Learning to surf, a shapers view post 8, or something I’m not sure.

Once you have learned to surf.. that is you can catch waves, stand up, turn and maneuver at least to some extent and actually ride some waves without falling off your board it’s probably safe to say you’ve learned to surf. Maybe you could say you’re an intermediate or advanced beginner.

But do we ever really stop learning? Well yes and no… you may not continue to advance in your surfing skills but you should continue to learn things that are part of the surfing experience. Like knowing when the conditions are suitable for a decent go out. Tides, weather and wind conditions. How your favorite breaks work in different conditions…. There is a lot more to surfing than paddling out and catching waves that when you first start out you have no clue about. But as your time at the beach accumulates your knowledge of the oceans moods should increase.

One of the things that surfers learn now that you didn’t need to know as much when I started surfing is positioning. Sure you need to know positioning as it relates to a line up… knowing where to take off from but, now days it’s nice if you also learn positioning in a crowded line up. Moving around in the pack so you actually can get a few ‘at bats’ will help your wave count. The more waves you ride the more chance you get to try more and more advanced maneuvers. The more waves you ride the more you learn what your capabilities are and how far you can advance.

I realized something this past week about wave count as it related to my own surfing. I’ve been back from Hawaii… on the main land now for four years. Since I’ve been back I’ve surfed longer boards and have focused on how those boards work. Now when the surf has enough juice I’ll ride a shorter board but because I’ve not ridden a shorter more progressive board since leaving Hawaii I’ve forgotten the possibilities of shorter equipment. With out a good solid wave count it takes some time to regain lost abilities and maneuvers of surfing equipment you haven’t used for a time.

So, wave count is important to learning and relearning or regaining forgotten abilities. The more waves you ride the better. The more quality waves you ride the better your odds of advancing your abilities.

D.R.

Travis Riley

How many years will you continue to surf?

When I was young I couldn’t imagine not surfing. Surfing was such a big thing in my life I couldn’t think of being with out it. All the guys around that were core surfers were the same way… there was just no way they would ever think of not surfing.

When you’re young you really don’t have to worry about being in shape for surfing. If you surf a few times a week the surfing itself takes care of your physical conditioning. But as you age… different story. First you may not get a chance to surf on a regular basis. Or, you don’t surf unless there’s enough surf to make a go out worth justifying time spent. People that live some distance from the beach pretty much can only surf when they have half a day for the time it takes traveling to and from the beach and get a decent amount of time in the water.

As you age surfing becomes more and more a physical strain on your body. If you surf a lot and then stop for a time and go back you find out in your first short paddle out how physically demanding surfing can be. Get picked off by a 5 wave head high set and you’ve about had it by the time you get to the line up and will need to rest for several minutes before going after any waves. Especially if you’re 35 to 40 or over.

When I was in my late thirties I had a complete cardio check up. Did the Holter monitor, echo cardiogram, and tread mill stress test. While being prepped for the stress test I was asked if I did any physical stuff and if I thought I was in shape. You sign a release form just in case you have a heart attack. I told the nurse I surfed… she laughed and said ‘ I’ve seen you guys sitting out in the water’. Apparently she’d been to the beach on a small inconsistent day and watched the surfers in the water sitting and thought that’s surfing. They kept dialing the speed of that tread mill up until I was in a full jog and inclined pretty high before they were through…. I hardly broke a sweat. I was much younger then. Doubtful I could repeat that now. But I still surf, just not as much. It’s harder to stay in shape when you are older. You loose your conditioning faster and it takes more time to get it back.

If you take care of your self and make an effort to stay in shape it’s possible to enjoy surfing for a long time though.

D.R.

Photo by David Puu

Making surfboards.. it’s a craft.

Most people have no idea how surfboards are made. No doubt a large percentage of people that surf don’t know how surfboards are made. Granted now days the process of making a surfboard has expanded beyond the old fashioned way but even with that the boards that are molded came from a surfboard that was made the old fashioned way.

The old fashioned way… the traditional way surfboards are made is by hand. Whether you’re looking at a 6’1 X 18” short board with a sanded finish or a 9’6” tanker all shiny with gorgeous color work the surfboard was made by hand by hackers, slackers or seasoned craftsmen.

