Question…. Is making surfboards thought to be fun? Are
those that make surfboards for a living thought to have the dream job?
I couldn’t say it’s the dream job or that it’s fun.
The one thing it is though is hard work. And like any other kind of work you’re
always best off if you like doing whatever it is. Same with surfboards because
it is hard work as well as dirty, dusty, sticky, smelly and hazardous. Can’t do
it sitting down either, because it’s an all day on your feet deal.
Most people that work surfboards work at contract
lamination shops, unless what ever surfboard label one is working for has it’s
own fully equipped production set up. Shaping, laminating, packaging, maybe
even sales. For the most part each person that works in these facilities has
one job. It could be shaping, laminating, setting fins or sanding, that’s all
they do all day long.
By trade I’m a production shaper. Stick a surfboard
blank in my shaping bay and I’d cut it into a surfboard…. All day every day.
It’s hard work physically because you're on your feet and walking around the
blank with power tools and hand tools until each board you work on is finished.
It’s also hard work mentally because you’ve got to make all the right cuts and
moves to have the board you’re shaping come out the way it’s supposed to.
Making a mistake can be a real problem.
That said, each task of making surfboards is not easy and
takes time to get proficient at, not to mention at least a half dozen years to
get good at. Laminating, sanding, doing color work. Really doesn’t matter it
all takes a developed skill. It’s repetitious and both physical work and has
its challenging moments mentally.
If you’d like to work making surfboards, you may need
to be particularly lucky. I know I was. I learned on my own while in high
school with my own small surfboard repair business where I also made surfboards
start to finish. Not many mind you but, with that I was able to learn and
develop enough skills that could be used on a resume to get a job making them.
After moving to Ventura where there were a couple surfboard shops, I got hired
on part time at one where I shaped and did some laminating. Then I got hired shaping for the one company that could move me into a career as a shaper….
which it did. Day after day, shaping, shaping, shaping.
The nice thing about that job was after work. The
foreman, the sales guy and one of the other guys that glossed and did other odds
and ends stuff and I would all go surf together. That may be the fun part about
making surfboards, working with people like minded about surfing. Not just
working together making surfboards but surfing together too.
The memories that you get from surfing with friends
that you also work with can stick with you for a lifetime. I say that because
I’ve got them. Not just from that first production shaping job but all the
other places I’ve work at in
Yeah, making surfboards is hard work But there are
some benefits too.
D.R.
