paul delights in producing clean precise shapes. He has been known to spend hours honing curves and removing bumps that only he can see. If questioned about his carefulness, he simply shrugs “I can’t let a board go unless I am happy with it, it doesn’t matter whether they can see the bumps or not; but it matters to me.”

Valla Surfboards Ute

These days Paul spends a lot of his time designing lightweight state of the art boards for his youngest son Heath, who is currently enjoying success as a junior surfing competitor. Paul is instructing his eldest son Sage about surfboard design and construction who has recently shown more of an interest than just riding the boards.

Although Paul predominantly rode shortboards during the 80’s today he mostly rides longboards along with some shorter retro inspired designs. Over the years Paul has had a natural affinity with wood. Not surprisingly he sees himself experimenting further with wooden board designs over the next few years. At 54 years of age Paul finds himself still fascinated with all things surfing, and continuously searching for finer surfboard design definitions.