04/01/2026
SUNDAY GOLD: The opening photo from Mr Meticulous, our 10-page piece on Michael Saggus in Issue 112. Taken in Coffs Harbour in the early ‘70s, there’s a ton of young freewheeling surf and shaping talent in this shot. “Surfboard design was changing daily, so rapidly, it was mind-boggling.”
L to R: Michael Saggus, Rodney Judd, Mark Williams and Bill Tolhurst, in the “Country Woods” days (under a loose license agreement with Gordon Woods).
Our gun writer Ian Cameron visited Michael down the NSW South Coast where he’s now making longboards and varieties of mids under three labels - his own designs go out as Michael Saggus Shapes or under his Surf Empire logo, and he also makes Liddle Surfboards Australia, based on the unique hull designs of Californian innovator Greg Liddle.
Not long after this photo was taken Michael went to the US on a short trip with Bob Cooper and ended up staying 10 years while shaking up the shaping bays and surfboard designs at Yater Surfboards with Rennie Yater and Channel Islands with Al Merrick - not bad for a boy from the bush.
Rod Judd was a fine surfer and craftsman himself, Mark Williams had world-beating ability in the water but was never much interested in competitions, and Billy went on to great things as a surfer and with his Tolhurst Surfboards.
With the sub heading “No-one knew me, no-one knows me now really …”, Mr Meticulous is a fascinating read (thank you Camo) covering Michael’s influential but kinda underground career and we’ve had a lot of great feedback on it.
This photo was taken by John Rotor for the front page of the Coffs Harbour Advocate - pretty cool shot for a country rag.
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