posted by Surfboardbuilders

Hello from Cali Colombia! I'm here for a few weeks of spanish lessons, visiting family (my wife is from Cali), seeing the country, and getting ready for a few weeks of surf in Costa Rica. So far its been great. The people here are exceptional and Cali...its full of life! Over the next few weeks I'll have more posts with videos and photos from different areas of Colombia.

BTW, we have some new boards coming on line and later more shapers. We don't have all the photos up yet but the boards are available to review and order. Most new ones we are seeing are along the lines of shorter boards similar in looks to those made in the early 80's and made popular again by Kelly Slater...of course the newer boards are much more refined. Regardless we love the direction and experimention going on. Doc Lausch has both an NDR and Lil Buddy. Up soon are the Larmo Squash and White Pony and shown below and available now is the Mitsven B-Tail Quad.

I'll get to demo a B-Tail Quad in Costa Rica and look forward to providing some feedback on it to you. Until the next post Hasta Luego!

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Maybe its the season or that everybody is just over it (worrying about the recession)...but things have been picking up for us at Surfboardbuilders.com lately. We just want to say thanks to all of our customers. It is a pleasure to work with you each day and the great group of shapers on the site. If you happen to live or visit in and around North County San Diego you might have seen our "fleet" of trucks...both of them. If you do please don't hesitate to stop us and say hello. Until then we wish you great summer surf!

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Ok, my apologies. I've been slacking on posts. Its been a crazy busy year and we, like everybody else, are having to work harder to overcome the down economy. What I can tell you is that lots is going on in the background. We are working on bringing on more shapers and getting some more models up for the shapers already on the site. One thats on the list for sure is new fish from Bob Mitsven. It's got a different outline and looks very cool. More later!

Nice article about Gary Linden. He is truly a class act and a great shaper.
http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/article_bamp.cfm?id=26251

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Last weekend surfboardbuilders.com hosted a show of the incredible colored glasswork being produced by Greg Webster. Greg is pictured here standing below a Jim Phillips longboard with his handiwork.

The showing, complimented by great BBQ and the sounds of Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones (aka Joe Woods from TSOL http://www.myspace.com/joewoodandthelonelyones), was a way of getting the word out about his talent and setting the bar still higher for artwork on surfboards.

On display were boards shaped by mastercraftmen like Jim Phillips and Hank Warner. Between cooking and organizing Greg took some time to explain the process to the folks in attendance.

Instead of the normal tint work, Greg uses individual pieces of colored cloth to build his designs. As you can see his work is on a whole different level.





The work in the pipeline that didn't make the show is even more beautiful. If you're interested you can have Greg do the glasswork art on any board on our site. Give us a call for details... or you can just order your board without a design and then we will work out the design and cost over the phone.

posted by Surfboardbuilders

About a month ago I got my Larry Mabile Swinger model after seeing it at the demo event and ordering one.  After trying it at a variety of waves I'm ready to give some feedback.  It has a fishy feel but is a little bit stiffer in the mid and nose section.   It paddles great and gets into waves super easy...all really nice.  It's on the wave that it was a little surprising.  The quad version of course is really fast and flatter sections are easy to blow thru or throw tail slides.  The difference was the feeling that it was more comfortable in the pocket (on hollower waves) than my other fish boards and easier to turn off the top than a traditional or normal modern fish.  This was pretty cool.  If you are looking for something a little different and super fun I highly recommend this board.  I can't wait to get mine in a long down the line point break!

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Tim Griffin of Griffin Surfboards and Wayne Lynch Surfboards is an enigma in an industry of characters. Often quiet and reserved, sometimes VERY outspoken. One thing is for certain, he is passionate about shaping and what he and others see as a tangent away from the roots of our sport. He also builds exceptional boards...something the folks here at Surfboardbuilders and lots of surfers in the waters off of San Diego and Orange County can attest to.





Tell us a little about how you started in shaping? I started shaping 15 years ago. Initially I was just curious about the process and interested in the surfboards themselves. I did my first few boards without ever having seen a board shaped, just sort of worked my way through it. They turned out pretty rough but actually went ok.

After realizing I really liked shaping and riding my own boards I started checking out other shapers to trying to get a better idea. Eventually I got a job roughing boards for Peter Benjamin in San Diego. That got me a lot of reps with the planer and really helped improve my shaping. In the following years I've worked for Xanadu, Boysen, Cole, Wayne Lynch, and my own brand, Griffin Surfboards.

Who has been your biggest influence? I've been influenced by all the people I've shaped for and have also been inspired by lots of different surfboards. It's really cool to check out the different stuff that's out there.

What are your thoughts on the building of custom boards in today's world?
For the most part, there is only a small part of the surfing community that values hand shaped surfboards. The media marketing machine has devalued the hand shape by promoting the computer. If a label is producing large numbers of surfboards then hand shaping is not realistic. It's too much work and there simply aren't enough shapers that can do it. Therefore, they're going to promote the computer and downplay hand shaping.



