Ghetto Juice Interview with Maurice Cole

maurice-square.jpg

Living in the OC we run into a lot of surf royalty, like the time we bumped into legendary shaper Maurice Cole who, since recently beating cancer, has been hanging in the OC working on a collaboration board with Matt Biolos aka Mayhem of …Lost Surfboards fame. Considering Maurice’s legendary status in the world of shaping and board design, you know it has to be good …. Ghetto Juice interviews….

Ghetto Juice: So what brings you to Orange County?
Maurice Cole: I am reinventing myself again for the 58,932 time.

Ghetto Juice: What do you love most about hanging out in Orange County?
MC: The oranges? Nah, it's always been a special place for me. I always liked working here. Wait, I don't work. It's just a really good buzz here in California, and I get a lot of respect for what I've done and what I'm doing. There's a lot of creativity in Orange County. And you know what I'm seeing? Young brands. The domination by the big brands has been broken!And what I also like here are the freaks. The freaks are all hanging out here. This is like Freaksville to me, so I fit in pretty well. (laughs)

Ghetto: So what’s up with you and Mayhem and your new collab?
MC: It's surfing, and it's still the old school rules: Creativity, innovation … and I've got some crazy, great new designs that have been in the water for about a year now, so I'm over here, being managed by …Lost and just loving life at the moment.

Ghetto: Where’s the surfboard at these days and what are you guys doing to change it for the better?
MC: Well, I believe we have been living in the world of the “mono hull” and my whole world now is catamarans. They’re faster, they turn quicker, smaller … I was just talking to Wardo who's been surfing a 6'3” really hard-edged deep concave design at Pipe, and we're talking 10- to 12-foot second reef Pipe, and Wardo's surfing a 6'3". Wardo says, "I freefall in, land on the edges, and I just come out of the tube." My whole world now is about less weighted surface area. That's why watching what's happening in sailing, I don't know if you're aware of it, but now they've got these big kickass hydro foils … and that sort of stuff, and Formula 1, and new materials… it's a really exciting time to make surfboards right now. I'm in second gear, third gear, and at 18,000 RPM.

Ghetto: That’s epic to see you back in the thick of it all again after what you’ve gone through with cancer and all….
MC: Yeah, the whole thing's like a snowball. The brand is coming back, so I'm stoked … what else can I say? It's great to be shaping, it's great to be alive. The battle with the cancer is nearly at its end, so that's great. I'm a grandfather, which is even greater … I've been doing some amazing stuff the last three months. Just got back from Hawaii yesterday. Spent three weeks there. Now I'm here for three weeks, then back to Hawaii for three weeks. Then I think I get to go home…

Ghetto: Where you’ll be itching to get back on the road I’m sure….
Well, after I go home for about a month and a half, I'll head back to Japan, then off to Europe … you know, I just love what I do. I love shaping surfboards. I love creating, and at the moment I'm getting this real buzz working with really good surfers. Like Matt is giving me some of his team riders to put some of these new crazy boards under their feet and I think it's the next evolution of surfboard design.

Ghetto: Well you've been right in the past!
MC: I know I'm right this time. Dammit, did I say that??


Posted by: Ghetto JuiceGhetto Juice at: 13 May 2014 13:40




Here are some other articles you might be interested in.


Wiki Syntax Enabled: Complete All Fields


Living in the OC we run into a lot of surf royalty, like the time we bumped into legendary shaper Maurice Cole who, since recently beating cancer, has been hanging in the OC working on a collaboration board with Matt Biolos aka Mayhem of …Lost Surfboards fame. Considering Maurice’s legendary status in the world of shaping and board design, you know it has to be good …. Ghetto Juice interviews….

Ghetto Juice: So what brings you to Orange County?
Maurice Cole: I am reinventing myself again for the 58,932 time.

Ghetto Juice: What do you love most about hanging out in Orange County?
MC: The oranges? Nah, it's always been a special place for me. I always liked working here. Wait, I don't work. It's just a really good buzz here in California, and I get a lot of respect for what I've done and what I'm doing. There's a lot of creativity in Orange County. And you know what I'm seeing? Young brands. The domination by the big brands has been broken!And what I also like here are the freaks. The freaks are all hanging out here. This is like Freaksville to me, so I fit in pretty well. (laughs)

Ghetto: So what’s up with you and Mayhem and your new collab?
MC: It's surfing, and it's still the old school rules: Creativity, innovation … and I've got some crazy, great new designs that have been in the water for about a year now, so I'm over here, being managed by …Lost and just loving life at the moment.

Ghetto: Where’s the surfboard at these days and what are you guys doing to change it for the better?
MC: Well, I believe we have been living in the world of the “mono hull” and my whole world now is catamarans. They’re faster, they turn quicker, smaller … I was just talking to Wardo who's been surfing a 6'3” really hard-edged deep concave design at Pipe, and we're talking 10- to 12-foot second reef Pipe, and Wardo's surfing a 6'3". Wardo says, "I freefall in, land on the edges, and I just come out of the tube." My whole world now is about less weighted surface area. That's why watching what's happening in sailing, I don't know if you're aware of it, but now they've got these big kickass hydro foils … and that sort of stuff, and Formula 1, and new materials… it's a really exciting time to make surfboards right now. I'm in second gear, third gear, and at 18,000 RPM.

Ghetto: That’s epic to see you back in the thick of it all again after what you’ve gone through with cancer and all….
MC: Yeah, the whole thing's like a snowball. The brand is coming back, so I'm stoked … what else can I say? It's great to be shaping, it's great to be alive. The battle with the cancer is nearly at its end, so that's great. I'm a grandfather, which is even greater … I've been doing some amazing stuff the last three months. Just got back from Hawaii yesterday. Spent three weeks there. Now I'm here for three weeks, then back to Hawaii for three weeks. Then I think I get to go home…

Ghetto: Where you’ll be itching to get back on the road I’m sure….
Well, after I go home for about a month and a half, I'll head back to Japan, then off to Europe … you know, I just love what I do. I love shaping surfboards. I love creating, and at the moment I'm getting this real buzz working with really good surfers. Like Matt is giving me some of his team riders to put some of these new crazy boards under their feet and I think it's the next evolution of surfboard design.

Ghetto: Well you've been right in the past!
MC: I know I'm right this time. Dammit, did I say that??

Image maurice-square.jpg