Balls of Steel!

Here is some pretty insane tow-in footage from what must be Jaws. Don't have the info on the original source but Wow!

New Surfboard on Surfboardbuilders.com and Travel Update

Hello from Cali Colombia! I'm here for a few weeks of spanish lessons, visiting family (my wife is from Cali), seeing the country, and getting ready for a few weeks of surf in Costa Rica. So far its been great. The people here are exceptional and Cali...its full of life! Over the next few weeks I'll have more posts with videos and photos from different areas of Colombia.

BTW, we have some new boards coming on line and later more shapers. We don't have all the photos up yet but the boards are available to review and order. Most new ones we are seeing are along the lines of shorter boards similar in looks to those made in the early 80's and made popular again by Kelly Slater...of course the newer boards are much more refined. Regardless we love the direction and experimention going on. Doc Lausch has both an NDR and Lil Buddy. Up soon are the Larmo Squash and White Pony and shown below and available now is the Mitsven B-Tail Quad.


I'll get to demo a B-Tail Quad in Costa Rica and look forward to providing some feedback on it to you. Until the next post Hasta Luego!

Thanks from Surfboardbuilders.com

Maybe its the season or that everybody is just over it (worrying about the recession)...but things have been picking up for us at Surfboardbuilders.com lately. We just want to say thanks to all of our customers. It is a pleasure to work with you each day and the great group of shapers on the site. If you happen to live or visit in and around North County San Diego you might have seen our "fleet" of trucks...both of them. If you do please don't hesitate to stop us and say hello. Until then we wish you great summer surf!

Greg Webster's Surfboard Glasswork

Last weekend surfboardbuilders.com hosted a show of the incredible colored glasswork being produced by Greg Webster. Greg is pictured here standing below a Jim Phillips longboard with his handiwork.

The showing, complimented by great BBQ and the sounds of Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones (aka Joe Woods from TSOL http://www.myspace.com/joewoodandthelonelyones), was a way of getting the word out about his talent and setting the bar still higher for artwork on surfboards.

On display were boards shaped by mastercraftmen like Jim Phillips and Hank Warner. Between cooking and organizing Greg took some time to explain the process to the folks in attendance.

Instead of the normal tint work, Greg uses individual pieces of colored cloth to build his designs. As you can see his work is on a whole different level.





The work in the pipeline that didn't make the show is even more beautiful. If you're interested you can have Greg do the glasswork art on any board on our site. Give us a call for details... or you can just order your board without a design and then we will work out the design and cost over the phone.

Feedback on the Larry Mabile's Swinger ( new surfboard model)

About a month ago I got my Larry Mabile Swinger model after seeing it at the demo event and ordering one.  After trying it at a variety of waves I'm ready to give some feedback.  It has a fishy feel but is a little bit stiffer in the mid and nose section.   It paddles great and gets into waves super easy...all really nice.  It's on the wave that it was a little surprising.  The quad version of course is really fast and flatter sections are easy to blow thru or throw tail slides.  The difference was the feeling that it was more comfortable in the pocket (on hollower waves) than my other fish boards and easier to turn off the top than a traditional or normal modern fish.  This was pretty cool.  If you are looking for something a little different and super fun I highly recommend this board.  I can't wait to get mine in a long down the line point break!

Spotlight on Surfboard Shaper Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin of Griffin Surfboards and Wayne Lynch Surfboards is an enigma in an industry of characters. Often quiet and reserved, sometimes VERY outspoken. One thing is for certain, he is passionate about shaping and what he and others see as a tangent away from the roots of our sport. He also builds exceptional boards...something the folks here at Surfboardbuilders and lots of surfers in the waters off of San Diego and Orange County can attest to.





Tell us a little about how you started in shaping? I started shaping 15 years ago. Initially I was just curious about the process and interested in the surfboards themselves. I did my first few boards without ever having seen a board shaped, just sort of worked my way through it. They turned out pretty rough but actually went ok.

After realizing I really liked shaping and riding my own boards I started checking out other shapers to trying to get a better idea. Eventually I got a job roughing boards for Peter Benjamin in San Diego. That got me a lot of reps with the planer and really helped improve my shaping. In the following years I've worked for Xanadu, Boysen, Cole, Wayne Lynch, and my own brand, Griffin Surfboards.

Who has been your biggest influence? I've been influenced by all the people I've shaped for and have also been inspired by lots of different surfboards. It's really cool to check out the different stuff that's out there.

What are your thoughts on the building of custom boards in today's world?
For the most part, there is only a small part of the surfing community that values hand shaped surfboards. The media marketing machine has devalued the hand shape by promoting the computer. If a label is producing large numbers of surfboards then hand shaping is not realistic. It's too much work and there simply aren't enough shapers that can do it. Therefore, they're going to promote the computer and downplay hand shaping.



I still think the best way to get the perfect board for yourself is to order from a craftsman and have a board custom built to your specs/desires. Unfortunately, shapers aren't paid more for hand shapes so there really isn't any incentive to do it. Hand shaping also requires more time in the shaping room, when time spent marketing is more important to actually sell boards. It will be interesting to see if at some point, as the number of capable shapers decreases, the value of a hand shaped custom board will increase. Time will tell.

Tell us about the trends you are seeing in custom board building? Mostly a lot of guys claiming to hand shape when they're really using the computer. Or worse, designing boards on a computer screen and claiming that's the best thing since sliced bread. I still say a master craftsman uses numbers as guidelines but in the end trusts their hands and eyes to create a clean, balanced board. Something a computer will never be able to do.

Tell us about your favorite surf spots? I mostly surf out of the way beach breaks to try and get away from crowds. It's not the best for business but I prefer to surf alone or with a few friends. I've been to Tavarua and it's tough to beat those waves.

Where do you see the art of custom surfboard building going?
In the toilet...

Tell us about your favorite board to shape and to ride? I like to shape and ride pretty much everything. I guess it depends on the surf and what I'm feeling.

Where do you see design going from here? My guess is the big labels will continue to claim computers are the future. They're probably anxiously waiting for the computer that'll completely finish boards so they don't need to shape at all!



I could see the day when shapers are mostly phased out and design is left to the Kelly Slaters of the world. People will sell that you can get a board that was designed by a top pro.

Meanwhile there will always be guys hand shaping boards because they love it. It's not for the money, believe me. And there will always be surfers who want to participate in the process and get custom boards.

More on Tim here http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/shaper_tim_griffin.aspx

New Fish Type Surfboard Shapes

As we head into the Spring/Summer of 2008 and the time to dust off your fish, the folks here at surfboardbuilders are noticing some new entries to the fish world that are pretty cool and likely to make an impact this summer. Besides the normal array of fun swallow tails, some shapers have come out with fish models that substitute that wide swallow for a wide rounded or diamond tail. The result is often better performance off the top and just smoother turns in general. Plus, as one shaper put it, "I just got tired of cracking my foot on the swallow tail." We've been lucky enough to be able to test a few and they're pretty sweet. Here are a few on the site that are definitely worth taking a look at: Larry Mabile's Diamond Tail Quad (on the top left) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=15 Doc's New Toy (10th board down on the left column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=27 Tim Griffin's GRT Fish (top left board) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=30 Greg Sauritch's Round Tail Fish (5th board down on the right column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=19 Bob Mitsvens RTQ (4th board down on the left column) http://www.surfboardbuilders.com/BrowseBoard.aspx?ShaperID=24