I still think the best way to get the perfect board for yourself is to order from a craftsman and have a board custom built to your specs/desires. Unfortunately, shapers aren't paid more for hand shapes so there really isn't any incentive to do it. Hand shaping also requires more time in the shaping room, when time spent marketing is more important to actually sell boards. It will be interesting to see if at some point, as the number of capable shapers decreases, the value of a hand shaped custom board will increase. Time will tell.

Tell us about the trends you are seeing in custom board building? Mostly a lot of guys claiming to hand shape when they're really using the computer. Or worse, designing boards on a computer screen and claiming that's the best thing since sliced bread. I still say a master craftsman uses numbers as guidelines but in the end trusts their hands and eyes to create a clean, balanced board. Something a computer will never be able to do.

Tell us about your favorite surf spots? I mostly surf out of the way beach breaks to try and get away from crowds. It's not the best for business but I prefer to surf alone or with a few friends. I've been to Tavarua and it's tough to beat those waves.

Where do you see the art of custom surfboard building going?
In the toilet...

Tell us about your favorite board to shape and to ride? I like to shape and ride pretty much everything. I guess it depends on the surf and what I'm feeling.

Where do you see design going from here? My guess is the big labels will continue to claim computers are the future. They're probably anxiously waiting for the computer that'll completely finish boards so they don't need to shape at all!



I could see the day when shapers are mostly phased out and design is left to the Kelly Slaters of the world. People will sell that you can get a board that was designed by a top pro.

Meanwhile there will always be guys hand shaping boards because they love it. It's not for the money, believe me. And there will always be surfers who want to participate in the process and get custom boards.

More on Tim here http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/shaper_tim_griffin.aspx

posted by Surfboardbuilders

As we head into the Spring/Summer of 2008 and the time to dust off your fish, the folks here at surfboardbuilders are noticing some new entries to the fish world that are pretty cool and likely to make an impact this summer. Besides the normal array of fun swallow tails, some shapers have come out with fish models that substitute that wide swallow for a wide rounded or diamond tail. The result is often better performance off the top and just smoother turns in general. Plus, as one shaper put it, "I just got tired of cracking my foot on the swallow tail." We've been lucky enough to be able to test a few and they're pretty sweet. Here are a few on the site that are definitely worth taking a look at: Larry Mabile's Diamond Tail Quad (on the top left) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=15 Doc's New Toy (10th board down on the left column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=27 Tim Griffin's GRT Fish (top left board) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=30 Greg Sauritch's Round Tail Fish (5th board down on the right column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=19 Bob Mitsvens RTQ (4th board down on the left column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=24

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Congratulations Bob! For those of you that haven't heard Bob Mitsven won the AB3 "Best in Show" prize for his Chambered Cedar Twin Fish. We were lucky enough to see this board in the various stages of being built. The process is pretty complex but the result is awesome!

For those of you that don't know him, besides building seriously great boards (a true craftsman) Bob (and Rick) are a couple of the nicest, most gracious people you will ever meet. Talent and humility are a rare combination....Cheers Guys!

To see Bob's boards on the site click here: http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=24

For more pics and commentary about the event go here: http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1341522&an=0&page=0&gonew=1#UNREAD

...and don't be fooled by the pictures of the wave in the background. The waves there suck!....really

posted by Surfboardbuilders

With his boards popping up in photo shoots everywhere, Mike Walker is one of those hard working new breed of shapers who is also a great guy. Mike took some time to answer a few questions from the folks at at Surfboardbuilders.com.





Tell us a little bit about how you started shaping? During my high school years I was living down in North Baja while doing home school. I was surfing everyday...sometimes two to three times and was going through boards fast. I've always had an interest in board design and surfboard building in general. I just started making my own in the garage...trying to get them to look like the boards I'd bought in San Diego. After tons of trial and errors my boards started to work the way I wanted and friends who would come down to visit started riding and then ordering boards for themselves...it just kind of grew organically. By the time I graduated high school I had a nice little business growing so I moved to San Diego and started working at Pacific Surf Glass and got to spend a lot of time in the shaping room with some of the best shapers in the world. Eventually I started shaping for a lot of the big brands...Rusty, Sharp Eye, Xanadu, and a few more and thats what really got my numbers up and I was able to apply a lot of concepts and design theory to my own boards that I continued to build on the side. After a five or six years of that my own brand started getting pretty known and in 2005 I went 100% on my own. Thats when things really started to take off.

Who were or are your biggest shaping influences? Larry Ricci was the first guy to let me watch him shape and see how it's "really done". I learned so much and will always be grateful to him for taking time out to show a little punk some of his well guarded secrets. I also learned a ton from Larry Mabile. He and I traveled a lot together and his knowledge about design and board theory is great, I still use a lot of what I learned from him in my boards today.

