ARTISANS - A TRACKS VIDEO SERIES EXAMINES THE GENIUS BEHIND SOME OF SURF CULTURE’S MOST CREATIVE FIGURES PRESENTED BY REIZIGER
How Matt Chojnacki rides his way through surfing history.
From the time he found a clean trim line on his dad’s longboard Matt Chojnacki knew he wouldn’t be content to ride short boards exclusively. Growing up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches he embraced the region’s pivotal role in the evolution of surfboard design and rapidly developed an eclectic taste in craft.
Boasting a style that mixed nimble-footed grace with low-centred muscularity, Matt eventually gravitated towards the world of professional longboarding. Meanwhile, his sleek skills, and interest in the history of surfing made him the ideal fit for a role in Phil Jarrat’s acclaimed documentary ‘Men of Wood and Foam’ about the pioneering group of shapers known as ‘The Brookvale Six’. These days Matt, whose nickname and instagram handle is ‘The Waxhead’, lives according to a simple mantra of ‘Right Board for the Right Conditions’. You might see him charging Deadman’s on a custom-built quad gun, burrowing through south Narrabeen tubes on his short board or dialling in a longer board that borrows from some favourite epoch of surfing’s past. To help keep the whole surfing act afloat Matt restores classic cars with his dad. The passion for vintage automobiles seems to perfectly complement his disparate surfing tastes and it’s not hard to picture Matt behind the wheel of a classic vehicle with half a dozen different kinds of boards spilling out the back. Watch the clip and be inspired by Matt’s talent for taking an array of different lines into surfing’s past.