Chris Hemsworth crests the wave

“I think this is where I used to live,” Chris Hemsworth says, slowing down the rental car and peering out of the window. “Yeah, that’s it.” To our right is a fir-lined avenue that empties into the ocean, and somewhere along the street is the tiny, one-bedroom flat that Hemsworth called home when he was 19 years old. It’s a nice street, in the beautiful suburb of Mona Vale, in a part of Sydney imaginatively called the Northern Beaches, because you get here by driving up and out of the city for about 45 minutes. Hemsworth’s old street is called Seabeach Avenue; it runs perpendicular to another known as Surfview Road, because of its view of the waves. Everything is straightforward here. Mona Vale is full of memories. For three years – and over 100 episodes of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, where Hemsworth cut his teeth as an actor and which was filmed just a few beaches away – it was his entire world. It’s been nearly a decade since he was last in the neighbourhood, and while he used to drive this route all the time, these days it’s not quite as fresh in his mind. “Do you think a car crash would be cool for the story?” Hemsworth laughs, shortly after navigating a series of byzantine lane changes and crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. “Or a car chase?” Hemsworth has lived in Byron Bay, a blissfully idyllic region on the northern coast of New South Wales, since 2015. We’re back in Mona Vale this afternoon to see a man about a surfboard. Hemsworth and I are getting a private design session with Hayden Cox, the Australian surfboard shaper whose high-performance Haydenshapes boards are beloved by professionals and celebrities alike. On the way, Cox asks us to text through some ideas so that his airbrush artist can prepare the paints. “Let’s go, like, lots of colour,” Hemsworth dictates to me as he drives. “Mushroom trip, acid swelling, ’70s vibe.” When we arrive, Hemsworth is presented with a buffet of fluoro. “All of ’em!” Cox welcomes us into his studio, a laidback labyrinth covered in such a thick layer of foam dust that every time we move, a white cloud plumes into the air like snow. “Watch your head,” Cox says, as we duck under a low door frame. A board Cox just made, labelled Michael Bublé, is propped against the wall. Cox and Hemsworth have actually known each other since they were both 19, wasting their Mona Vale mornings hunting for the perfect wave. Is Hemsworth a good surfer? “Yeah, he rips,” Cox grins. Hemsworth feigns nonchalance, but is clearly delighted. Cox’s surfboards start life as blocks of polyurethane foam before being sanded down, or “shaped”, and covered in resin. Cox has prepared a core that is about as long as a king-sized bed. Hemsworth thinks it might be too big. “But, you know, I can ride it in a bigger wave,” he offers, politely. Cox hands him some sandpaper to work out the remaining grooves. Hemsworth lines up his motions in long, smooth sweeps, leaning in studiously so his eyeline is parallel to the board’s curve. “Keep going!” Cox chides him. “The lines aren’t out yet!”