The process is pretty amazing actually, and the process does involve using VOC’s, a some what none PC item but, even still an amazing thing to do. If you’ve ever seen an unshaped blank and then compare that to a finished surfboard.... Getting the unshaped blank to a nicely foiled well laminated finished board? Most people will scratch their heads and ask ‘How did you do that”

Each step in the process requires its own special skill set and when done right the end result is something that can be seen, held and used for its intended purpose… surfing, even surfing a specific wave and condition. Whether performance surfing or traditional long boarding.

Getting into the surfboard trade is not easy and, with today’s economy even more difficult. One of the remaining craft trades that have no school or formal way of learning so learning the trade comes via mentoring. Finding a shop or label with an open position for work though not impossible, is difficult. Finding a position as a trainee? Very difficult. Surfboard crafting is a very small trade and has always been difficult to break into. You’ve really got to have a heart for it and for those that do, aside from a meager living, it does offer a great life style.

When I first started we kept regular hours, worked hard and surfed after hours and on weekends. Now we work hard and keep the hours we want making time to surf when it is good. Making sure our work is done in a timely manner of course. But each day working with your hands and crafting attractive surf equipment can be very fulfilling.

D.R.

How many surfboards do you need?

I think I’ve said this before… in the old days, like the sixties, most guys had just one board. In perspective there was not much to choose from when the only surfboard was a long board.

As well, when surfboards began to rapidly change most guys only had one board. We didn’t keep them to long though. Selling a board off to buy another newer design every three or five months was normal.

But today with all the different designs how many boards do you need? For a number of years here in Ventura I had a regular tri fin and a single fin long board. Now I’ve got a 9’4, 9’1 and 9’0 in long boards, a 8’0 mid length, a 7’0 stubbie and a 7’0 hull. Do I need all these? No. Do I ride them all? Well… not at the same time! But yes, depending on conditions and mood. I do have a couple other boards but they stay dry.

A week or so ago while surfing one afternoon I found Mary Osborne out in the line up. We got to talking about surfboards… of course. Apparently she has a number of boards some she doesn’t ride but won’t unload them. She said “ Surfboards are like shoes. Women need a lot of shoes. I have a lot of surfboards, I may not ride some of them but, I’ve got options.”

Some people collect boards. Some have a lot because they want to try different designs. And, once you have a number of boards you have trading stock to try newer or different designs.

But now days I think most surfers have two or three boards. If you only ride short boards you’ll have an every day board and a step up maybe. If you only ride long boards you’ll have a cruiser and a performance board. If you ride both long and short you may have a fish and a tanker or who knows how many different styles, shapes and sizes?

Now compared to 45 years ago, you’ve got options.

D.R.

So you want to make a surfboard post 4

There are important points in the shape of a surfboard that are sometimes overlooked in the process of actually shaping a board buy the inexperienced. But if you start with a decent blank the end result will be something that will work good enough. And, since the close of Clark Foam the blank choices are better.

I’ve personally gravitated to just a couple blank companies because my needs are met with them and there is no need to look further. Most of the plugs that are used to make the molds that blanks are made from at the new blank companies are better because they were machined. This means they have even foam distribution and are free from uneven spots often found in the molds of the past. An important item for the beginning craftsmen because shaping a surfboard without lumps and bumps is hard enough. If you have to clean up an uneven blank before starting your shape job… will it does make the process more difficult.

So if you start your shape job by outlining the blank or skinning and milling the blank to thickness is not important. What is important is getting a good outline on your blank. It should have an even curve with out flat spots, unless the flat areas are intended like might be seen in the tail area of some with soft wings.

The way to get a good outline is to start with a good template. Taking great care and time in getting your outline clean and without flaw is the first step in getting your blank outlined well. Once you’ve got your template perfect lay it on your blank and scribe the template outline with a soft lead pencil… a nice neat line. Then cut to that line with a saw leaving just enough foam outside the line to clean up with a sanding block so all you see is the pencil line with no flat spots at anyplace on the blank.

Rule number one in the shaping process is.. no flat spots in the outline. If you have flat spots in your outline when you band and screen in your rails later the flats spot will reflect onto the deck in the form of low spots. So not only will you have a flat spot in your outline but you will also have a low area in the deck crown.

