For some time now there has been whispers emanating from the western seaboard of Australia that Dave ‘Tully’ Tulloch had re-entered the shaping bay and was working in secret on the relaunch of his successful custom label Funkshen Bodyboards.

Tully fills us in after Funkshens 12 month hiatus.

Can you tell us what led to the break?
Yeah, after much deliberation and heartache I reluctantly made the decision to take a break from running Funkshen and shaping bodyboards entirely at the end of 2008. The last few years I was continually challenged on the business side of things. My focus had always been on the quality of my shaping skills and how the Funkshen boards were coming out. The feedback from all our riders and customers ensured the quality of our boards was often described as the best in the industry. But unfortunately as our boards were progressing, our business network was failing. Funkshen was at the crossroads on whether we could take it to the next level. This combination of issues led me to think that taking a forced break would be best for the business and for my own personal wellbeing, not that I was ever happy with that decision.

Why the return now?
The return of Funkshen is largely due to 2 reasons.
The first is that I have sorely missed shaping boards a great deal and would love to continue my involvement in developing bodyboards in general and using my experience to keep the Funkshen empire cranking!
The second is that we were fortunate to form a great relationship with the lads at Limited Edition. Through their extensive networks and ability to help, we were able to revive our very proud and highly regarded company. All my previous customers and fans of Funkshen boards have been overwhelming in their continued support over this break and I have continually been blown away by how popular Funkshen really was and how respectful everyone has been to me. Stoked!

Change of focus to stock boards?
Yes for the time Funkshen will be focusing on developing a very tidy, high quality range of stockies to ensure that we can expose Funkshen‘s meticulously crafted board range to to a larger group of riders without sacrificing quality. I have been given the opportunity to utilise our most functional templates and shapes that I developed with my custom boards, and refine them into our new range of bodyboards. This is insane and how it should be done so a bodyboarder buying a board from his/her local store can buy the best possible piece of riding equipment possible.

Whitey’s back too?
To see the old gang teaming up again is insane mate and having Whitey involved again with a new signature board is a massive coup for Funkshen and continuing Funkshens progression. Although Chris may not spend as much time surfing these days as what he used to, he is giving back through his bodyboard coaching of up and coming riders and is still heavily involved in filming and hangin with mitch, ryan, jake etc and with his brand new project, “Grow up” being released at the end of this month, Funkshen will be thrown back into the spotlight front and centre. The hype created so far about this video and with Funkshen coming back has been overwhelming and largely has justified our decision to resurrect a legend!

What can we expect from the new stock range?
The new Funkshen range is basically a combination of our previous best ever boards with a couple of killer new models. We have brought back the original “Tully Premo” and “Lowrider” models and I have been working on an entirely new “Tully” base/custom board which I have incorporated the new core technology with the EFC core with my own personal best ever dimensions and shape to form an insanely functional bodyboard. I have been quietly working on the refinement of the Premo model even further and expect the new version to address all the needs of the professional level rider. All the classic custom colours will be available throughout the range. These new boards are looking insane and now being a father myself, I am stoked to know that my own son will be able to grow up and ride Funkshen boards for years to come. Very cool!