local shapers vs big names..
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Hey Daryl, Who is the courier serivce you use for your boards?
And IMO the better question may be custom versus off the peg rather than big name versus local shapers.
I'm sure a big name could make a custom for me just as good as a local shaper if I give them the proper information, ie what I do and don't like, my weight, the waves I will surf and importantly my ability!
And IMO the better question may be custom versus off the peg rather than big name versus local shapers.
I'm sure a big name could make a custom for me just as good as a local shaper if I give them the proper information, ie what I do and don't like, my weight, the waves I will surf and importantly my ability!
- dUg
- barnacle
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I'll be honest and say I have never owned, from new, a "brand name" board. Had all sorts of them second hand over the years, and they were all pretty "meh", so I decided to shape my own to see how it would go. The first two fell to bits but the third went great. The fourth one got me into and out of bits of the wave I hadn't been in before, and went faster than I'd gone before. Something went "clunk" for me after that.
Having a pet shaper that has seen you surf and knows your strengths and weaknesses ( and in my case, the latter are numerous LOL ) really helps, I think. All the boards he's shaped for me incorporate key aspects of those earlier boards I shaped, but with refinements. He also likes to throw curve balls at me - shaping something I wouldn't necesarily think of - to see how it goes for me. To date, not a single dud... quite the opposite.
I have surfed boards by our two local headlining brands, and while they are both good, well finished products, I've yet to ride on that blows me out of the water - or goes as well as the ones Glen has shaped for me. Ditto a number of Dahlberg, JS and Gunther boards.
And don't get me started on those ZS fish things... geeez....
Having a pet shaper that has seen you surf and knows your strengths and weaknesses ( and in my case, the latter are numerous LOL ) really helps, I think. All the boards he's shaped for me incorporate key aspects of those earlier boards I shaped, but with refinements. He also likes to throw curve balls at me - shaping something I wouldn't necesarily think of - to see how it goes for me. To date, not a single dud... quite the opposite.
I have surfed boards by our two local headlining brands, and while they are both good, well finished products, I've yet to ride on that blows me out of the water - or goes as well as the ones Glen has shaped for me. Ditto a number of Dahlberg, JS and Gunther boards.
And don't get me started on those ZS fish things... geeez....
- dUg
- barnacle
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are they K3's in the quad ( front fins )? Geeez... not much tow on them either... how does it turn??daryl wrote:
When your shaper moves, you gotta find him in Currumbin.
http://www.darcysurfboards.com/
I like where the logos are placed, like bullseyes for your feet .
D'Arcy were going to ship it down for thirty bucks, 'til I went and picked it up.OddaP wrote:Hey Daryl, Who is the courier serivce you use for your boards?
And IMO the better question may be custom versus off the peg rather than big name versus local shapers.
I'm sure a big name could make a custom for me just as good as a local shaper if I give them the proper information, ie what I do and don't like, my weight, the waves I will surf and importantly my ability!
Yeah, that's about the info Darce asked for, this is a custom same as early years, and I'm very happy with the board.
dUg wrote:are they K3's in the quad ( front fins )? Geeez... not much tow on them either... how does it turn??daryl wrote:
When your shaper moves, you gotta find him in Currumbin.
http://www.darcysurfboards.com/
I like where the logos are placed, like bullseyes for willie and nose .
DHD-2s with a big black star, and I just gave them one try out, so can't answer They're angled out a fair bit? This dumbarse kook doesn't know what tow is it flicked around when I first got it. This is one of Daz's babies and is getting third use atm, which isn't any .
Busy enjoying new D'Arcy and the occasional on the Sunova that finally got PG7s only to bust a plug so had switched to boxes, getting to know her the Sunova is a girl .
- g_u_m_b_y
- barnacle
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i think they probably found out that some pros do/have ridden his boards.salty wrote:When I was in a Surfculture in Bondi Junction a few months ago I asked why they dont sell Gunthers and was told that he doesn't shap for the pros so they weren't interested.
Anyways, as you might have read in another thread, I just got a new custom from Gunther and am bloody stoked to put it mildly.
Back in Surfculture a few days ago and noticed they've now got a bunch of Gunthers (must've heard I was riding 'em ). But seriously, when I asked why they now had 'em on the racks, the owner told me that Gunther had rung him up and said he was desperate to sell some boards WTF??!!!! I'm calling bullshit on that I dropped in to Localmotion a few weeks before hand up in Balina and the shaping bay was chokkaz with boards in various stages of production. There was no way Gunther was despo to sell his boards.
why would you buy a board from surf culture anyway?
or is it just the name that makes it sounds like a boutiqe sds?
- oldman
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I've largely stayed out of this worthy debate. Ron sums up one point of view beautifully.Rockin' Ron wrote: Spot on...
people are sheep
people follow fashion
people are impressionable
people are gullible and vain
people ergo: ride the wrong boards
it's all a farkin guess... and most guess wrong i reckon...
But.
Surfers are people
People are also dollar and time poor.