Where do you see high performance surfing going? I think the acceptance of "alternative construction" and "alternative designs" are and will continue to help surfing evolve. For a long time, high performance only meant a 6'2" thruster. Now I think people are more accepting of different shapes, different materials, and it all leads to a better, more well rounded experience for all of us. We don't all surf likethe top 44, so it's good to see that there is a lot more diversification inthe lineup now to meet everyone's needs and abilities.



Tell us about your bottom contours and what you are trying to accomplish? I'm a firm believer in simplicity. I think the more effectively you can get the water from the nose to the tail, the better you'll be. Ultra deep concaves, channels, hard vees...they look cool, and if done correctly can add cool "flavors" to your surfing...but I think in general it will be the simple, clean flowing lines that will perform better and allow for a more versatile board.



You've been involved for quite a while in wake surfing...how did that start and where do you see it going? Yeah, I've been building wake surfboards for about 5 years now and am seeing a huge influx of people in that sport. There are just so many lakes and rivers out there where people are getting turned on to the sport. Plus, I see a lot of surfers getting into it as a cross training exercise,especially on flat days. Overall, I think its just one more example of how surfing is growing and becoming a main stream sport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmfHZdH__4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cMXQK53WPU

What's special about shaping that keeps you going? I think the main thing is just the stoke of getting someone a new board and having them tell you it's really helped their surfing or it was just right for their trip to some far off location. As a shaper it can be easy to get caught up in the marketing and promotional aspects of growing abusiness but I think the true reward come from our customers and their words of thanks.

What are your favorite surf spots? Despite the crowds, Hawaii will always have a spot in my heart. Not sure what it is about that place but I always have fun there whether the waves are pumping or if it's small and windy....I just feel really at home there. I think there are better waves for sure-but as an all encompassing experience...it's pretty hard to beat Hawaii

Mike, tell us a little about your art? I started pursuing my painting about the same time I started shaping. I find both practices have very similar meditative qualities. Although I don't get to paint as much as I would like to. I just finished a studio in our new house and am excited to have the space to expand in that direction. I know painting will become a larger part of my life as I get older and have a bit more time to devote to it now that my surfboard business is a bit more grounded and developing.

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Late last month Matt and I had a chance to spend the afternoon talking with and interviewing the legendary Bill Shrosbree....


Shros tell us a little bit about the beginning of your career and about your biggest influences:
The beginning for me was when I bought a David Chaney from a guy that surfed Wind and Sea and he shaped boards and balsa boards in the 195o's and made flamenco guitars too. The fin was broken and this friend of mine Walsh, who knew how to fix boards. He put the fin back and showed me how to fix boards and then I started to repair surfboards. Then I started sanding surfboards and then from there when I was about 20, 21 I started shaping with a guy named Wayne Land who was a Wind and Sea guy. A good shaper and he designed the Mickey Dora model.

So he had me glue up and then sand the boards after he leveled them. He’d give me a dollar a board. And then I started with a power plainer and then I shaped my own board. This guy George Lanning helped me out and then Bing (Copeland) walked in and said, "who shaped this board" and I go, "I did"...and he said, "naw you didn't shape this board" and I said, "Yeah I did." Then he looks down at it again and said, "That's pretty good." So then I made another one...a 3 stringer that I didn't do quite as good a job". (laughs)

So then I started shaping at Con's and he had Gary Simmons watch me as I shaped. He showed me more how to use the tools. Then I shaped for Con...and then I left surfing cause I was wondering if it was a bum job so then I went to Palo Alto to do some odd jobs and things up there...but then I called Greg Knoll and he said, yeah to come on down. So I went there and said I'd like to shape boards. He said that I could buff boards and shape.

So then I was getting to shape the Mickey Dora boards…and then the work slowed down. I went to Con and shaped for him again. Then in 1968, I shaped for Bing for awhile then he slowed down so I went to Con again. Then I decided I wanted to go down to Pacific Beach in the summer of 1969 and I went down and worked for Gordon and Smith for about 3 or 4 months till they decided to shrink the amount of their shapers. From there I ended up in San Diego shaping a little bit here and there for small companies…and then went up to Leucadia and shaped for this guy in 1971 called Four Winds. Then I did a few of my own boards until that dried out a little bit and then I met a guy called Sydney Mann who got me shaping for about 13 years for Sunset Surfboards. In the 197o's I was pretty fortunate because a lot of people thought that was one of the best boards on the coast. Larry Gordon thought it was the best board on the coast.

From there I shaped my own label and did a Wayne Lynch Rip Curl model and really about 8 different labels. I met Bill Stewart because he won a board I built in a contest in 1987 in Del Mar… and he won first place. Then he thought he needed a shaper in the future, so I said why don’t you let me do 10 a week. But he wanted me full time. So then I started shaping up there (San Clemente), still doing my own boards but shaping a lot of boards for Stewart from 1987 to 1998.

