I moved this over from the short board forum, It was intended to be here on the LB forum

Hey guys, new member... happy surfing with love and respect:

I guess you can say I've seen it all. I started surfing in the longboard era in 1963.
Although I've had Parkinson's for ten years now, nothing is going to keep out of
the water. Todays popouts can be made out of space age materials like carbon fiber.
A lot of big name board like Takayama and Stewart have cashed in having their boards
manufactured in Asia. A good friend of mine works for Global Surf Industries and has
managed and was part owner of a shop in NC. He rips in the surf and rides a 5'8"
Haden Shapes Hypto Crypto manufactured in Asia. Small time board shapers can
no longer compete with the big boys. Today, most boards are machine shaped and finished by hand.
which is a good thing if you like the specs of a particular board.
Now I'm going to to get to my my point,

if I hear another whiny know it all hipsters who who spends most his time "Trolling" the surfer magazine design forum telling everyone they're kooks for riding a board manufactured in Asia I gonna snap.
You know typical chatter you should support the local shapers and let them make my board,
Well this has never worked out well for me. It's hard to convey ones idea to the shaper and have the board
work like you thought. After all every custom is like a snowflake each one is different.
meanwhile the hipster board critic who wants you to buy local is seen riding a German made "Beamer"
and wearing a watch made in Japan. Well here's my point...

I was looking to get a high performance long board to ride in better surf to supplement my other
longboard a SURFTECH TAKAYAMA "IN THE PINK" NOSE RIDER. That's right folks an epoxy
sandwich constructed popout manufactered in TAIWAN. It's light, nose rides like a dream and
nearly indestuctable.

So my choice for my HPLB was a shaper in Myrtle Beach South Carolina here in the States named Gary Wilson. I got
the poly "Hot Rod Log" a really sweet looking board. Of course it to was machine shaped and hand finished
like most boards are today. I've surfed long enough to know right away if I'm going to like a board
the first time I take it out. The first wave I caught I new I wasn't going to like the board
It was a 2+1 but no fin combination was going to work on that board. I rode it one day and went to my
local shop to see if I could barter a trade on a used longboard.
As luck would have it there was a 9 foot used Poly Stewart Hydro Hull for sale. The shop owner
said I could demo it since it was used.
The next morning I took it out in some waist to chest fun surf. It came with a six inch center fin
and no side bites and future fin boxes. I found some small side bites and
made sure the center was fin loose enough in the box so I could move it up or back to
to see what worked best. I started with it back in the box and the first wave it felt a little stiff so I moved up in the box and it was magical I negociateda straight up trade and there I was a proud owner a Stewart Hydro Hull made in Taiwan.
I felt so ashamed...lol

Now I now there have been some valid complaints on glassing quality on Poly boards
and I would be the first to admit the boards glass job is a little soft and pron to pressure dings. I think many manufacturers
have addressed this and are finding ways to make a more durable board. As often as I surf now
that board should hold up for a long time and my Surftech"In the Pink" will be around for decades.
Don't let these trolls tell what you should ride.The perfect board is one that anything you ask it
to do it will do with no surprises...

yes, the ITP is a good board, I wish I still had mine, got rid of it for a really stupid reason, the nose was too wide to go into the footwell of my rav4, it was probably my second best surftec. The best was the Munoz 10.6, I've still got that one.

The reason the Munoz was so good was because I could catch waves, it just had lots of volume, but it's not a good turner. The turns need to be slow and predictable, there's lots of things you can say about my surfing, but predictable is not one of them

Having said that, I'll probably never own another board that's:

a) Come out of an Asian factory
b) not been hand shaped

And that's got bugger all to do with price, shape, quality or performance, it's just that I'm old, fat and slow, but I still like to think that, on the very rare occasion, I can get all my ducks lined up, and rip.


I'm not the only one on this forum who got to the wrong side of 95 kgs (210Lbs) and realised they would never again see the right side of it. The knees, the shoulders the backs all started go their separate ways. Once we accepted that, a lot of us went to bigger boards, and instantly, we were in the wave count again.

My own example was that I was so absolutely convinced that I needed certain dims, I actually searched for the blank that would do it, then convinced a maker to find me a hand shaper to make it.

That shaper called me and asked me no less than 3 times to confirm the dims, he could not believe them. Once I got on that board, it transformed my surfing, I was on par with most of the other older guys out there. The same goes for a few more people here who stopped following hipster fashions and started asking shapers for what they knew they could ride.

In short, I've got no problems at all with the well made and designed Asian pop outs, it's just that they've got a problem with me.

