Who does #2 work for?

Well here it is. From start to finish. There are more photos but would probably get boring. Hand shaped start to finish with Stretchs help. He actually hardly touched the board. He helped me when I got into a bit of trouble early on but then spent less and less time with me as time went on. Finally finished it and rode the board this morning.

It actually worked really well. I would have been happy if it worked ok but it worked good. Lol, despite some inperfections. Got a couple fun little shoulder head high lefts this morn on it. I felt more confident on it than I have in a while on other boards and the thing was so fast down the line and turned in the pocket insane. I also really liked the release of the top. It felt really controlled.

Anyways heres some pics of the process.

July Board update

Well had the board for about a week now. Had a few surfs on it in small beach break. First session was about chest high at best super round and hollow little ones. Board felt really fast. The rocker and concave together on the skate model is insane. Planes well but also has a good amount of tail rocker to still turn tight in the pocket. Felt a little corky at times but hard to tell. The waves didn't allow for many turns. Mostly just a couple one hit wonders and a few little closeout tubes. Caught waves really easy, and paddled really well.

Second session was again around chest to shoulder high beach break but a little more ripable. Kinda soft take offs followed by some steeper sections you could hit. Got a few turns in that felt great, but that was all. hard to chase down the good ones, only surfed 3 times in the last two weeks feeling slow. Again paddled and caught waves really well, planed really well over flat spots, and was fast down the line. This time got to turn a bit. Super loose in the pocket...real snappy, with good release. Felt a touch front heavy and again maybe a touch slow rail to rail.

Take away upon first looking at the board and after a few surfs... Too much width. it's 19 3/8 wide at dead center but the skate already has a pretty wide template, although the tail width and shape feels magic. Gotta keep the tail similar but bring the middle and nose width in a bit. maybe by 1/8.

Also too much thickness forward and a little too full of a rail. Problem here is that if I make both changes for august board then i risk loosing a lot of volume at once as well as not really feeling the difference with just one change. Thinking I'm going to focus on removing thickness from the rail on the august board. tuning up the rails may give me the faster rail to rail and more sensitivity and response that im wanting in julys board. Still gonna ride it twice more before ordering augusts board.

Board number 1 July

OK this is board number one of the experiment. 6'0 x 19 3/8 x 2.5. Me..6'0 190lbs 34 years old surfing 19 years. I mostly like surfing beachbreak because I can catch a lot of waves in a short period of time. There are a few reefs I surf, but I'll only put up with the crowd and tight pack of a reef if its a left. Yes I'm goofy.

I've decided to go with the future wct Fin because It suits more of the type of waves I surf on a regular basis. I will only ride each board with those fins to eliminate varibles. This board has a wider over all template. I'm starting with Stretchs Skate model. Its a super low entry like all his boards with and extreme bend from the middle of the board out through the tail. He calls this s1b rocker. with the skate model though you order it 1/4" thicker than you want because he digs out the deep single concave and it gives him more room to work with the over all foil of the board.The single there by lowers the stringer line rocker substantially, but leaves the extreme tail bend out on the rail. Stretches templates and rockers are what draws me back to his boards time and time again. I skated before I surfed so I have a lot of front foot going on and these wide point dead center and extreme tail rockers fit the skateboard feel very well. This one has a modified pulled in tail template from his s2 model ending in a round pin, which has been my favorite tail over the years.

My goal for this board that I'm developing over the next year is a perfect daily driver. A board that will handle almost any condition california can throw at me on a day to day basis. My direction is to go with a board that is my height going off of kellys words..."No one should be riding a board longer than they are tall". But at the same time keeping enough characteristics of a High performance shortboard to be able to push it in the best quality waves I can get in Santa Cruz and all over california really. I decided to go with 19 3/8 bcause that width has been crucial for me when the waves loose some steam from time to time. I'm discovering that width is our friend and when it's put in the right places it can only help you. 2.5 has been my standard thickness since I can remember so stuck with that. However stretch left this one pretty full up front. Just looking at it I'm thinking that will probably be the first tweak but I have to keep an open mind.

My standard shortboard dims before the shorter wider kelly/dane revolution were 6'3 x 18 3/4' x 2.5. So going off of that you can see where I'm trying to go. Havent ridden her yet but shes getting sanded monday, and we have a south coming next week.

www.asurfboardstory.com

So I mentioned this idea of one surfboard a month to a few people and the response has been greater than I thought. My good friend and business partner Kyle Berube has committed to helping document this process visually with video. He and I are setting up a dedicated web site called asurfboardstory.com to create an avenue for people to follow along. I also mentioned this idea to stretch and he's very interested as well.

I feel the need to mention that this idea is totally based off of the idea that I am a very average ability surfer looking to improve my ability through the refinement of equipment. Basically an experiment to see if the average guy can really benefit from having the shaper attention that normally only a pro would get. There by developing a truly custom board that plays to my needs with the help of a world class shaper. I've always wondered if really good surfboards can actually increase the average surfers ability. Some people think no, but I think it definitly can. I've had boards that allow me to not think about the board and actually do things I never thought I could.

