If you think about surfboard design and are motivated to work through a certain design idea then being able to make your own surfboard is nice.

I consider myself fortunate that making surfboards is what I do. Being able to make a surfboard with some certain design elements and then go surf the board can be inspiring. Having a plethora of outlines accumulated over the years can make putting a new design together almost effortless. At least if the curves you're interested in match up nicely.

It's best to work off of something you're familiar with. So when I was asked to make a mid length performance type board that's not egg shaped or have a round nose I first thought of my Gadget model because of it's performance characteristics. But I would need to get a narrow nose on the front end.

So I got to thinking about another favorite performance board that runs about the same over all width with a narrow nose. It's a board that I surfed while living on Kauai and made for a number of guys there. Sure enough, this boards front end lined up very well with the Gadget back end. So using the Gadget profile and blending the two outlines together I came up with a new shape.

And as usual I didn't want to let the board go when it was finished. But it was promised to my friend Bob. Plus he wanted the board to be a tri fin. I've got ideas on making one for myself now but with a completely new fin set up I've been dreaming about.

More on that later.

D.R.