Ok, maybe I’m just nuts… actually I am nuts, I make surfboards! But I think shaping a surfboard has been redefined. Because it seems from this article on Surfline that shaping a surfboard has nothing to do with what has always been considered shaping. Now using a CAD program is shaping according to the author.

I just don’t get that. Using a computer to “shape” a surfboard? If you’re using a CAD program to “shape” your surfboard then shouldn’t the program be labeled CAS? And then of course it would be right to call hand shaping HAS. If CAD is computer aided design. Then CAS would be computer aided shaping… right? And then HAS would be hand aided shaping.

When you “design” something with a CAD program you also usually use a CNC machine to actually make the something that you “designed” in CAD.

CNC = computer numerical control. The machines that “cut” blanks that have been “designed” in CAD are CNC machines or …specifically a computer "controller" that reads coded instructions and drives a machine tool, a powered mechanical device typically used to fabricate components by the selective removal of material.

The machines that “cut” blanks into surfboards selectively remove material. You know what? That’s what a “shaper” does when shaping a blank… selectively removes material from the blank.

When you “design” a surfboard with a CAD program you are not removing any material. I think one needs to be removing material to be “shaping.” Sure you can take a little volume out or make an outline change to your over all surfboard “design”. As a matter of fact, you can add more volume and make your outline wider if you decide to. Try doing that after the “material” has been removed. You can’t add “material” when you are actually “shaping.”

Ok, no I don’t have a problem with “shaping” machines. I have and do work for guys that machine cut blanks. From time to time I have boards cut. But I don’t think it’s time to call using a CAD program to “design” a surfboard “shaping”… yet.

D.R.

My serious face... nicked from Surfer... obviously

Replicating is a lot easier with a cnc shaping machine than by hand shaping.

It is possible to be pretty accurate replicating a surfboard by hand. It will take some time, making sure all your cuts are right, checking rocker curves, deck crown, rail profiles etc. But, in the end you can be right there with making one board the same as the other.

To replicate a board with a machine you can either scan the board you’d like to replicate with the machine… if the machine as that capability or, you map the board and input the numbers into the software program and build your computer surfboard file that way.

Basically mapping a board for program entry is the same as mapping a board for replicating by hand. You make a list of all the particulars… numbers… of the board like rocker, what the rocker curve is like at the nose tip, at 6 inches from the tip, 12 inches etc. Then the same for the tail. What the various measurements are of the outline or plan shape. Like width at center, 12 inches from nose and tail, 18 inches from nose and tail and so on. Rail apex point at different potions along the boards length as well as thickness at 6 inch intervals down the length of the board.

Once you’ve got all your numbers then you input them into your computer program and build your computer model for the machine to replicate. If you hand shape you reference all your numbers as you work through your shaping process.

In the end whether you hand shape or use a machine you have your board. The one thing you don’t have when you hand shape is knowing what the over all volume of your board is. When using a computer program you get that information.

D.R.

Balance

You always hated to fall off your board, because it meant you were in for a swim, and possibly to the beach to fetch your board. Sometimes, depending on where you were surfing, your board could end up on the rocks. Almost guaranteeing a ding or two.

Paddling out you had to give it everything you had to hold onto your board if you had to push through a wave or two on your way out to the line up. There is nothing worse than having your board ripped from your hands on the way out, especially if you just got in the water and haven’t even caught a wave yet. Like ‘dang, I haven’t even reached the line up and I’ve got to swim for my board.’

So the smart surfer would always pay attention to the surf. You’d do your best to time your go out between sets. Scramble hard to get to the line up so as not to get picked off. As well, you could plan your paddle out so as not to reach the impact zone when a set wave was on coming. Slow paddle or just sit on the inside and let the wave’s energy diminish some before it reaches you. I even would paddle inside a little to get away from an impact zone if it looked like I was not going to get picked off.

I never forgot getting picked off on a good sized wave at D and W. I tried my hardest to hold onto my board but the wave just laughed at me. Ripped my board away, tossed me around like a rag doll and left me to swim. When I reached the beach I couldn’t find my board… until I looked up on the jetty. There it was resting on top off that pile of rocks. So I always did what needed to be done to keep my board from getting away from me.