Assuming the blank has the rocker you want in it, after you’ve got the outline dialed you can cut the blank to thickness and then band the rails. As well, if you’ve got a blank that is close to the size board you are making getting to thickness and banding in the rails is a pretty straight forward process with a planer or hand plane.

When you’ve gotten to the final stages of sanding and screening the next important thing is making sure the stringer has a neat clean curve to it…. No flat areas.

Rule number two in the shaping process is… no flat spots in the stringer curve on the deck or bottom of the board. Because the stringer is wood and harder than foam if you have a lump or bump in the stringer it will leave the outlying area of foam with a lump or bump too.

So basically shaping comes down to good outlines and good deck curves and bottom curves. If you look at any of your favorite boards that’s most likely what you will see.

D.R.

‘This used to be a peaceful little town…’ A line from one of my favorite westerns, Silverado. It’s in the final gun fight at the end of the movie where Brian Dennehy and Kevin Kline are about to shoot each other.

Ventura has often been called a sleepy little town. For the surfers of Ventura that was a good thing. My friend Peter would come by at dawn, throw rocks at my upstairs window to wake me for an early morning surf… he wanted someone to surf with, at pipe no less. In 1967 hardly anyone surfed up there. Imagine that!

For the second weekend in a row I went to the beach at around 8 in the morning only to find no where to park. Inside point was full, the free lot was full and the fair grounds 2 dollar lot was full. Geez, and I have a year pass for the $2 lot that cost 75 bucks! No place to park. Well, I could pay $5 and park in the fair grounds main lot.

Last week there was a swell forecast, this week there were two surf events going on at the same time. One at pipe and one at the point. Last week I thought I’d go for a surf but gave it up for the crowd. This week I went to hang at the annual “C” Street contest for the finals. So I parked at Wave Front and walked back to the point. Honestly I never thought that one day there may be no place to park at the point because so many people would be going to the beach to surf…. or in today’s case, hang at a surf event.

There were some 80 contestants in the “C” street contest that included guys in their 70’s. Another thing… I never thought about guys in there 70’s surfing. Another 10 years and it will be me… that’s scary.

I wonder if there will be any places to park in 10 years? Maybe I could get one of those electric carts that I’ve seen a guy run up the promenade with. I could rig up a surfboard rack and putt right up to the sand with all my gear. Yeah, I won’t need no pickin’ parking space.

D.R.

This year each contestant at the "C" street contest was entered in a raffle for the board I made below.

Lists, the best of this the greatest of that. I usually find them interesting, and they usually ruffle some feathers… like why this guy over that guy? Or no way is that guy better than the other guy.

Well Surfer Mag. has a new list… The 50 Greatest Surfers of all Time.

List are seriously subjective, they always have some good stuff and some questionable stuff. You really need to take them with a grain of salt. What’s cool about the Surfer list is that each person on the list has a little write up, story or commentary. I’m taking my time and going through all fifty.

My guess is there are plenty people that have not heard of some of the names on the list. So of course the question would be who’s that guy? how come he’s on the list? I never heard of him. What even a body boarder?... who by the way, has long been considered one of the best surfers on the planet.

The short write up about the list says it was compiled by experts that voted their choice of the top 50 then they got the comments and stories together for the names on the list from the different people that voted. There is lots of history and information well worth reading and looking through.

D.R.

My story post 39.

My first car, bought it from a friend with the money I made from the sale of my high school surfboard business. The year was 1966 the car was a 1961 VW bus… the ultimate surf car.

When you’re a surfer but don’t have your own transportation sometimes you can get really stuck. You can hear of great times at the beach but you weren’t there, or even worse with comments from the guys that got a ride when there was no room for you like, gee you really missed it…. To bad. But after getting my first car, and a surf car at that, I could go to the beach anytime I had enough gas money. Hey, I could take a friend and get them to pay for gas, even better.

Talk about gas money… you needed 21 cents for a gallon then.

So the first thing you do is take out the back seat so there is room for a couple surfboards. Then you lay down some carpet on the floor and make a little area you can lay down in for surf trips. And of course you’ve got to have tunes, so I bought a four track tape player. The car had a radio, the AM kind but having a tape player was cool.

