Australia has the best shapers in the world,sure there are many overseas shapers that make great boards as well,but they are generally made for there local conditions.Our shapers know YOUR waves,where and the type of waves you are mainly surfing.Why have a quiver?Yesterday I noticed three guys out on amazing looking logs all from OS and the conditions yesterday were simply not suited for this type of craft,why have a 10 footer and a 9.6 in your quiver,simple the 10 footer is not always going to fit in the wave on any given day,the board must fit the wave right?Too much rocker or not enough rocker can make a massive difference to your session on any given day.With all the great local shapers you should be on one of there boards to suit YOUR conditions best.Why does someone like Lacey always order custom 666 because he knows what suits him and the boards on the racks at many stores will work fine however his customs suit the conditions and his performance better.If I surfed a beach break I'd have a 9.1 ufo in my quiver but I don't so I have a EVOII which has a flatter rocker which suits the wave I ride.Your local shaper can and will make you a custom for the same price as one off the shelve,so why not? Fins once you understand what a good set up is for you you will find it hard to change.
Why post this?why not its a longboard forum right?
Watching The Drug Awareness comp yesterday there were a few pros riding locally made boards,same as at the Quicky Pro,hence the topic.
Nice thread Mac. I support my local shaper. He knows exactly the types of waves I surf and my ability (sometimes). I need to support him a bit more going forward . Rumour has it he is making me some fins today.
I called Mac up for advice on how to do that after seeing it on his boards. Felt a bit of a plonker but glad I did
good post mac
ted whats in the pots
wax jobs like that... only say you have to much time on your hands.
Select to expand quotethePup said..
Hillbilly "Tomatoes" .....................
after dinner mints
Select to expand quoteweiry said..thePup said..
Hillbilly "Tomatoes" .....................
after dinner mints
Well he is a manly supporter
Hmm..buy local, yes I am all for that. My question is do you support shapers that have a foot in both camp..I wont name, ( my flame suit is not that strong 
). I am amiss as to what to do on this. Do you support a so called "local" shaper, that in-fact also manufacturers overseas and then sells back into this market.????? and hence supports the very thing that is being spoken out against here..just saying
Also throwing this up as we are constantly wanting to support the "local guy", but just how local is a mass production internet shop that manufactures to standard designs. Yes I am aware that you can order a custom, but the argument was "With all the great local shapers you should be on one of there boards to suit YOUR conditions best".. To this, I totally agree and applies to more than just this sport!
Buuuuut... if ordering local to suit your local conditions, would there not be a limit on the radius from the breaks you surf apply. This would make sense as there is a chance that the local shaper would actually surf the waves you do.
So what does constitute a "local" shaper?
(Ohh @macaha....great topic for my mind)
Select to expand quoteclimber said...
Hmm..buy local, yes I am all for that. My question is do you support shapers that have a foot in both camp..I wont name, ( my flame suit is not that strong ). I am amiss as to what to do on this. Do you support a so called "local" shaper, that in-fact also manufacturers overseas and then sells back into this market.????? and hence supports the very thing that is being spoken out against here..just saying
Also throwing this up as we are constantly wanting to support the "local guy", but just how local is a mass production internet shop that manufactures to standard designs. Yes I am aware that you can order a custom, but the argument was "With all the great local shapers you should be on one of there boards to suit YOUR conditions best".. To this, I totally agree and applies to more than just this sport!
Buuuuut... if ordering local to suit your local conditions, would there not be a limit on the radius from the breaks you surf apply. This would make sense as there is a chance that the local shaper would actually surf the waves you do.
So what does constitute a "local" shaper?
(Ohh @macaha....great topic for my mind)
No flame here climber .. Fair call I say... And how does say KS go traveling all around the world with his boards .. He can't have boards made for just those waves in that event .. Can he?
Check out SP's post in the SB room in is my board to small thread,great read cheers SP.
Yeah it makes some good points.
SURFING
10 Things You Should Know About Surfboards
It's all about unlocking your hardware says shaper to the stars Matt Biolos.
1. Boards with a straight rocker paddle faster. And, paddling is 50 per cent of the game. If you can?t catch waves, you can?t surf. Even if you?re surfing two-foot windblown peaks with three friends, you still have to compete to get waves. And, you thought it was all about thickness, right? It?s not; it?s how the bottom moves across the water. However?
2. Volume is your friend. You can have a really thick board, but if you put a vee bottom in it rides neutral, whereas a medium-thickness board with concave can ride flat like a plank.
3.Tail shapes don?t matter as much as you think. If the width going into the tail is the same, a square, a squash, a diamond or a swallow is going to behave in a similar way. Round tails and pintails decrease the rail line, so they?re going to hold a little better and shorten a turn radius.
4. I don?t buy into the whole back-foot/front-foot surfer thing. We?re all surfing from the back foot. You?re either a weak back-foot surfer or a strong back-foot surfer. You push hard or you don?t.
