Mark grew up in Hamilton suburbia in a family of non surfers. It wasn’t until age 14 on a family holiday to Mt Maunganui that he discovered surfing. As soon as he had a licence and his first car he and friends started hunting the beach at Raglan. At age 17 he moved to Raglan to go flatting, and be close to the point breaks.

Around 1990 at age 19/20 he started working with Matt Holl of Ocean Rhythm Surfboards, fixing surfboards and all sorts of crafts. It was here that he became interested in shaping boards.

In 1991 he made his first surfboard at Dry Surfboards on Wallis St in Raglan, in the old dairy factory, under the watchful eye of Sean ‘Winey’ Carass, who later went on to be the head shaper at Rusty Surfboards, Australia. Not knowing what to paint on his board, a song came on the radio called ‘Intoxication’ by Shreikback, so he painted it on both sides of the board, and the ‘Intox’ label was born.

After making Surfboard #1 Mark was hooked on the whole process of making surfboards.

On completing Surfboard #2 with Matt Holl he headed to
Australia where he spent the next 8 years working in various surfboard factories on Queensland’s Gold Coast and NSW, including Brothers Neilson, Nev, Phantom, Newline and 6 years sanding and shaping at Local Motion.  During this time Mark was mainly a production sander, sanding up to 10 boards a day with glass on fins. Then doing his own shaping for friends on the side, building up the Intox brand.

Mark returned every summer to Raglan bringing boards back for people. He eventually hooked up with Craig Hughes (R.I.P.) at Town & Country Surfboards R.S.C., where he started sanding and shaping stock boards.

Around 2000 Mark and his partner Jo moved back to Raglan for good, and moved into their little house they had purchased a few years earlier. Mark started working full time with Hughes and had to put Intox on the back burner. For the next 10 years he worked shaping T&C boards for the shop and local surfers. In 2004 Mark and Jo had their first child, Jarvis, followed by Jade and Van. Now a full surfing family!

In 2009 Mark and the Family moved to a two and a half acre block just outside of Raglan township. At the top of the drive you’ll find Camenzind Surfboards.

Towards the end of shaping for T&C Mark was wanting to be more in control of his own boards, just as Hughsey was doing with his label. So when the T&C franchise subsided it seemed a good time to bring on Camenzind Surfboards. Mark continued to work for Hughsey sanding and hot-coating and finishing his boards. While in his spare time setting up his own factory on the property on SH23.

Since then Camenzind Surfboards continues to operate from this location from the ever evolving factory. Built from shipping containers, and recycled materials, the space is a must see, so call on in and say hi!