I don’t know where the RIAA was back then, maybe nonexistent because the thing to do was go to a place that made custom tapes, pick out a list of your favorite hit songs and have a custom tape made for a couple bucks. You could buy commercial tapes but the custom ones with the songs you liked… that was better. Nothing better than driving up to your favorite surf spot in your cool surf car and you favorite tunes blasting in stereo. Stanley’s was good for this. Sit there checking the surf, turn to your friend riding shot gun and say ‘let’s go out!’

Yeah, with my new surf car I could do all that and more. I could spend the weekend at Hobsons Park. Motor up Friday evening, surf until dark, build a camp fire, have some grinds, crash in the back of the bus and then surf at first light.

A surfer with wheels.

D.R.

I’ll have to find a picture of my first surf car the next time I visit my mom. The last surf car we had before moving to Kauai below...

Sitting in front of my old shop

In use on a surf/camp trip.

What do you do with a favorite board once it gets pretty well used up?

I think the ideal situation is to unload your boards before they're to far gone to get any resale dollars out of them… but who does that? When you’ve got a board that you really like it just gets surfed and surfed and surfed. Then one day you look at it and realize ‘this things has had it’. Then what?

How come we get so attached? What makes a certain surfboard “magic”? And once we find a board we really like why surf it to death? Well, maybe it’s the only board you have so if you surf it until it dies… understandable. But if it’s not the only board you’ve got? Or why not start looking for another board before your fav has had it so you can at least use an alternative to surf so the favorite board will last a bit longer?

The curious thing about the magic of surfing is that your surf memories have surfboards in them. Those great surf days, the epic sessions, the special surf trips you usually have a certain surfboard that was along for the ride… and you remember the event and the board. Even the pros… when they win a big event the board they rode will be part of the memory.

But when you’ve got to retire a favorite surfboard it’s kind of like part of you is sorry for it. You don’t want to but you’ve got to. Geez, maybe that’s it, maybe I’ll never have another really good board… what if?

Some times you’ve laid off of surfing for a time… maybe years and want to get back. What do you do? Remember that favorite surfboard and try to find one like it. I guess it would be easy if your favorite board was molded. If the model was still in production just go find another one…. It would be the same right?

I’ve been looking at my 8’0 that was the prototype for the model I call the Gadget. I made it in ’02 and it’s not been surfed for some months now because I’ve been working with my stubbie. I really didn’t take notice how used the 8’0 was, I just surfed the heck out of it but got to thinking I should surf it some… then realized I’d just about used that board up…. Bummer!

D.R.

1987, Kauai with a favorite board under arm. I left it with a friend and didn’t go back to surf it until ’92. I surfed it a few times while finishing up a new board, then brought it back to Ventura and sold it off… still in good condition.

How many surfboards need to shaped by an individual before they are considered having credibility?

I find it interesting that numbers seem to be a marker of sorts…. The question is often asked “ how many boards have you shaped?” If I’m asked my immediate thought is ‘who cares’. Honestly I don’t know how many boards I’ve shaped, certainly thousands more than some and thousands less than others.

On a forum thread recently there has been dialogue on shaping a board in X number of minutes… and again my thoughts are ‘who cares?’ I thought it interesting that no one commented on the jewels of knowledge that were in a shaping video that got the “shaping a board in so many minutes” thread going. One was getting the stringer clean with a nice even curve and the other was getting the outline clean without any bumps or flat spots. I’ll leave the explanation on why that’s important for my next ‘so you want to make a surfboard post’.

On another forum thread there was the question “should you buy a surfboard shaped buy a guy that doesn’t surf or… more specifically, has never surfed.” Well guess what? People do it all the time by the container loads. Do you think that the boards being made in China and Thailand are shaped by people that surf… or for that matter, have ever surfed?

Back to the numbers game. If cleaning up a machined shaped blank is considered shaping a surfboard… which it seems is by some… then how many surfboards are being shaped or have been shaped by the people in China and Thailand day in and day out over the past 2, 3, 4, 6 or more years? Think in the tens of thousands upon thousands. So what does it matter how many surfboards you’ve shaped when there are guys that have done tens of thousands more and probably have never surfed?

Just a couple thoughts between surf sessions.

D.R.

The Tip Tool Review.

Today I got to surf some small clean lines at the point on my Tip Tool. I’ve had this board since maybe late April but haven’t found the kind of waves I’d really like to surf it in until today. Not that there haven’t been waves, and I have surfed the board a few times, but I haven’t been able to catch the right conditions when I’ve had time to surf.