Most surfers will not own, ride or experience enough different surfboard shapes, dimensions and ride those boards in sufficient different conditions, and log all that information to be able to make objective assessments of what is best for them.
Most surfers will have an idea of how they surf but have no way of expressing that as a comparative assessment. Who hasn't told their shaper they are a 'reasonably competent surfer', (compared to what)
Most surfers therefore have to rely on an amalgam of their own ideas, what they find in a shop and what they learn from their shaper if they are going the custom route;
But surf shop owners and surfboard designers are human,
and therefore are just as likely to be sheep, victims of fashion and design 'breakthroughs' that aren't breakthroughs at all.
Surfshop owners are just as gullible, just as vain, just as greedy and oftentimes as ignorant as the poor sheep surfer following the trend.
So there is plenty of truth in what all of you have said.
What hasn't been said is that water flow and hydrodynamics are so intrinsically and unfathomably complex that the best designers and shapers regularly go off in design tangents that don't work.
Factor in the variability of the surfers individual dimensions and skills and it's a crap shoot. We are all working off instinct with varying degrees of levels of feedback. To call the majority of surfers 'sheep' because they choose one of the 95% of surfboards that don't break the mould is uncharitable at best.
The mystery seems to be that most surfboards seem to work for someone. Maybe most of what we think makes a great board is no more than superstition and innate leanings, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Or to put all that in a brief statement; It costs about $600 for each personal experiment in board design, and most of us have only a limited number of $600 investments that we can make in a lifetime.
- oldman
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While I'm here, some have suggested on this thread that shaping for pro surfers enables a shaper to get greater feedback etc, leading to a virtuous loop where the shaper shapes better and better.
I reckon that is a false analogy. I'm sure it works for the pro and the shaper, but my argument is that is has up to no flow on for the average surfer.
Mostly the average surfer is surfing so differently to the pro surfer that the two circles never intersect. What works for a pro is almost certainly something that will NOT work for an average surfer. Surfing is not like formula one racing where technological improvements make their way into production models down the years. This isn't a car where the driver is a minor factor in how the car goes. The surfer is critical.
I thought the 90's was a bit of low point where those stupid wafer thin banana boards were being sold everywhere. You couldn't buy a surfboard with any volume. Good for pro surfers (maybe), crap for everyone else, but that was all that was on offer. Even custom designs regularly came out under foamed, because that was the trend of the time.
Don't talk to me about sheep, baaaaahhhhhhh! humbug.
I reckon that is a false analogy. I'm sure it works for the pro and the shaper, but my argument is that is has up to no flow on for the average surfer.
Mostly the average surfer is surfing so differently to the pro surfer that the two circles never intersect. What works for a pro is almost certainly something that will NOT work for an average surfer. Surfing is not like formula one racing where technological improvements make their way into production models down the years. This isn't a car where the driver is a minor factor in how the car goes. The surfer is critical.
I thought the 90's was a bit of low point where those stupid wafer thin banana boards were being sold everywhere. You couldn't buy a surfboard with any volume. Good for pro surfers (maybe), crap for everyone else, but that was all that was on offer. Even custom designs regularly came out under foamed, because that was the trend of the time.
Don't talk to me about sheep, baaaaahhhhhhh! humbug.
Well said. A few years back a mate lent me and old 80's Aloha to take up the coast for the kids to muck around on. Being a typical board of that era it was flatter, wider and thicker than the boards around now so I took it out and had a ball on it. It's good to see that a lot of board makers can see the market for the older crew. That old Aloha ended up as my nephew's first board and would have been perfect for him had he not wanted a potato chip like his mate had. He got the wafer board and got frustrated with it and ended up on a lid.oldman wrote:While I'm here, some have suggested on this thread that shaping for pro surfers enables a shaper to get greater feedback etc, leading to a virtuous loop where the shaper shapes better and better.
I reckon that is a false analogy. I'm sure it works for the pro and the shaper, but my argument is that is has up to no flow on for the average surfer.
Mostly the average surfer is surfing so differently to the pro surfer that the two circles never intersect. What works for a pro is almost certainly something that will NOT work for an average surfer. Surfing is not like formula one racing where technological improvements make their way into production models down the years. This isn't a car where the driver is a minor factor in how the car goes. The surfer is critical.
I thought the 90's was a bit of low point where those stupid wafer thin banana boards were being sold everywhere. You couldn't buy a surfboard with any volume. Good for pro surfers (maybe), crap for everyone else, but that was all that was on offer. Even custom designs regularly came out under foamed, because that was the trend of the time.
Don't talk to me about sheep, baaaaahhhhhhh! humbug.
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- barnacle
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
mmm, I havent been surfing long compared to some on this site, only since about 81, I dunno, long enough that Ive forgotten when I started. Over the years Ive had some great boards, my favourites have all been from the mid 80's. A free flight thruster, absolute magic board that one. Some Daniels when he use to be at Thornleigh. Some Crooked River boards from down south and a magic Nirvana. Then the 90's hit and was stuck with crap for a while. found a Dog of a aloha board. Thought I was doing the right thing buying a banana board cause thats what everyone was riding, rode it twice then sold the bloody thing. Went for a Santosha but it paddled shite and I finally learnt my lesson. I was not a pro surfer, couldnt surf those things for shite but I could bury the rail on a thicker wider board and enjoy it more.
