There is a web site “surfboardsbyyou” that says you can spend the day with Robert August shaping your own board. Anybody have any experience with it?
no personal experience, but i’ve seen pictures.
looks like you spend a ridiculous amt of money for the privilege of being able to touch the blank of your new RA before it’s glassed.
not my cup o’ tea.
I talked to Robert this summer about shaping, the state of the surfboard industry, new technologies(surftech and parabolic stringered boards) when I asked about mastering shaping skills by apprenticing he pretty much scoffed at the idea saying his shapers and he need all he money they can get and arn’t willing to really help someone refine their techniques to which also added the “up and coming generation of shapers is fucked”(his exact words) blanks are more expensive as is glassing and the price of a custom board is only marginally higher. CAD, machine shaping and asian imports are taking the place of kids who want to shape. RA isn’t an idiot(though all his knowledge about board design could be read in the archives) he isn’t really going to teach you, you might get to touch the blank but he is just going to let you stand there while he shapes.
that sucks. period. do the majority of shapers today feel like that? i wouldn’t know…how much extra time adds up to apprentice an amateur shaper? is it enough time to make it ‘not worth it’? i’ve gone a couple of times to a local shaper to get literally five minutes of feedback on some of these first boards that i’ve been shaping and having a little trouble with here and there, and although i got some good constructive advice, it felt as if i was just some annoying kid taking up five minutes of time. (a little whinny sure, but none the less how i felt…) i guess my point being that it seems as if some of these shapers are at the point they’re bitter enough not even to want to try and truly help the future of custom, hand made, surfcraft. so what if the industry’s taken over a bit more than expected or wanted. let’s get it back.
, peace
, jeremy
No, not all shapers feel that way, I have talked Adam of AJW surfboards who hasa factory not far from where i am attending college and he welcomed me to come check out his factory, he also offered for me to get my boards glassed there too. Inspired surfboards shaped here by Drewtang welcomed me into his shop when I went to check out a school in Florida and offered to let me shape there usign his equipment. I offered to pay for an apprenticship with Jason Feist who used to shape for Al Merrick and now shapes under his own lable and he was willing to go through with it, however, the only time i could make it to CA was when he was going hawaii. No, not all shapers feel the way Robert August does.
it just seems like there were more apprentice-ships and it was done more willingly by more shapers before this whole rat race started. i wouldn’t know though, i haven’t been around too long…i guess the key would be to find a very independent local shaper who isn’t phased by the whole drama of it all…?
nothing like a tour group that will take a personal check.
Learning how to shape is like?
are you a graduate
when You think you can
you know you can?
when you own a modern facility?
…ambrose…
I know of only one shop that uses an apprentice-type program. They have high-volume sales in all types of boards. The problem in using this program is finding any young person who will stay with it. Most master shapers aren’t the most patient people, and the money isn’t very good, so you really have to love doing this. How many people under 25 really know if they love shaping and want to do it as a career? However, a few guys I know that completed this training do brilliant work; all are under 28. One that stayed with this shop has his own models that sell to pros. Another who left went to one of the oldest and largest shops to probably replace their master shaper who’s been there since the late '50’s.
Many shops in SoCal back in the day had a window to the work area where you could watch glassing/shaping. You could watch as long as you wanted if you didn’t bother the guys. A couple of places even had benches to sit on, and you could watch some very famous guys earn their pay. I guess they figured this show into the cost of the finished board back then.
It is the nature of production work for everything to be a cost/effort decision as Robert said. It they can make a buck by selling tickets to “your” shaping event, great for them. If he would have been a dentist and shaped/glassed in his garage like we do, maybe he would have a different financial perpective. To Robert’s credit, being successful in the business takes a lot more than just being a great shaper. A very famous shaper that I know has always done production work for other brands (even to this day, and he’s well beyond retirement). This guy is one of the nicest and happiest people I’ve met, and I suspect that it’s because he’s been beyond the business aspects; only wants to be a shaper.
I don’t know why guys are down on this Robert August deal. So you pay double the price of a regular board. If you have the dough, why not?
I have a friend who’s wife gave it to him for his 40th birthday. He’d been surfing 10 years or so, but like most surfers, didn’t even do his own ding repair. Absolutely zero familiarity with the tools or materials.