I was shaping the Jeff Kramer model and the Hydro Hull and in between I shaped a board for Mickey Dora. He said it worked 1,000 times better than the one he had. So then he went out at Swamis and I was on the top of the hill watching him and I said, "1,000 times better without a fin" and he said, "Oh yeah, I hit some guy out there"(laughs).

So then I worked with Velzy too in between…just sanding grooves off and he was fun to work with…for about a year and a half while I was working at Stewart. From there I did my own boards until I started working with Joel Tudor in 2000 to the present…and doing my own label Fresh Pineapple, Surfboards Hawaii, and Hansens. So that's kept me pretty occupied.

Who would you count as your top influences?
Oh Boy, well a guy Tony Schwartz got me surfing and then he introduced to Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith and getting a job with them and renting surfboards with Butch Van Artsdale...Then this guy Andy Soraspee who was really good but didn’t get known. He lent me his balsa board.

Then as far as shapers it’s pretty tough because there's lots of good shapers…but one of them was Terry Martin because it was neat how he just whistled through his work, he was relaxed and could go in there and get a lot of good boards out. You know Bill Stewart, Donald Takayama, Wayne Lynch, George Lanning…there were just so many good shapers back then.

You know they had to go in there and work. It was pretty hard because blanks weren't foiled so much like today…or off a machine. Velzy was an influence putting longer concaves in…there was just a pretty hot pool of guys in California back in the 60's and even up thru now. Jim Phillips today and Steve Clark, Guy Takayama, Skip Frye…there is just all these guys…it’s such a hotbed of talent.

Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship with Velzy?
Velzy was a great guy that you talk to him and he was real positive. He was always, "how ya doing Shros!" He kidded a lot. He was a guy who could just dive in. I remember one time when Stewart was standing there and Velzy came by the shop and Velzy was saying, "Dive in Shros". I think he made Stewart a little nervous cause he was like yeah dive in but be careful. Velzy was aggressive. He'd have a hachet in one hand with a balsa board and he'd be keh!, keh! And I was watching him do it. In no time...and he'd be missing his foot by about a foot and a half...you know it was pretty gnarly. He was just an aggressive guy. He'd wake up a 4:30 in the morning and had the work ethic. He was just strong and get in there with big Rockwell planers...get the wood down...and he had all these tools and kept them sharp. Block planes...you know he wasn't afraid of anything. He'd just go in there and do it.

He made paddle boards, surfboards...so his work ethic was really strong. Again he was up early in the morning…and he was a character and had stories. He had a shop and John Wayne's son would stop by and pick up his board. He had these Hollywood people that were pretty well known stopping by and getting his boards. And all those stories he had like George Burns son surfing Malibu.

There were always stories around Velzy and he just had a good time shaping. You never knew who was going to come by when you were with Velzy. So what he really contributed to my shaping was 4 foot long concaves instead of around 3 on the nose and then that way a guy enters kind of easy and then he goes right into it.

Tell us about the Board you shaped for Dora and your time around him...
Well I shaped his model in 66 and I was kind of learning to shape but he had so many Mickey Dora models going thru that they let me shape them. He had mystic, a mysto guy, you know the public didn't see him too much. He'd be a the beach and you know, surrounded by stories. So one time I had Wayne Land shape a 3 stringer for me cause he'd been shaping longer than me so I asked him, "can I put a Mickey Dora fin on my board?"And he said, "uh yeah, go ahead". So then Mickey Dora comes in the glass shop and sees it and said, "what's the deal. Why's my fin on this board?"(laughs).

The one thing about Mickey Dora where he was way ahead of the curve was that people were putting double 10 (ounce) on each side and were riding a 9'10" surfboard. He was getting 10 ounce on each side and then he as at 9'6" so his boards were shorter and lighter. So I remember a couple good surfers found out and one of them told me don't tell anybody but you should be going with a 9'6" and real light cloth! But I said that I already know that because Mickey told me.

When I met up with him to shape a board for him in 1987 or 1988 he goes, "what size should I go". I said, "maybe 8'8" cause surfboards came back long again. So he had me shape him a narrower board and I might have concaved the deck a little bit and he really liked it. The board he had, I couldn't believe it, it was a Robbie Dick and it had knife rails which is kind of hard to surf (laughs)...and when he rode mine he said this board is a thousand times better...well probably cause the Robbie Dick had knifey rails (laughs). I don't know if he played a joke on him or not.

So Dora was kind of a jokster. You probably heard the Greg Knoll story. Dora goes and orders a bunch of moths and gets them in his house in Beverly Hills. The movies were at Santa Monica Civic back in the old days. It's a Greg Knoll movie and Mickey comes in, in a big black overcoat and sits down. So the movie starts and there’s a lot of people. So the movie is rolling for about 10 minutes and all of a sudden Mickey opens his coat up and all of the moths fly straight to the light from the projector and just shut the movie down cause of all moths. People started yelling,"Where’s the movie. What's the deal". Then everyone starts yelling for their money back. Then Greg Knoll starts walking up from the stage and yells, "I know you're here Mickey. Where are you". Mickey had escaped about three minutes earlier (laughs). So they were kind of pranksters to each other.