The board has a nice swing weight for turning. I knew this but I got to set up a nice left go right on a few occasions in the water today that were smooth and effortless.

Moving from turn to trim has a good feel, the board at 24 inches wide gives you a great stable feel under your feet as you transition a step or two from the tail after setting your turn. Stepping back for small redirects and rail positioning is effortless as well.

Today the waves were standing up nicely on the inside sand bar which is where the fun really stood out for this board… the nose ride. With a name like the Tip Tool it should be no surprise that I’ve designed this board for nose riding, and nose ride it does. When I’ve ridden the board before nose riding was good but today across the inside sand bar the nose riding was great. The board is stable on the nose. It has a very solid feel on the forward third and right on the tip. Depending on wave and wave face positioning the board will stall on the nose as well as trim. I was even able to slide under sections in the forward third too. Going the distance standing right on the tip on a nice stand up wall is such a great feeling…. The Tip Tool does it… I’m stoked!

D.R.

Memories…. Surfer Magazine Vol. 7 Number 6.

Jim Allen came by the shop this past week with this old Surfer Mag. From when the publication was still a Bi-monthly. It says it’s the January issue; cost is 75 cents and has coverage of the ’66 world contest that Nat Young won.

Amazing how your memory can be jogged by looking at something like that. I wonder how much time I spent looking at that magazine back some 43 years ago because I remembered so much of what is in it. I think the ads stand out the most… but some of the pictures too. There’s a 18 frame sequence of David Nuuhiwa’s 10.1 second nose ride from the world contest that made history. Some shots of large Newport Beach barrels and quite a few reader photos that were pretty nice.

The killer thing for me in the mag. is the article about Stanley’s Dinners… written by Arson Herd, photos by Bill Delany. How curios is this… just a week ago Dale aka Arson, whom I haven’t seen in years, came by the shop to say Hi. I had left early so I missed him but he left a nice note. So there’s the article with all the pictures of Stanley’s including the one I have etched in my mind of Pee Wee Shaw that I mentioned in this blog post. And once again I got to see what we’ve all been missing since that spot was destroyed by the freeway and off-ramp.

D.R.

Stanley's from across the PCH

The pic of Steve "Pee Wee" Shaw etched in my memory

Steve with the board he bought Sept 08

The magic of surfing.

What is it about surfing that brings you back for more?

When you’re still in the learning stages is it simply the challenge of mastering the act itself?

Once you get proficient at surfing is it because you still have a move you want to pull off so you keep going back to perfect your moves?

Is there some body chemistry stuff that the physical part of surfing, exercise, that you become addicted to that makes you go back?

Is it the rush from taking a serious pounding and you still over came the situation?

Can it really be just the thrill of the ride?

Honestly I sure don’t know. But, what ever it is sure can get a grip on you and not let go.

This past month I’ve had some great experiences surfing that have only added to my interest of riding waves. One was a day trip to Santa Cruz island surfing that was my first ever trip there. It happen on a day that a nice south swell was peaking so we got some really good surf.

The day started at 4am in Ventura Harbor to board the boat with boards, bodies and gear for the out bound trip. Still dark we left the harbor with the plan of reaching our destination early for a good full day of surfing.

The weather was nice, sunny and warm. Though when we first arrived at the surf spot and set anchor there was still just a little cool in the morning air. So I held back on the boat and let the morning sun warm things up while I watched the surf and planned my go out. Having never surfed the spot I wanted to get a feel for the rhythm of the place and see how the sets worked and how the crowded moved in the lineup.

Finally I could hold back no more, suited up, threw my board off the boat, jumped in after it and paddled over to the lineup. I took it slow… I had all day, but found a few waves and began to settle into the spot. After about an hour and a half I began to realize the sun was baking my face and thought I’d better go back to the boat and add more sun block, which I did.

Sun block, some water and a hand full of crackers… I’d be surprised if it was 15 minutes and I was paddling back to the line up. The sun continued to climb in the sky, the tide continued to fill the reef, the surf continued in size and consistency, the crowd continued to thin out and I continued to have the time of my life.

