Fairmont,
I’ve been following your fish odyssey with interest. Just a couple of questions:
What is Steve Clark’s shaping background? Answer: I don’t know. But he does a lot of work for a lot of people, and I’ve seen many of his shapes at Leucadia Surfboards. Plus, we have connections, it seems. I grew up with his son-in-law and he (Steve) stayed at my father’s cabin in Idyllwild a couple times. Small world.
Did you purchase a Classic weight blank and if not why? Answer: I bought the Superblue because Mitch’s only had the 6,2c in superlight and superblue. They had just received a shipment of twelve of those blanks Monday evening, and told me they would be gone the next day. So I showed up at 5:45 and grabbed one.
Once you decide on a glass shop are you getting 7.5/10 oz Volan? Fins?
Answer: This is an interesting one. First, no glass shop within fifty miles would take my board. They are backed up two months. Except The Lab in Oceanside (formerly Morning Glass). They are under new ownership, are still doing a ton of Merricks, but since they are new (same glassers, new owner), they had room to squeeze me in. They told me ten days. I’m stoked on that. Unfortunately, they won’t do Volan, but I figure, oh well. It will come out good anyway. Nothing is perfect. FINS: They are marine ply. Steve Clark got them for me from Bahne. They are the classic retro keel fins. NOTE: Steve marked the fins towed in one eighth of an inch. We discussed this ahead of time, and I asked them to be marked parallel to the stringer. He assured me that I will be much happier if they are pulled in a hair. I trust his judgement and am not worried about it. But thought it was interesting. He said that perfectly parallel fins will lock in and be harder to turn when going fast, and that it was originally set that way for kneeboarders. I am fine with that. I could, however, use some advice on the angle of the fins from the board. What’s that called again?
I assume your approach will be less expensive than buying off the rack or placing an order for a custom. Answer: You got that right. I paid 53 bucks, including tax for the blank and the sheet of rice paper for the cheesy laminates I made. Steve shaped for a great fee, which I won’t disclose, but is more than fair (plus I threw in a twelve pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale–not Bud Ice 
The fins were twenty-five bucks, and the glass job will run 190. So I am paying a little over three hundred. The cheapest stock board I found was 550, a Kane Garden. So, yes, doing the legwork myself is paying off. Did I mention that the shape is awesome? Exactly what I needed. Excellent rails, deck, nose, tail. The works. Super friendly guy.
Fairmont / Swaylockians:
For traditional San Diego style old school fish who would you choose if price wasn’t the prime motivator?
Answer: If price weren’t an issue, I would go with a Joel Tudor. I’ve been looking at a lot of stock retro fish and have noticed a few points: 1. Channel Islands has radical bottom contours (in my opinion) that depart from the original. 2. Kane Gardens were great, but lacked volan glass. 3. Hynsons had volan, but their rocker was not flat on the deck (my preference is a totally flat deck). 4. Tutor’s had everything I liked. However, as mentioned, I saved half the cost and, truth be told, I am not good enough to really notice subtle differences anyway. I am just out to have fun, learn, and share the experience. Plus, my good friend from the East Coast is coming out in two weeks, and I’d like to surf with him on the fish. I’m an impatient and impulsive (yet friendly) man. If you don’t believe me, ask my wife. FINAL NOTE (and it’s interesting): I was posting at Surfermag.com about this same thing, and someone (you can look it up on the Surfer Discussion bulletin board) private messaged me Steve Lis’s phone number, and told me I had permission to call Steve, per his wife. Now, I don’t know if it was legit, but it was interesting. Many guys told me to jump at the chance to have Steve Lis shape a board for me, since he will (according to the email) be shaping in San Diego for a month (he currently lives in Hawaii?). If the email was real, then I supposed I should do it, but I can’t justify that kind of money to my wife, especially since we are on one income, and my habit of getting a new board every six months is gettin on hers and my nerves. Each new board I buy completes my quiver. Yeah, right. I am still dreaming of a noserider and a gun, a big gun for really big waves that I’ll never ride. So, the board is at the glass shop, and will be done in a week or so. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll wait a while to try something else. But I see no reason why it won’t be a great board. By the way, I was snaked at Swamis the other day while longboarding (Did I say Swamis???) by a kid on a fish. Although I was urked that he took a very good wave that I was already riding, and easily making, I was intrigued by the speed at which he blasted down the line on a 5,6 fish. He was ripping. I kept up because he was way out ahead of the curl, and I knew he was going to cutback, and I actually thought of running him over, but then the calm part of me took over and I cutout right before he roundhoused. But a bunch of guys yelled at him, and he didn’t paddle back out to the main peak, so he got what was coming to him. I paddled over and asked to look at his fish. He was cocky, like I used to be, and full of it. He told me he rode it at fifteen foot Sunset and Pipeline. Okay, sure.