So what strikes you as the difference between surfing and shaping now and surfing and shaping back then?
The shapers are real versatile now. Back when I started, when you were shaping 2 to 5 year...that was pretty good. Now some people don't think you have been shaping long if you have been shaping for 2 to 5 years. When I came in it was pretty hard to get in. You had to pretty well hit it right on or, they might give you a little room but then they put you in production. You were under a little more pressure. You really had to click in pretty quick. At first you might get 3 a day and then later 6 a day. Now guys can come in easier now and not have so much pressure but today shapers are just so much more versatile and there are just so many different shapes. One time I did a round tail and square tail and gave it to Dale Dobson and people said ahhh that won't work. I was just trying to do something asymmetric. Then he went out and got second. Then they started looking at the board. Nowadays there is just so much design. Its almost confusing for the public...so many different styles of boards that can do so many different things. Its amazing what's going on. Its pressure and release now with these chips.

On a tape I made in 71 I said was that some day that shapers will know fin design or go to a fin specialist and people will really know how important fins are and that the surfboard will be an instrument that you can put any where you want. That's basically what's happened. Through lightness, thinness, and you can get about any ride you want now...single fin, twin fin, tri fin, quad fin, 5 fin, and so. Today I don't think you can get bored surfing with so many different choices.

Any last thoughts.
I am still stoked to be shaping surfboards, enjoying shaping, and being thankful I can shape. Also I'm pretty happy to have been able to have worked for the good companies and owner...and how they treat you with respect...that people still light up when they get that special board. It's such a neat thing to do. You can go surfing, then come back in and really enjoy shaping and people.

When I was 18 years old and worked for Bing and he'd say thank you Bill, "you are doing a good job." Lots of really nice guy...you know, Greg Knoll saying, "Thanks Bill." You know in construction sometimes they get down on you. In surfing they treat you with a lot of class and respect.
Unidentified on a Shros Fresh Pineapple

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Where do you see the direction of high performance surfboard design going?
It's going in more directions than ever. It's pretty exciting for everyone in surfing. The high performance boards are getting extremely high performance...and those boards are becoming boards that only extremely talented surfers can even ride. It's great because its giving them what they need...speed, mobility, and a vehicle that will match what they can do on a wave.

At the same time we are doing all kinds of fish and small wave boards, quads...boards for mortals which match what they can do and what's making it easy for them to perform at their top level. Surfboard design in general is branching out in different ways all at the same time. It's good because there's more of a variety of surfers out there now.

How are the top pros approaching design?
I think that there are so many nuances in boards now that shapers and surfers are tuned into. Things are much more technical and personalized now. So we are designing more to ability, where they surf, and how someone surfs.

The pros are all really different. Some are really into 1/16" here or there or on the other hand someone might just say I like the way this board surfs which leaves it more up to the shaper to figure it out. Sometimes we will make a few boards and see which one someone likes out of that batch then for the next batch do variations off of the one that was chosen...it's an ongoing continual process.

You have lots of new models out for 2008...which one(s) are most exciting for you?
For the high performance boards I have the PX model. It stands for Performance Extreme" and it's the most technical model in my pro line. It's got a lot of tail rocker...a bit more nose rocker than my Pro II model but a lot more tail rocker and a deep concave that's really accentuated in the fin area. The deep concave and the extreme rocker work together that make the board super technical...really hard to ride but if you are on top of it, super rewarding...fast, super free, and easy to throw the tail over the lip...most of my pro riders are using it now.

Tell us a little about foam in a post Clark world?
The foam we are using now is stronger and lighter and as far as availability there is more good foam available from different sources...so it's a really a healthy situation. The boards now, post Clark, are stronger, lighter, and there are more options...and as far as the companies out there. They've got it pretty wired.

Are your top riders using standard poly boards or EPS?
My top guys are getting maybe 9 poly boards and one EPS board per 10...maybe 2 epoxy boards out of 10 and we've been mostly making those for smaller waves. So a lot of team guys will get one and really like it but not for everything. I personally see that as where things are going (for smaller surf) where you can benefit from a stronger, lighter board.

So where do you see custom surfboard shaping and design going?
It's "strange times" in the surfboard building world. For sure there are a lot more options as far as boards being made out of the country...molded boards, its kind of really all over the place but I think its going to gel and come back to the great shapers making a great product...a handmade product and its going be valued. I see this happening and I think sooner rather than later too.