Finally on my way back to the lineup after another great wave I realized I’d been surfing at least a total of 4 hours and except for the hand full of crackers hadn’t eaten all day and that may be why I was feeling a bit weak. I really didn’t want to stop surfing but I needed to eat before I started getting sick. So I paddled back to the boat.

After getting out of my wet suit and lunch it was late enough to think about the trip back. We pulled up anchor and motored our way around the island, across the channel back to the harbor and home.

It’s easy to think ‘yeah a trip like that will definitely make you want to surf more but what happened yesterday leaves me with the same feeling.

My son called about 5 in the afternoon and asked if I’d like to go for a surf… funny he caught me while I was in the process of getting my gear together for just that. He came, picked me up and we headed for the point.

Yesterday was the second day of a south swell we’ve been having so there was a little surf. Not real organized due to a small wind swell crossing things up in our area but still some head high and slightly larger sets to mess with. And I got lucky, after 30 to 40 minutes in the water I got a great set wave that was perfect for a series of bottom turns, turn backs and snaps that made the go out all time.

That one wave, that one ride will stick in my memory the same as that whole day surf adventure to Santa Cruz…. the magic of surfing.

D.R.

Learning to surf a shaper view post 7

As you progress with you surfing abilities you will develop a certain style. Sometimes we see someone surfing that is advanced and see them enough that we will begin to emulate how they surf. Hand positioning, stance and body language. Over time all that you see with the surfers around you is synthesized into you own unique style.

As an example I know a number of local guys that I’ve surfed with for years. When I walk up to the beach where we all surf and see a crowd of surfers in the water and one of those local guys takes off on a wave I can usually tell who they are by their style. There could be 4 of my friends in the water with a dozen other people but when one of my friends rides a wave I can identify them from the beach by the way they surf.

We all develop a unique style. Maybe it’s a surfing personality, but as you develop your abilities so to does your style of surfing. It may depend on the surf spot you frequent, as well as the kind of board you ride. But, your style will develop along with your abilities.

Since I mentioned the kind of board you ride playing a part in how your style will develop it might be important to understand that sometimes your equipment can be used to get you to surf a certain way.

Personally I think that surfing off of the rail of your board is more pleasing to watch than surfing off the tail of your board. To me longer power moves worked off the rail are more pleasing to look at than short jerky moves from surfing off the tail.

When my son began to advance in his surfing abilities I made him boards that he had to surf off the rail. They were wider tailed boards that if he worked them off the tail he’d spin out and fall. Because he wanted to ride waves as long as possible and not fall he learned how to ride his boards off the rail. And his surfing style developed more as a rail surfer than a tail surfer. As he progressed I made him boards that he could surf off the tail which gave him more maneuverability but because he had a more rail surfing style he didn’t do short jerky moves.

If you want to surf a certain way then watch surfers that surf that way. It may not be smart to get the same board they ride because their equipment may be to advanced for your abilities. But you can get boards to ride that will progress your abilities and style so over time you will have the style of surfing you’d like… uniquely your own.

D.R.

Photo by David Puu

Photo by Matt Riley

Random pictures from the past couple months....

D.R.

So you want to make a surfboard? Post 3

Do the end results of shaping your own board need to be perfect? Definitely not.

As a matter of fact they can be full of lumps and bumps but will still ride fine. The glass job doesn’t need to be perfect either. As long as a lamination is water tight your are good to go. Air in the glass job, dirt, miscellaneous imperfections are only cosmetic. Now days you can take your shaped blank to a lam shop get it glassed and by pass the glassing part altogether.

The most common problems that I’ve seen in home made boards shape wise is in rocker curves. Some to flat, usually because the foam blank is acquired from stripping the glass off of an old board. Some with to much rocker… maybe getting a blank that was glued up with to much curve to begin with or placing the outline on the blank to far forward.

But the end results not being the best usually doesn’t hurt how the board works for you. It may ride even better than something you’ve been riding that was made commercially. Why is that?

There are most likely a number of reasons…

Your stoke level is high because you’ve made you own board.

Because your stoke level is high the imperfects don’t bother you.

Because you’ve made your own board you want it to work for you.

Because you want it to work you try to figure it out.

If you find hang ups with the board you’re still stoked because you made the board.

The reason why you’re still stoked is because you’ve bought boards that had hang-ups.

