Daniel Treloar: Built to Bend

Have you felt the difference a magic board makes in your life? This episode, Dave sits down with the man behind the core of his current magic carpet. Daniel Treloar is a waterman and the founder of Grow Blanks. Daniel was born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa. He grew up with a severe stutter and dyslexia to boot, and his approach to both was to throw himself into the deep end. He studied agriculture and planned to farm, but the ocean pulled him in other directions. Travel, handcraft and a lot of trial and error helped him find his footing, and his calling came on a 30,000-acre agave farm in Kenya. He and his partner started experimenting with the farm’s lightweight flowering agave stalks, the organic waste of fibre farming. Those experiments became Grow Blanks. They aren’t the first surfboard blanks built from agave, but Dave reckons they’re the liveliest and most performance-driven to date. Daniel’s workshop creates jobs in a part of Kenya where work is scarce, and shapers and surfers across Europe and Australia are beginning to choose the blanks over petrochemical foam. On the slopes of Haleakalā on Maui, the two nerd out about variable rocker, honey badgers, performance design, and what sits inside the boards we ride. Send us Fan Mail ... Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast ... Thanks to our generous sponsors this season: Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life Sodii: hydration for salty humans ... Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.