Joel Fitz - Sea Gypsy

bloke i know bought a swallow tail single of him....a very beautiful board. could not fault it. i cant say about construction as he has only had a few surfs on it. Looks really nice to me

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chrispy said...
bloke i know bought a swallow tail single of him....a very beautiful board. could not fault it. i cant say about construction as he has only had a few surfs on it. Looks really nice to me

His prices look reasonable for this type of board aswell.

Was also looking at the Tak Howard special mini but $1400 seems a bit steep.

Never seen one in they do look amazing on the web....I reckon you could get a howard from 1200 if you ask nicely at the shop

First line in the description gives a hint to the lineage and design

Modern take on a drifter that was done by his old man back in the day. That is Terry Fitzgerald for the red thumb ****tards.

There is a good clip of JF riding his boards at ulu and someone was riding one of these in the Maldives 4 event thing where they ride singles etc. maybe rasta?
I'll see if I can find it.

And To red thumb dude. Learn ya surf history ya fist pumper... Put down your dick and pick up a book..

Sorry for actually posting about surfing in a surfing forum.

I'm very interested in how it nose rides.

If he is as innovative as Terry was, and builds boards as well as Terry did you should be on the right track Sparkster.

There is a lot to be said for surfers and shapers passing their trade down the line to their families. It keeps the ideas flowing and the younger dudes learn from the errors of those before them. The surf culture is much more than wearing certain brands of clothes.

Families like the Fitz's have a wealth of skills and knowledge hand. Give it a shot you will probably love it.

ET.

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E T said..

E T said..
If he is as innovative as Terry was, and builds boards as well as Terry did you should be on the right track Sparkster.

There is a lot to be said for surfers and shapers passing their trade down the line to their families. It keeps the ideas flowing and the younger dudes learn from the errors of those before them. The surf culture is much more than wearing certain brands of clothes.

Families like the Fitz's have a wealth of skills and knowledge hand. Give it a shot you will probably love it.

ET.

. Give it a shot you will probably love it.

I might have to take that advice

Talk to the Drip bro he has a couple of boards pretty similar to this made by a local bloke

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chrispy said..
spark,let me talk to someone....as that is a crazy amount........without being a downer,im sure there are shapers in WA that could knock that shape up

a quad would go good as well in that shape

Board freight to WA is atrocious and i believe hiked in the last few months significantly.

There's no one over here putting real effort into developing and refining the Alternative to performance short boards and riding them as the likes of Joel Fitz, Neil Purchase Jnr, Jesse Watson etc.

I had a great shaper try and replicate this board and the end result was really nothing like it. I love it still, it goes well, but it's basically an interpretation of what i was looking for and it gets used in wavers other than i intended. Still goes well, it was quite like a pleasant surprise. :)

My thoughts are if someone does a lot of something, they do it well and generally do it better than others and I've found that to be the case with sharpers definitely.

Paying ridiculous freight is frustrating, good for local business though, but the market for anything other than short-boards in WA is relatively small in comparison to the East coast.

IF there are any good rates to WA let me know please :) , i may just pick one of the up ???

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Surf69 said..

chrispy said..
spark,let me talk to someone....as that is a crazy amount........without being a downer,im sure there are shapers in WA that could knock that shape up

a quad would go good as well in that shape

Board freight to WA is atrocious and i believe hiked in the last few months significantly.

There's no one over here putting real effort into developing and refining the Alternative to performance short boards and riding them as the likes of Joel Fitz, Neil Purchase Jnr, Jesse Watson etc.

I had a great shaper try and replicate this board and the end result was really nothing like it. I love it still, it goes well, but it's basically an interpretation of what i was looking for and it gets used in wavers other than i intended. Still goes well, it was quite like a pleasant surprise. :)

My thoughts are if someone does a lot of something, they do it well and generally do it better than others and I've found that to be the case with sharpers definitely.

Paying ridiculous freight is frustrating, good for local business though, but the market for anything other than short-boards in WA is relatively small in comparison to the East coast.

