I have a stubby (he spells it “stubbie”) that Manuel Caro shaped and it’s pretty much the only board I haven’t replaced with boards I made myself that I like better. I don’t surf it because I’ve made boards that work better in specific conditions, but his stubby is the closest to a Swiss Army Knife of any board I’ve owned or made. It gets in early and goes fast through flats, without perling issues on hollow waves, which is more than I can say for any other board I’ve ever had. If I could only have one board, of all the ones I’ve bought or made, it’d probably be the Mandala stubbie.
I also have a Stretch Pug that was made custom for me that is the best board I’ve ever had, but it only works for waves waist-high to maybe 3-feet-overhead, and it’s more work to paddle than the boards I make for myself – not Stretch’s fault, that last part, as I’m 215 and asked to have the board made for 195 lbs.
Being in SC, I’ve also gotten to watch friends surf, in particular, their CI and old school shaper boards (don’t want to name the names of the boards I didn’t like), and IMO Manuel Caro does the fish/hybrid thing better than most everybody. Stretch’s modern shapes are so well designed and simple (meaning clean and precise) & elegant in how the hulls and planshapes work together, and as much as Manni has the old school thing locked in Stretch has the modern high-performance (single or single to double) thing on lockdown and mastered.
That said, now that I’ve started shaping (7 boards to date, all of them successful in conditions where they work well), one of the bummers is that, if I’m not surfing a board I’ve made, sometimes I feel like skipping it. You just have extra fun when you’re discovering – whether actively trying to discover or not – something new about the board you’ve made and how it works every time you go out.
Before, if there were waves I wanted to surf. Now, if there’re waves, and I don’t have the right board for it by my own hand, I’m halfway to skipping it and shaping or working on boards instead. I suspect I’m not alone in this.
Oh: I’d add, as far as local SC shapers, I really liked how a friend’s “Source” brand Simmons felt on a day where I surfed it in the kind of waves most of us want Simmons boards for (small, crumbly/crummy). It had “knifey” rails that felt much more clean and elegant when on rail than the Simmons hybrid I shaped myself, although volume and length were comparable.
I don’t shape but there are so many shapers I want boards from, as well as shapers that I want more boards from.
I have so many friends that agonize over the most minor dimensions, and will even get rid of a board and get another version of it in smaller/bigger increments that I’m not even sure a pro would notice. I want a shaper that I can walk in and say something like, “I want a groveler, I am 5-9 x160 and I live in North County. I like bonzers.” And have no other input after that, I want the shaper to make the decisions using his knowledge which is infinitely better than mine.
Robert August - I got to hang out with him while he shaped a board at his Tamarindo shaping bay. What a character. He shaped his 35,000th board last summer.
For me, it’s someone who actually shapes the board himself
Surfboard shaper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A **surfboard shaper** is someone who builds and designs surfboards by hand. Originally made from wood, most modern surfboards are made from pre-formed polyurethane blanks or styrofoam and then fine shaped by the shaper using an array of tools ranging from surforms, rasps, sanding machines and power planers.
Not this guy. Machine Queen. Depends on a machine to make him look like a hero.
…for the record, most well know shapers round the world do not full shape the boards anymore, so you are paying for a name, for a brand name in most cases.
Still plenty of unknown shapers; however, big % do not know how to does a prescription of what you need; only knows how to follow the lines of the blanks.
A lot of the great older shapers may not be shaping the whole board, but that’s been the case ever since boards have been made. Guys were roughing out blanks wiith jigs and routers back in the 60’s. Ghost shapers have been around for almost as long. Just because a big name shaper starts with a machined blank these days, doesn’t mean that shaper doesn’t know how to shape. Just means that shaper found an easier way to make the board.
Just because a shaper has a monster rep doesn’t mean that person’s boards are the best. I’ve ridden several Brewers and I didn’t like most of them. I’m not fond of Aipa’s boards either, but many of my friends only ride those. Guys swear by Arakawa’s, but he starts with a machined blank. I think my Griffin’s are magic, but he starts with a machined blank. These guys may start with a machined blank, but they still put in a lot of time and effort to get the final product. I’d bet at least 50% of the top shapers in Hawaii start with a machined blank, and the guys riding those boards will swear they are great.
This does not include the boards machined and finished by someone else, which is also a big part of the market. I’d call those modern pop-outs.
I saw that movie again just the other day. Greg noll was talking about it. I bet he built his version of that jig. That was back in the balsa wood era.
There’s a video with Wayne lynch using a similar jig to start his boards. Wayne’s a great shaper too. Before the hot wires, guys were using those jigs to cut EPS blocks.
When I buy boards again, I’ll be looking at a George Downing short board (designed for old guys), maybe a Mair speed egg. I’d love to have Greg Griffin make me a clone of the original 5-fin fish he made my brother and I when he first went on his own, but have it covered in 1/8" balsa.
I’d probably go with Jim Phillips with all the bells and whistles, or ask ACE if he would make me another 7-2 zing thing swallow. The five fin with the big channel. I miss that board. I have a Haut. Maybe another Brewer round pin. Pavel fish. Manny Caro fish, too, or one of his fun board shapes. How about an Owl Chapman single fin mini gun. I’d like to try one of the coil boards, like a 6-6 round pin thruster. Mostly I’m stoked riding boards I made with my own hands even knowing I’d probably be better off with something from a pro. Mike
