Two Shapers Walk Into a Bar

One shaper asked, "Do you know anything about me?" and the other replied, "I know you. Maybe you're the descendant of a criminal." (Joke) The two laughed and ordered from the busty waitress. Then, the two began talking about surfboard techniques, requests for team riders, how to make surfboards for female surfers, and more. They talked and drank for about an hour, and then left.

If you're expecting a joke, sorry, there is no joke, just a pitcher of beer, a Bloody Mary, and the words of two of the industry's leading shapers. This is about cutting edge surfboards.

S/SURFING: Have Rower and Snapper had any impact on your respective careers?

MAYHEM/Matt Biolos: Lower gives me exposure to the best surfers because they all pass through here. It's really important to have surfers who can give you real feedback. The waves are also perfectly curved, highlighting every imperfection and nuance of the board.

DHD/Darren Hadley: It's the same at Snapper. It's a wave that's strong enough to make 20 turns on one wave. The Quick Pro at Snapper will be held again in February, and many surfers have placed orders with me. It's the same as when many surfers place orders with Matt when there's a lower-water competition. On the tour (competitions), you can meet and follow your favorite surfers and see what kind of boards they're riding. So, those boards will have some influence on the boards that surfers all over the world want to own.

M: It seems like you and Jason [JS/STEVENSON] really opened the door for a new generation of surfers in the early 2000s. You've been working with the cavernous waves in your driveway, building high-performance tunes for waves from 2 feet to perfect. You two have won several competitions, from Snapper to the bad US Open. I'd build a board for those bad waves too (laughs).

S: Are there any brands that you consider to be rivals?

M: Competitive, friendly, respectful rivals, just like the surfers on the tour.

When Mick won a contest, he would say to Darren, "Oh, you won it!" (laughs)

D: For me, it's the athlete first. If I'm taking care of Mick Farming, I want him to ride what's best for him. If I'm not giving him what's best, he'll let me know. Mick is a great surfer, so he gives great feedback. He used to ride Mayhem boards, and I learned from him by asking him what he liked about them. And vice versa.

M: Accept a lot of failure. It's like being a professional baseball player. Even the best players in the world average .333.

D: Matt, how many boards have you made for Kolohe [Andino] this year?

M: I've probably made 150-200 this year, but 80% of them he's returned and 20% of the boards he's ridden have broken.

D: Really? Wow! In my case, I'm going to try my best to make 100 for Mick this year (laughs).

M: Well, Mick doesn't have a dad like Dino who sits in your office 250 days a year (laughs). Kolohe is a much more intense surfer than Mick; he airs more than anyone. As surfers get older, they become more refined and don't ruin as many boards. Now Kolohe is trying to keep up with Gabby Medina and John John. When he sees a surfer his age do an 8-foot air, he wants to do an 8-foot air too. The difference with Mick is that he knows he can do six perfect rolled turns and do them every contest.

S: Is it possible to duplicate a Magic Board?

D: You can make 10 surfboards using the exact same method, but they will all be different when they are finished. First of all, they will all be made from 10 different pieces of wood. That's a big difference.

M: You can make two identical boards, but the stringers are different. They'll flex differently. One will be very tight, one will be softer, etc. Sanding, if the sander had a fight with his wife that morning...

D: Also, an athlete might ride a board on a bad day or when the waves aren't good and say, "This board is terrible. I don't like it." But then a month later, when they ride the same board, they'll say, "This board is amazing!"

M: (laughs) That's right. The feel of the board changes depending on the waves and the location.

S: Is there anything different about building boards for Stephanie Gilmore or Carissa Moore, as opposed to Kolohe or Farming?

M: Darren has won more titles than me, so this is something he'll have to take seriously.

D: Carissa and Stephanie are amazing surfers who surf like men. That's why they get the big scores. They're at a level where they can do exactly what the boys do. Stephanie basically rides Mick's board with the volume turned down a little.

M: There are probably three or four women in the world who can surf like that. Their surfing is big and powerful, so you might be intimidated if you were in the ocean with them, but if you knew how much they weigh, you'd be surprised at how light they are. That's because they don't have muscles like men.

D: He looks like a Japanese surfer.

M: They have butts and feminine features that make them appear larger than they are. But Stephanie and Carissa are not just physically strong. They have incredible technique. They're also a lot lighter than you'd think. They're only 103 pounds. You're probably like, "Wait a minute! Then you don't need to ride a board that big. You should ride a board that's 18 inches or less." It's like making boards for kids, like the Griffin Colapinto. At 15, they're not fully developed bodies, so they have the strength to match.

D: The boards I made for Stephanie this year were a mistake. I worked on them for a few months after the Huntington contest, but I ended up making her a really thick board. Recently, I've been making her thinner, slimmer designs, and they've really changed her world.

Do you always get feedback from surfers about your boards?

M: Yes, sometimes people will try it for 30 minutes and give me feedback. But often they'll take the board out, ride a couple of times, ding the deck, get a feel for how the board is, and then ride it and it becomes a magic board.