IF there are any good rates to WA let me know please :) , i may just pick one of the up ???

Len Dibben
Mark Ogram
Bruce Montgomery

All these guys are excellent shapers and are based in WA...I've had single made by Bruce and Len and both were excellent...The Drip rates Mark Ogram right up there

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Surf69 said...

Tux said..

Surf69 said..

chrispy said..
spark,let me talk to someone....as that is a crazy amount........without being a downer,im sure there are shapers in WA that could knock that shape up

a quad would go good as well in that shape

Board freight to WA is atrocious and i believe hiked in the last few months significantly.

There's no one over here putting real effort into developing and refining the Alternative to performance short boards and riding them as the likes of Joel Fitz, Neil Purchase Jnr, Jesse Watson etc.

I had a great shaper try and replicate this board and the end result was really nothing like it. I love it still, it goes well, but it's basically an interpretation of what i was looking for and it gets used in wavers other than i intended. Still goes well, it was quite like a pleasant surprise. :)

My thoughts are if someone does a lot of something, they do it well and generally do it better than others and I've found that to be the case with sharpers definitely.

Paying ridiculous freight is frustrating, good for local business though, but the market for anything other than short-boards in WA is relatively small in comparison to the East coast.

IF there are any good rates to WA let me know please :) , i may just pick one of the up ???

Len Dibben
Mark Ogram
Bruce Montgomery

All these guys are excellent shapers and are based in WA...I've had single made by Bruce and Len and both were excellent...The Drip rates Mark Ogram right up there

I know all three

As mentioned we have some epic shapers in WA world class but none are doing the progressive alternative stuff. I know Len and Oggie personally, Bruce also but haven't seen him for 20 years, up in Gero last I heard.

Ross Rutherford is putting out some good stuff.

chrispy said..

Surf69 said..

chrispy said..
spark,let me talk to someone....as that is a crazy amount........without being a downer,im sure there are shapers in WA that could knock that shape up

a quad would go good as well in that shape

Board freight to WA is atrocious and i believe hiked in the last few months significantly.

There's no one over here putting real effort into developing and refining the Alternative to performance short boards and riding them as the likes of Joel Fitz, Neil Purchase Jnr, Jesse Watson etc.

I had a great shaper try and replicate this board and the end result was really nothing like it. I love it still, it goes well, but it's basically an interpretation of what i was looking for and it gets used in wavers other than i intended. Still goes well, it was quite like a pleasant surprise. :)

My thoughts are if someone does a lot of something, they do it well and generally do it better than others and I've found that to be the case with sharpers definitely.

Paying ridiculous freight is frustrating, good for local business though, but the market for anything other than short-boards in WA is relatively small in comparison to the East coast.

IF there are any good rates to WA let me know please :) , i may just pick one of the up ???

i dissagree jesse worked out of clearwater for years and him and steve amongst numerous different brands being made there, There was always boards being talked about with a few beers(except in jessies case...he needs no beers lol)

i know SDR has done some way nice boards like that,as clint guest loves to experiment on the weird and the wonderful...Chris Del Moro and Asher pacey being some of his fans as well....

I also know laceys mate Mr seaplane young has had SDR refine a few of his shapes....shapers getting together and doing stuff

so i generally keeps SDR name out of my posts these days as not too upset mac but it would definately be the first phone call i made....one of the best glassers in the country along with SDR shaping at a beautiful price.......

boom

SDR is hardly in WA, does epic performance logs and shortboards, haven't seen anything other than that though. Still hard for us to acces.
Jesse, NPJnr, Fitzy and the likes concentrate on this stuff, SDR and the likes, don't they got way more going on.

Maybe....but SDR was shaping those sorts of boards before the above mentioned were born....


Plus he is in W.A every fortnight and does not charge any difference to take boards back.

That's all I got

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lordsword said..

