Can anyone comment on the Weber performer model, the board and how it rides. The demmensions seem a little big when compaired to other longboards. Also does wooden nose and tail block do anything
other than create extra wiehght and look good.
The extra weight, of nose and tailblocks, is meaningless. The looking good part, depends on the workmanship and wood quality.
shouldn’t ding as easily as foam
Otterdog,
are you asking about the original or the the ones they are making today?
I don’t recall ever seeing a Performer with wood nose or tailblocks. Also, the main difference with wood ‘blocks’ is that you have to fix any dings in them right away, before they start sucking water.
The Performer I had was a 10’ with a big Weber Hatchet fin, and it was one of the stiffest longboards I have ever ridden. Seemed to stick everywhere. Hard to ride.
otterdog04,
The Weber "performer" ran basically into three boards, a photo would help. The first Performer was narrower and typically had a "baby tee band" and redwood foam tail block. The second two 1/4" redwood stringers and redwood foam tail block, the last had a 2" balsa stringer and no tail block. Unless this is an old "show, ad or custom. Love to see photo.
Oh, almost forgot, "how did they ride”? Well I could just say well, but if you know me. The first board 65-66 was a board that advertised a parallel rail design had a very slightly wider nose with a slightly round (under the nose) and was thin and of course had the “hatchet fin” glassed in. Although Weber advertised a removable polypropylene fin, well I never saw one. The board surfed well for that period the best attribute was its speed. Got the Weber cuz of where I hung out and in retrospect, shouda got a Hansen/Doyle 50/50! The next Performer came in three rockers and width, the board rode was the “Super scoop” now this was a nose rider! The nose was thin with almost knife rails about 50/50 in the middle and slightly knifed rails to the tail. Rode mostly Malibu and on bigger days at 2nd point, it was surprisingly stable also rode my first large waves at Overhead on it. The key was to fade and (standing just behind center) just lay it on the edge and deal with the “off the top” what we call “climbs and drops”. The fin was moved forward and the board became a turner. The last Performer was typically a single layer of 10oz. and ridden shorter, these boards where wide, Weber couldn’t get his arm around 'em and developed a hip hold, (HA). This version was probably the best and it had the W.A.V.E. SET fin system which allowed for a variety of fins, loved the Greenough Stage 3. The rocker was more relaxed in the nose and the rails mellowed and really at that time for me nose riding was old-school, it was just crank it and now we are back to the 50/50.
Photo’s please
Aloha.
Sammy’s right about the tail blocks, but I do remember seeing hi-density foam tail blocks on some of the later versions, and ---- I don’t think I’ve ever seen a redwood foam tailblock. The later 65 or so versions were better. I had a friend with one of the narrow versions. It was a tube ridin’ machine. Iggy was probably shaping most of them at the time and he also had his own “Iggy” Model. I like the ones from the 90’s and 2000’s. More refined and classic lines. Okeefe — I think. Aloha Glassing was doing a lot of the new ones over the last few years.
The Performer I had was shaped by Shrosbree.
McDing,
Here is a O’Keefe shaped Performer, #4907 10’ - 24 5/8" - 3 1/2". It seems to come alive once the surf gets to waist high or so. I do not use it that much, I prefer my 10’ Hannon when I am using a board this size.
Dave
Finally…I can post this pic I scanned about four days ago.
Late 1966 Weber ad image touting the “new Performer”. Note the foam/redwood stringer and tailblock.
Now there’s a board I would love to ride!
A two page ad that suggested ways to design your own color scheme, with options listed at the bottom of the page. I circled the stringer options list.
Spring of '67, and they show the options for width, kick, and scoop. The ad also made mention of a lightweight option with a “special blend of fiberglass cloth”.
Those are great ads, Sammy your historical information is awesome.
Thanks for sharing, Dave
I just noticed they list an option for 4" balsa stringers. That’s a lotta wood! I guess that made for a damn wide board if you wanted one.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a balsa stringer greater than 2" wide.
Sammy A
Thanks and WOW!
Ya know I’m a performer freak, the first pix appears to be a stock board made for “dealers” to promote sales, done in team colors.
If I remember correctly team boards had a “reverse tee band” about 1 ½ wide with 2 offset redwoods.
Here’s some stuff from the layup era.
Still a bitch post photo’s!!!
Aloha.
Shrosbee was doing them in the late 90’s I believe. There were other shapers as well at differant time periods. Stu Kenson was a hired gun back then. He may have done some too. Okeefe is a shaper who is much better than he gets credit for. Honestly though most of them came off the machine. The Weber family had files for almost every known Weber design and model. You could here the machine whining back there in the complex behind the retail shop all the time. Weber was a hell of a designer. Very innovative. As I said a few years back on this site; Highlight of my young surfing life was seeing Weber and Iggy sitting in a black 2-door Malibu at the point in Ventura. Watching heats at the Morey Contest. Boards and towels hanging out the tailgate. We were in awe.of these two legends.
McDing,
So true!
Really back in the Velsy/Jacobs days, Abel Gomes devised many devices from glue ups to sanding and created what Velsy called the first “shaping machine”.
Years later Weber used the following in a multi-page ad.
“Surfboards are designed by people and these designs are applied to a foam blank or core by shapers. Thus we have the “hand shaped” surfboard. But what does hand-shaping mean when explored on a larger scale. It means that each surfboard designed is shaped into form by a shaper. A company may employ as many as ten surfboard shapers. If such a company should produce an abundance of surfboards, ten individuals are working on renditions of one particular model. This doesn’t sound bad, but shapers like surfers are individuals and shaping is an individual art form. Each shaper has his own individual technique of shaping a surfboard and even though ten shapers are shaping the same design, each out of the ten will differ to some degree. As a result, you can buy a surfboard with medium rails and your friend can purchase the same model with medium rails… but the rails on the two surfboards will differ because each surfboard was shaped by a different individual.
We decided these variations in shape could be eliminated very simply. Employment of one shaper, the best. That’s why every surfboard produced by Dewey Weber Surfboards is touched by only one shaper, Harold Iggy. Of course, if your reasoning is sound, you realize Iggy is not super human, he cannot possibly hand-shape 60 surfboards per day. So we invented shaping jigs, which very simply take care of all the primary work of cutting the foam blank to size, levelling it, and preparing it for “finish” shaping by Iggy. These jigs have been referred to as “shaping machines” which they are not. You cannot insert a foam blank, press a button, and pop out a shaped surfboard. They are merely shapers helpers, run expertly by a qualified staff. They are accurate to 1/32 of an inch and enable Iggy to shape 60 perfect surfboards a day. They also eliminate the problems created by ten individual shapers, or one shaper employing primitive shaping techniques. “