Pioneers of River Surfboard Design in North America. Some of the first shapers to build proper river boards in North America. Carl Hughes was designing and shaping boards before anyone else. His shapes back in the day are what others are claiming to be pioneering now. Sorry guys, Carl had it down years ago. Rat Surfboards I worked with legendary Encinitas surfboard shaper Jeff Batista way back in 2007 to create river specific models. Like Carl, we spear headed the movement of the basic size and design of 54x20x3. This design was a different take on river boards that were being built for the Munich crew, who were and still are riding thinner boards closer to ocean style boards. Even Flori Kummer who had the shortest boards rode them thinner….better surfers in Munich and a better wave. I asked Jeff to build the wider thicker board because many of the waves I was finding were small and gutless. Combining my understanding what would work on river wave with Jeffs incredible shaping talent, we were able to refine and craft the modern ocean fish surfboard into a high performance river surfboard that worked in all conditions. Louie Hayward is not only one of my closet friends, he is also a master craftsmen on many levels and surfboard development is just one of them. His brand of soft boards redefined that market. INT Softboards….no longer owned by Lou…..also created the ideal river surfboards. Many of the early pioneers of the sport in North America Jacob Kelly, Neil Egsgard and more…. owned and loved his boards. I took one of his OG Blackball Beaters to Africa to ride at rapid #11…and it worked better than the hard boards I brought. And someone who never built a single board for rivers but in my eyes has shaped the very best river boards on earth for the past 15 years is Ben Wei. His 50/50 boards are world famous in the ocean surfing world and really help progress skate style surfing in the ocean….they also happen to be perfect for rivers. Currently I am riding for Infinity Surfboards and working with Dave Boehne to co-create the next evolution in river surf designs. His father and uncle are the essence of innovation combined with decades of experience they take the guess work out of the process. This project is awesome and I cant wait till next spring to start testing the new models in some legit waves. Attached is an old video that shows the first board Rat built for me, testing it out on the lunch counter wave. ALOHA https://youtube/watch?v=r5LggYP6FJY&list=UUY5k-I1Uq7AzEZ9Y1rcN-9w
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:34:35 +0000
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