It seems like it's been eons since we have seen something worth watching in this vein. A true dip of the hat to gents around the world have the skills, time and cash to make this their calling in life.
A group young to middle aged shapers that already have 'healthy' reputations at mowing foam gather around a shed with a shaping room attached, they swap designs, advice, have some beers and shape one board each all in 24 hours. Some of the boards and explanations of how they work are kind of mind blowing.
The kicker in this kind of 'well worn' story is that not only can these guys all surf, but they can 'really surf'. Testing your own equipment to such an extent must give a different level of 'feedback' and may attribute to how this bunch perceive surfboard design in such a different way.
Needless to say, this is right up our street, and to show how difficult or not this shaping thing is we are going to be having a go at hand-shaping our own boards. We will have a collective of writers all trying to do the same thing. We will have 'zero' shaping skills between us and just a professional to guide and laugh and jeer at us. Banter in the office has already begun, bets are being made and the result could be disastrous.
Stay tuned for the story on that as it happens. In the mean time, enjoy watching how the pro's do it, I know I will be.
Five shapers each to hand shape a board in 24 hours.