Wave Zone – FGCU Collaboration – Wk 4

10-02-19 / Contributor: Megan Shinham

We’ve made it to week four! This marks the shaping of my surfboard, which was a very stressful but rewarding process. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to learn from a professional like Jeff. Through learning these skills and techniques my appreciation for the art of shaping and designing boards has grown, and I hope that by experiencing it with me yours can too.

Our 4^th week started with board shaping first thing. I should have felt confident from shaping the last week, however, I was nervous about the process. This week’s board shaping, because it would be a surfboard instead of skim, would be longer and seeing that I was so close to the end of the shaping part of my project I didn’t want to mess it up. The process took longer the previous week as shaping a surfboard requires paying close attention to the stringer, and rocker of the board.

Shaping and carving the rocker into the head and tail at the angle that felt comfortable to me took time and planer skills. It was nerve wracking and difficult to not take too much out, especially being careful not to unintentionally take out a chuck of the tail while using the planer on it, which after making that mistake required evening out the tail end. Luckily, I didn’t take out too much and made the mistake early in the process, so correcting my mistake was achievable.

The stinger also resulted in a lot of frustration for me. As I would carve it down to flatten it setting it level with the rest of the foam it would rough up the foam that I had sanded down around it. I used the sureforms and sandpaper to level everything out with the smoothest result achievable. It had come to my attention that some of that roughness would be filled in during the glassing process, giving me hope to continue.

While the process was immensely challenging and frustrating, I am still proud of myself and the work that I achieved. I am looking forward to doing the art and finishing the board. 30 years in the making and I’m determined to make a series of boards that Wave Zone can be proud of!