Shipman and I are in this Surfboard supply shop in San Diego’s north county buying some resin, fiberglass and other stuff for a fish project and a mini long board project. I’m talking to the sales guy getting the supplies while Shipman strikes up a conversation with another customer. The guy starts acting like mister expert ,so Shipman keeps asking him more questions. We are only seeking wisdom and the dude starts treating us like a couple of second class Kooks. This guy says that some bad stuff about Swaylocks ,and Greg Loher. I’m ready to leave and the guy just keeps bragging about how much money he makes and how his shop has 6 months worth of orders. We hop in my truck only to look down at this guys trashed car and crummy surfboard crammed in the back.
If you do good work you will not have to brag…
Shipman shapes great boards ,I would not have become friends with him if it were not for Swaylocks…
In surfing a beginer is considered a Kook…
I’m learning to shape and glass so I am a Kook… Swaylocks Rocks!
you’re lucky / blessed to have Ben as a friend Ray ! …I really want to meet the guy one day . And ol’Amby, and a LOT of you, really !
And I consider myself blessed / lucky to know “Hicksy” now , and to have witnessed first hand such creations as the “hollow wooden surfboard” , and his latest “moonrocket” [foam] venture .
And guess what ?
…ALL because here at Swaylocks , guys and girls take the time to get together , encourage and help each other , share stuff [materially too!] and generally be a real community. Amazing , really . [Considering it “starts” on a computer screen , sometimes great distances away from each other !]
Of course , with people like you’ve encountered in your shop visits , they unfortunately don’t want to hear stuff like this …makes them feel threatened perhaps [insecure there boys?] . So they bad mouth something they don’t even understand . [as Greg rightly pointed out].
… It’s like life eh ? Some people WANT to learn , some people are quite happy to walk around with their heads firmly inserted up their back passage […pretty hard to see [and hear anything] when you’re in THAT kind of position , I would think]
Hey I don’t shape in a garage. I shape in a converted chicken coop. I am a Republican. So are the Majority of Americans. We don’t care what you think. Get over it.
1 - If the guy was so good, why is he doin’ construction in the hinterlands? Ha!
Others:
2 - Why is it so often some people end up gettin’ so negative on any given thread?
3 - If you are critizising someone, it would make more sense if you quoted/replied to that person instead of the last person to post before you. (Some times it doesn’t even make sense: Guy posts - I like fish. next post/reply - I think epoxy sucks, shame on you for using it…???)
Ambrose, aussies, and all the others - which I would consider to be most of you - who keep it positive, share the stoke, etc. Thanks, and keep it up!!! Taylor
Howzit stingray, The guy sounds like a wanna be who thinks he knows it all. I hope shipman stumped him with some questions he couldn’t answer which would expose his inexperience. The way I feel is we are free to use what ever materials we choose for builing boards. Greg is just showing us an alternative to poly and he’s not afraid to forge ahead in new territory when it comes to building boards. I believe that epoxy will be used more and more in the industry since Greg is making it more user friendly. Even though I’m a poly user I have nothing against epoxy and will probably give it a try now that it is available here on Kauai. Being a friend of Rick Holt means I can get first hand info and feed back about greg’s epoxy from him and I respect Rick’s knowledge and any input he has. We always talk shop when he comes by and even though we don’t do things the same way we still respect each others expertise. When I tell people about Swaylocks they always say they are going to check out the site, they are stoked to hear there is such a place in cyber land where they can get great advise on board building. Aloha,Kokua
Shaping a board is art, my shapes are my best interpretation of how a board will move as freely as possible through a liquid. My interpertations are now being constantly modified through the sharing of ideas in this forum.
I check this site almost everyday to get inspiration, shaping is not about how many boards I’ve shaped, it’s about talking with friends, sharing ideas and getting feed back and praise.
I have had some shapers that wouldn’t share any information, some would chase us (when we were groms) out of their shops, I’ll mention no names. But other shapers would let us hang and watch and ask questions and while we were hangin other surfers would stop by and share surf stories or talk about shapes. And that!!! is what Swaylock’s is about, hangin, listening, sharing ideas and stories.
i talked to a guy who seemed pretty unhappy about the whole swaylocks thing…claimed there is no free lunch at swaylock and people are on the board trying to sell you crap, claimed 40000 boards…and polyester resin is not that harmful to the enviroment and swaylocks trys to sell epoxy…any justification to this? or are big shapes hateful of garage shapers…
Hmmm, all I can say is “What a Wally”… does he even know what Sways is about? Has he even bothered to try and understand what we do here?
There is no free lunch in life… you get out what you put in. Sways is the same… I’ve gotten a heap of great advice on here and my first board project wouldn’t have been the same without this info. In return, I give back advice where I can and help people to source materials that are in my area when they are in a bind.
Some people are on here to do business also, but we need them here as it gives us a way of asking them for advice and making decissions on whether to use their products. An example of this is the fin guys (Finfektion, FCS, Lokbox etc. ) that post on here… Do you think I could find a decent set of fish fins in a surf shop… NO, most of the big board makers are only interesting in putting thruster fins in their pseudo-fish boards… from guys on here I got in contact with a great fish fin supplier and got a great deal. No free lunch, but do you expect a free lunch? I feel that I got looked after with my fins rather than ripped off and in return, I tell everyone where I got my fins from when they ask about fish fins - that’s the way it works!!!
I’ve never bought epoxy from Swaylocks
Tell him to ring the EPA re: Polyester
tjd, all I can say is come in here and spend some time getting to know what we do… heck, you might just like it
well i guess i will keep this ball rolling…for all of those who replied without reading my questions or feeling my intentions…i am NOT the guy who dont like swaylocks…in fact i love it… used to like it better in the old form but, things get bigger and grow more complex…i guess this is too complex…all i want to know is do big shapers dislike the" build it yourself revolution"…like al merik or
eric akowa or any other big name guys…its funny how peoploe can pratice selective reading…or maybe im not that good at typing and apostrophes…
Thanks for checking in. Somewhere in all the my rolls of undeveloped film is a shot of you and your beautiful women(ex I guess) smiling into this stranger’s camera. Good vibes and Swaylock spirit from Oregon. Hope we surf again this fall. Mike
hay rooster… was that at big sur? yup …she was beautiful and was my girlfriend… we will try again someday i hope… cool girl a little crazy but aint we all…what guy are you? sorry bud…were you the kids from socal that had the k 38 board? so many nice people there…also looking for the lucky lab guy…hope to see ya this fall…
Long time no see TJ. I am Darren the leader of the group of So Cal kids. We all had such a good time that weekend in Big Sur. I still remember that salmon jerky, it was unreal. We are all doing good down here in San Diego shaping, surfing and trying to go to school. Surfing with you was fun we should do it again. Anytime you are in these neck of the woods let us know. Darren
I was there alone checking out the seen before exposing my wife and kids to the crew. Bringing them all next time. I live in Monterey Co. and brought an orange fish with big yellow lips and an huge eyeball, ugly green fish, and my acid splash single. Shook everyone’s hand. Got pictures of everyone. Tipped a few coldies. Got fun waves. Drooled over Jensen’s fish. Had a great time. Mike
I just finnsihed sending an email with a picture of my new daughter to a friend I met on swaylocks. Well you should have told me the people where here were unfriendly else I wouldnt have done it.
I have come across the same thing I tried to share Swaylocks with a so called pro shaper he blew me off and critisized my ideas and said shaping had not place on the net.