There are more options now but as people progress more in their surfing. The elite shapers have been doing it forever and really know what they are doing. They have put in their years and really developed their skills through the time honored process of doing board after boards ....and gaining knowledge by doing it. Shapers like this are going to be even more important in the future.

check out all of Doc's new boards including the 2008 models here:
http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=27

posted by Surfboardbuilders

We are still working on some of the navigation but both of the new shapers are up on the site. If you are interested in taking a look at the Ezera boards by Dave Pearson including his new wake surfing line click on this link: http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=34

To take a look at the surfboards by Mike Walker (performance shortboards, fish, and wake surfing boards) click on this link: http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=33

We are super stoked to add both of these shapers!

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Last summer we sat down with a few of the shapers on surfboardbuilders.com to discuss among other things the growth of "pop out" boards. The interview ended up being too hot to get posted or covered in the usual spots....so here it is!

There is a growing concern in the grass roots surf community within America and elsewhere about molded and South Asian imported surfboards and misconceptions about the boards being fueled by high profit and advertising dollars. The blogs have been on it for a couple years but often surfers at large are getting conflicting information. The guys at surfboardbuilders.com sat down with a few top hand shapers to have an open discussion on this topic.

Shapers: Larry Mabile, Michael Andrews, Tim Bessell

Tell us about the beginning?
TB: When this first started, I was approached by a company with production in China. I gave them a board, not mine, to see if they could copy it and they sent me back the two of the most horrific boards I’ve ever seen. I gave one to a team rider and he broke the first board in half the first wave. The second board broke in half about a week later. That was my first and last experience with China. There is absolutely no need for me to go there.

I make surfboards for the love of the craft and because its my life, its my purpose, and I love shaping surfboards everyday. As people becomes more educated they’re going to demand a hand made product…and they rightfully should because it’s far superior.

LM: When this first started it was like this high pressure sales thing. It was like, “hey you have to get on this now. You gotta have these, ‘cause these boards are the future.”

The way it came about truly, I don’t want to say “has been” shapers but guys that were out of the surf scene for a long time. They did not surf or build boards…then all of a sudden with the resurgence of longboards and molded boards with licensing deals they were able to get back into the market on their past laurels…just to make a buck.

Literally many did not shape the board that they are attaching their name to. They had somebody else do it, had a mold made of it, and off they went. It was just advertising and using the past as a way to promote their surfboards. So what you’re getting now from those oversees things is fake…it’s just a fake all the way around.

I could name names and give examples because I’ve seen it. In one recent example the board was made here, shipped back to Thailand, and the mold was made off the board. And like I said it came down to these guys that didn’t even shape the board. They crudely shaped it had someone else finish it up for them. Then it got sent over to China to be reproduced.

Comment on the growth of pop outs and china boards?
MA: In the beginning, initially it wasn’t all that bad….except for quality. Instead of a kid having to go buy a second hand board with 300 dings he could buy something that was clean and at least nicer to look at. Then when they started to get any decent skill surfing then they could move on and buy a higher quality board. It was good because it got more people into the sport. Now it’s changed a bit cause of the advertising.

Right now there are fewer hand shaped boards in shops because of the markup that shops get on Chinese boards. Now some of the shops around here are telling shapers that they have to match Chinese board prices…which is just ludicrous because they (hand shaped boards by master shapers) cost a lot more to make. I guess you can’t blame them. It’s a business. They have to try and make the best margins they can…but this is surfing. The shops need to respect the fact that without shapers they are a boutique.

On quality:
LM: I see a lot of cover ups for manufacturing flaws like fancy colors or a hot coat color just something to cover up flaws.

TB: It’s a double edge sword. The good thing is that they can allow the entry level market to get in at a cheaper rate but with an inferior product. The good thing is that we are going to have more surfers that hopefully we can educate and help them become sophisticated buyers so that there second, third and on boards are the higher quality custom boards make specifically for themselves. Just like what all the top pros have…custom. The biggest problem with China in the long run is going to be a lack of progressive design and then it’s gonna force quality shapers out of the business because of the material and labor differential. So you are abandoning the roots of surfing and buying a Chinese product which is only going to hurt everybody in the industry in the future. It’s very short sighted. The soul and good will of the surfboard would be lost.

MA: They (China) have proven that they can’t get their act together. The quality still sucks, the shapes still suck and its like if they can’t get their act together by now, when are they? I’m definitely not threatened by it. I just wish the retailers would realize that its not all about money. It can’t be. You’ve got to look after the soul of the sport.

What about the term “high performance” often used in ads for these boards?
LM: High performance is a catch word. It’s a marketing term. You aren’t gonna see them say, “buy our new mediocre boards”.

MA: At high performance breaks most guys are still on standard boards. You might see an older guy on an 8’ pop out but for the most part you are not seeing them in the water. Maybe if you are a recreational surfer that goes to the beach a few times a summer but not for the regular surfer.