Spark said..

chrispy said...
bloke i know bought a swallow tail single of him....a very beautiful board. could not fault it. i cant say about construction as he has only had a few surfs on it. Looks really nice to me

His prices look reasonable for this type of board aswell.

Was also looking at the Tak Howard special mini but $1400 seems a bit steep.

So you're comparing a board designed by someone who had over 50 years shaping/design experience, and manufactured by people who have been making boards for over 40 years, with Joel who has really only just started his surfboard building journey? And you have a problem with the Takayama being approx. $300 more??

I find this sort of nonsense quite off-putting if this is the general consensus of the surfing public. Do your homework and know that with surfboards you do indeed get what you pay for. Both in quality of board and quality of how it surfs. Not to take anything away from Joel, he has come a long way in the last couple of years, both with his shaping and with his laminating etc.

But seriously, surfboards are expensive to build and anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot. Yes you can build them cheaply yourself, but they won't look the same, or go the same as a board as world renowned as a Takayama.

Takayama Shapes are special, but...he's not shaping them ( May he RIP). Takayama design sure ( Well.. in most cases)... but is magic hands aren't doing them.

Yes surfboards are expensive to build and there-fore expensive to buy, so to pay an $300 smacka's or more for something that's been mass produced in the name of someone no longer with us to oversee the production...well if that trickles you fancy and you think that makes sense.... well um OK! Cool. I guess it makes sense to some people?

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lordsword said..

Surf69 said..

lordsword said..

Spark said..

chrispy said...
bloke i know bought a swallow tail single of him....a very beautiful board. could not fault it. i cant say about construction as he has only had a few surfs on it. Looks really nice to me

His prices look reasonable for this type of board aswell.

Was also looking at the Tak Howard special mini but $1400 seems a bit steep.

So you're comparing a board designed by someone who had over 50 years shaping/design experience, and manufactured by people who have been making boards for over 40 years, with Joel who has really only just started his surfboard building journey? And you have a problem with the Takayama being approx. $300 more??

I find this sort of nonsense quite off-putting if this is the general consensus of the surfing public. Do your homework and know that with surfboards you do indeed get what you pay for. Both in quality of board and quality of how it surfs. Not to take anything away from Joel, he has come a long way in the last couple of years, both with his shaping and with his laminating etc.

But seriously, surfboards are expensive to build and anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot. Yes you can build them cheaply yourself, but they won't look the same, or go the same as a board as world renowned as a Takayama.

Takayama Shapes are special, but...he's not shaping them ( May he RIP). Takayama design sure ( Well.. in most cases)... but is magic hands aren't doing them.

Yes surfboards are expensive to build and there-fore expensive to buy, so to pay an $300 smacka's or more for something that's been mass produced in the name of someone no longer with us to oversee the production...well if that trickles you fancy and you think that makes sense.... well um OK! Cool. I guess it makes sense to some people?

Of course Donald is not shaping them (RIP), but in Oz Paul Hutchinson has been shaping them the last 20 years. Donald was always very happy with Paul's shaping and work ethic, that is why NCS was sought out as the Australian manufacturer of HPD shapes in the mid 90's. Ask around about Paul and you'll quickly learn..
Donald wasn't even shaping the U.S. ones by the end of his days. Tommy has been doing the majority of the shaping for the past 10 years over there, and pretty sure DT wouldn't leave this sort of job up to any old punter would he? He was THE most meticulous shaper I've ever known, possibly barr Billy Tolhurst. Tommy and Paul know DT's boards better that anyone on the planet, saving DT himself.

And mass produced you say? I would say NCS would make between 15 and 20 boards a week (not all Takayama's), so hardly mass produced. Joel would be making maybe 1 or 2 a week? In a chook shed no less. So obviously he's not paying rent, wages etc. Quite a bit easier to get a lower price with that sort of thing going on, not to mention quality control suffering greatly when only 1 set of eyes is on the board from start to finish.
And if you ask anyone they will tell you that any board that comes out of NCS is light years ahead of some other peoples work, not to name any names. Every person in that factory has made boards their entire working life, and if that doesn't equal top quality surfboards then I'm not sure what does?