Select to expand quote

TheActor said..
I moved this over from the short board forum, It was intended to be here on the LB forum

Hey guys, new member... happy surfing with love and respect:

I guess you can say I've seen it all. I started surfing in the longboard era in 1963.
Although I've had Parkinson's for ten years now, nothing is going to keep out of
the water. Todays popouts can be made out of space age materials like carbon fiber.
A lot of big name board like Takayama and Stewart have cashed in having their boards
manufactured in Asia. A good friend of mine works for Global Surf Industries and has
managed and was part owner of a shop in NC. He rips in the surf and rides a 5'8"
Haden Shapes Hypto Crypto manufactured in Asia. Small time board shapers can
no longer compete with the big boys. Today, most boards are machine shaped and finished by hand.
which is a good thing if you like the specs of a particular board.
Now I'm going to to get to my my point,

if I hear another whiny know it all hipsters who who spends most his time "Trolling" the surfer magazine design forum telling everyone they're kooks for riding a board manufactured in Asia I gonna snap.
You know typical chatter you should support the local shapers and let them make my board,
Well this has never worked out well for me. It's hard to convey ones idea to the shaper and have the board
work like you thought. After all every custom is like a snowflake each one is different.
meanwhile the hipster board critic who wants you to buy local is seen riding a German made "Beamer"
and wearing a watch made in Japan. Well here's my point...

I was looking to get a high performance long board to ride in better surf to supplement my other
longboard a SURFTECH TAKAYAMA "IN THE PINK" NOSE RIDER. That's right folks an epoxy
sandwich constructed popout manufactered in TAIWAN. It's light, nose rides like a dream and
nearly indestuctable.

So my choice for my HPLB was a shaper in Myrtle Beach South Carolina here in the States named Gary Wilson. I got
the poly "Hot Rod Log" a really sweet looking board. Of course it to was machine shaped and hand finished
like most boards are today. I've surfed long enough to know right away if I'm going to like a board
the first time I take it out. The first wave I caught I new I wasn't going to like the board
It was a 2+1 but no fin combination was going to work on that board. I rode it one day and went to my
local shop to see if I could barter a trade on a used longboard.
As luck would have it there was a 9 foot used Poly Stewart Hydro Hull for sale. The shop owner
said I could demo it since it was used.
The next morning I took it out in some waist to chest fun surf. It came with a six inch center fin
and no side bites and future fin boxes. I found some small side bites and
made sure the center was fin loose enough in the box so I could move it up or back to
to see what worked best. I started with it back in the box and the first wave it felt a little stiff so I moved up in the box and it was magical I negociateda straight up trade and there I was a proud owner a Stewart Hydro Hull made in Taiwan.
I felt so ashamed...lol

Now I now there have been some valid complaints on glassing quality on Poly boards
and I would be the first to admit the boards glass job is a little soft and pron to pressure dings. I think many manufacturers
have addressed this and are finding ways to make a more durable board. As often as I surf now
that board should hold up for a long time and my Surftech"In the Pink" will be around for decades.
Don't let these trolls tell what you should ride.The perfect board is one that anything you ask it
to do it will do with no surprises...

Hi bro,
Some valid points in there. My experience with the asia pop outs has not been a good one. I got back into surfing last year after a ...........30 year break..lol. I was advised to get a big epoxy longboard to kick things off. As expected and not surprising I payed way to much for a no name Chinese epoxy off e-bay that snapped after 3 surfs. But for $450 it got me hooked again and I was away. Next was a ECS performance longboard. Epoxy with the bamboo wrap ect. Was a good board for a while then it creased. Had that reapired and boaought another epoxy Surftech 7'4" Spade, just to give the short board thing a go. Creased that board.
So in the space of 12 months I creased/snapped 3 boards, but I new what I wanted and was hooked. Long story short.
The big turning point was when I bought an old Mark Rabbage team board. what a board. Then I was hooked on the hand shaped PU style of board, even though it was not made for me. But Ray Lawernce (who it was made for)was roughly my size so it was a great fit.
I bought and sold a couple other boards, but now I have 3 local made custom longboards all PU constuction.

Peter Sheely 9'6" - Heavy glass, big stringer for big surf
Pieter 9'6" - Easyrider - beautiful noserider style board. 24" wide
Pieter 9'1" - SBB (Short Board Bottom shape) Light weight, ride as a quad.

For a big guy like me @ 6'2" at 95kg's the epoxy/Asia thing was not a good one. My pet hate is foot compressions and these boards are holding up very well.
Be interesting to hear what other say.

Select to expand quote

Steve... said..

