Story
A return
to origin.
Wawa was founded in 2010 by Cobus Joubert, its owner and shaper. The name is itself an African timber, and a contraction of Wood And WAves, the two things every board is made from.
For Cobus, the ocean has always been both playground and teacher. His earliest memories are of bodysurfing the waves of Plettenberg Bay, the happiest place of his childhood and a welcome escape from working holidays harvesting pears, apples and peaches under a hot Klein Karoo sun.
While studying at Stellenbosch, a sports injury nudged him from windsurfing to surfing, and sparked a fascination with the surfboard as an object of design and emotion.
He shaped his first board in 2000. It was a challenging, formative experiment, and it led him away from polyurethane, polyresin and fibreglass towards wood, a material that felt more alive, more sustainable and closer to surfing’s origins.
Each board honours surfing’s lineage and how it feels to ride waves today.
Craft
Old school,
modern tech.
Driven to blend performance with sustainability, every craft carries the hydrodynamic genius and longevity unique to timber. When living nature, in the form of Paulownia, features and functions as intended, the work is complete.
After 15 years of shaping foam by hand, we’ve digitised most of our designs. Our CNC partner cuts the raw foam shapes from the digital blueprints we’ve refined over years of experimentation. Once the blanks return to our workshop, the real work begins: the woodwork and cork detailing that give every board its warmth, texture and character.
The paulownia timber, light but resilient, forms the body of the board, its fine grain full of subtle patterns that shift and deepen with time. Along the rails, carbonised and natural cork trace clean lines of contrast, a nod to the pin lines of 1960s and ’70s surf craft.
The nose and tail are finished in hardwood for strength, so each board holds up to the sea. Some riders choose a wash of watercolours, painted to echo the ocean’s moods: muted blues, sunlit ambers, the pale green of a breaking wave.
Over time, the timber takes on a patina all its own, a record of salt, sun and session. No two boards age the same way. Craft and conscience, art and use, all of it born from saltwater and sawdust.
Planet
The sea,
our heritage.
What we make can harm the ocean or help it. We depend on the surf and the ecosystems around it, so the sea guides every decision in the Wawa workshop.
Wood is good
Wood is renewable, and it makes people care. You look after a wooden board instead of throwing it away. When the material does its job and still looks alive, the work is done.
Less is more
No fiberglass or resin: both toxic, both dead weight. Our timber is waterproof and warp-resistant. Each board is shaped by hand with the rider and conditions in mind, with CNC precision available for consistency on repeat orders.