Losing Our Greatest Generation of Handshapers | - The Surfers Journal surfersjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from surfersjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
More than 100 exhibitors showed off a range of handcrafted surfboards at the 11th annual Boardroom trade event this weekend at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
If your mother learned surfing from one of the Duke’s crew in Hawaii, you might have a head start in the surfing game. And so it was for Marc Andreini,
Shape like a girl, because it’s awesome. Photo: Laurent Chantegros
Surfboard building is unlike any other trade – there’s no formal training or trade schools. Hand shaping surfboards breeds a culture all its own, interconnecting generations with knowledge and tradition passed down from one to the next. Techniques are often unique to each shaper and refined over time, and eventually given to someone else to progress knowledge. Mentorships, which often spring from within intimate circles in shaping bays or sanding rooms, have mostly been a benefit of the guys-only club. It can be a tough one to break into.