“We sat down for dinner, in the arse end of Africa, and Nathan Florence was there. Koa Rothman swung in, and was I like, ‘this is hectic,’” said Sean “Sea Mullet” Mawson. “Then Jamie O’Brien drove by and I thought what the fuck am I doing here? This is my worst nightmare.” Yet for the unassuming goofy footer, the nightmare would turn into a dream trip. The waves of a lifetime. The happiest he’s ever been. A mission that would see him double down on twin fins, adventure and his shaping career.
Mawson shouldn’t have even been in Namibia. His best mate Russell Bierke had hit him up after seeing a perfect storm rattling into the remote West African sandbar. Mawson, always comfortable surfing his hometown of Ulladulla’s good waves, tried to opt-out. Yet Bierke has been cajoling Mawson out of his comfort zone, in the slabs around home, or on wider travels, for about 15 years. He's also attempted to get him to share his talents with the wider world. “Russ goes, ‘It’s too late. I booked a ticket with your name on it, you're coming. You owe me 2 grand,” laughed Mawson.
Russ Bierke, Sean Maws, and Jake McKeown. Ireland 2022.
Unlike Bierke, Mawson doesn’t live for oversized slabs and death-defying bombies, even if he’s been dragged out to plenty of those sessions by Bierke. He’s a supremely talented tube rider, but also an incredible aerialist, with a power rail game. Bierke called him the best surfer to ever come out of the South Coast; no small claim. A few years ago, Stab called him the "most talented surfer you’ve never heard of".
“What I love to surf the most is six-foot lefts with big pits. This wave was as good as that gets and it went for three kilometres,” said Sean. “It kinda changed the game for me. It made me realise what is possible. And I had a real twin fin revelation out there.”
The 30-year-old has been shaping since he left school after his mate Vern Jackson offered some work in his surfboard factory in Ulladulla. Mentored by Ulladulla legends like Jackson, Bruce Heggie, Kirk Bierke and Michael Mackie, he started shaping under his own label MAWSCODE. He reckons he's made between 300 and 400 boards, though he admits to not really keeping a count. Each is cut, shaped, sprayed, glassed and sanded by him. He likes the idea that if there are any fuckups, it’s all on him.
MAWSCODE SURFBOARDS
Surfers of the calibre of Harry Bryant, Louie Hynd and Brett Burcher are test pilots, as well as some of the South Coast’s eclectic mix of talented tube hounds and underrated shredders.
For the last few years, he’s been almost exclusively riding twin fins, having fallen in love with what he called “the initial squirt” and the down-the-line speed. He's been drawn less to the short, sharp slabs of home, to more drawn-out waves. Recent first-time trips to the desert in West Oz have further expanded his horizons.
West Coast magic.
“My goal has been to board-by-board refine the twins to go as fast as you can but be able to hold a rail on a small board,” he said. In Namibia, he brought a couple of heavier, wider, flatter slab-type models, and rode those on the first day of the swell. On the second day after watching Ryan Burch skitzing on his asymmetricals, after a wave, he went to the car and waxed up a conventional twin fin freshie.
“The first wave I got on it, it just took off. I was like, ‘Holy shit, Barry.’ I'd never had feeling before,” he said. “So that was kind of the start of my fixation. I had the best two waves of my life by a mile and knew I wanted to dig much deeper into my shaping to get that feeling.”
Skeleton Bay. Mesmorizing view looking back at the lineup you've just left.
At one stage he did a lap with Kelly Slater, a situation he described as both baffling and a little overwhelming. However, by the end of the swell he had forgotten who was in the crowd and concentrated on what he does best.
“I think my calling was shaping,” he said. “I never saw myself close to being a professional surfer. I was always surfing because I loved it. And that's maybe how you don't fall out of love with it.”
Post Namibia, he's knuckled down on his shaping and currently has 30 boards to plough through. He aims to make one a day, work in his surf sessions and travel around the growing business.
Shaping for current and future core lords.
“I get off on seeing surfers improve and get real enjoyment out of my boards,” he said. “The core surfers for me are guys with real jobs and families, who just make surfing central to their lives. The tradie who gets a few bombs at dawn before starting work at 7 or the 60-year-old who is still in the ocean every day. Namibia changed the game, but that’s the long-term plan, keeping surfing at the heart of everything.
Words: Ben Mondy
Filmed: Dane Singleton & Ben Lang
Additional footage: Dav Fox & Ryan Mattick, Andrew Kaineder
Music: Tube Warmers
🤝 TRUSTED by surfers for a lifetime.
🦘 Born in Australia.