About Us

Mark Rabbidge is the owner, shaper and driving force behind Retro Longboards, Rabbidge Surf Design and Feisty Girl Surfboards. Born in 1949 in Sydney and began surfing in 1960 at Dee Why beach.

He started his shaping career during the 60’s out of necessity when he requested a specific design from his shaper off, who was unable to provide him with one. So Mark headed into the backyard with a variety of his father's best tools and hacked out a surfboard. Despite this inauspicious start , Mark duly produced boards for the likes of Ron Wade and McCoy in the hotbed of surfboard evolution which was Brookvale in the late 60’s early 70’s.

All this practical experience is what separates Mark from lots of the other longboard shapers of today. Many have only jumped on the bandwagon to offer a product without any real in depth feedback or refinement. They may look OK but in the water is the test.

Mass produced imports filling the surf shop rack are making life tough for Australian surfboard shapers - don’t be fooled by the pretty packaging. A Rabbidge shape is the real deal because you can talk to the guy who will shape it. And you can trade it back when you're ready to change designs and the board will keep its value. Try trading a Chinese board and see how many bars of wax that will get you....