You reason that because you’ve bought boards that had hang-ups it’s no big deal that the board you made has hang-ups so you continue to try and figure the board you made out. Finally, you’ve figured out what the hang ups are and the way to fix the hang ups is to make another board modified to what you think will solve the hang up problems .

Then the whole cycle starts over again. Welcome to my world forty seven years ago. And notice that most of this is psychological, because surfing is mostly a mental game.

D.R.

Photo by David Puu

So you want to make a surfboard? Post 2

The place you have to start is the core…. the blank. Usually a foam, either polyurethane or EPS, that has been molded or cut specifically for making surfboards. Surfboard blanks come in a range of sizes so getting a blank that will be close to the size of board you plan to make is important. If you are making a 6’6 then you’d get a blank an inch or two longer, as well, if you wanted to make a 9’6 you’d get a blank that was 9’8 in length.

Blanks are molded with what we call a natural rocker that can be adjusted and held in place with the wood stringer that is glued into the length of the blank. Without a stringer blanks can and do loose some rocker and without a stringer it’s very difficult to add or subtract rocker into your shape.

You need the proper tools to shape a surfboard once you’ve gotten a blank. Though an electric plane is what is used in the industry it is possible to use hand planes and sand paper to get the job done.

I generally start with the outline when shaping. A nice curve drawn on the blank from a template that has no flat spots or bumps and can be duplicated on both side of the blank making a symmetrical left and right side is how it’s done. After the outline is drawn on the blank you cut out your outline and true up your cut with a plane and sand paper making sure again that there are not flat spots or bumps in the outline.

After the outline is finished milling your blank to thickness and foil interests is the next step, and the process where the inexperienced and experienced shaper will differ in approach. The inexperienced will simply plane the blank to desired thickness and move on to the next step. However, surfboard blank molds are made from plugs that are oversized in length, width and thickness for a particular sized surfboard. But don’t quite have the exact foil or foam volume distribution for anything but a very generic shape. So the experienced shaper will redistribute the blanks foam volume to get the foil to his liking, both for performance and aesthetic interests.

Because it’s possible to copy a certain board outline and have a nice curve to work with in outlining a surfboard almost anyone if taking their time can put an acceptable plan shape… outline.. on a blank. Getting just the right foil cut into a blank takes much more effort which comes from repetition of the process, the touch and sight that is developed from loads of repetition.

D.R.

Photo by David Puu

I’m a lucky guy post 3.

Today was the first day of summer… and a nice day at that, sunny and pleasant. And, it was father’s day. What seems to be a tradition for fathers day now is my son comes and takes me to the beach to surf, a favorite thing for me is surfing with my son Robin. In 2006 Robin fell while working and broke his hip. He hasn’t surfed much since but is now beginning to get in the water a bit more.

So after breakfast Robin came by, I stuffed my gear and surfboard in his car and off we went looking for waves to ride. There wasn’t much but some small wind swell activity so we looked at the usual spots but didn’t see anything motivational. We even strolled up the beach at Rincon where there were about 20 guys, mostly on long boards, working the small waist high swell that would rap around the point to the inside line up.

Funny we ended up at inside point in Ventura and caught a few of the small waves that would stand up enough on the inside sand bar. There was really no crowd to speak of so we had all the waves we could find. He’d get one, I’d get one, like yoyos in and out having fun together in the water. That’s what I think is a nice father’s day. The only thing better would be to have both my kids at the beach.

Happy father’s day!

D.R.

My two kids Crystal and Robin.

My story post 38

My first surf trip, fall of ’66, a surfer friend of mine asked if I’d like to go to Baja with him.

This guys dad was pretty cool because he had a pickup truck with a camper on it, some what rare for that time period. And, since the guys dad was taking us and would be there for the two day trip it was cool with my folks. I’d never been to Mexico but to go on a surf trip to Baja was a big deal, I had no idea what to expect.

So early Saturday morning, like 4:30a, we head out for the drive to Tijuana, go through the border crossing and head on down the Mexican highway to K38. Just happened to be a couple surf spots at that mile marker that were just off the road.

Actually the spot was K381/2. Make your way off road a short distance through the dirt following a path that cut a line to the edge of the small cliff that over looked the ocean. There it was a small point type reef break that you had to climb down a cliff to get to.

