Paua surfboard

This is one of only two pāua surfboards in New Zealand, both made by Brian O'Connor. The surfboard in Te Papa's collection is his second, while the first hangs in his Kaikoura shop, Southern Pāua Ltd. Its fame has spread and many people go into the shop just to see it.

O'Connor has been surfing since the mid 1970s, and making his own boards since 1990. Making a board with pāua shell seemed to him to be a logical step. In 2001 he commented 'I knew it was possible, and I thought it would be out of it, and nobody had done it before.'

Design
To make the board he first took a surfboard 'blank', made from foam poured into a mould. In the middle of the blank is a thin piece of wood that runs the length of the surfboard. This is known as a stringer, and provides strength and weight.

O'Connor shaped the blank to his own specifications by shaving layers off it with a tool called a planer. He applied resin to the board, and then strips of pāua laminate which he held in place with double-sided tape. Finally he coated the entire board in fiberglass, and sanded and polished it.

The pāua surfboard is a standard size: six foot, two inches (1.89 m). O'Connor says 'it's definitely rideable. It's an uncomfortable feeling knowing you're sitting on a big fishing lure, but it's an amazing experience to see the sun reflecting off the pāua in the water.'

Brian O'Connor is one of a number of New Zealand artists and craftspeople who are passionate about using pāua. His surfboard is just one of the art and craft works using pāua that are held in the Te Papa collections.