marc andreini

BLOCK OF FOAM CHALLENGE Block of Foam Shaping Challenge May 2014, Del Mar Boardroom Show Block: 8’ x 26” x 12” EPS Rules: 3 hours, no tape measure, no template Tools: One power tool only plus hand tools Shapers:  Myself, Stu Kenson, Wayne Rich, Brian Hilbers Board to replicate:  6’6” x 19.5” x 2.5” Double Wing Swallow Six Channel shaped by the late Allen Burne; viewed 5 minutes before starting Is it possible? Is shaping art or science? Sculpture or mathematics? The famous sculptor Michelangelo once said, “I see the image inside a piece of marble and simply chip away at the excess stone until it is freed.” Chris Brock, notable surfer-shaper from Innermost Limits of Pure Fun said that when Greenough was encouraging him to shape his own boards, he said “Brockie just picture the water running across the bottom of the board and you will be able to figure out what to do.” Why shape a surfboard from a rectangular block of foam with no measuring devices in the first place? This must be a valid question because Scott Bass was lucky to get even four volunteers to take on the task out of dozens who were invited! In fairness, there are many shapers capable of this task, however, the three-hour time limit was nothing short of onerous. That aside I believe the challenge comes from our Hawaiian ancestors who, stumbling upon a fallen tree, gazed on it, and visualized a beautiful Olo surf craft hidden inside! At the end of the day what starts out as a vision of functional beauty is then refined by trial and error followed by a mathematical equation, thus fulfilling the age-old explanation that “form follows function.” Artificial intelligence (computer design) may be able to recreate a functional surfboard, but only in the minds and hearts of committed craftspeople is the emotional connection to the wonderful style of boards gone before. That connection along with how they were surfed burns an image that translates into boards we share with our fellow wave riders today. Yes I prefer using a template and a tape measure but it really feels good carving out foam straight from the heart!

365 Story: The Beginning of the Return of Transition Designs

What do we mean when we speak of transition shapes? Essentially most of us living and surfing today were first influenced by either the tail end of the longboard period or the early short board era which started with single fin boards and became thrusters.

Traditional long boarding as we understand it today started in 1955 when Dale Velzey's glasser accidentally put the fin on the tail instead of the nose and created the Pig. That board was easy to turn and nose ride. In December 1967 Nat Young and Bob McTavish rode 9'4" Vee bottom performance boards at Honolua Bay and so amazed the surfing world that longboard surfing became obsolete overnight.

Beginning in 1968 through 1973 was the transition era. This was the period of time where those of us building surfboards figured out how to make a short board work properly. Vee bottoms gave way to round tails with flat bottoms, twin fins, pintails with turned up rails forward, and pintails with natural rocker and down rails. Parallel to this period was the mini-gun which was a short pintail that followed the same progression as the Vee bottom.

By 1974 the only boards in the lineup were now 6'8" to 7'6" long, 19 inches wide with a pintail. This was the end of surfing for fun! There were a few of us who remained interested in these transition boards, myself included along with Gregg Liddle, Skip Frye, and Herbie Fletcher being the others I was aware of before Instagram. By then Kirk Putnam and I had become good friends and both lived in Santa Barbara where the waves were usually perfect small peelers. Kirk rode Liddle's and was having much more fun than me in small beach break since I was on a 7'6" pintail. Soon I was building re-creations of Double Enders and Vee bottoms from which also led to remaking longboards of the 60’s. We were having so much fun because these boards had more area like the early longboards but also had the speed of a modern board. The best part was that no one else bothered riding waves that were under chest high.