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HISTORY

Dave “Dingo” Moore, is the shaper and founder of DMZ Surfboards. He grew up as a surfboard factory shop rat in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, surfing Malibu as his home break. Dave also became known as the graffiti artist, "Dose-1" in the early days of the LA street art scene. He travelled to Australia after high school, where he worked briefly as as a hand sander for a surfboard company but returned home to attend college in Santa Barbara. He worked on fishing boats during that time and surfed every wave from California to Mexico.

Dave was recruited because of his surfing abilities and helped pioneer the snowboarding industry in the 90's. He built the first snowboard park at Heavenly Valley and later managed the legendary resort at Mt. Waterman before settling down in Huntington Beach to raise his daughter in 1999. It was there he created the original Dingbatz and became the go-to ding repair shop for pro surfers, major surf events and all the local surf shops at the time.

Dave took up shaping and became knowledgeable by working with feedback from his team in the early 2000′s (Ian Ekberg, Brett Simpson, Randy “Goose” Welch, Ryan Carlson, and Timmy Reyes to name a few). He pitched them boards that he shaped and began recognizing consistencies in boards his riders loved. He learned a lot while building his first boards and doing repairs on boards by various shapers. He soon began shaping his own boards under the Dingbatz/DMZ name.

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Dave made a lot of boards for his local clientele, but it was when legendary World Champion Hawaiian surfer Sunny Garcia requested several custom DMZ Surfboards from Dingo that he knew shaping was his future… and his purpose.

 

Dave and his friends had created an underground action sports culture with his backyard business and legendary skate ramp parties on Lake St. in downtown HB. He later moved to a larger shop on Main St. before closing shop in 2007 to move to Costa Rica. He spent several years there shaping and surfing alongside some of the best surfers in the country.

 

DMZ Surfboards then came back home to Huntington Beach in 2011 when he joined forces with an artist, Janessa Bookout, in business and in life. Dave continues to make his specialty hand shaped surfboards as one of a kind originals and limited editions. DMZ can also offer scanned replicas of our proven hand shaped models.

 

Now in 2020, the DMZ label is still going strong, fully-dedicated to pushing the limits in surfboard design and development. Dave recently partnered with Hall of Fame surfer and board shaper Sammy Hawk to create a truly unique DMZ/Hawk surfboard that bridges the gap between surfing generations.  This new collaboration between industry veterans is what the DMZ Surfboards family thrives on.

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DMZ’s rockers and rails are second to none. Dave Moore takes the time and energy to truly embrace the craft of board shaping.

 

Dingo’s goal has always been to maintain the grassroots approach and DIY mentality thru learning, experimenting, and sharing positive vibes and progressive energy with every surfer and shaper DMZ has the pleasure of working with. If he's not working at the DMZ private shaping studio, you will find Dave Moore surfing his favorite local waves in Malibu, Huntington Beach and San Clemente.

 

“We are keeping the Shaper/Surfer relationship alive in this ever-evolving sport of surfing.”

DMZ consultations and custom shaping appointments are available upon request.

Shoot us an email at dmzsurfboards@gmail.com and we’ll get you setup properly.

Mahalo,

DMZ Surfboards

P.S. You can also see some of our charitable projects developed through operationstoke.com.

CREW

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Dave Moore

SHAPER

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Jason Wray

BUSINESS MANAGER

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Janessa Bookout

ARTIST & ADMIN

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