Of course sometimes you just get stuck. And, of course now days you’ve got your board velcroed to your leg.. so no need worry about loosing your board. Never mind if you ditch your board on your way out… unless someone else gets stuck by your board… but when does that happen?

My son told me the guy we work with at Patagonia FCD, Cyrus, got stuck by a ditched board. It happened last week. I haven’t seen Cyrus yet but was told the board busted his nose and left him with stitches in his head.

Slip off your board, hold your nose and submerge yourself… from what? Wake up and smell the salty air, and act like you don’t have your board tethered to your leg. Think, plan and hold on tight.

D.R.

http://vimeo.com/34903457

The closest I’d ever gotten to Harold Iggy was when he paddled by me at Malibu one day when the Weber crew were on a surf day from work because there was a good south swell in the water.

I was a teenager, he was about 8 years older than I, so he was in his twenties. Of course I knew he was Weber’s shaper, which is why he was surfing with Weber when they’d show up at Malibu on a good swell. But he could surf well too. Weber was a good surfer as well, so when they came to Malibu they just took over… you didn’t drop in on those guys.

They’d get the good set waves, ride them all the way down the point, pull out and paddle back to the top on the point only in time for another good set wave. It didn’t matter who was waiting for a good set wave. They would just paddle for the waves they wanted and that was that.

Dewey Weber surf boards was a big label. I always thought they were cool boards. And, because Harold Iggy shaped them I always thought he was one of the best shapers. One day I visited the Weber store and after hanging in the store for awhile looking at the surfboards I walked out of the store and ended up walking around the back of the building. To my surprise, I happened on to Iggy’s shaping bay, with him there mowing foam.

Either nobody saw me or nobody cared I was there… I wasn’t in anyone’s way standing off a distance. But I was in a dream, watching the guy I wished I could be, shaping surfboards for one of the big names. At that time I’d maybe made a few boards, and because I was self taught I’d never really seen anyone shape a surfboard before. I’m not sure how long I stood there, if someone finally came and told me to beat it or after a time I thought I should go before I got in some kind of trouble…. Really can’t remember.. I was in a trance the whole time.

A few years later when I was working with the Wilderness guys I got real close to one of the boards Harold shaped for Nat Young. Nat surfed for Weber in 1969 and when ever Nat was in California he’d come up and visit Mike Cundith… Nat and Mike were good buddies.

Well, Nat had gotten this new board that he was really stoked about and brought it up to the Wilderness shop one day. Mike liked the looks of the board so he asked me to shape him one. So I took Nat’s board, nicked the outline, set the board in my shaping bay, got a blank and replicated the board Harold Iggy shaped for Nat.

Nat would rave about how good Harold Iggy could shape, and for good reason of course. Nat said Harold was so good at getting his rails perfect. So here I am replicating an Iggy shape and Nat would come into my room and check the board to see how I was doing. I think Harold Iggy is one of the best shapers ever, I’m copying one of his boards, that he shaped for one of the best surfers in the world. That best surfer is in my shaping bay checking my work… talk about nerve racking!

Harold Iggy passed away this week, very sad to hear about. He no doubt impacted many, many lives. Mine included, even from a distance. One of my heroes now gone.

RIP Harold Iggy.

D.R.

There were a few big names in surfing around the southern California coast in the mid sixties when I was first a kook, then a grom and eventually an OK surfer. Surfers with a name in my neck of the woods would show up at the beach and of course heads would turn. It wouldn’t happen too often but I remember when it did.

Back then working in a surf shop making surfboards was like a regular job. You showed up for work everyday at 8 a.m. and put in your 8 hours. Unless the surf was really good, you didn’t go off and surf or just take off and go to the beach… you showed up for work and did what was required like any other job.

But, sometimes the surf was really good, that’s when the shop would shut down and the crew would go surfing… usually the whole crew. I remember a couple summer days at Malibu when there was a good swell and here comes Dewey Weber and his crew in the middle of the day. I can remember a couple times being at Rincon and seeing Renny Yater, or Bob Cooper. I was a teenager, these guys were the old guys, like 10 years older the me.

