The first time I encountered Maurice was surfing a place in Victoria I won’t name. I’d never seen him before, which surprised me as I watched. I always remember his style was really nice, he was a really natural sort of surfer. Someone with a natural gift, I mean – natural and relaxed.

Our friendship was a gradual process. I would see him around a bit more, just surfing, then he came by my house a couple of times. Then we went to Bali, and that was where I really got to surf with him. Bali at the time was a whole new frontier of surfing, great surf and totally uncrowded. It was a type of surfing wilderness, and that sort of surfing is a profound experience. You form a friendship from it in ways that you don’t form otherwise. That was a catalyst. He genuinely cared about my well-being. He was always trying to help and support me. He understood that the gap between me and the surfing industry at large was quite profound; there was no way for either party, me or them, to understand each other. But he tried to bridge that gap for me on a number of occasions, to my respect and appreciation.

He was very genuine with his approach to shaping. I thought his surfboards, even very early, were very good. I used to borrow them and I remember thinking, Jeez, that’s fantastic! I think they were better than he realized.

Wayne Lynch