TB: Many people making boards in south Asia have never seen the ocean. They don’t know how to surf, they don’t give anything back to the surfing world. They only take. When you buy a Chinese board its low quality. Its not built to a master shaper’s specs. Those companies take shapes from shapers and then just spit them back out…and they just don’t have the soul of a handcrafted product made by a shaper/ surfer who can actually shape. Listen, when I shaped my first 5,000 boards I thought I knew everything and learned I didn’t. The same thing has occurred at each level. I do think that once you have built 25,000 boards you really know your craft. That’s when you become a master craftsman. In essence, from China you have novice shapers likely with no feedback from surfing their own shapes or even understanding surfing and often you are paying a premium price.

Most of the great shapers are great surfers. At pipeline your life depends on that board. Are you willing to put your life on the line for a board shaped by someone who has never surfed. You can’t buy or artificially manufacture that experience. The boards from south Asia are just inferior. They don’t have that “x” factor. I mean, if you can get a Ferrari or a Kia for the same price which would you buy?

How seductive is the money:
MA: Yeah the advice coming out of magazines right now is bad. If you have the dollars then you can say whatever you want…they will get into bed with you. Magazines aren’t gonna say, “we don’t want to advertise with you cause it’s a hunk of crap.” There are so many good shapers around. To be honest, I understand guys capitalizing on their name but as a shaper and surfer it just something to make money on but hopefully people understand its inferior to a hand shaped surfboard made by the top guys.

LM: These guys get a royalty check for doing nothing. For going to the beach one day with their molded board and like I said it’s some guys who haven’t shaped in decades capitalizing on their name recognition. It’s not like people are getting something that you actually produce with your own hands. Also, these guys are just getting their royalty check but they are not giving back to surfing. These board manufacturers spend a lot running ads in surf magazines and right now there is lots of bad advice coming out of the magazines. They are swayed editorially by the advertising dollars. It’s bad all the way around…and if this continues where is the innovation? It’s gone. I saw it with the sail board thing. Molded boards killed the whole custom sailboard market around here.

Last words?
MA: Without the people that shape, the possibility of getting a hand shaped board goes away. Getting a new custom board is a highlight. Imagine if in 10-15 years everybody is riding a pop out board and all of the shapers are gone. It would be devastating, I think, to the whole sport.

TB: Hand shaped by a master shaper versus knock off…Do you want an original hand painted Picasso or do you want a print on paper. It’s the same thing with boards. We have hundreds of talented shapers from around the world. You should support those shapers because they are the ones who provided the foundation to this multi billion dollar industry. You don’t want to cut the roots of the tree…because it will die as will the foundation of surfboard design.
LM: I shaped every day by hand. There is no substitute for those years of experience riding, getting feedback, and shaping.

Comment from surfboardbuilders...Does it strike you as funny how the pop out and "new" technology board manufacturers are on a constant mission to create a board that provides the same flex and feel of a poly board?...hmmm

posted by Surfboardbuilders

Back by request is our interview with shaper/big wave rider Gary Linden....

Big Wave Surfing: Insights from surfer/shaper legend Gary Linden
Interview by surfboardbuilders.com
8/24/07
When did you start surfing big waves?
It’s hard to put it into years because riding big waves has always been a state of mind. The size just got bigger and bigger as I got older…but I always wanted to sit outside and catch the biggest wave….even if it was closed out. I just wanted to see if I could get to the bottom.

I was talking with Pat Curran and he said that it was a similar thing for him. He would sit outside. He just wanted to catch the biggest wave. So, I guess to put it a little more direct, the biggest waves I caught up to about 1971 were at Sunzal in El Salvador. I went out on a really big day on a really little board and that was my first exposure to anything huge other than Rincon in 1969…so start early. Big waves can be 6 feet or 50 feet. It’s the biggest thing that comes in… and that’s the drive.

How do things change when you move from normal to big surf?
Well…for anytime you push your limits, going back to that state of mind, it gives you an adrenaline rush. There is that thrill that you aren’t going to make it. And then when you do… The elated sensation when you do accomplish it, or you don’t...but the wipeout is fun too. There’s a rush to surviving that but as you go bigger and bigger the gravity or the feeling of throwing yourself off a building or something…I don’t like to be in high places cause if I get close (to the edge) I want to jump. I mean there is something inside me that wants to experience that. So I’m scared of it but when I ride big waves I can experience that weightlessness…that feeling of just throwing myself over the ledge.

You get to a point where you can’t paddle that fast and it becomes impossible to do that so sometimes when you are at that level (of surf) your looking down and there is only one or two that you might be able to get. At about 40 foot faces it starts to become marginal and about 50 foot it becomes 1 or 2 then over that it’s pretty much impossible to get down (the face) but its basically the same feeling…you can get the same thing if it was your first 6 foot wave at pipeline…where the bottom comes out and you don’t feel like you are going to make it.

