Hayden Cox And Peter Schroff Team Up For Mick’s Electric Acid

Smoking Winston Whites on the balcony of his San Pedro home, surfboard shaper / artist Peter Schroff has an unobstructed view of the Port of Long Beach. 

Ships leave. Ships enter. Containers are loaded and unloaded. It’s noisy. 

Ironic, or maybe predictable, that the man who’s staged performance-art protests against boards “made in China” (in fact, many boards made in Asia are crafted in Thailand and Vietnam, a detail that’s too clunky for Schroff’s “America First” message) has a front row seat to one of the main arteries of US-Asia trade.  

Fairly or unfairly — given the abundance of shapers producing boards in Asia — one of Schroff’s main targets was Haydenshapes, the independently owned Australian brand that’s been unapologetic about its global production. Eight years ago, Schroff went viral after chainsawing a replica Hypto Krypto to pieces. 

Looking down on the port, it’s easy to wonder if one of those containers is filled with Haydenshapes. The nuanced reality is that, if it were, there’s a very real chance that it came from Mona Vale, not Thailand. But who has time for nuance in our black-and-white, saw-it-on-the-internet world?

Turns out, Hayden Cox does. Peter Schroff apparently does, too. Because despite their past, they’re about to meet to begin collaborating on a surfboard for Mick Fanning, and the Electric Acid Surfboard Test.  

“With our history,” Schroff said to Hayden on a Google Meet link, “I thought it was the most interesting collaboration that could ever possibly happen in the surf world.” 

Hayden agreed. “I think a good collaboration is one where both parties are challenged in their thought processes,” he said. “And finding a way to bring the strengths of both parties together. That’s when the magic’s created.” 

I cannot wait for you to see the magic that was created between these two, as it’s a perfect example of what this project is all about: teaming up with people you might not know, and might not agree with, and working together in the name of surfing, and craftsmanship. 

The final pairing to announce, and another of my favorites, is that of Matt Parker of Album and Joe Falcone. While the pair don’t have the history of Schroff and Hayden, they still come from very different worlds. 

Matt is a shaper, artist and businessman in the heart of the surf world, San Clemente, and has built an impressive brand by showing the public — and several pros — that single fins, twins, asymmetrical boards and more can also be high-performance. He’s got a showroom. He’s got employees. He’s got a factory ready to cut shapes on any day that ends with y. Everything’s polished. 

Joe Falcone, of Rockaway Beach, New York, has a garage, a few tools and a cult following that ranges from the kid down the block to actor Jonah Hill. And while these days he’s cutting more hair than foam, we thought he’d add the perfect amount of New York grit to Matt’s Orange County shine.

To make the trip to San Clemente, we gave Joe a modest stipend to cover flights, hotels and rental car. So it surprised me that, on the morning we were all supposed to meet at Matt’s showroom, Joe was already there…on an air mattress. Turns out, he used much of the stipend to upgrade his rental car, rather than pay for a hotel. 

As we finished the day — their board conceived, shaped and heading to the glasser — I passed Joe in the parking lot. He was in the driver’s seat of his borrowed BMW, engine idling. The planer he brought from New York was on the backseat. He smiled at me and revved the engine. 

“This your rental?” I asked with my phone pointed at him, filming. 

“Oh yeah, nothing but the best dude, c’mon,” he said, hamming it up for the camera. “I’m out here shaping boards for fucking Mick Fanning, what do you expect me to be driving around, a fucking Sprinter Van? I’m from New York, baby.”

I pan the phone across the parking lot to a pristine white Ford Transit with a sticker on the back window — Album.  

The first episode of Mick Fanning’s Electric Acid Surfboard Test goes live on Thursday, September 1, PST. 

See the other shapers here, and here.