You clearly don't have your facts straight and are trying to fob off a superior product as merely "overpriced". Quite narrow sighted and very unfortunate.

Dude, I'm not the brightest person in the world but I'm pretty sure you have just fully contradicted your initial point And completely missed mine, but hey that's my fault, effective communication is far from my strong point, Ces la vie'

I certainly have some opinions on lots of things and they are generally based on my experience, understanding and the interactions I've had with awesome humans...shapers who have blessed me with the honor of sharing their knowledge,views and experiences with a variety of surf craft having spent over a decade in the surfing industry from the mid 80's to the late 90's selling surfboards. So that's all I have to go off.

Clearly you have a significant emotional attachment to the subject, I'm guessing that you have loved a Takyama or two in your time and blindly devoted to these things of beauty that in your opinion are the best thing since sliced bread, and anything else is sub standard and hey i agree damn...nice,and some of those shapes are timeless classics, absolutely ...but may I'm going to suggest that your blind devotion see's you perhaps being a little "defensive" towards those that have a different point of view to your own.

I'm not knocking NCS but if you truly believe that people shaping multiple boards with a variety of templates that they cant possibly ride all of all the time are going to make a particular model better than someone who works on one concept for years, finely tuning it as they surf it regularly, (people like Joel Fitz and Neil Purchase Jnr) who were basically born in shaping bay with the genes of one of the best surfer / shapers that Australia has known and in your words "Fob them off" well...that's unfortunate. Granted great shapers will shape great boards that they don't ride based on regular feed back from those surfing them and thank Huey for that.

As for the $300 Smakas difference, hey dude, if you think your getting that much more value out of it....whatever rocks your boat, ...we pay what we are happy to, if we think we are getting great value for money, and you truly believe, deep down your getting a superior product, that's awesome, you must be stoked. If you don't think your getting that value you don't throw your money away.

Surf equipment is a really subjective thing and as Ive said, what I choose to share with the world are only the things that I believe and I think...it's great that heaps of people have different points of view etc, and I think being human is great, gives you the opportunity to be empathetic, we are the only animal that can, you don't have to agree or disagree but it's awesome to have the ability to appreciate a different point of view

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lordsword said..

Surf69 said..

lordsword said..

Surf69 said..

lordsword said..

Spark said..

chrispy said...
bloke i know bought a swallow tail single of him....a very beautiful board. could not fault it. i cant say about construction as he has only had a few surfs on it. Looks really nice to me

His prices look reasonable for this type of board aswell.

Was also looking at the Tak Howard special mini but $1400 seems a bit steep.

So you're comparing a board designed by someone who had over 50 years shaping/design experience, and manufactured by people who have been making boards for over 40 years, with Joel who has really only just started his surfboard building journey? And you have a problem with the Takayama being approx. $300 more??

I find this sort of nonsense quite off-putting if this is the general consensus of the surfing public. Do your homework and know that with surfboards you do indeed get what you pay for. Both in quality of board and quality of how it surfs. Not to take anything away from Joel, he has come a long way in the last couple of years, both with his shaping and with his laminating etc.

But seriously, surfboards are expensive to build and anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot. Yes you can build them cheaply yourself, but they won't look the same, or go the same as a board as world renowned as a Takayama.

Takayama Shapes are special, but...he's not shaping them ( May he RIP). Takayama design sure ( Well.. in most cases)... but is magic hands aren't doing them.

Yes surfboards are expensive to build and there-fore expensive to buy, so to pay an $300 smacka's or more for something that's been mass produced in the name of someone no longer with us to oversee the production...well if that trickles you fancy and you think that makes sense.... well um OK! Cool. I guess it makes sense to some people?

