Tell me, Tell me why you do this. I do this because I was blessed with being different, cause my job is being a craftsmen. I fell in love with the history of surfing and it’s evolution, the shear beauty of it and it’s functionality. Making a board and having the local hiearchy try it and asking me to make one for them or having a grom ride one and tear the shit out of the waves. This forum has made me a better board builder and I have a long way to go to try to come close to alot of you. Putting egos aside reach deep down inside and ask youself why you do this.TELL ME WHY
The reasons are basically the same. The difference is that around 1982 we couldn’t imagine Internet facilities and the shaping art was locked as a treasure by those who detained its knowledge. So, it was very difficult for beginners. But, the talented ones have survived…
Not only have we survived but exceeded all expectations, we are a handful of dreamers that have believed in ourselves and brought this to a new level and showed the masses that it can be done. LIFE IS TO SHORT TO SAY CAN’T WHEN IT CAN
Looking deep inside, I think we are all more or less looking for recognition but what’s wrong with that? Many people are looking for that same thing in other jobs as well. Trying hard to be recognized as one of the best (in my case, I have admitted a long time ago that I’ll never be THE best -if only such thing exists-) in your field.
But deeper inside is the absolute NEED to create something as beautiful as functional. Not many people do that, and we are truly blessed to do it. Many artists create beautiful works but then you don’t use a painting or a sculpture to get you to the bottom of a ten-foot wave, through the tube and out on the shoulder without getting nailed. Also many people invent useful things but they are not necessarily nice to look at.
necessity - I need to keep myself in boards without paying a lot of money to buy them of the rack.
stoke - a very overused and misunderstood term, I believe, but in it’s purest and truest meaning, it’s something that keeps you excited about the craft of design and construction, and surfing.
it’s part of our heritage - it’s like a recipe passed down in the family. You gotta keep making it, and show your kids how to make it, or it’s gone forever.
A deeper reason than I can articulate, or can even be put into words, more a feeling. Its become so entined with my existance and personality that its hard to seperate, it just feels natural to be doing this, I feel strongly about learning and perseving craft values and this path in life feels right for me. I can’t explain it but this is what I’m meant to do, its my lifes work, gotta walk this path and I wouldn’t have it anyother way.
You knoe how sometimes when your surfing time just stands still, or frezzes for a few moments while you carry on, I get the same feeling when I’m working on a board. kinda on another plane.
BEcause, i’ve always been in love with the tools of our passion--------you know, that sounds almost smutty and weird. but what the heck! it’s true—carving a new shape, the feel of the foam and tang of the resins, the flow of the sanding block over the coating…hummm, yep sounds a bit sexual…hell, i just love a classic surfcraft…
I shaped my first, and so far only, board essentially because I am a nerd (not a geek!). I have this habit of whenever I take up a hobby I don’t just sort of do it and enjoy it. I want to learn all about it. Learn all the stuff about that most of the average participants don’t know; the history, the theory, all that good nerdy stuff. The logical thing seemed to be to try to build a board. What’s sad is that as far as surfing skill goes, I pretty much suck. Sure, I occasionally have my moments of personal glory but mostly I just try to stay out of my friends ways, unless I feel like collapsing a lip on them just to remind them I’m still there.
Of course this whole nerd thing is probably how I ended up at NASA.
It’s in our blood. From my great grandfathers on, we been making things. My grandfather was a draftsman by trade, but also master craftsman. He could build anything with wood. His brother could do the same with metal. My Father and his brothers all learned how to work with both wood and metal. My Dad has just about every tool you need to work with wood, and he taught me how to use them. Some of those tools were my grandfathers.
Growing up near the ocean and having beach houses at a relatively good surf break turned my interests to surfing. Since elementary school, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. We’ve surfed with everything you could imagine riding. Flat pieces of wood, mats, airplane tire tubes, aluminum row boats, fiberglass dingys, canoes, anything that will skim along the surface. When there’s nothing around, you still have your stomach.
Swaylocks introduced us to Balsa Composite Sandwich surfboards. Combining surfing, building surfboards, and woodworking. That’s priceless.
I was surfing with Harold “Iggy” Ige this morning. He was riding something he designed and I was on something I made… We were grinning in 1 foot rollers… Its all about the grins…
I’m just trying to ride the best coat tails I can… Ha! That’s why I would say AMC-III’s answers are closest to what I’d say.
I also find; the older I get, the more I love (maybe even need - I was so stressed by family and work issues, not to mention crappy surf over spring break, yet I was stoked out of my mind on my latest board, and the one before, and I happened to have a blank I won at Sway’07, so I grabbed that thing and started laying out the next
“vision” I have… Shaping/sanding… I just love the feel in my bones.) just doing my own things w/my hands, some times I just love cleaning my shop!
I do have a “reverse ego” problem: I’d love for the locals to be interested in my boards, but, as my designs incorporate several unorthodox features, and most people don’t “hear” what I’m talking about when it come to the hydrodynamics behind what I’m doing… I just keep on for my own sake… at least my beloved woman Sally listens with a smile, and says, “That’s great sweety…” Works for me.
