I'm reading a couple articles in an old Surf Guide magazine from April 1964, and find some really great quotes.... here's one.

 " I can remember camping under the pier for two or three days, completely engrossed in the miseries of learning to surf."

After learning to surf and advancing your abilities you tend to forget what it took to get where you are.  That line really says a lot about what we forget. Like being so excited to be able to carry a surfboard into the ocean, fumbling around on the darn thing attempting to paddle with some kind of control. Being knocked around by the surf. And then trying your hardest to catch a wave... just one wave.

Then you finally get one and try to get to your feet only to fall. Eventually you get a couple more and actually get to your feet for a couple seconds... After that you are completely hooked, and determined that 'you can get this'. 

At the end of the day you're really tired but really pumped. "Tomorrow I'm going to do it again". And you do. Pretty soon you can catch a wave and angle down the line. On you go until you forget.... "the miseries of learning to surf".

D.R.

After 50 years it's still a challenge to shape a surfboard. Or maybe I should say after shaping thousands of surfboards the next one I shape will still be a challenge.

Shaping one surfboard after another after another.... the challenge for the production shaper used to be making all the same cuts over and over again to maintain consistency. Now that consistency is done by a CNC cut.

The low numbers guy that doesn't use CNC... consistency can be a challenge. Now that I'm a low numbers kind of guy the challenge for me is getting those fine details of my shapes to look just the way I'd like them to look.

No 'oops', can't have any 'oops'. Like darn it I just pulled a little to much foam off that rail band. Or, thinking you've pulled enough foam off and after the board is glassed you look and think darn it, I should have pulled a little more foam of the tail.  You know the saying... "the devil is in the details". Well, the details can drive a guy nuts.

I like the challenge. I was talking with one of the local shapers this past week. He was telling me having a board CNC cut is great. You can make a board for a guy save the file and a year later make the same "exact" board again when the guy comes back for another board. That's great for him, he does a lot of boards. Me... I don't make a lot of boards and find no real challenge fine shaping a CNC cut.  They're nice but, cleaning them up can be a bit boring. And besides I know how to replicate.

It is hard work getting a surfboard file just right for a CNC cut though. And, to get the details just right it's possible to go through 3 or 4  cut blanks to reach just the right shape so all the details are what you like. And that's the challenge... even with CNC cuts, getting the details of your shape just right.

One way or another, getting your shape to look just the way you'd like can be a real challenge. And when you're finished with the shape and all the details are just right... the challenge met becomes satisfaction.

D.R.