Of course Donald is not shaping them (RIP), but in Oz Paul Hutchinson has been shaping them the last 20 years. Donald was always very happy with Paul's shaping and work ethic, that is why NCS was sought out as the Australian manufacturer of HPD shapes in the mid 90's. Ask around about Paul and you'll quickly learn..
Donald wasn't even shaping the U.S. ones by the end of his days. Tommy has been doing the majority of the shaping for the past 10 years over there, and pretty sure DT wouldn't leave this sort of job up to any old punter would he? He was THE most meticulous shaper I've ever known, possibly barr Billy Tolhurst. Tommy and Paul know DT's boards better that anyone on the planet, saving DT himself.

And mass produced you say? I would say NCS would make between 15 and 20 boards a week (not all Takayama's), so hardly mass produced. Joel would be making maybe 1 or 2 a week? In a chook shed no less. So obviously he's not paying rent, wages etc. Quite a bit easier to get a lower price with that sort of thing going on, not to mention quality control suffering greatly when only 1 set of eyes is on the board from start to finish.
And if you ask anyone they will tell you that any board that comes out of NCS is light years ahead of some other peoples work, not to name any names. Every person in that factory has made boards their entire working life, and if that doesn't equal top quality surfboards then I'm not sure what does?

You clearly don't have your facts straight and are trying to fob off a superior product as merely "overpriced". Quite narrow sighted and very unfortunate.

Dude, I'm not the brightest person in the world but I'm pretty sure you have just fully contradicted your initial point And completely missed mine, but hey that's my fault, effective communication is far from my strong point, Ces la vie'

I certainly have some opinions on lots of things and they are generally based on my experience, understanding and the interactions I've had with awesome humans...shapers who have blessed me with the honor of sharing their knowledge,views and experiences with a variety of surf craft having spent over a decade in the surfing industry from the mid 80's to the late 90's selling surfboards. So that's all I have to go off.

Clearly you have a significant emotional attachment to the subject, I'm guessing that you have loved a Takyama or two in your time and blindly devoted to these things of beauty that in your opinion are the best thing since sliced bread, and anything else is sub standard and hey i agree damn...nice,and some of those shapes are timeless classics, absolutely ...but may I'm going to suggest that your blind devotion see's you perhaps being a little "defensive" towards those that have a different point of view to your own.

I'm not knocking NCS but if you truly believe that people shaping multiple boards with a variety of templates that they cant possibly ride all of all the time are going to make a particular model better than someone who works on one concept for years, finely tuning it as they surf it regularly, (people like Joel Fitz and Neil Purchase Jnr) who were basically born in shaping bay with the genes of one of the best surfer / shapers that Australia has known and in your words "Fob them off" well...that's unfortunate. Granted great shapers will shape great boards that they don't ride based on regular feed back from those surfing them and thank Huey for that.

As for the $300 Smakas difference, hey dude, if you think your getting that much more value out of it....whatever rocks your boat, ...we pay what we are happy to, if we think we are getting great value for money, and you truly believe, deep down your getting a superior product, that's awesome, you must be stoked. If you don't think your getting that value you don't throw your money away.

Surf equipment is a really subjective thing and as Ive said, what I choose to share with the world are only the things that I believe and I think...it's great that heaps of people have different points of view etc, and I think being human is great, gives you the opportunity to be empathetic, we are the only animal that can, you don't have to agree or disagree but it's awesome to have the ability to appreciate a different point of view

Put a Joel Fitzgerald board next to a Takayama made by NCS and you will get my point...
Nothing else needs to be said.

I'm assuming you have actually made the comparison? But my gut instinct says your overriding emotional attachment and blind convictions see's you making a statement that you haven't actually qualified. Are you a Holden or a Ford man? Please tell me your not a Collingwood supporter?

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McHenry said..
If someone likes a board and is stoked on it enough said. Who are we to judge. Everyone has different priorities and wants.

Agreed, if you love it it's awesome at the end of the day, people will act on what they are happy with. I'm still and will always be a Freo supporter regardless of how crap they finish LOL