(Photo: Laurent Chantegros)
I LOVE shaping surfboards and I'm kinda obsessed with this craft. Even though I am about to shape my 243th board I'm still considering myself as a novice but I hope to become a master one day... This blog is a virtual portfolio and a diary of my journey in the shaping world. Feel free to leave comments or contact me directly at valerie@meremadesurfboards.com.

Valerie Duprat
-Shaper of Mère-Made Surfboards

Thursday, July 16, 2015

board#076: shortboard for Leo

great artwork by Leo's wife!

dimensions: 6'1 x 18 1/2 x 2 1/8
[completed in December 2014]
Model Vavit

The story: Leo got to try one of my Vedette model from his friend, Rudy Marechal. He then contacted me to get his own. I met him one night to discuss the shape and I quickly realized that Leo was the sweetest Brazilian surfer I ever met (He came to my house with some incense sticks as a gift. Those lasted longer than flowers!). We had a very animated discussion about his board (animated in a good way, with a lot of idea exchanges). I was so stoked to be shaping for such a nice person. Later I met his wife and son. And they happened to be as nice as him. What a cute happy family!

The shape: Leo was very torn about what to get exactly. He went back and forth a couple of times on his decision but after talking to my Mère-Made technical advisor/consultant (my hubby) he was set on a classic shortboard shape with a narrow pointy nose and a lot of rocker to handle steep waves. I always enjoy shaping that shape. Round tails are definitely my favorite! Of course I carved a deep single to double concave to complete this old style shortboard shape.

The artwork: Leo's wife volunteered to take care of the artwork. It was the first time I was handing a shaped blank to someone. She came over to the house in order to get some details/instructions about painting directly on the foam. And she did a terrific job! She followed every single advice except the one about paying extra attention to an unglassed board…. But few days later I gave them the board I got a text from Leo saying the just painted board fell and got damaged. Fortunately the dings were fixable by the glass job (thank you Johnny at Global Glassing) and they were almost unnoticeable on the glassed board. 






Time to leave for other horizons but with a Mere-Made in the trunk!

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