So on the scheduled Saturday, he & 3 other guys who all had the same deal went to the factory. Robert & 3 other of his regular shapers brought them through for a tour, and then all 4 guys got to plan their boards by looking at templates, rocker curves, and discussing the choices with Robert & his shapers. They had dozens of blanks around so anything a guy wanted would be within reach. Eventually, they each settled into a shape and one shaper (Robert included) went with each guy into a shaping bay & went through the entire process, start-to-finish. Took them about 4 hours each (the whole event went 7 hours or so), but these blanks weren’t pre-machined at all, they had to do everything. The shapers were there to demonstrate the first cut or fix problems before any blanks were ruined, but the guys did all the work themselves.
At the end of the day, all the guys got to invite their families in to see their work, meet Robert & the crew, have a beer, watch a video… my buddy said it was a great time.
2 weeks later, his board was back from the glasser, with 3 signatures under the glass - his, Robert’s, and Mark Martinson’s (who was the guy G worked with).
I mean, if you have the $$ to spend $1000 on an ‘experience’… this seemed like a pretty genuine way to do it. People spend that much, or more, on things like hot-air balloon rides, or fake dogfights in the air, or whitewater rafting… at least G & his family got some time with real craftsmen & celebrities of the sport, and a board to take home as well. And they said everyone they met was truly kind & helpful, not just aloof or out to make a buck. I’m pretty sure Robert’s one of the good guys. (Even if its no fun surfing with Wingnut - but that’s a different topic.)
And yes, GT does his own ding repairs now. 
hey if that is the way it is, sorry i threw out any negative vibes.
Good post Ben!
Yo B,
I think that was Mike Minchinton (with RA) who was the main man behind GT that day.
Great looking board, a great experience and what a great gift.
actually, it all sounds like a really fun day—afterall, it’s all SURFIN’ and look what you get to do and learn
personally i learned to shape back in the late 60’s by pulling the glass off out of style longboards and reshaping them to the ‘new fashion’ trial and error method big time! lord, i wish i had some of those boards we stripped down!
shaping itself is not difficult if you take yourtime, at least thats what i feel. Knowing what works is a completely different beast. But thats what swaylocks is for. Seriously it cuts down on you learning time by about 60%.
IMHO
I was not put on this earth to judge other people by what they do with the hard earned cash that is needed to be able to do the things that bring you/yours pleasure in this life.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but, I checked out some (not all) of the available pictures and I didn’t see a soul with a particle dust mask/respirator on their mug.
Please! Let me know where I can get a set-up that allows me to shape without one and I will spend “my cash” to update my little shaping room.
Ranting today aren’t I?
Art
…talking about dust
I wonder how most shapers only use simple googles or nuthin at all for the eyes
I cant shape without my full face mask…
I use 2 Hitachi s (a big one F 30A) and the other one
both have differents approaches for the dust (due to the power) but its the same for my eyes…
doesn’t look like he is actually mowing foam in any of the photos, kinda possed for a second before he actually puts on a mask and really does shape. I hope it is kinda like Moonlight glassing when they take their photos, they just take their mask off for a second.(though with glassing you are still messing your self up in that short time)
Thanks Ben, Looks like a pretty fun deal. I don’t think anyone thinks your’re gonna come out of this deal a master shaper, but it seems like a pretty cool deal spending a day with RA getting his perspective on surfing and shaping. This has to be the only sport that the “legends” are as accesable as they are. I know enough about RA to know that he is a class act and is a pretty good represntative of surfings heritage and his perspective is a worthy one.
I’ve been reading the comments about “Learning to shape from RA” and wanted to point out what the day is really all about. I started Surfboards By You 5 years ago. Yes, you do learn first hand how to shape a board, but that’s not the main reason people participate in the program. My idea was to create a once-in-lifetime experience for anyone who would appreciate spending a day with a “surfing legend”, where you not only spend a day with him, but you actually shape your own board. It would be like a golfer playing in a pro-am, or a baseball fans going to a Fantasy Camp.
Robert and I had no idea how things would go, but we’ve now had about 15 sessions for about 40 people and the reaction we’ve had at days end is that it was “one of the coolest things I’ve ever done”. It’s turned out that most of the participants received the “day” as a gift from a loved one, which makes the day even more meaningful. A few have even been set up as a surprise.
Everyone has ended up with a special board that they can’t believe they actually shaped, and an experience they’ll remember forever. I video the day, take tons of pictures, Robert signs Endless Summer posters, we drink a few beers, and just have a fantastic day. If you’ve ever met Robert, you know he’s as down to earth as you get. The day wouldn’t work if he didn’t enjoy doing it, but he loves it.
So again, it’s not just about shaping a board, it’s about experiencing a day you’ll remember forever. How many of those do we really have? Bill Wade
Thanks for the kudos! Say high to Graham.
Bill