So it’s that feeling. You get comfortable at 6 ft. Then you get comfortable at 10 foot. Then you get comfortable at 15 foot. Then you get comfortable at 20 foot. Then you try and get comfortable at 25 foot but no one ever gets comfortable at 30 foot. So you know, you just keep walking up the ladder but you are searching that same feeling. The feeling that you aren’t going to make it and then…you climb Mount Everest …you do it.

What are your favorite big wave spots?
My absolute favorite place for huge waves is Todos Santos cause I’m so comfortable and I have the most experience out there…and it’s probably the least crowded.



Rumor has it you go out there every year on your birthday?

Yeah, every year on my birthday. I’m going to try and keep doing it. I got lucky this year cause two days before was the predicted good swell and I saw that it was probably going to come a little bit later. I like it when there is kind of bad winds, big and nobody out. It turned out to be the biggest day of the year.

If I could surf Waimea with just a few people out that would be next. It has warm water. One day we caught it about 20 feet, about 35 to 40 foot faces with Elijah Young and Cheyne Horan…just the three of us. We had three hours by ourselves and that was incredible. I’ve had one good day at Makaha Point. It’s just like Rincon. It’s probably the best big wave ever but it doesn’t break very often…and then Dungeons in South Africa because it’s such a challenge and I’ve put some time in there.

Tell us about the changes in equipment at that level.
A good board for big waves for me has basically got to have some volume. It’s got to be big and chunky! You are going to be dealing with a lot of power. You aren’t going to be worrying about sinking the rail. You want to have soft edges. Mark Foo told me to make a board for him and he goes, "soften this thing up 'cause I’m not worried about getting speed. I’m worried about landing. I don’t want to catch on anything.” (laughs) You just keep it simple. You want to basically keep a flat bottom with some vee between the fins but I guess neutral in a word would be the best way to describe it.

You also want to have some good tail rocker and I like to have low entry rocker and a lot of tail rocker because I don’t want it (the board) to push me out front (of the wave). I want it to fit in that curve and I’m going to be standing on that tail because I want that nose to be up.

Tell us a little about your experience with Tow In surfing.
I started towing in 1995 with Cheyne and the Willis brothers in Hawaii. I’ve also towed into some big waves in Todos and some at Dungeons. As part of the Billibong Odyssey the most fun was towing in to the Columbia Rivermouth. That was just incredible.

I like it a lot but just don’t have the time to do all of the training necessary. The endurance of going behind a ski that’s going 40 miles per hours….most humans aren’t made for this so you’ve got to spend time in the gym to beef up your leg muscles, your arms, and your back.

Also, I prefer to savor my big waves. It’s going to take me two or three hours to catch 4 waves paddling in. It’s a big accomplishment…like hunting with a bow and arrow. Towing in is like having a gun and having someone run the deer by you (laughs)!

You tow into a wave, your down, you grab the rope, back up and out, towed into one more. You don’t get to rest. I want to remember every wave I paddle into. For me it’s just my position in life. If I had more time, I’d chase more waves tow and paddle. I don’t have anything against it. For me there is just no time for the training necessary.

Hold downs at this level…how do you deal with them?
You’ve got to be able to appreciate the thrill of the experience of being held down. It’s more of an adrenaline rush than making it…when you take that first breath after being held down for so long. If you are afraid of it, you aren’t going to make it. It’s all about relaxing. You have to be able to relax. So if you are prepared for being held down and you are not worried about being held down then it’s just a matter of time.

I worry about hitting my head…getting hit by your board or hitting the bottom. Those are the two dangers. The rest is just a matter of overcoming fear. I had asthma when I was a child so I learned how to relax and not gasp for breath. I mean if you panic when you have asthma it gets worse. If you relax you are going to make it through. Flea has asthma really bad too. It’s basically the same thing. So I’m not stressed about getting air and I’ve been through some long hold downs. You try and get a big breath before and try to not use it. You just try to not panic and try to let it go and ….just relax.

How has surfing big waves affected your shaping?
Surfing big waves has affected my shaping a lot on guns because I’m really confident I can make you a board that works. I think it’s important. If you really want to ride big waves, get a board from someone who has ridden them because it’s a whole different playing field out there. I’m really confident in that.

You know when Dick Brewer makes guns few people know that he used to ride really big waves too. That just carries over (to the shaping room). Jeff Clark makes good guns and rides big waves. It doesn’t take as much shaping ability as much as big wave experience to make a good big wave gun…I don’t think. Some really good shapers that don’t ride big waves, unless they listen really closely make terrible guns.

You can’t just make a high performance shortboard for big waves. You have got to be out there. You just don’t have any idea from your shaping room what its like when you ride a 20 foot wave. It’s a whole different playing field. You can look at something that you think is going to work…when you get out there and you do have the misfortune of catching one (laughs) you just get annihilated! That’s part of the core thing of being a big wave surfer/shaper.