Then I got a job at the surf shop, still a teenager but, with a regular job. And a few times there would be a good swell and the shop would stop and go surfing. That was a treat, going to the beach with Tom Morey and the crew and getting some good surf.

Seeing Morey in the water heads would turn. He was a good surfer, not really a hotdoger, but had great wave knowledge and would draw nice lines with causal style. He never fell and would make every wave. Inspiring to watch. I was young, he seemed… old, smart, knowledgeable like he had a plan and was executing it. He was my boss so at work, I was at his command. In the water? He was more than my boss, he had the respect of everyone. He was the guy in the water, I was just a guy in the lineup, stoked to be out there, but just a guy in the lineup… and watching Morey like the rest.

It seemed the older guys in surfing back then were the guys that made surfboards. And back then the older guys were in their late twenties and early thirties. That’s hardly old, but to a teenager it seemed old.

Except for golf or bowling maybe, most sports are populated with young people. Surfing is no different. In the sixties when surfing started getting popular it was a very young sport so there weren’t too many older people doing it.

Now it’s quite different, there are people much older than 30 in the water everyday, and not just when the surf shop has gone out for a surf break because there is a good swell in the water. Some guys liked surfing enough when they were teenagers to say they’d surf for the rest of their lives…. Now they are doing just that!

D.R.

Designing a surfboard doesn’t take much.

All you need is a free software program and several hours figuring out how to use it. Borrow one of the surfboard files available with the program to make your learning curve shorter and you are on your way.

After you’ve got your surfboard file finished just give it to the cutting house and get your new surfboard design machined… at the fine setting of course, so you don’t have to much work to do getting your new surfboard sanded and ready for glassing.

Now you can’t glass your board yourself so you take your finished blank to the local lam shop and hand in your board for glassing.

About a week later you get a call from the lam shop and think… wow those guys are fast… but instead you hear the guy from the lam shop say “ you didn’t mark your fin lay out “. You say “ oh I didn’t know I needed to do that “

He says “ yes, it’s your board, we simply cut the fin boxes on the shapers marks”.

You say “Well, can you put the marks on the board for me”?

He says “no, I don’t know where you want them”

You say “ Put them where you normally would”

He says “I normally put them on the shapers marks, where ever they are. So you need to come in and mark where you want the fins”.

You don’t know fin lay out … even though that’s part of surfboard design. So now what?

Who knew?… fin lay out is a major thing, fin lay out can and will greatly effect how a surfboard performs. Sure put the fins anywhere, the board will still surf ok but, put them in the optimum place and the board will perform much better.

Surfboard design is more than a computer program, computer file and a blank.

D.R.

Random thoughts.

I hadn’t been sleeping very well this past week, always waking up in the middle of the night. The night of the day I surfed… no more insomnia.

Surfing takes care of insomnia.

How come the minute you say I’ll get one more wave and go in the sets just stop?

You get to the beach, there’s some nice surf and it isn’t crowded. You’re stoked, get suited up, paddle out get to the line up turn around and look at the beach only to see 20 guys getting ready to paddle out.

You find a ding in your board and have no idea how it got there.

You sit and wait your turn for a good set wave. You are in perfect position, turn around stroke into the wave, drop to the bottom set your edge and see 3 guys paddling right in your line of flight… messing your whole trip.

There’s a kook in the water that you see trying to catch waves but never can. So, the one time you decide to quickly turn around and paddle into a wave he’s trying for he actually catches… you’re behind him and he can only go straight.

The south wind picks up right when you’re walking to the waters edge for a go out. Note, in Southern California south winds blow out most spots, period.

You get to the beach and can’t find your towel.

Your board is as slippery as snot and you have no wax.

You don’t surf with a leash and fall on your first wave. No beg deal, because your board popped out of the wave and is close by but, then the next wave takes it all the way to the beach just before you get to it.

It’s better to have one board you really like than 2 that are just OK.

It’s hard to have a good time in the water if you’re not relaxed.

D.R.

Tim Nesbit riding a Stubbie Quad