I tested my friend Bruce’s 9’4 Joel Tudor Classic Pin. The board measured 9’4 x 22.125″ x 3.125″ with slight concave under the nose, smooth 50/50 rails, and 10″ classic fin. This was the first time I’ve ridden one of these ‘Cali-type’ longboards with it’s ultra flat rocker and even rails. Hawaii doesn’t really have slow point break style waves like those found in CA and because our waves are often shorter, steeper, and packed with more punch, our longboards tend to utilize a lot more nose and tail rocker to keep from pearling and provide quicker turning ability. The Tudor Classic Pin provided excellent paddling power and its wave catching ability was effortless. The overall flatter deck and rocker combined with soft rails proved to be something that I’ll need to get used to but I did manage a few smooth and arcing turns.

Unfortunately, due to the poor shape of wave faces today, I wasn’t able to noseride this board. However, I’ll get a chance to ride the Classic Pin a few more times soon and report on its nose riding ability. Stay tuned for the update.

The June 2007 issue of Surfer Magazine has shed light on one of the negative points of Clark Foam’s closure. While Clark’s closure has opened the doors for a variety of foam producers and pushed experimentation with new composite materials, old barriers are now gone and imported surfboards have an easier entry into the U.S. surfing market. Costco has been selling cheapo beginner type surfboards in California and Hawaii since 2001.� The Realm� established itself as a cheap Costco brand after selling out by mass-distributing their boards throughout various Costco warehouses and even Gordan & Smith boards have made it through the aisles.

Costco predicts that it will sell between 7,000-8000 surfboards this summer and sheds an even greater problem in the surfboard industry; the invasion of cheaply made Chinese surfboards. China, which was once the ‘Sleeping Giant’ has obviously awakened with their economy growing at full steam. The Chinese have taken notice of surfing’s recent popularity explosion and there are now more than 60 Chinese shapers in the communist country. These shapers are currently being trained by some of the best surfboard production names and while none of the 60 Chinese shapers have ever surfed before let alone seen an ocean before, all of their shaping is done by hand. It seems as though the quality of their shapes is getting better and even Rusty Preisendorfer was impressed by what he saw.

It would be hard for surf shops to reject these cheap Chinese imports because they have the potential to finally give shops greater margins on surfboard sales. On the flip side, these cheaply made import boards take away business from local surfboard shapers and manufacturers who form the backbone of the surfboard industry as a whole.

I can see how these cheap imports help beginner or budget surfers by providing them with a functional board that doesn’t break their pocket. But I also know how difficult it is for surfboard� shapers and glassers who work off of razor thin margins. There will always be a need for custom surfboards and if you’re thinking of spending a few dollars on a Costco board, think twice, because it would really suck to see a line-up littered with surfboards sporting ‘Made in China’ stickers. Support your local shaper, you’ll be happy you did:

Hawaii Shapers

California Shapers

Rest of Shapers�

Mandala Custom Shapes which is based in San Francisco, CA, specializes in vintage, retro, and alternative surfboards. Shaper Manuel Caro offers a variety of fish with a vast number of fin templates and combinations. Caro believes that having a custom surfboard shaped is a great way to develop a personal connection between surfer and shaper. Custom orders usually involve finding out the surfer’s personal information like height, weight, surfing experiences, waves surfed, etc. which helps in shaping a board most suited for that particular surfer.

All custom surfboard glassing is done by Moonlight Glassing in San Marcos for the best quality lamination and boards are normally glassed 6oz+6oz deck, 6oz bottom. Other glassing options are available depending on preference and or weight. Several models offered by Mandala Custom Shapes include:

Double-wing Quad Fish
Round Pin Quad
Bat-tail Quad

Marine-Ply Twin Keel
Marine-Ply Canard Quad
Marine-Ply AK2

Single fins
Mandala Five

Caro has been influenced by Rich Pavel, Thomas Campbell, and Alex Knopps to name a few.

In the 1960’s, Dewey Weber influenced both surfboard design and the surfing lifestyle that still has influence to this day. Dewey quickly garnered the reputation of being one of surfing’s top businessmen and soon he was recognized as the largest and most innovative surfboard manufacturer in the entire surfing industry. During that span, Weber contributed many surfboard design and manufacturing innovations and opened up surfing’s reach by introducing skateboard and apparel line to his surfboard business.

Currently, Dewey Weber is focused on making top notch custom surfboards which are all hand made in the U.S. All Dewey Weber surfboards are manufactured in Southern California and glassing is done by Kaysen Surf Designs. Being that the company has always embraced change and innovation, it is no surprise that the company utilizes a state of the art shaping machine and has experimented with epoxy resin over the past few years.

The company specializes in high quality retro and traditional longboard shapes and Dewey Weber’s San Clemente Surf Shop provides surfers with a wide variety of quality stock boards in their showroom. If you aren’t able to find exactly what you’re looking for, the Weber shaping team can design a board to your exact specifications.

This is by no means a recent trend, but the growing popularity of surfing has lead to the introduction of a various surfboards specifically designed for beginner type surfers made with softer and more forgiving materials. One of the companies producing beginner surfboards is Liquid Shredder, a company based in Peru, where their soft tops are both manufactured and tested.

