Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: April 18th, 2007 | Comments: (3)
Bookmark this at Del.icio.us |
|
Sunset Point local Greg Griffin of Griffin Surfboards Hawaii has been called the “guru of multiple fin designs”. Greg Griffin was born in Palo Alto, California and began shaping in 1968 and learned the art from Santa Cruz shaper Doug Haut. He was influenced by Haut, Mike Croteau, and Dick Brewer and later started shaping for Town & Country Surfboards Hawaii during the 1980’s.
Griffin has shaped surfboards for some of Hawaii’s top professional surfers including former World Champions Sunny Garcia, Dino Miranda, Rusty Keaulana, and Martin Potter. Other Griffin team riders include Kaipo Jaquias, Dane Kealoha, Max Medeiros, Pocho Ahina, Johnny Boy Gomes, Zane Aikau, Joey Valentin, Dave Cantrell, and Shawn Monroe. Greg Griffin’s shaping philosophy is to make surfboards as user friendly as possible and he plans on utilizing new materials and after market products to stay at the forefront of custom shaping. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: April 16th, 2007 | Comments: (2)
George Downing established Downing Hawaii in 1949. He shaped his first redwood board with his close friend Wallace Froiseth in a Waikiki garage. George Downing’s ocean experience includes Beachboy, surfer, canoe paddler and surfboard shaper led to his position as Quiksilver Eddie Aikau event director. His son Keone, won the 1990 Eddie Invitational, beating hell-men Brock Little and Tony Moniz in giant surf at the North Shore’s world famous Waimea Bay. Downing Hawaii offers a variety of classic shaped surfboards ranging from standard high performance shortboards, longboards, guns, and alternative riding boards like “Da Slippah”, a fast and responsive board which paddles like it’s six inches longer. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Other) | On: April 16th, 2007 | Comments: (5)
The success and history of Byrne Surfboards revolved around the close knit Bryne brothers. Phil, Dave, and Chris were highly successful surfers growing up in Australia and competitive surfing took them to the top surf spots in the world including Bali, Indonesia and the surf mecca of Hawaii. Bryne Surfboards got its start at a time when professional surfing began to emerge. Dave Bryne had been working as a glasser while Phil had been shaping in Australia and Hawaii. Thus, the three brothers decided to start their own label and their surfing experiences in Hawaii influenced their surfboard designs and methods. Their success in creating high performance boards attracted the attention of some of the top surfers in the world at the time including Shaun Tompson and Larry Bertleman. Tom Carroll began riding Phil Byrne’s shapes and ended up winning two pro titles on Bryne surfboards. Phil Byrne’s designs are also offered in Surftech’s Tuflite epoxy line of shapes. The company’s philosophy is to continue to improve surfboard designing through working to improve every surfer’s performance. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: April 14th, 2007 | Comments: (4)
Glen Minami is one of Hawaii’s most well known and respected surfboard shapers. It is not uncommon to hear the majority of shapers from experienced to up-and-coming stars who credit Glen Minami as a great teacher and instrumental influence. Glen had been shaping under the old Blue Hawaii Surf label but due to a company dispute, he began a new label called Infamy Surfboards. Minami has also worked with Surftech, who offers an epoxy version of his travel quiver. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: April 13th, 2007 | Comments: (6)
Jeff Bushman started shaping surfboards in Ventura, California during the 1970’s. He shaped boards as a hobby and according to the Surftech website, claimed to have shaped 3,000 surfboards before he saw another person make one. In 1982 he took on the name Cyclone Surfboards and shaped surfboards where ever he traveled. In 1988, Bushman moved to the North Shore of Oahu to put his surfing and shaping skills to the ultimate test. Bushman says, “The best surfers and the best shapers live in Hawaii and so I went there to see if I was up to it.” He has since shaped 31,000 surfboards to date and has shaped for big names including current team rider Pancho Sullivan, Shawn Briley, Tamayo Perry, Jack Johnson, Luke Egan, and Mick Lowe. Ross Clarke-Jones won the 2000 Eddie Aikau invitational at Waimea Bay on Bushman’s 10’0 Rocket Rails. Bushman Surfboards are also available in a variety of Pancho Sullivan Surftech models including the Pancho TL2. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: April 13th, 2007 | Comments: (2) Darren Tatsuno shapes surfboards for Drift Surf Shop located in Honolulu, Hawaii. I’ve also found some of his surfboards on Japanese surf shop sites. If anyone including Darren would like to add more information to this page, send us an email. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (CA) | On: April 11th, 2007 | Comments: (3) Update: I’ve been riding a slick 5’3 Kane Garden fish to try. Read the full review.
Kane Garden Surfboards is a San Diego based surfboard company who build fish type boards inspired by the wave rich area that encompasses their shop. They pride themselves on building unique, technical, and practical fishes with emphasis on strength and durability. They’re motto is: Speed, Maneuverability, and Versatility. Kane Garden’s owner, shaper, and designer P.J. Johnson is dedicated to building quality surfboards inspired by Southern California’s hot rod culture and craftmanship and has been at the forefront of fish design since its exception.
