I just wanted to throw my thanks out to the whole Swaylocks team again for unsoftening my hands.
I found this site back in August while looking for some resources to improve my meager ding repair skills. Over the course of five months I have absorbed ridiculous amounts of knowledge and lurk this site on a daily basis. I would never have realistically considered shaping a board and fins without this incredible community of givers.
Steve Lis style fish (I wanted to start with something no one had done before 
)
)5’8" x 2 3/4" x 21"
That pic doesnt really do it justice. Drove the VW Bus down to Baja for two weeks immediately after my hotcoat cured. Sanded the hotcoat and fished along the way…Salsipuedes…San Antonio Del Mar…Punta Baja (What the hell was I doing there?). found some nice peaks but nothing to jot down.
Got to “The Wall”, and I was the only goofy foot there and had the left all to myself for two days. I was blown away. On the very first wave I stepped on the tail when i popped up because I am used to 6’3" boards - whoops! Other than that I absolutely fell in love with the speed and swoop of this board. When the tide came up the left stopped working, so i pulled out the log and hopped over to Fibbers for some nice peelers, but I could not stop thinking about my first session on my first board. I managed to destroy my leash loop on the second session, so I need to put on a new one. I dream about those waves and those rides. It’s really not that tough to build a board. Of course this thing looks like a first board and I am a total novice surfer, but the stoke is there. I still havent finished sanding it, and waxing an unsanded hotcoat is a chore!
Here’s the thank you list…
Bert - showing me how to make my own fins
Doc - ding repair guru!
Bill Barnfield - Techniques for everything, rail bands especially
Kokua - immense help with glassing and resin ratios + techniques.
Benny - For suggesting blanks and inspiration
Rooster - Fin templates! thanks! and encouraging the DIY mentality
Oldy - Sweet thread lit a fire under my ass
Thrailkill, Halcyon, Soulstice, LeeDD, Chipfish, Matt, John Mellor, Keith Melville, Oneula, Haavard, HERB, Janklow, Ambrose, Wood Ogre, Lokbox, TomBloke, Hicksy, Reverb, Beerfan, AustinS, Acolyte of Trim, to name a few.
Mollusk Surf Shop for making me drool over Fish!
The 1977 Surfboard Construction book
I can’t wait for #02…I am thinking about a 5’10" Single fin that I templated. Also templated a quad speed fish. I even got my old college roommate/surf buddy into shaping! Thanks again, this came at a good time in my life - though I can’t imagine thinking there could be a bad time.
Kelby
