I’ve been looking for a nice quad fish for ages now and in the past several of you have told me to go to Lob
Has anyone ridden any of his fish? How do they ride?
It would definitely be a good option since he’s in my area so to speak.
I haven’t personally ridden one but it seems that the general feedback is pretty good among french riders. BTW, Lob is putting the last touches to a new factory that he’s sharing with two other famous french shapers (if there is such a thing, Lol…), Jérôme Barbe and Gérard Depeyris. I guess he will get even better with a state of the art shop…
They definitely make beautiful looking boards. Craftsmanship and finishing seems very good. I might be traveling to France later this year for work, and have been thinking about possibly buying a board from them (as I’ll be in that area) maybe get a few days surf there, then bring it back home with me.
(I dig these triple stringer les fishes.)
I haven’t had the chance to ride one of his boards, but having met Alex (aka Lob) several times, I like his analytical approach to understanding how a board works.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been thinking about ordering a board in fr for quite a while now.
Balsa, I really like your work!
I’m located 2 hours from France but on the Cote d’Azur side!
The tal on that looks quite pulled in to me, kind of like a MR twinny.
I think I’ve followed Alex’s evolution about as close as anyone here on Sways, since we shape in the same workshop most of the time. As far as accuracy and solid conception of his current shapes go, I have nothing but good things to say. As I am only shaping wood at present, I haven’t hesitated to refer my fish clients to him, and have had only positive feeback from them.
As a final reference, I have one of his fish shapes for myself in the garage waiting for me to finish the glass.
Mahalo.
Interesting Jeffrey. To shape my own board is an idea. To shape it in wood is a dream.
Who knows. Maybe someday.
Getting back to Lob, I’d rather invest my money in a local shaper then get something from overseas. He seems to be a good choice.
Not sure if I was 100% clear. If you’re not going to shape your own, I think that Lob is a great choice. Local is good, and quality local is much better.
Mahalo.
Jeffrey, as an unmuddied lake! I’m going to do both, most likely. Order a fish from Lob AND shape my own.
I want to be sure to have a board that works, so I’d like to order something nice from someone who can build what I want. But I also want to shape my own, in fact that will soon be a thread of it’s own!
Hi
if youre in the area and need somewhere to shape we have a shaping room to hire at our factory
and if we finsh the board for you we dont charge the hire price
just so you know
utopia surf factory
mimizan
Balsa, that was funny. One certainly can’t be in it for the fame here. The new site is looking good. Jérôme is kind enough to let me have my corner, so I’m a lucky guy.
Sorry Jeffrey, I think I forgot you… Actually I didn’t know you were part of this new industrial giant… Have fun!
Actually, I’m not really participating in this new step. Jérôme just gives me a set of keys out of habit. My “production” numbers are so low that they don’t really justify it anymore, heck they don’t really justify calling it production anymore! Lots of other stuff going on as you know, but I sure do love shaping the wood ones. When I have my Linux system figured out well enough, I’ll get some shots posted.
Eutopia, thanks but I think I’m a bit far. I’m thinking of using my balcony to shape a board and then find a glasser. A while back a friend of mine was vacuum glassing kiteboards. Maybe he can do it for me.
Words go fast and even if i’m not too much into swaylocks and so on, i’ve been told someone spoke about my small adventure.
First of all, thank’s a lot to all of you people for the kind words about my shapes, i really appreciate this.
There is not much to say but this: eversince i started shaping, (should i say swaylocks was more than helpfull in the first days and since then ?) i’ve been trying all my best.
I decided to focus on shapes and shapes only and work with 2 different crews of glassers, depending on the job i wait for.
So far, i’ve reached about 300 boards (only started -officaly- april 2006) and almost as many satisfied surfers… considering the number of boards shaped.
I try and give as much time as a surfboard needs to be finetuned with the surfer ordering it.
I may not have shaped as many boards as Rich Pavel, Terry Martin or Chris Chirstenson or any other “guru”-“master” shaper but i can tell i really give the best i can each time i grab my planner.
Shape wise I just feel like i have to climb the everest and just landed in Katmandu… there is so much to be done again.
But at least, i landed in Katmandu 
Anyway, thank’s again for all the super messages from you all.
Mahalo should say Jeffrey
Speak of the devil!