I surf, and every time I head down to Torquay I drive past the Strapper sign on both sides of the road. Every time, I thought I should go in and introduce myself, and every time I didn’t. Then I found out they were hitting 50 years and releasing a book to mark it. I finally reached out to Mike, because a milestone like that deserved to be captured properly.

Fabio and I spent a day with Mike on what was, for him, a completely regular Saturday: shaping from 7am until who knows when. He was definitely still going when we left. The sanding and the air compressor blowing dust around never stopped. Watching him shape with that much pride and care, while keeping a conversation going with us the whole time, was something special.

At one point Mike called surfboards time capsules. You pick one up and it takes you straight back to a particular wave, season or trip. That stuck with me, because it’s exactly how I feel about my own boards.

Strapper’s feed is mostly sunny, iPhone-shot surf content, so I went the other way: moodier, darker and more produced. It still sits within their brand, but it’s different enough to make a splash when it lands.

The book launches on 17 October, and this film is the lead-up post getting people hyped for it.