5. Look at the outline of your board. Straight lines go fast. Curved lines turn. Simple
6. The straighter the rocker, the further back you need to stand and boards with a continual rocker have a bigger sweet spot. However, and this is a big however, a drivier board will be more forgiving in picking up speed, just less forgiving when you need to turn.
7. Match the curve of the board to the curve of the wave. This is for the average surfer. Everything goes out the window for pros ? they can do anything. I travel with a curvy board and a flat board: curvy boards for the Gold Coast and for Sydney shorebreaks. Flatter boards for mushy points or blown-out crumblers. On a planky board, it ain?t gonna work when you need to jump to your feet and bottom turn in one quick move. And, when you do get up, all you?re going to do is parallel floaters.
8. There?s a magic number and it?s called your cubic volume. It?s up to us shapers to educate people, and it?s information available, right now, on our shaping machines. Let me explain. One of my team riders, Shea Lopez, was teasing me about how big my boards are. We were down at Lowers, two fat cocktails in hand, and he grabbed my board and said, ?Have a look at this boat!? And, I said: ?Well, I?m fat, I?m 40, but you know what? I bet my volume-to-weight ratio is not far from yours. I?m 30 per cent heavier and have maybe 30 per cent more volume. The difference is, I?m a desk jockey and you?re a professional athlete.? If we know our cubic volumes, all the other dimensions can be left to the shaper. Instead of saying, I ride 6?1?s x 18 5/8? x 2 5/16?, you?d say, I?m a 42, make me a small-wave craft. This does require a degree of trust in your shaper. Which leads me to?
9. There are two types of shapers you can trust. One is the local shaper who knows the conditions and who probably knows how you surf. That?s a certain kind of trust. Then there?s the trust you have for an international shaper. You trust Al Merrick because he consistently makes great boards for great surfers and for the globall market. If you live in Santa Barbara, where Al lives, you get local and international knowledge. If you live on the Gold Coast, you get both: Darren Handley and Jason Stevenson. If you live in Sydney, you get both: James Cheal (Chilli). If you live in San Clemente, you get Timmy Patterson and me. But, if you live in, say, Adelaide, you might have to balance the tradeoff between local and global knowledge.
10. Balance in a surfboard is everything and shapers walk a tightrope every time they build you a custom board. If you want a board with a lot of rocker, your shaper has to build everything around it to balance it out. If one element is extreme, the rest of the board has to act as a counterbalance to neutralise the extreme. Greg Webber was a genius on the wire. Everything is balance.
Select to expand quoteSP said..
Yeah it makes some good points.
Thanks for posting that one again SP - its always a good read. I agree with most of what he says - I know some of the older crew disagree with the concept of volume given that rocker and plan shapes rails etc make a difference but I still think that the volume is the overriding indicator. I have a pretty good idea within a few litres of what I like. Works every time. I am even now designing my own boards using 3d shaper software so I can play with the dims to get the approx. volume I am after. Great fun as well I can then send the file to a fella I know to run it through his CMC machine or I can just cut it out in the garage knowing roughly what I need to do to get my desired result. Heaven. Otherwise its really just pure educated guess work. I like using technology to do things better.
More broadly speaking I am not as bigger fan as others re always buying local. I buy local for goods that make sense to be brought local. I make purchase decisions based on practicality, value for money and ease. I drive a Korean car, have a Korean TV, a vegetable for a computer and phone. We try to buy veg locally and meat locally if practical. Eggs are local to. Clothes I would estimate are majority overseas made. Shoes as well. Surfboards are all now made locally except for one. Would I buy locally made surfboards as a general rule - probably not. So much variety these days that it would be crazy to just limit yrself to locally made boards. So many boards I want to try out there so there is no way I can restrict myself. In the old days you were almost forced to buy local. These days it's not the case
Select to expand quoteSP said..
Yeah it makes some good points.
SURFING
10 Things You Should Know About Surfboards
It's all about unlocking your hardware says shaper to the stars Matt Biolos.
1. Boards with a straight rocker paddle faster. And, paddling is 50 per cent of the game. If you can?t catch waves, you can?t surf. Even if you?re surfing two-foot windblown peaks with three friends, you still have to compete to get waves. And, you thought it was all about thickness, right? It?s not; it?s how the bottom moves across the water. However?
2. Volume is your friend. You can have a really thick board, but if you put a vee bottom in it rides neutral, whereas a medium-thickness board with concave can ride flat like a plank.
3.Tail shapes don?t matter as much as you think. If the width going into the tail is the same, a square, a squash, a diamond or a swallow is going to behave in a similar way. Round tails and pintails decrease the rail line, so they?re going to hold a little better and shorten a turn radius.
4. I don?t buy into the whole back-foot/front-foot surfer thing. We?re all surfing from the back foot. You?re either a weak back-foot surfer or a strong back-foot surfer. You push hard or you don?t.
5. Look at the outline of your board. Straight lines go fast. Curved lines turn. Simple
6. The straighter the rocker, the further back you need to stand and boards with a continual rocker have a bigger sweet spot. However, and this is a big however, a drivier board will be more forgiving in picking up speed, just less forgiving when you need to turn.
