What is the most important advice you would give to a young shaper or a surfing industry (newbie)?
My son is a third generation designer with these credentials: One grandfather helped design the atomic power supply for the Jupiter flyby by “Galileo” which photographed the 400 year old storm “the great red spot” that three earths would fit in. Talk about power=vortex - jeeesh! His other grandfather has designed many buildings around Southern Calif including the building that “Grubby” Clark is in. I’m a graphic designer with surfboard design as my hobby/passion. My son may be persuaded…
There’s three generations of ADD that you have to peel through so nothing so fancy as this answer please: "It’s because we theorize that there is more drag occurring at the fin base due to laminar flow and up wash interaction. Consequently a shorter fin root cord length is used to minimize the area of interaction.
Sink or swim? School of hard knocks? I’ve got him doing a non-related job this summer - maybe he’ll see what a priveledge it is to work with your hands in a totally creative environment. Thanks for your reply LeeDD!
While I’d say that being a real Naval Architect/ Marine Engineer rather than a mostly self-trained surfboard designer would be a good move, as it’s real well grounded training broad enough that you can later take on just about anything that piques your curiosity, some don’t want to follow that long and rigorous path. So, if you want to deal with the surf industry, you could do a lot worse than ;
Rules of Life, according to Jimmy Buffett
Lesson 1: Never forget - they are always the enemy.
Lesson 2: Just remember, assholes are born that way, and they usually don’t change.
Lesson 3: You do not want to go to jail.
Lesson 4: When you start to take this job seriously, you’re in trouble.
Lesson 5: It takes no more to see the good side of life than to see the bad.
Lesson 6: If you decide to run with the ball, just count on fumbling and getting the shit knocked out of you, but never forget how much fun it is just to be able to run with the ball.
Best advice is help your son understand the importance of getting a college education in something he will enjoy and provide for him should the shaping/surfing industry path prove less then optimal.
Lot to be said for a life that integrates shaping as avocation along with a dependable and rewarding vocation. Some positive folks here on Sway’s who appear to have done just that.
Howzit wavefin,The general discussion is not the place to promote your product and you should be in the surfshop or resources discussion for that. Aloha,Kokua