TheActor said..
I moved this over from the short board forum, It was intended to be here on the LB forum

Hey guys, new member... happy surfing with love and respect:

I guess you can say I've seen it all. I started surfing in the longboard era in 1963.
Although I've had Parkinson's for ten years now, nothing is going to keep out of
the water. Todays popouts can be made out of space age materials like carbon fiber.
A lot of big name board like Takayama and Stewart have cashed in having their boards
manufactured in Asia. A good friend of mine works for Global Surf Industries and has
managed and was part owner of a shop in NC. He rips in the surf and rides a 5'8"
Haden Shapes Hypto Crypto manufactured in Asia. Small time board shapers can
no longer compete with the big boys. Today, most boards are machine shaped and finished by hand.
which is a good thing if you like the specs of a particular board.
Now I'm going to to get to my my point,

if I hear another whiny know it all hipsters who who spends most his time "Trolling" the surfer magazine design forum telling everyone they're kooks for riding a board manufactured in Asia I gonna snap.
You know typical chatter you should support the local shapers and let them make my board,
Well this has never worked out well for me. It's hard to convey ones idea to the shaper and have the board
work like you thought. After all every custom is like a snowflake each one is different.
meanwhile the hipster board critic who wants you to buy local is seen riding a German made "Beamer"
and wearing a watch made in Japan. Well here's my point...

I was looking to get a high performance long board to ride in better surf to supplement my other
longboard a SURFTECH TAKAYAMA "IN THE PINK" NOSE RIDER. That's right folks an epoxy
sandwich constructed popout manufactered in TAIWAN. It's light, nose rides like a dream and
nearly indestuctable.

So my choice for my HPLB was a shaper in Myrtle Beach South Carolina here in the States named Gary Wilson. I got
the poly "Hot Rod Log" a really sweet looking board. Of course it to was machine shaped and hand finished
like most boards are today. I've surfed long enough to know right away if I'm going to like a board
the first time I take it out. The first wave I caught I new I wasn't going to like the board
It was a 2+1 but no fin combination was going to work on that board. I rode it one day and went to my
local shop to see if I could barter a trade on a used longboard.
As luck would have it there was a 9 foot used Poly Stewart Hydro Hull for sale. The shop owner
said I could demo it since it was used.
The next morning I took it out in some waist to chest fun surf. It came with a six inch center fin
and no side bites and future fin boxes. I found some small side bites and
made sure the center was fin loose enough in the box so I could move it up or back to
to see what worked best. I started with it back in the box and the first wave it felt a little stiff so I moved up in the box and it was magical I negociateda straight up trade and there I was a proud owner a Stewart Hydro Hull made in Taiwan.
I felt so ashamed...lol

Now I now there have been some valid complaints on glassing quality on Poly boards
and I would be the first to admit the boards glass job is a little soft and pron to pressure dings. I think many manufacturers
have addressed this and are finding ways to make a more durable board. As often as I surf now
that board should hold up for a long time and my Surftech"In the Pink" will be around for decades.
Don't let these trolls tell what you should ride.The perfect board is one that anything you ask it
to do it will do with no surprises...

Hi bro,
Some valid points in there. My experience with the asia pop outs has not been a good one. I got back into surfing last year after a ...........30 year break..lol. I was advised to get a big epoxy longboard to kick things off. As expected and not surprising I payed way to much for a no name Chinese epoxy off e-bay that snapped after 3 surfs. But for $450 it got me hooked again and I was away. Next was a ECS performance longboard. Epoxy with the bamboo wrap ect. Was a good board for a while then it creased. Had that reapired and boaought another epoxy Surftech 7'4" Spade, just to give the short board thing a go. Creased that board.
So in the space of 12 months I creased/snapped 3 boards, but I new what I wanted and was hooked. Long story short.
The big turning point was when I bought an old Mark Rabbage team board. what a board. Then I was hooked on the hand shaped PU style of board, even though it was not made for me. But Ray Lawernce (who it was made for)was roughly my size so it was a great fit.
I bought and sold a couple other boards, but now I have 3 local made custom longboards all PU constuction.

Peter Sheely 9'6" - Heavy glass, big stringer for big surf
Pieter 9'6" - Easyrider - beautiful noserider style board. 24" wide
Pieter 9'1" - SBB (Short Board Bottom shape) Light weight, ride as a quad.

For a big guy like me @ 6'2" at 95kg's the epoxy/Asia thing was not a good one. My pet hate is foot compressions and these boards are holding up very well.
Be interesting to hear what other say.