The unique part about this company is that they claim their boards have entry level prices with professional performance. Their soft top surfboards feature Peruvian hard wood stringers to help stabilize the board and a soft (but not spongy soft) deck to minimize injuries.

The company also claims that their soft tops look and perform like a traditional fiberglass board. That may be an overstatement but with a starting price of only $129, these boards may be good for kids and rank beginners on a tight budget who are looking to get into surfing.

Neal Norris, of Valley Isle Surfboards in Maui, has been shaping custom surfboards since 1969. Throughout the years, he has been designing functional and innovative surfboards custom built for each individual surfer. No surfboard is made the same and a surfer’s height, weight, and experience are all factors which contribute to subtle differences in each of his boards. All surfboards produced by Norris are hand shaped of the highest quality fiberglass resin and materials.

Valley Isle Surfboards offers the following surfboard designs:

Shortboards – These boards are designed for small to moderate surf with a curvey outline for maximum maneuverability.

Big Boy Boards – These boards are enlarged shortboards for surfers who weigh between 180-200 lbs which make surfing fun for bigger and heavier surfers.

Funboards – These designs consist of hybrids and mini tankers and offer the paddling power of a longboard with the responsiveness of a shortboard.

Big Wave Boards – These surfboards are built with gun outlines and stronger “S” cloth fiberglass and suited for large hollow surf.

Longboards – Valley Isle specializes in modern high performance longboards that are quick and manueverable. These boards narrow the gap between modern day shortboards and the heavy “log type” longboards of the past.

Fletcher Chouinard Design’s roots began in Ventura, California where Yvon Chouinard opened his blacksmith shop in the 1960’s. The Chouinard Equipment Company built some of the finest mountaineering gear and the shop’s location allowed everyone to surf and make equipment better.

30 years later, Yvon and Fletcher opened Fletcher Chouinard Designs with the goal of producing better surfboards. They were intent on finding the best technologies and composite materials in hopes of creating a stronger and lighter surfboard. Their openness to change and embracing new ideas has helped them explore fiberglass composite technologies and experimenting with their team riders. Their main goal has always been about building a better surfboard.

Another one of the Chouinards’ goals is to create the best surfboards possible and reduce the use of toxic and non-renewable materials used in the production of traditional surfboards. After a year of testing various “greener” materials, they’ve come up with a “cutting edge” composite surfboard that’s lighter, stonger, and less toxic.

Johnny Rice grew up in Santa Cruz, California and shaped his own balsa wood surfboard early on in his garage. That board didn’t end up working so well but it was the beginning of his shaping career. Rice, who is part Plains Indian, would find himself working for Dale Velzy in Venice, California. One day Velzy asked Rice if he wanted to learn how to shape and through the teachings of Velzy, he learned the art of surfboard shaping.

Johnny Rice has worked for a few of the industry’s biggest names including, Velzy, Jacobs, Kim Kidd, Con, Rick, South Bay, Oceanside, and Dick Catri to name a few. Over the eyars, he’s made surfboards with interesting names such as Malibu Competition, the Black Widow, the Scorpion, V 360, Instrument and Renegade. Recently, he teamed up with Surftech to produce epoxy versions of his high performance and cruiser models. Rice shapes his boards a little thinner than normal with more V in the tail leading to faster turns.

Hunt Custom Surfboards was started by Gregg Hunt in 2000 and is located in Alhambra, CA. Hunt Custom Surfboards specializes in quality hand shaped longboards with emphasis on classic style and modern performance characteristics. While they do offer a large variety of stock boards, if you can’t find a board that fits your surfing style, they can shape a custom board for you.

All surfboards feature Walker Foam blanks and quality glass jobs from Shoreline Glassing, located in Hermosa Beach. All Hunt Custom Surfboards utilize hand crafted fins from Fibreglas Fin Co.

Gregg Hunt grew up surfing in California at well known spots like Malibu and D&W Jetty. He began shaping custom surfboards in 2000 specifically for noseriding and trimming and has constantly refined his shapes over the last six years.

San Diego shaper Tim Bessell’s shaping beginnings happened in his parent’s garage when he shaped his first board at the age of 13. A couple years later he began shaping for Sunset Surfboards and began making a name for himself. Tim later moved to to ultimate testing grounds of Hawaii where his shaping was put to the highest test. He shaped for Lightning Bolt Surfboards which at the time was one of the top surfboard manufacturers around.

After moving back to California, Tim got into art and apparel and began making a name for himself in those respective endeavors. In 1997, he decided to focus only on surfboards and Tim Bessell Surfboards was resurrected.

Tim has produced over 43,000 surfboards which have been featured on the covers of major surf publications. He has also shaped surfboards for some of the top surfers in the world who include eter King, Luke Egan, Jon Roseman, Glen Winton, Brad Gerlach, Vetea David, and Ricky Irons to name a few.

Bessell’s custom surfboards and willingness to work with each individual customer has help build his strong reputation in San Deigo.