Intuition and Reassurance

Around the New Year I usually write a little bit about the past and coming months; I was curious last night what I had written last year so I dug it up and read through. It was reassuring [as I read] to feel that I've stuck to my path and done justice to the hopes that I had set for myself in 2011. In fact, the last year has tested me a thousand times beyond what I had ever thought possible, and I'm proud that I've held up my end of the bargain.

Leaving Point Concept behind was a big deal to me. It was a choice based on honesty to myself and my chosen path as much as it was a choice to boil down the important parts of my 'job'... To make sure that I'm keeping myself true to my passions and curiosities so as to stay inspired and on an honest path and not one run by glossy marketing schemes, machine shapes and t-shirt lines. I may be naive, but I'm living for honesty right now over monetary profit.

I asked myself to trust in people's goodness and give them the benefit of the doubt as long as I hold up my end of the bargain; take out what I put in and trust that others will do the same. I have most definitely been shown that this kind of action is not always reciprocated, and has revealed some true ugliness in the past year; but it's also brought me the most surreal of opportunities and friends. Its like an automatic sifter of good and bad...You learn about yourself and about other people, then make an informed decision on what to do with the information from there. And thats exactly what I wanted to do when I started building surfboards for other people: Learn. About friends, surfing, myself, and about my path in life through surfboards.

As 2012 starts, I'm poised in front of as many new opportunities as ever. I am humbled and grateful to everyone who continues laying down the challenges in front of me, and flattered that somehow week after week I just have to keep building honest, good surfboards and everything will work out. I'm more than happy to do that. I want to be transparent, and I want what is inside of that to be honest and grateful. Thank you for supporting my ambitions, publicly or silently, I truly appreciate what my life has become.

So with all of that said and my slate clean, I want to share a short edit that I put together of some clips taken by mr.Kew. I've been holding this one in my back pocket for a couple of months for some reason, waiting for the right time to let it go...This feels as good of time as any. Trevor draws some beautifully clean and effortless lines on his v.bowls; Full-screen it and turn up the volume a little; it'll increase your mellow.

A Brief and Honest Plea

It seems trivial to a lot of people, and to others it's a pretty hot topic; but either way, the term hand shaped is being bastardized pretty hard at the moment. The following isn't a rant, just a humble observation on some wordage and some pretty blatant lies being told.

The term hand shaped, for years, has referred to a board that was whittled down by a planer, sandpaper and whatever other hand-held tools the shaper liked; chunks of foam flying, tight lines and experienced eyes laying down the cuts that make up our favorite boards. Not a CNC shaped board, that was then 'hand finished'. Finished and shaped are two very, very different words.

There seems to be a rash of shapers marketing "Hand Shapes" that when you do a little looking into, are most definitely not hand shaped. I'm not sure what the thought process is behind calling a machine shaped board anything else, but taking some router bumps down with a sanding block doesn't warrant the use of the term hand shaped. I'm sorry, but customers are being lied to daily and thousands of people are walking around with CNC shaped boards sporting the term hand shaped.

Let me digress for a second.

Machine shaped boards are fine, they surf, and they look nice like any other surfboard, they get glassed and have pretty colors.

What it comes down to though, for me, is creating a belief around your product through marketing and the terms that are used, and then selling something else. Thats telling a lie, just like our mommy's told us not to. I don't frown upon machine shaped boards too heavily, just the lack of distinction and honesty behind them.

Heck. If I was making machine shaped boards, I'd market THAT; they are flawless, perfect copies of each other and you have a very very narrow margin for mistake, that's got some value. My feathers start to get ruffled though, when every few weeks I learn exactly whose boards are machine shaped and marketed as hand shaped. When you're being dishonest and toting a term thats not applicable, in order to make a product more 'classic' and warrant a higher price tag, the truth usually comes out.

I'm guessing that most people reading this at the moment are thinking shortboards, hp longboards, etc. as the products I'm speaking of. When what I'm talking about are full on 'retro' 'classic' or 'alternative' boards. The ones all over the blogs and websites that you're cruising through today, by big, popular shapers, by the most 'soulful' shapers. I know people who have sold their entire quivers once they figured out the truth about their "hand shaped" boards. Making one or two honest hand shapes per week (I'm giving you guys the benefit of the doubt on that one), and 20 machine shapes, doesn't deserve the term 'hand shaped' for all of your boards...It's a blatant lie and to me just shows lack of respect for your customers.

Machine shaped boards have a place in the industry and honestly are likely the only way to keep board prices under $1,000 in the coming future. The demand for boards is just too large and honestly not everyone wants to spend more money on a hand shaped board. There are people out there though, doing justice to the term and being supported by people who care. I'd just like the lines to stop being blurred, and for everyone to be proud of what their product honestly is, even if it's machined...Just own it.

There's a laundry list of guys who fall under the pointed comments above, and your heart would likely break if I named them and you cared much for the debate.

I'm not trying to out anyone in particular. I haven't written this directly at one person or another, these are thoughts and bits of conversations I've been having for the past couple of years.

I'm pleading for some honesty from my fellow shapers that are, in their quest for their place in an honorable craft, dishonoring one of the last real traditions within it.

Pass this on if you feel like it, I hope the message is clear and not misread.