Cobus Joubert working a plane down the rail of a paulownia board

Every board starts as timber, and answers to the sea.

Story

A return
to origin.

Wawa was founded by Cobus Joubert, owner and shaper, in Muizenberg. The name is itself an African timber, and a contraction of Wood And WAves — the two things every board is made from.

For Cobus, the ocean has always been both playground and teacher. His earliest memories are of bodysurfing the waves of Plettenberg Bay, the happiest place of his childhood and a welcome escape from working holidays harvesting pears, apples and peaches under a hot Klein Karoo sun.

While studying at Stellenbosch, a sports injury nudged him from windsurfing to surfing, and sparked a fascination with the surfboard as an object of design and emotion.

He shaped his first board in 2000. It was a challenging, formative experiment, and it led him away from polyurethane, polyresin and fibreglass towards wood, a material that felt more alive, more sustainable and closer to surfing’s origins.

Each board honours surfing’s lineage and how it feels to ride waves today.

Craft

Old school,
modern tech.

Our boards bring together paulownia timber, cork and shapes refined through years of surfing and shaping. We work with the rider and the conditions in mind, from the first outline to the final finish.

After 15 years of shaping foam by hand, we’ve digitised most of our designs. Our CNC partner cuts the raw foam shapes from the digital blueprints we’ve refined over years of experimentation. The blanks then return to our Muizenberg workshop for timber work, cork detailing and finishing by hand.

Light, resilient paulownia covers the foam core, while our solid-timber shapes put the wood itself underfoot. Its fine grain is full of subtle patterns that shift and deepen with time. Along the rails, carbonised and natural cork trace clean lines of contrast, a nod to the pin lines of 1960s and ’70s surf craft.

The nose and tail are finished in hardwood for strength, so each board holds up to the sea. Some riders choose a wash of watercolours, painted to echo the ocean’s moods: muted blues, sunlit ambers, the pale green of a breaking wave.

Over time, the timber takes on a patina all its own, a record of salt, sun and session. No two boards age the same way. Craft and conscience, art and use, all of it born from saltwater and sawdust.

  • A shaper in a dust mask sanding a paulownia deck under a workshop window
    Every board is finished by hand in our workshop.
  • Two paulownia boards stacked, showing the WAWA deck inlay, a cork rail with a dark pin line, and a hand-drawn flying-fish stamp
    The flying fish, drawn on by hand with the board’s own dimensions.
  • Two shapers working a board together in the Wawa workshop
    Muizenberg workshop. Timber stacked to the roof.
  • A shaper in a stained apron marking an outline on a blank with a pencil and steel rule
    Before any timber moves, the line goes down in pencil.
  • A shaper holding a finished wooden cruiser deck in the workshop
    Flat spells get their own timber.

Planet

The sea,
our heritage.

What we make can harm the ocean or help it. We depend on the surf and the ecosystems around it, so the sea guides every decision in the Wawa workshop.

Wood is good. It’s renewable, and it makes people care. You look after a wooden board instead of throwing it away. When the material does its job and still looks alive, the work is done.

We choose timber and cork for the feel they bring to a board. Construction varies by model, from solid timber to timber over a foam core. Ask us about the materials, finish and care of the shape you have in mind.

  • A lone paddler on a glassy, misted shorebreak at dawn
    The reason for all of it.
  • A surfer coming off the lip on a timber board at sunset, backlit through the spray
    Timber off the lip, last light.
  • A bodysurfer deep inside a teal barrel on a handplane
    No board, no leash, no rush.
  • A wooden board standing upright on a rock in sea mist
    Standing in the mist, waiting on the tide.
  • A surfer trimming across a green wall, seen from the cliff above
    Trimming a green wall, seen from the path above.
  • A paulownia longboard leaning against a whitewashed wall between green garage doors
    Between sessions.