Thanks for reply the Steve..wow, a 30 year lay off...must of had a gig in in the "Outback". The mush we ride at our home break there's not much in the way of surf that would break or crease a surfboard...I'm a big fan of Surftech but only in the Longboard range. You'll pay a lot for the board but the durability is unreal. The ITP is a great board but doesn't like strong off shores (wide nose) or barrels. A soft Noosa pealer in the waist to chest range would be ideal for that board. As much as we pay for boards they should last much longer than they do and Surftechs have addressed that issue...Love PU's but the durabity is an issue..nice quiver

Select to expand quote

obct said..
yes, the ITP is a good board, I wish I still had mine, got rid of it for a really stupid reason, the nose was too wide to go into the footwell of my rav4, it was probably my second best surftec. The best was the Munoz 10.6, I've still got that one.

The reason the Munoz was so good was because I could catch waves, it just had lots of volume, but it's not a good turner. The turns need to be slow and predictable, there's lots of things you can say about my surfing, but predictable is not one of them

Having said that, I'll probably never own another board that's:

a) Come out of an Asian factory
b) not been hand shaped

And that's got bugger all to do with price, shape, quality or performance, it's just that I'm old, fat and slow, but I still like to think that, on the very rare occasion, I can get all my ducks lined up, and rip.


I'm not the only one on this forum who got to the wrong side of 95 kgs (210Lbs) and realised they would never again see the right side of it. The knees, the shoulders the backs all started go their separate ways. Once we accepted that, a lot of us went to bigger boards, and instantly, we were in the wave count again.

My own example was that I was so absolutely convinced that I needed certain dims, I actually searched for the blank that would do it, then convinced a maker to find me a hand shaper to make it.

That shaper called me and asked me no less than 3 times to confirm the dims, he could not believe them. Once I got on that board, it transformed my surfing, I was on par with most of the other older guys out there. The same goes for a few more people here who stopped following hipster fashions and started asking shapers for what they knew they could ride.

In short, I've got no problems at all with the well made and designed Asian pop outs, it's just that they've got a problem with me.

Sellers remorse is a real deal OBCT...still haven' gotten over selling "Old Blue" 15 years ago...

Select to expand quote

TheActor said..

obct said..
yes, the ITP is a good board, I wish I still had mine, got rid of it for a really stupid reason, the nose was too wide to go into the footwell of my rav4, it was probably my second best surftec. The best was the Munoz 10.6, I've still got that one.

The reason the Munoz was so good was because I could catch waves, it just had lots of volume, but it's not a good turner. The turns need to be slow and predictable, there's lots of things you can say about my surfing, but predictable is not one of them

Having said that, I'll probably never own another board that's:

a) Come out of an Asian factory
b) not been hand shaped

And that's got bugger all to do with price, shape, quality or performance, it's just that I'm old, fat and slow, but I still like to think that, on the very rare occasion, I can get all my ducks lined up, and rip.


I'm not the only one on this forum who got to the wrong side of 95 kgs (210Lbs) and realised they would never again see the right side of it. The knees, the shoulders the backs all started go their separate ways. Once we accepted that, a lot of us went to bigger boards, and instantly, we were in the wave count again.

My own example was that I was so absolutely convinced that I needed certain dims, I actually searched for the blank that would do it, then convinced a maker to find me a hand shaper to make it.

That shaper called me and asked me no less than 3 times to confirm the dims, he could not believe them. Once I got on that board, it transformed my surfing, I was on par with most of the other older guys out there. The same goes for a few more people here who stopped following hipster fashions and started asking shapers for what they knew they could ride.

In short, I've got no problems at all with the well made and designed Asian pop outs, it's just that they've got a problem with me.

Sellers remorse is a real deal OBCT...still haven' gotten over selling "Old Blue" 15 years ago...

Regrets I've had a few, but I did it MY WAY

had a ride of a Taky in the Pink popout at Arra ..a good wave to test a board ..to say it a good nose rider is stretching it in my opinion ...they are a corky sit hi type of board and that is not really compatible with nose riding for me ...the back broke free on attempted nose riding ..they are easy paddlers and wave catching is easy tho ..for the price you can get a better custom board made ...

Saying hullo to Jamie

Interesting subject this one.
My surftech tlpc new flyer is just so addictive. Top 5 easy of best shorties.

My mr flying fish custom is a super carver in more solid waves surprisingly for a so called 'fishie 'type board.

Mct mid length was a dude.

Sw swell bandit 9 fter is a goer hollow performance wave type of board. a real surpriser

I have had a mixed bag of results on the custom front. Long, mid and shortboards.

