Board #011: a mini-long board for...me!

Dimensions: 7'2 x 22 1/4 x 2 3/4
[completed in may 2012]

I have been busy like a bee shaping mostly for my husband and for my friends. I wanted board #011 to be mine. 11 is my lucky number (I think) as I keep seeing this number everywhere. So for board#011 my goal was to replace my beloved but delaminating 7'2 Walden. I had the greatest rides on that board and I wanted something very similar for either flat days or more challenging surf where I feel safer taking off a bit further out. 

The shape was easier than usual as I knew exactly what I wanted. The more difficult part was the bottom as The Walden mini-magic models have a double + single concave going all the way to the nose. I added a mini V bottom at the very end of the tail (where the middle fin is). I had a lot of fun shaping that board.

The design is my favorite "animal": a dragon which I purposely picked chinese because 2012 is the year of the dragon! The background has neon colors: I want my board to be seen from the parking lot so my friends can easily spot me in the line-up :) Pink and orange are my favorite colors. I hope you like too.

Glassing (4 oz, 4+4 oz) and by Global Glassing in Oceanside. The board is super light!

on the road towards stoke

airbrushed pink to orange fade 

my daughter and I are always in sync,
we even blink together on the pictures

pretty close, isn't it?

the neon colors are a big hit with my 3 year old

I met Carl Ekstrom

in the master's shaping room
(photo: Robert Wald)

Saturday morning. The sun was shining. Another beautiful day in California. But something exceptional was about to happen. 

Earlier in the week, Robert Wald editor/publisher of The Ocean Magazine mentioned he wanted to introduce me to his long-time friend Carl Ekstrom. From that moment I cleared my calendar to make some room for this meeting. I planned playdates for my kids. I loaded the car with all my boards. I was more than ready. I was actually... scared. It is not every day that I get to spend a full morning at a Genius' place. Yes. Carl Ekstrom is a genius of shapes. He creates furnitures, race cars, cups for Victoria's Secret bras (!), wave machines, to name a few. But I was visiting him for his famous and patented design of asymmetrical surfboards (visit Hydroflex surfboards website here). I sacredly listened to him the entire morning and still I could have listened non-stop for another entire week. My husband and I had the best time. 

Carl, I can't thank you enough for your welcome. Visiting your workshop, I felt like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time. The creative area of my brain is in ebullition since last week-end. And of course, my husband wants me to shape him an asymmetrical shortboard :) Thank you for all the amazing stories. 

Thank you Robert for the huge opportunity (and the pictures!).

More about this story in the next issue of The Ocean Magazine...

the miniature surfboards were so adorable
(photo: Robert Wald)

Carl Ekstrom's workshop: a toy store for shaper
 I did not blink once as I was scared to miss a thing
(Photo: Robert Wald)

I met a legend of shaping

My boards inspire... poetry!

enjoying my polka-dot board

I make custom surfboards. Custom means specially shaped for the rider's needs but it also means a unique personal design. I want my boards to stand out in the line up by their originality. My own board is very unique: 

- first of all, it is the first board I shaped for myself.

- second of all, it is signed by Linda Benson. 

- And finally, it has very distinct white on blue polka-dots on the deck which gives it a lot of visibility in the line-up. (more about this board here)

I get a lot of comments on this board but my favorite comes from my friend Jeff with who I surf a lot. He has many talents including... poetry! He jokes all the time about my polka-dot board and even renamed me "The Polka-Dot Queen"!

Yesterday he sent me this beautiful poem he wrote about my blue polka-dots:

Linda's autograph surrounded by polka-dots

"Consciousness of the Blue Polka-dot..." by Jeffrey Sholk

Large Polka-dot...blot out the sun
Like a giant typhoon rise up...
Make a wall between me and the sun...

Small polka-dot...Infinitely...Invisible...
smaller then the smallest particle...
hovering in...existence...N...non-existence...

Be the uncarved block...
Be the modern primitivist...
Be what you are...
Beam from within (small polka-dot)...and beyond (large polka-dot)...

Thank you Jeff! Do you mind if I call you "The Surfing Poet" from now on?

not for sale

Switchfoot surfboard follow-up

Hubby with his board posing with Chad Butler (drums) and Tim Foreman (bass)
at the Switchfoot Bro-am 

Two month ago my husband received a very special board which I shaped for Father's day: it is autographed by all the members of the Encinitas-based rock band Switchfoot, his favorite band. Yesterday they were throwing their annual Bro-am, a charity event featuring a surf contest and a free concert at Moonlight Beach. We went there hoping we could get a cool picture for my blog... Well, we got much more than that: Jon Foreman, the lead singer, asked me to tell the story of the making-off of the board in front of a camera crew for their up-coming movie. Crazy. I don't have any pictures of the interview because my husband was so speechless that he totally forgot to document that moment... But I did take some pictures of him with the Switchfoot (blogger reflex :)) which was just right on time for Father's day. 

looks like Jon Foreman struggled understanding
a strong french accent 

Hurrah! The board got Jon's attention :)