The point being that only it took years of surfing for me to wake up for what worked for me. Then I moved to the sunshine coast dribblevile
Ive now found a sort of local shaper I can trust and hopefully one day I can go surfing with him in decent surf next time so that I can perform and show how I like to surf. I
ve found as I get older (43) Im getting slower but occasionally that magic session happens and it keeps you dreaming of the next one.
I dont trust I can get that sort of service and knowledge from a rack as you can from a local surfer/shaper that knows the conditions you ride in.
I inherently dont trust sales people and maybe thats a Aussie trait I just dont know.
JFor me I just cant go past the smaller guy, as they have more to lose if they dont do a good job and you get better value for money. As the price of boards go up Im forced to get less and less boards, but thats ok I suppose by me as im just really a board slut who wants to buy a new one every 4 months as i want to ride as many different shapes as I can before I turn f*&^%*(I^^ n senile
The point being that only it took years of surfing for me to wake up for what worked for me. Then I moved to the sunshine coast dribblevile
Ive now found a sort of local shaper I can trust and hopefully one day I can go surfing with him in decent surf next time so that I can perform and show how I like to surf. I
ve found as I get older (43) Im getting slower but occasionally that magic session happens and it keeps you dreaming of the next one.
I dont trust I can get that sort of service and knowledge from a rack as you can from a local surfer/shaper that knows the conditions you ride in.
I inherently dont trust sales people and maybe thats a Aussie trait I just dont know.
JFor me I just cant go past the smaller guy, as they have more to lose if they dont do a good job and you get better value for money. As the price of boards go up Im forced to get less and less boards, but thats ok I suppose by me as im just really a board slut who wants to buy a new one every 4 months as i want to ride as many different shapes as I can before I turn f*&^%*(I^^ n senile
no, Im not a surfer, Im just a garbage man".
- oldman
- Snowy McAllister
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
Fuck it's funny reading the shite that you wrote 18 months ago, or two years ago.
I can't remember what I was thinking at the time, what mood I was in etc.
It's like reading the work of a stranger, and then looking up to see that I wrote it,
I can't remember what I was thinking at the time, what mood I was in etc.
It's like reading the work of a stranger, and then looking up to see that I wrote it,
Lucky Al wrote:You could call your elbows borogoves, and your knees bandersnatches, and go whiffling through the tulgey woods north of narrabeen, burbling as you came.
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- barnacle
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
hang on, now that I think of it, im already f#$%(*g senile
no, Im not a surfer, Im just a garbage man".
- oldman
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
Just filling the void Iggs.iggy wrote:yes, you did come across all mincey and were rambling on quite a bit..
Probably was wearing boat shoes at the time.
Lucky Al wrote:You could call your elbows borogoves, and your knees bandersnatches, and go whiffling through the tulgey woods north of narrabeen, burbling as you came.
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
ha I know exactly what you mean oldman....
and you too Digger.....and you too digger, I think , hang on, I cant remeber, what am I talking about, I cant remember, who are you, oh yeah me too .....who is senile, ?, yeah, thats right me too, I think...WTF ????? can I make you a board ??? ha ha
and you too Digger.....and you too digger, I think , hang on, I cant remeber, what am I talking about, I cant remember, who are you, oh yeah me too .....who is senile, ?, yeah, thats right me too, I think...WTF ????? can I make you a board ??? ha ha
Re: local shapers vs big names..
Sure you can... I've paid you alreadypridmore wrote:ha I know exactly what you mean oldman....
and you too Digger.....and you too digger, I think , hang on, I cant remeber, what am I talking about, I cant remember, who are you, oh yeah me too .....who is senile, ?, yeah, thats right me too, I think...WTF ????? can I make you a board ??? ha ha
Beanpole
You aren’t the room Yuke You are just a wonky cafe table with a missing rubber pad on the end of one leg.
Skipper
I still don't buy the "official" narrative about 9/11. Oh sure, it happened, fcuk yeah. But who and why and how I'm, not convinced it was what we've been told.
You aren’t the room Yuke You are just a wonky cafe table with a missing rubber pad on the end of one leg.
Skipper
I still don't buy the "official" narrative about 9/11. Oh sure, it happened, fcuk yeah. But who and why and how I'm, not convinced it was what we've been told.
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
no wuckers, ya 5'8" is nearly ready big 'T'......
- Cpt.Caveman
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
ooh nice, what sort of board are you getting buddy?
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.
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Re: local shapers vs big names..
hey...check out my new bike
http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/bikes/sh ... drock-disc
p.s if anyone said i'm off topic....well...vaginas to u
http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/bikes/sh ... drock-disc
p.s if anyone said i'm off topic....well...vaginas to u
reginald wrote:Hang on, now all of a sudden I'm the bad guy. How the try again did that happen?
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