Its a new era. Even some of the most hard core local shapers are or are considering getting some boards done off shore

If I had a dollar for every hour I've thought or discussed this topic....

There are so many variables as to why we could / should ride differing constructions (and shapes).

Some don't have or don't want to have a relationship with a shaper whether that be due to location, social ability, intimidation, lack of time etc etc so a 'pop out' just works.

Others want to be involved in the process due to a sense of ownership / control of shape, colour etc.
(I've had some soft glass efforts on customs and some great wearing efforts too. An element of luck with any custom I reckon).

More importantly, its the waves we surf, our mindset on a particular day and our desire on that day that dictates what we ride and the enjoyment we take from it.

I have a mix of everything;

A 9'6 balsa log and a couple of heavy point and shoot 11 foot plus boards for bumpy runners.
A Surftech Munoz and epoxy McCoy all rounder for the ultimate glide on a glassy crowded day.
A custom for when I have the confidence to be an individual.
A 'name brand' board when I feel insecure and crave acceptance.
....mid lengths for a fix of speed, guns when I feel intimidated, wide and thick shortboards when I feel fat.....

What works for one one may not work for another, what works today may not work tomorrow.

Don't listen to anyone but yourself. The only person who knows what you need is you.

Epoxy's work if you are open to embracing their positives and accepting their limitations. Just like us; they have good and bad days.

....just enjoy the fact that the choices are available.

^^^^^^^^
Well said SA..

Great post animal

I knew you were'nt just a pretty face there SA

Select to expand quote

chrispy said..
Great post animal

I can't believe your agreeing that someone should ride anything other than CW

I love made in Asia

Select to expand quote

Macaha said..
I love made in Asia

I dare ya to saunter on over & kick the first farker & start the domino off cock

Select to expand quote

thePup said..
I dare ya to saunter on over & kick the first farker & start the domino off cock

LOL that reminds me of something I'd left out of my story on my last visit to Bali last Sept. I had this old scooter I rented in Bingin, it said "just married" all over it. I guess two of the locals got married & headed off on their honeymoon 20 years ago, created a child, handed it down to them & then they rented it out to me. They knew it well & kept it well serviced, however the battery was farked & I had to get it up on its stand to kick start it every time I wanted to go somewhere. I'd loaded up my surfboard, started it & kinda tripped on something as I was reversing it out of the row of bikes it was parked in...as I fell, I revved the throttle & sent it hurtling up against the row of bikes knocking over 5 or 6. Locals just came out of nowhere helping me to pick up the bikes, I was so embarrassed. There was like a warung of bules eating lunch all watching the show. A local bloke asked if my board was ok & somehow it was, I got the scooter back on its stand, started it & got the fark out of there asap

Select to expand quote

Ctngoodvibes said..
I can't believe your agreeing that someone should ride anything other than CW

I can...Chrispy & SA both surf a variety of surfboard shapes according to conditions, as I suspect you do

But seriously people you can't go past the one board quiver board designed to handle everything

Select to expand quote

TheActor said..


Now I now there have been some valid complaints on glassing quality on Poly boards
and I would be the first to admit the boards glass job is a little soft and pron to pressure dings. I think many manufacturers
have addressed this and are finding ways to make a more durable board. As often as I surf now
that board should hold up for a long time and my Surftech"In the Pink" will be around for decades.

Thats more due to the blank than the glass job....most guys don't uses the higher density (heavy) blanks due to performance and how easy the foam is to shape...or they can't use a close tolerance blank which means they cut deeper into the foam which is softer

That's true Tux, I keep a couple of old cores are home for spare repair foam, one is from a PU popout I found and stripped, the other is from an old Frank Latter comp board I snapped. It's easy to see how light the Latta comp board foam was because from the day I bought it, the stringer stuck out like dogs balls.

I did not really notice a problem with the foam from the popout, until the day I used a section of it to infill a high quality Core industries blank that I damaged during stripping, the foams were like chalk and cheese when put together. The popout foam was almost translucent.

Select to expand quote

Tux said..

TheActor said..


Now I now there have been some valid complaints on glassing quality on Poly boards
and I would be the first to admit the boards glass job is a little soft and pron to pressure dings. I think many manufacturers
have addressed this and are finding ways to make a more durable board. As often as I surf now
that board should hold up for a long time and my Surftech"In the Pink" will be around for decades.

Thats more due to the blank than the glass job....most guys don't uses the higher density (heavy) blanks due to performance and how easy the foam is to shape...or they can't use a close tolerance blank which means they cut deeper into the foam which is softer

good point Vic...I didn't know that