D: If you give him a board, that's the one board he can have, and he gets on it, puts a few dents in it, rides it, and it kind of becomes familiar and comes to life.

M: It's like a leather shoe. It's hard at first. Taj rode the same board throughout the rowing contest. Look at those turns.

D: Half the boards we give them they don't even ride. I was in Mick's garage recently and there were 87 boards there, all 5'11". He started saying, "This one's the best there. And this one's the best there," and then he looked dazed and said, "Take half of these and go home."

M: It's easier to give them a wider board because they find it harder to control and it feels fresher. If I give a surfer who always rides my boards a Darren board with a little more foil and flex, they'll feel so free on the lip and they'll say, "Wow, this is incredible." That's what happened with Chris Ward. The first time he went to Snapper, he caught a wave on a Chili board and raved about how amazing it was. He ordered six new ones and tried them all out at T-Street, but he didn't like any of them.

D: What did you think when Kolohe punched the board in Fiji a few years ago?

M: Oh, it's an ego bruise. He kind of punched me.

D: I hate when they do that. Just scream.

M: That's true, but major league baseball players break their fucking bats when they strike out.

D: We're going to have to crack their fucking heads open and tell them.

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What do you think Slater's influence is on surfboard design?

D: There's one guy in every sport. In surfing, it's Slater. Everyone follows him. Al Merrick was so lucky to make boards for him. We're so lucky to make boards for Kolohe and Mick. Everyone wants to see what he does. And now he's spinning to beat the younger generation, trying to get an edge. Being No. 1 in the world at his age...

M: Right now, I'm in second place (laughs).

D: That's great! Everyone is looking at what he's riding now and what kind of wetsuit he's wearing. And they're following in his footsteps. I just hope Slater retires from the tour soon. That's the only way I can get a world title (laughs).

M: Kelly is one of a kind. He's won so many titles and has been so successful. He's been really undefeated in the last few years of his career. If you think about Joel (Parkinson), Taj, Julian, they take far less risk than Kelly because they have so much on their shoulders. People ask Julian, "Why haven't you won more than one World Tour title?" But Kelly is in a crazy position. He treats these contests like a laboratory, like it's boring.

What he did with the quad fin was incredible. He showed everyone what a quad could do with his contest results. And Mick and Joel thought, damn it! If he can do it, we can do it, and now they're reaping the rewards. Now they're winning competitions with four fins. These boards used to be known only for deep points, but Kelly is still leading the way in surfboard design.

D: He has the luxury. He has the money and the time. And he doesn't sleep, he just lies there thinking, "What am I going to do today?"

M: Three years ago, Kelly seemed to have pretty much done it. He did trendy airs and his turns were sharp, but he still wanted to find a board that suited him. And now he's found it. When he beat Chris Ward at Pipeline, he justified trying alternative boards. Chris was riding a typical 6'6" thruster pintail, Kelly was riding a 5'10", the kind of board Chris rides on every surf trip. Afterwards, I said to Chris, 'Damn, Kelly was riding your style board and you beat him.'"

D: There are five judges. They watch the heats, they watch the heats, every day. Contest over, next contest over. You have to cheat to get the scores from those judges. Kelly is trying to find new ways to impress the judges, and this new guy, John John, surfs free, and the judges love that. You see? He's not really that good.

M: I agree. He goes in the tube and does big airs, but his turns are subpar. Chris Ward has been surfing better and better since he was 15. When he gets in the water with his board, carves, and turns, that's when he likes the board. If he smacks the board and tries to do an air, that's when he doesn't like the board. I've never made a board for him to air, only for carving. If the rails work well, everything else falls into place.

D: It's very easy for me. Mick doesn't do that many airs (laughs), so it's mostly sharp movements and turns. But I shape differently for other surfers. Asher Pacey rides my boards. He's a free-spirited guy who enjoys life. He said he'll never ride another shaper's thruster in his life. So I can relax and make boards for that open-minded, mellow guy. Whereas Mick is like, "I want a board that suits me, or I'll give you a Mayhem board."

How do you see surfboard design evolving in the future?

D: The number of fins and the flex. Fins are very important. Putting the wrong fins on a magic board is the worst.

M: Here's the thing: After the Pipeline tour ends, it's the holiday season, and Dino Andino stands in front of me and says, "I want you to build me a board for Snapper, and in a month we're going to Snapper!" We don't have an off-season. We can't take surfers to El Salvador for a month and surf right-handed point breaks with 30 boards.

D: People like Matt and I don't have time for that anymore. That's the beauty of our sport: these few locked-down shapers are driving the future of surfboard design.

M: I'd like to see more composite stoners used in the future. Things like Kevlar or fiberglass. If we can get something that has excellent flex and doesn't break easily, and can control the strength and flex of the board, that would be a big step forward. There are a lot of people developing original materials that are looking for big changes. As we build boards, we maintain good relationships with each other to discuss how to reach the top level. When someone develops such a material, they come to the factory with a new idea, we make sample boards with that material, and then pro riders test them, and that's how surfboards evolve. [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/79794912[/vimeo]