To most guys it’s all about the shape…. And a board should be shaped well, though a not so perfectly shaped board still can ride very well.

But take a well shaped board and do a lousy lamination and that nice shaped board is not as nice. It may ride great but the lamination is a distraction. Take a well shaped board and combine it with a killer lamination and you’ve got a really nice surfboard.

Doing something different with the shape of a surfboard is not easy.  Doing something different in the lamination process is not easy either.  Being unique is hard… it takes a fair amount of thought, and work.

So I’m working on a couple boards in the laminating process and I have an idea. I can see what I’d like this one new board to look like, or the way I’d like to color it but the application is tricky.  I’ve spent at least a couple hours trying to figure out how I’m going to get the look I want.

You’d think making my first surfboard 50 years ago and making them ever since I’d not have anything to think about when it comes to the process. Surfing is a never ending search, about finding new places on the wave face or off the wave face or just getting to be a better surfer.  And, for some, crafting surfboards is a never ending process… really the art craft part of it.

Well, I think I’ve figured out how to do what I want to do to make this new board color thing.  I’ll probably be the only guy that knows it’s uniquely different… because it won’t really look like much.  And that really doesn’t matter, because I’ll be content that I’ve done something different… again.

D.R.



  

There are a some surfboards with square noses and of course there is the square tail… a short straight area, but really the only straight thing in a surfboard is the stringer.

Did you ever wonder about that? The only straight line in a surfboard is the stringer…  not counting the odd diamond shaped rails seen on a few boards out there.  Rockers are curves, outlines are curves, decks are curves. Now bottoms can be flat from rail to rail but usually this is only a small area, because the bottom will also incorporate Vees, roll or concaves.

The stringer in foam boards help the board from flexing past its breaking point. We want the board to flex but without a stringer they will break too easily. As well, the stringer will give the board a stiffer feel or flex which can be a good thing for overall performance. I make boards with specific stringer sizes and or placement for specific performance characteristics.

I’ve been making and riding boards with perimeter stringers now for 3 or 4 years.  They ride really well.  A soft flex, not as stiff, more lively.  So how about a board with a lighter or narrow center, straight stringer and perimeter stringers too.  On a long board it would be the contemporary equivalent of the traditional 3 stringer board.

D.R.

 





You find something you like, you buy the thing you like, because you like it.  Then, you go back for more, all be it a couple years later and the thing you like has changed.

I hate that!  A nice Tee shirt doesn’t need to change does it?  I’ve got a nice Tee shirt, well made, very good cut and fit.  Then I get a couple new ones from my wife for Christmas and the new ones don’t fit the same.  The sleeves are shorter, the neck is a bit tight and the fit across the back shoulders is funky.  It’s a $25 shirt for crying out loud!

So I think where was the new one made? I look at the label… Haiti it says. I look at the label of the older nice fitting one… Made in Mexico it says.  So what? The same patterns can’t be used at both places? Ok, I don’t get it.

I’m told that FCS is coming out with a new fin system.  Something wrong with the old one?  Or the old, old one.  Well the old, old one is still available… that’s nice.  But now a new, new one?  The new one has only been available for about 4 years I think. Now another new one?  So now we’ve got to retool and retrain for another system.  I don’t get it.

So, one of the board models I make was first introduced in 1966.  I still make it now…so it’s 47 years old.  I’ve gotten better at making it but it’s still the same board. If it works, done fix it!  I get that.

 D.R.

 

 

 

I’ve been making my hulls since 1969. I’m not going to fix them either.