I remember it being over cast and cold with a little bit of surf hitting the reef maybe head high and inconsistent. And I don’t remember anyone else being there…. We had the place to our selves.

Maybe the fact that the surf wasn’t that great was the reason no one else was around or maybe because it was 1966 and there just weren’t that many guys that would make their way past the border to surf. I don’t know but one thing for sure, there was nothing around the place but a little vegetation and dirt.

For camping? This was the real deal. No facilities at all… you had to have everything you needed with you or you went without. Like find a bush to do your business kind. No running water, no fire pits, nothing.

After the long trip and surfing we made a fire to get warmed up and make something hot to eat. I had some peanut butter and bread but for something hot? Pork and Beans! And of course when I stuffed my bag full of all the goodies I thought I would like for the trip I never thought I’d need something to cook my pork and beans in or eat out of for that matter.

Man, what’s a guy suppose to do? Well, I figured, with the help of my friend, I could cut the top off the can of beans and stick the can on the fire. Once the sauce in the can started to boil I figured it was hot enough to eat. Using my towel as a hot pad quickly snatch the can out of the fire without to much damage to my towel, hold the can with my towel and eat the beans right out of the can.

By now it was dark and after the long drive, surfing and food all I could think about was sleeping. The camper was for my friends dad. We got the dirt floor for our sleeping bags and the sky over our heads…. The great out doors.

D.R.

Much better amenities on a surf-camp trip this past week at Leo Carrillo.

So you want to make a surfboard?

I read a line on a forum this past week that said basically ‘a surfboard is something any _______ could make with a few weeks training’.

Is that a true statement? After all I made a surfboard when I was 13 that was good enough for me to learn to surf on. And I’d never seen anyone make one or was ever trained to make a surfboard.

First lets qualify that the board I made started with a blank that was pretty much pre-shaped. I had to cut the blank in half and glue in the stringer but didn’t need to do any real shaping. So I had to laminate the board including the fin, sand and gloss the board after I’d done the prep work on the pre-shaped blank.

Today it’s possible to do about the same thing. If you can get a pre-shaped machined blank and clean up the ridges all you need to do is set fin boxes and laminate the darn thing. Reality is it’s not to difficult to do.

The question is will the end result of the board made by the person with a few weeks training or no training be commercially viable?

Let’s face it, there are plenty things that you or I could do on our own that a professional may do every day. My brother in-law built a good sized addition to his house and he’s no carpenter. He needed a little help lifting some of the heavier framing lumber but that’s about it. I’m not a mechanic but have done some repair work on my own cars, the same kind of work a real mechanic would charge $50 an hour to do. And guys that don’t know much about surfboards or surfboard construction can make a surfboard.

I trained my son how to sand surfboards. After about six months sanding everyday five days a week he’d gotten good enough at it to make a fairly decent wage with few screw ups. To be fair…. He’d been around surfboard work some, and done other related kinds of tasks, but still getting to a sufficient level in six months may seem like at least that part of making a surfboard isn’t to difficult.

Doing clear free lap short board laminating is not that difficult either. One could learn to do that sufficiently in a relatively short time as well. But, getting to the point of doing good color laminations and heavier fabric work. Nice tints and foam stains will take a long time to get down. And, fact is some guys just can’t do it.

Shaping? Easily the most difficult part of making a surfboard, now easily done with a computer controlled machine that allows just about anyone to become an over night shaping sensation. Geez, only about a year ago CI was advertising their need to hire shapers, you only needed a year of shaping experience to qualify for the job.

Honestly it takes a lot of shaping experience to get really good at it. Sure you can clean up a machined blank, though I’ve seen guys mess up a machined blank pretty good. And if you get a 6’3 H and shape the same 6’1 every day in a few months you may get pretty good at making a 6’1 but, any other shape? May not come out to well…

I think it’s cool that people make their own boards, it can be fun. I know I enjoy making surfboards so why wouldn’t anyone else. There is enough information floating around these days that can help make the process much more successful. If only I’d had it so good when I was 13….

But the reality is, to do anything craft or trade related well can take a life time, and making surfboards so no exception. Sure you can get proficient enough in a fairly short time but to get really good? It will take longer.

BTW, I thought what the heck, I’ll apply for that shaping job at CI, filled out the online application and sent my resume. I never got a reply… I think I may have been over qualified!

D.R.