So please stay tuned those of you that are interested and we should have this thing, along with the first episode and board within the next couple weeks. Still working out a few kinks in the process. Let me know if you have any ideas or things you would like to see for this experiment.

Science vs. feel

I've been thinking a lot about this over the last year. There are some shapers who stick with scientific theories on hydrodynamics and some that stick with strictly feel and whatever little theories on surfboard building they have picked up on over the years. I've had great boards from both but I constantly wonder which of these two theories will produce better surfboards over time.

The science is proven, at least in how it applies to lift, planing etc..But the right feel can be different for any one person, but when it's on science used to make the board or not, it just makes you surf better. I am on a constant quest for a relationship with a shaper that can have the best of both worlds. Even if my shaper is a good surfer what are the chances he surfs with the same approach I do. It really depends on finding a shaper that listens to you. Thats hard. It also depends on you caring enough to learn about each board you ride and give good feedback to your shaper that is accurate and useful.

I've decided that with how many boards I buy a year Im wasting a lot of money and my surfing isnt getting much better. (Thats probably nothing to do with boards). I randomly select boards from various shapers that will give me a different feel to keep me motivated in my surfing and having fun. It's what keeps me syked on those crappy days, but it's not making me find my "homerun" board. I beleive that Im at least good enough to refine what I already know I like and little by little make it better suited for myself.

So my experiment begins. I'm choosing Stretch to be my shaper. I have a lot of shapers I love. Roberts, Merrick, Bill Johnson, etc. But Stretch listens to me...I may have to argue a bit but ultimitly he believes in me and I in him. He no longer surfs but his science and craftsmanship, plus close proxemity and quick turn around make him an easy choice for me. I'm going to order one board a month and surf nothing else but that board each month. Or at least Im going to try. This blog will be my accountability for this experiment.

I'm starting with a board that will be done next week. a 6'0 x 19 3/8 x 2.5 skate model. I will post pics and reviews of each board and what I'm learning. Im hoping that after a year of this my surfing will have improved...even if only a little and that I will end up with a custom daily driver that I trust in almost any condition SC can throw at me.

I will use the same set of fins on every board to ensure that that varible is gone. I believe my very favorite fin template is most conditions is the future am2.

Let the games begin pics of the new one coming next week.

PICS of the kneeboard from the kneeboard post

Check the shaped in knee dents on the deck. This thing looks pretty sick. If you havent read the first post on this blog go back and read it then view these pics.

Ride what your most comfortable on.

Here's a good story. Most of my friends have heard me tell it. Probably too much actually. So I'm in Samoa with my friend Tim. We had been surfing salani rights for the first two days of our stay there at salani. There was this whole mythical build up of the left that all the boatmen had built up during those first days. Basically it was all this talk of how heavy it is and so on and so forth. On the afternoon of the third day tim and I convince this little brittish dude who was our boatman to take us over to "the left".

OK they were right. It was heavy. Not really beacuse of size, although it was probably 10ft faces but more because of heavy offshores, very shallow reef and a west swell direction that was very unpredictable. I was on a 6'6" which looking back on I needed to get into the wave but didnt need once I was up. Tim was on a 5'11" I think. I got maybe 4 waves that session, all just heart throbbing drops and fast down the line get in get barrelled get out waves. Problem was I was so sketched that I didnt even want the barrel...just the get in get out. Tim got a few, and had the same expericence if I remember correctly.

The next morning we went back for more with the boatman who was a goofy foot and loved the left. It was smaller, but on the boat ride out we were asking him what the best board to ride would be. I think his name was John. John then gave his answer which is probably some of the best advice I've ever had in my entire surfing life. He said, "Ride what your most comfortable on.". Very simple but so true. We then pull up to the left and he pulls out this 6'5" single wing swallow tail. It had to have been a full 2 5/8 thick and maybe even 20" wide. Totally beat board. He told us how it was the only board he had left. He had broken them all. But he was very comfortable on it.

Now tim and I had not seen John surf yet so we were pretty weary that this dude could even get up. John waxes up and paddles out and litterally took us to school on what most good surfers would consider an over sized fish. He got so many deep barrels its was rediculous. He did a few turns that were good considering his board, but his tube riding was flawless.

My take away was that this dude backed what he said. There are a ton of really good surfers in the world that we will never hear anything about. John was just one, but they exisist. Full on expat guys that could compete at least on the qs level maybe ct and you'll never hear anything about them. sSo the next time your curious about what board to ride on a certain day...big or small, "Ride what your most comfortable on."

ps. this pic is salani left taken by the same photog that was there when we were. PSS. That first day I sured it I was paddling back out after one of my waves and a set came in that looked identical to teahpoo. No lie. I later read in an article that Sean Moody compared the place to chopes but actually said he thought it was heavier because it was less predictable.