John P., I guess you don’t know who Paul Jensen is… … no?
ruff ruff…arf arf…ruff ruff…arf arf…ruff ruff…arf arf. 
On one side there is a large beast, representing all those who desire to enclose and market a small segment of reality, driven from all sides by an insatiable hunger for ever-larger numbers and money. This dog is satisfied only by counting its sweat in terms of profit and loss. On the other side is a small underdog, representing all those who toil outside the corporate system, whose hearts are carried aloft by inspiration, endlessly hungry for the love of discovery and the pursuit of craftsmanship. These dogs count their greatest profit in terms of personal sweat and satisfaction. Both dogs are locked in a timeless struggle, an eternal object lesson: One strives to protect its own interests by restricting the truth, while the other fights to simply set it free. Thank you Mr. SlingBlade.
Herb, if you apply your logic to guitar playing, is Jimmy Page any less a guitarist because he doesn’t make his own guitars. Because there are so many types of guitars, you have to play several to find the one that fits your playing style, but you don’t have to build one. On the other hand, Bob Taylor builds some of the best guitars in the world (using a CNC) but is not a world class guitarist. This is the same with surfboards. I helped my daughter build one (mostly I paid for all the materials and watched. I also made sure she didn’t get poisoned by the resins), but I really don’t want to do all that work for myself. She has fun doing it and I like to encourage her with her own interests. But I do want to know more about the shapes I ride. That will only help me select the right board for my style and ability. And that’s why I read posts about shaping. Harbour’s site has been extremely insightful and I buy his boards because they perform the way he and others say they perform based on years of experience. I have been very satisfied with Rich Harbour’s surfboard designs. Other companies are not doing that. Who is to say who is a real surfer? When I played soccer, even in college, I really did not think of myself as a soccer player. I wasn’t playing pro for a major soccer club. To me a real soccer player is someone who does it as their profession. A doctor has his degrees and passed the exams and has a practice. Now, unfortunately the world of surfing doesn’t have a sophisticated professional setup like other sports, but the same logic applies.
Frist herbie is really a cool guy.He picks me up from my house in lakewood some 30 miles away so I can use his shaping room.He never has let anyone else use it but me.My parents are divorced so Mom works alot I think herb saw that being he came from a broken home to.He told that same B.S. story about building boards-true surfer thing to a group of my friends and me a few months ago.1/2 got up and left pissed off the other 1/2 wanted to be the TRUE SURFER.After all was said anddone he looked at me and asked ,do you have what it takes?what was the spirit of my message Buggie?Knowin herb it wasn’t about surfboards at all and like a flash I saw what it was he saw.I replyed it’s about learning???Til this day herb goes out of hisway to help me build boards.I don’t even own a computer.I using herb’s right now.he’s in the shop cleaning-up another one of my master pieces #4 to be exact.He asked me to clean-up and check the site out,and that I would get a good laugh and I did.the bugman out.
Does Page know the difference between a maple topped mahogany solid body with a set neck and PAFs and a swamp ash, bolt-on with single coils? What about short scale vs long scale? Can he tell you the exact difference between a real '58 gold top and “reissue”? Can he tell you exactly why he prefers a Fender 15 watt tube in the studio but a Marshall stack on stage? He sure as **** can!!! And that was what Herb was talking about.
quote: Herb, if you apply your logic to guitar playing, is Jimmy Page any less a guitarist because he doesn’t make his own guitars. Yeah, he’s just a hack, when he saws down that maple tree and whittles his own guitar body, I’ll be ready to take him seriously as an artist. And Pete Sampras is a big p*ssy, he doesn’t string his own rackets! How’s he ever expect to be a big time tennis player playing a 20 some year old racket design.
quote: And that was what Herb was talking about. Then that’s what he should have said. It wasn’t. Read his first post again.
That’s exactly what he said, twice! “…learning…” You go back and read it…
A dolphin can be defined as a true surfer in the purest sense… but one of the basic characteristics which separates humans from all other creatures on earth is our ability to create and develop a multitude of tools (including surfcraft) to suit our needs. IMHO, this subject has more to do with different types of people… for some of us, building our own equipment is a natural, compelling process. It`s about being “complete” as a surfer, rather than “true”.
…Now that buggie’s mom has picked him up(she works close to my home).Nice kid at heart,I pray for him,he needs it! …Let me first apologize to anyone I might have offended or caused problems for.This includes Razorfish,eddie,Rich Harbour,Mike Paler or anyone else that felt displaced by my comments.R.B.(Now this could be one of 4 RBs I know of,or it could be someone different all together).I will from now on concentrate on the content of design forum and not make public, such personal drama issues,either here or on any other websites such as Harbour’s discussion board.You have to admit,right or wrong it received lots of views on both sites.I will do my best to behave(kind of boring though). …And a BIG THANK YOU to the folks that saw thru the lines to the spirit of the topic,Paul Jensen,Dale S.,Scott,soulslider(lifetime achievement award winners),AND SO MANY OTHER NAMES, IT REALLY STUNS ME!LeeV.YOU WIN the Spitzer SOUL Award.Your insight even scares me!Maybe at the gathering we can find time to talk,you have a greatness about you,that may or may be aware of.Sling you get the diplomatic’s award for trying to keep things in order between opposing sides.That’s probably the toughest place to be and the most thankless for sure.I wish I could award all that post here,it takes all of us to make it a discussion worth reading. …Thanks again Mr.S for your great site,and insight.Thanks to those that are willing to make a difference in this world.Herb
maybe the old dog is Rich and the younger dog is Herb…and they are playing tug-a-war over personal opinion?? 
Oh…and thanks for the award Herb.It has been a crazy last couple days here on swaylocks/harbour BB’s!!! Nice to stir it up a bit now and then 
I’m ordering the trophies. 
Hey Herb I initial my posts as R.B. (Roger Brucker) and I didn’t say anything.I enjoyed reading the stuff though.Herb is A+ plus O.K. in my book. R.B.
Now I remember why I hate other surfers!!! Except for Herb. Sluggo
and I’d like to thank all of you for recognizing it.