Homecoming King of Swaylocks

General Discussion
1

I’d like to start recognizing the best of the best here on Swaylocks.

I’m throwing out a list of names that I think have been the most helpful, inspirational, or simply the ones that I click on first.  Everybody, let’s see your thoughts as well.

Kokua - best glassing hints

Sammy - old time history

Dead Shaper - old stories of back in the day

Bill Barnfield - most knowledgeable shaper

Surfding - most patience in the face of adversity

Resinhead - funniest, but I’m embarrased to admit it.

Mike Palar - never posts anything, but it is his playground

Thanks to all

2

Greg Tate-Fin making/humor

Mr. Thraikill-Patrician

Ace-Long plan shapes (honorable mention-Balsa & John Mellor)

Reverb-The best damn Eggs I’ve seen

3

besides the ones already mentioned...

 

MikeDaniel- right up there with Bill Barnfield. the stuff that he shares with us nooby/hacks is incredible

Bud- forget backyard hack, that guy is a backyard Picasso. and he rips too

AFOAF- inspires me to get off my @$$ and get something done

Chipfins- full on stoke all the time

Stingray- nuts and bolts no B.S., like it or not. will give you the shirt off his back too

Speedneedle- hasn't been posting as much lately but, i always like to see what he's been up to. boards and sprays are unrivaled. his game is tight

Austin and TSaunders- color and polish glass jobs are unbelievably good

Handshaper- sometimes i just cruise the resources looking at his guns. form following function to perfection

Yorky- just seems like the guy you want in your corner

Huie- if you can decode his posts, there's a lot of knowledge there.

i'm sure i'm missing a lot of people...

nice thread

4

Oh I forgot,

EtherialProdigy - when she used to post her picture.

5

I'll second Thrailkill

Here are some others that haven't been mentioned:

Keith Melville (Shares his knowledge online, and in his backyard),

Balsa (Has some great step by step posts showing his true craftsmanship)

Paul Cannon (pretty helpful, but his alter ego Silly is a bit too argumentative),

Cleanlines (Doesn't post too often, but has some great wisdom)

Atomized (The master of color)

Benny (What ever happened to him?)

Eastern Pacific (If he is who I think he is, then he definitely deserves a bump.  I used to listen to his telephone recordings every day back in the 1990's to get the latest surf conditions.  I learned a lot about wave forecasting from him)

 

6

the whole damn Swaylocks crew has my vote

everyone contributes the best they can

hell ...I even like the quarl's,,,   LOL!

7

Jim Phillips.

If cleanlines and I (who, me? thanks...) are getting mentioned, and we learned much of what we know from Jim, it only makes sense to nominate the man himself. He's given insight into so many aspects of the art, also. Wood, foam, wood and foam, foam and wood, glassing, glossing, on and on...

Great lists so far.

8

Bert Berger - Best build thread - compsand

Greg Loehr - Best build thread WMD

Mike Daniel - Best build thread that we’re all waiting to read but he won’t spill the details so it hasn’t been written yet.

 

9

There are too many to list but, Gotta say Surfoils for innovation.

Chipfin-Photos/Fins/Glow in the dark.

Good on ya Mike Daniels. Credit where credit is due. On both accounts.

10

 I agree with all of the above, and here are mine:

Onelua and Sharkcountry - the brothers with the highest production- most experimental- most board stuff laying around- most aloha garage builders on Sways (if you guys are married, it’s a miracle) (of course, if you guys are married to each other, I would call it something else)(actually it would be called two names, neither good) (whew, got off on the wrong foot with this one)

John Mellor - best grammar

Greg Griffin - the guy with the best photographer for his boards.

Mike Daniel - OK, if you don’t want a Coil from Mike, you don’t like to surf

Atomized - understatement of the year:  I don’t know how you do it

Bud - I just love a good twin and yours are really really good.

PeteC -  just a fountain of knowledge on planers

Paul Jensen - first to teach us how to get a woodie

Loehr - first pro to pitch in here on Sways and keep us out of the weeds

Jim Phillips - first pro to pitch in here on Sways and keep us out of the weeds

Balsa- most generous guy I know,  Guilhiem, we’ll always have Paris  (how old do you have to be to know where that line came from?)

Deadshaper/Barnfield - a tie for best articulation of “rocker apex”.  thank you for putting that to rest.

ProBox Larry - yeah, fins, boxes, history, inserts, retrofits, advice, craftmanship

 

 

11

Great list so far.

In the category of best soundtrack to a video - BammBamm808 while glassing on youtube.  If you don’t remember, you gotta look it up.

12

Greg Greg why did my RR go red???

 

JD

 

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13

In addition to all the greats already on the list I nominate

NJSurfer - for sharing his wealth of knowledge about the physics and hydrodynamics of surfboards on Sways

~Brian

 

14

I vote for everyone who for the first time, bought a blank, scratched out a shape, destroyed the glassing and was damn proud of making it themselves. Then joined this great dysfunctional family we call Swaylocks. Beers for Everyone.

Tom

15

josh, you are a sick puppy.  and a funny one at that.

16

All the people mentioned above have been wonderfully helpful.  And I thank them. But, to me, the guy who has always kept it positive, patiently offered help to the new guys and experienced alike, given with no apparent agenda, with style and aloha for the longest time, even when he’s deathly ill, is Kokua.   

17

Right with you on that, Rooster. 

Aloha Kokua, Mahalos.

Also, Paul Jensen for the travelogues/ Lifestyle. 

18

Roy for the longest woody ! Surfiber for the longest thread !!

19

   Howzit tblank,rooster and anyone else who mentioned my name in this thread,Thank you for the compliments. As a fellow swaylocks brother I feel good to pass on any and all the knowledge I have learned in the last 50 years of working with fiber glass and resin. We are a special breed of craftsmen who were lucky to go through apprenticeships with great board builders and since that is almost a lost art, then we are lucky to have Swaylocks to pass on our knowledge through the internet and this site is a great website. I started thinking about who I would nominate and came up with a few names but as a whole every body who posts deserves credit. I have to say that to see guys building some beautiful boards on their first or second build just blows me away and proves to me that we are doing the right thing and that is all I need to see and it makes me feel so good to be a part of it. When I as in the hospital, the one thing that kept me on the upside was logging on to sways to see what was happening plus my sway brothers on Oahu were just the best. Aloha,Kokua

20

howdy ogre,

thanks for the thought (they say it’s what counts hehe) but given the thread title, i really don’t fit in here but hmm does this come with a door prize? if so i need 20 sq. ft. of 4oz. fiberglass cloth to finally finish my board! " )

cheers,