Turn/Tern Surfboards

First conceived back in the heady days of the original surf boom in the early sixties, Turn Surfboards was Tasmania's first true commercial surfboard manufacturer.

It was established in southern Tasmania in 1964 as the brainchild of two of Australia’s true soul surfers, Leigh Steven and Terry Horton.

Leigh recalls “We started off making boards under my parent’s house until the roast dinners started to taste of resin, then we had to move into a real factory. We’ve never stopped surfing and shaping boards".

Over 25,000 boards later crafted under the Steven name and thousands of different trends in surfboard design, we’ve decided the boards we were making in the seventies were the most fun to make and the most fun to ride.

In 2018, Leigh Steven still shapes boards and runs 'how to shape' coaching clinics in his current home town of Torquay, Victoria. He also a well established local artist in the area.

For more information about Leigh and his current projects: visit current Leigh Steven Surf on Facebook click here

Thanks to Rare Surf Tees for the original photo post. If you want an impressive selection of rare Australian Surfboard maker t-shirts - then do check out Rare Surf Tees or follow them on Instagram @raresurftees

In 2018, legendary Tasmanian surfboard shaper, Leigh Steven, is celebrating 54 years of shaping surfboards.

As one of the early pioneer surfboard builders in Australia, Turn Surfboards was first conceived by Leigh Steven and Terry Horton back in the heady days of the original surf boom in the early sixties.

As the first surfboard manufacturers in Tasmania, Leigh first partnered up with Terry Horton, who was from Tasmania's North West coast. At first, they made boards independently in their separate home towns - but eventually Terry moved to southern Tasmania and they started building boards under the Horton & Steven label in Hobart.

Leigh says that not long after that, they changed the name to Turn Surfboards and then shortly afterwards, changed the name yet again, this time to a different spelling and meaning to the same sounding word: Tern. 

Dale Matheson from
Scamander Beach Surf Shop's owns this Turn
Surfboard which has the original Turn logo from the '70s

Leigh says; "I really liked the idea of the graceful bird and thought of the freedom of flight. I had to argue that logo design concept out with Terry, but I won him over in the end".

Their brainchild to make surfboards came in the same year they both started surfing. In the very beginning, Leigh Steven & Terry Horton co-produced Turn Surfboards. They first appeared on the Tasmanian surf scene in 1964. The exact same year that Midget Farrelly won his World Surf Title at Manly Beach in Sydney.

In continuing the evolution of the name for his products, in 1980, Leigh designed his first Steven surfboard logo with a stick in the sand at Jefferys Bay in South Africa. 

The history of the name: In the '60s and the '70s it had been 'Turn' and that transformed into 'Tern' and since 1980, and for the last 38 years, it has been Steven.

These days Leigh is based in Torquay, Victoria and with his 53 years of surfing, shaping and travelling experiences behind him, Leigh has setup and runs a successful surfboard shaping school for surfers who are keen to learn the fine art of surf board shaping. 


"everyone leaves with a huge grin on their face ... "

To check the Leigh Steven Facebook page click here