Where abouts is the biggest concentration of shapers in the USA. Is it California or Hawaii? I am thinking about bringing a new system (not the FP) to the US so I would like to know what region are most boards produced. Thanks in advance Simon www.surfingireland.net Oh yeah, heres the news (1) I am going ahead with the Fat penguin build sometime later this month(I must be out of my mind) Just got to pay for the templates first. Fin selection is between www.4wfs.com and vantagefins. FCS/Protec may be retro-fitted for testing. (2)Irish surfers protest wearing of lifejackets law and win Several months ago new legislation was being prepared to make the wearing of life jackets compulsory on all watercraft, this included surfboards. Such an action would make surfing a more dangerous sport. Through our newsletter and message board we were able to raise awareness and put together valid arguments and points against this action. Among the points raised were 1)Lifejackets would make paddling harder 2)Lifejackets would make duck diving nearly impossible 3)Lifejackets would make getting out of the impact zone harder 4)In the aerated water of the impact zone lifejackets are not as effective 5)A surfboard is a flotation device After this we put together a fairly standard email/letter which concerned surfers based their own letters and emails on. We got a great response and a great amount of support, not only in Ireland but from surfers around the world. Due to the volume of correspondence received on the issue Minister Ahern has exempted surfboards from the new laws. It is only fair to thank the minister for his positive attitude in listening to the concerns of surfers and making the correct, informed decision where others would not listen to such a small community. As with our persuading Aerlingus to drop board charges on its flights it shows that when surfers work together we can have a progressive effect on the factors that affect our sport. It is great to see this as it holds promise for the future. www.surfingireland.net would like to thank all the surfers who took the time and trouble to support us in writing to their representatives and the department of the marine. http://www.surfingireland.net 
By the way, I was just going through the old posting, there seems to be a lot of doubt, nay sayers etc. I am going to reproduce the shape, with Tonys advice. We will be using a new glassing technology developed here in Europe. New generation resins dry very quickly, are stronger and non-toxic using no solvents. It is leaving fiberglass behind, the glassing system is so strong that the blanks are stringerless because the stringer would break before the glass. They are compatible with current repair systems such as Solrez. They are also 30% more flexible than standard boards. The new materials are twice more elastic than the first generation type. The system transfers the stresses in the resin part into the fibre part. They are three times stronger and half the weight. Probably the biggest thing is that these resins are not affected by UV and do not delaminate. This is not a flash in the pan, it’s been going on for 5 years now. A full article has been published in the UKs Wavelength Magazine in August 2003. Although the shape and advice are coming from tony, I am doing this board out of curiosity. I want to assure everyone this is not some spam / marketing/promotion gimmick. It was through this messageboard and help from people who use this site I tracked down Tony. I feel I owe it to the people at swaylocks who helped to keep them abreast of developments. The shape is radical and we will see how it works, if it does, excellent. We will see how it goes, I have a good feeling about it. As and when it is done I will continue to keep people here updated. Thanks to Mike for the great service, and thanks to Tony and Havard for helping me out.