7. Match the curve of the board to the curve of the wave. This is for the average surfer. Everything goes out the window for pros ? they can do anything. I travel with a curvy board and a flat board: curvy boards for the Gold Coast and for Sydney shorebreaks. Flatter boards for mushy points or blown-out crumblers. On a planky board, it ain?t gonna work when you need to jump to your feet and bottom turn in one quick move. And, when you do get up, all you?re going to do is parallel floaters.
8. There?s a magic number and it?s called your cubic volume. It?s up to us shapers to educate people, and it?s information available, right now, on our shaping machines. Let me explain. One of my team riders, Shea Lopez, was teasing me about how big my boards are. We were down at Lowers, two fat cocktails in hand, and he grabbed my board and said, ?Have a look at this boat!? And, I said: ?Well, I?m fat, I?m 40, but you know what? I bet my volume-to-weight ratio is not far from yours. I?m 30 per cent heavier and have maybe 30 per cent more volume. The difference is, I?m a desk jockey and you?re a professional athlete.? If we know our cubic volumes, all the other dimensions can be left to the shaper. Instead of saying, I ride 6?1?s x 18 5/8? x 2 5/16?, you?d say, I?m a 42, make me a small-wave craft. This does require a degree of trust in your shaper. Which leads me to?
9. There are two types of shapers you can trust. One is the local shaper who knows the conditions and who probably knows how you surf. That?s a certain kind of trust. Then there?s the trust you have for an international shaper. You trust Al Merrick because he consistently makes great boards for great surfers and for the globall market. If you live in Santa Barbara, where Al lives, you get local and international knowledge. If you live on the Gold Coast, you get both: Darren Handley and Jason Stevenson. If you live in Sydney, you get both: James Cheal (Chilli). If you live in San Clemente, you get Timmy Patterson and me. But, if you live in, say, Adelaide, you might have to balance the tradeoff between local and global knowledge.
10. Balance in a surfboard is everything and shapers walk a tightrope every time they build you a custom board. If you want a board with a lot of rocker, your shaper has to build everything around it to balance it out. If one element is extreme, the rest of the board has to act as a counterbalance to neutralise the extreme. Greg Webber was a genius on the wire. Everything is balance.
Great post SP, I feel the need not to "McHenry" boards anymore now...
Good post Mac ...... The worst problem you will have using local shapers and a few boards for different conditions will be trying to work out which board to take..........haha first world problem....
I have a three board quiver from three different local shapers.... and love them all...
Good post too SP...
Select to expand quoteclimber said..
Hmm..buy local, yes I am all for that. My question is do you support shapers that have a foot in both camp..I wont name, ( my flame suit is not that strong ). I am amiss as to what to do on this. Do you support a so called "local" shaper, that in-fact also manufacturers overseas and then sells back into this market.????? and hence supports the very thing that is being spoken out against here..just saying
Also throwing this up as we are constantly wanting to support the "local guy", but just how local is a mass production internet shop that manufactures to standard designs. Yes I am aware that you can order a custom, but the argument was "With all the great local shapers you should be on one of there boards to suit YOUR conditions best".. To this, I totally agree and applies to more than just this sport!
Buuuuut... if ordering local to suit your local conditions, would there not be a limit on the radius from the breaks you surf apply. This would make sense as there is a chance that the local shaper would actually surf the waves you do.
So what does constitute a "local" shaper?
(Ohh @macaha....great topic for my mind)
i know who u are talking about and i agree totally, in the particular brand i am thinking of it wasnt the shapers choice but the business owners :)
Good post but even if you buy a big name OS brand you are generally buying local anyway...CI, Lost etc are all ghost shaped by local guys and glassed locally so there is no reason why you can't find the ghost get him to tweak a few things for your local and get the best of both worlds!!
IMO They are all surfboards..
If they look like they will go then give it a run. Who cares who made it or where it came from the world is a big place and good surfboards are good surfboards. No matter where they come from. Sure I'm not a fan of pop out type boards but they still have there place
I think where possible possible keep your money local but at the end if the day they are just a surfboard worth $1000 and a small concern when you look at other goods we buy all the time.
Select to expand quoteSP said...
IMO They are all surfboards..
If they look like they will go then give it a run. Who cares who made it or where it came from the world is a big place and good surfboards are good surfboards. No matter where they come from. Sure I'm not a fan of pop out type boards but they still have there place
I think where possible possible keep your money local but at the end if the day they are just a surfboard worth $1000 and a small concern when you look at other goods we buy all the time.
God your posting some good stuff SP , keep it up mate, see tigers win and you have a brain explosion
Select to expand quoteTed the Kiwi said..
Nice thread Mac. I support my local shaper. He knows exactly the types of waves I surf and my ability (sometimes). I need to support him a bit more going forward . Rumour has it he is making me some fins today.
Still calling that the best first up board I have seen Ted...amazing wax work as well...what happened to just spreading it on? Did you use 2 different kinds of wax...
