Ryan Burch displayed some of the most astonishing surfing I have seen when he turned loose his finless ‘Lordboard’ slab of foam and proceeded to rip on it. The videos speak for themselves. RB has also been raising the bar with his asymmetrical shapes, longboard shapes and guns.
Being over 60 years old and having seen many trends come and go, it’s fair to say that I’m not easily impressed. This guy impresses the heck out of me. The photos of his finished shapes under shaping lights reveal nothing to complain about. I’ve spent some time reviewing his stuff on Instagram and… well, see for yourselves.
Over the years I have seen many shapers, Ryan Birch has made the acid test with flying colors, in the future he and Zack Flores will be 2 of the leading shapers that can do it by hand and well.
I built Ryan and 14’6" blank from 2-11’3" USB’s morphed together, the video of him surfing it is amazing. He also brought a 5-1/8" cedar stringered Moon tail in for glassing, none of the sticks bumped out from the outline and the lines were so clean.
I’ve spent the last 3 years working with Zack, his ability to use the planer is extremely good, I wanted to build him into a clone of myself and I am succeeding
I don’t like/understand the cut away on his fish near the tail. But I certainly yeild to his vastly greater experience and skill. I know he has a good reason for it. Inspirational guy.