According to Kane Garden, the fish is proven as one of the most versatile and popular designs in the world and originated in southern San Diego. Steve Lis, who hails from Point Loma and was one of the best surfers in his generation perfected the design over years of RD at Sunset Cliffs. He shaped a large split tail in a wide blank resembling a chopped in half longboard and put two keel fins on it leading to an ultra fast and highly maneuverable surfboard that seemed so futuristic back then. His design was so futuristic that many fish variations seen today are still based off his original concepts. Almost every surfboard shaper has tweaked his fish design and has put modern concaves and design elements into their fish version. Fishes are some of the best boards for average surfers who ride less than perfect waves as it generates tremendous planing speed, turning ability, and forgiveness.
Kane Garden Fish Series CLASSIC TWINZER
Website: www.KaneGarden.com Filed in: Shaper Reviews (CA) | On: April 10th, 2007 | Comments: (0)
With his famous headphones, cigar in his mouth, and planer in hand, William “Stretch” Riedel has been building a wide range of innovative surf craft from surfing to sailing. The freakishly tall (6’6) yet skinny as a rocker stick shaper first learned the art of shaping from his father, who was a shaper for Velzy Jacobs Surfboards in the 1960’s. Stretch worked at several LA surfboard factories before starting Stretch Boards. Stretch later moved his business to Santa Cruz, California, where his junkyard factory and prime California coastline has enabled him to experiment with alternative design techniques and different resins, making Stretch surfboards lighter and faster. An unfortunate windsurfing accident caused partial paralysis throughout his right side yet he has been shaping with his locked-up right hand for more than half of his entire shaping career. For many years, Stretch was as underground as Santa Cruz shapers get until he exploded on the surf scene when he was voted 2005 Shaper of the Year by Surfing Magazine. His team riders include Jason “Ratboy” Collins, Nathan Fletcher, Nathan Florence, Garret McNamara, Josh Loya, and others. He also has a variety of Surftech epoxy models and the Stretch Quad surfboards are some of surfings hottest/most popular board designs. Filed in: Shaper Reviews (CA) | On: April 9th, 2007 | Comments: (6)
Rusty Surfboards was started in 1984 by up and coming shaper Rusty Preisendorfer. Previously, Rusty had been shaping surfboards for Canyon. During his somewhat low key years, he shaped board for 10 of the top 16 surfers in the world which included Mark Occhilupo and Shaun Tomson. One day, former world champion Peter Townend suggested that Rusty develop his own surfobard label and so the R-dot was created. Rusty has since become one of the surfboard manufacturing world’s icons with a surfboard production near 15,000 annually. The company however, claims that their Rusty brand is still grassroots through its successful custom surfboard offerings. Rusty’s communication and feedback with team riders and shapers along with his innovation in surf design has helped accelerate the evolution of modern surf design. The company has been at the forefront of CAD surf design and experimentation of composite materials with companies like Surftech, Aviso, and Salomon. The Rusty team features a wide variety of fresh and experienced world class surfers. A few of those surfers include former World Champion Derek Ho, Pipeline specialist Kalani Chapman, Santa Cruz big wave hellman Flea Virostko, Josh Kerr, and “Freak Show” Jamie O’brien. Recent News: Rusty was recently sold to the Australian licensee Geoff Backshall of Rusty Australia. Filed in: Surfing Trends | On: April 4th, 2007 | Comments: (94)
Four fin quad set-ups first arrived in the early 80’s during the thruster rampage. Back then, quads felt were very similar to twin fins and because of that surfers were looking for something which provide something in between a twin and a single fin. The early thrusters provided a happy medium by providing an excellent balance of drive and turning ability. Thus, the quad died a quick death and was over shadowed by it’s popular thruster cousin. Many shapers have since dusted off their original quads from the 80’s and have tried to apply quad fin setups to today’s modern day board design, foils, rockers, fin templates, and everything else in between. The modern day quad utilizes today’s board technology in the pursuit of helping surfers achieve that elusive ‘next level’ of surfing. Why Do Quads Work Better? Quads are way faster than standard thrusters or even twin fins. Most would think, how can they be faster with an extra fin…wouldn’t that create more drag? Actually, because both sets of fins are working together on the rail, there’s nothing to slow you down like the center fin of a thruster. Quads are a lot more efficient with speed. Quads are much more responsive than twin fins or thrusters. The reason is that the fins are set further up the board which essentially puts the fins directly under your back foot. The end result is an ultra responsive board that goes where you want it to go and fast. Four fins boast an extraordinary amount of holding power in larger surf. A large number of the world’s best big wave surfers use quads in giant surf at Jaws and Mavericks. Many of them claim that a quad fin board has better holding power and speed in giant surf. If it works well at Jaws, imagine what it could do at your local beach break? Quad fins have a ton of versatility due in large part to the advent of the removable fin system. There are countless combinations of different fin setups you can use in your quad from fin size, cant, rake, angles, fin material, and more. You can basically find a fin setup that will work for your quad and if you have a quad that isn’t performing very well, you should probably check your fins. Quad FinsQuad Fin Reviews |
Quad fins are making a comeback and increasing in popularity. Superstars like Kelly Slater and Bruce Irons are riding quads and there is talk that once someone on tour wins a contest with a quad, all hell will break loose and the quad will see an explosion similar to the abundant fish population.
