Mère-Made Surfboards: board#077: Aipa's Stinger-like board for Philippe

board#077 on Mustang#001

Dimensions: 7'8 x 20 x 3
[completed in January 2015]

The story: Philippe collects cars. Very nice cars. Because he just moved from Switzerland to California, he purchased the iconic Ford Mustang with "few" Shelby modifications. Also because of his new home location by the Pacific Ocean, Philippe decided to embrace the culture and started think about surfing… Because he likes unique things, he naturally needed to get a custom board made to match his car. He patiently waited for me to get to board#077, his lucky number.

The shape: it was stated from the beginning that he board would be a decoration board to be hung on the wall. Therfore it was the perfect occasion for me to be shaping something very unusual. Philippe and I agreed that the shape should look "fast and racy" and we picked the Ben Aipa Stinger model as a classic Hawaiian gun. I stole the template from the board that Axel Lorentz shaped in my shaping room as a training before he competed in the Icon of Foam earlier in 2014. I had the board as a reference while shaping Philippe's. I shaped it on december 31st. It was the very last shape of the year 2014.

The artwork: The artwork was actually the most complicated and stressful part (because I was not totally in control). I needed to make sure the board looked like his car. Same color and of course it had to have the carbon stripes… I went through a couple of sketches and he picked his favorite. I found a metallic silver paint which I sprayed all over the board. Then I sent the board to my glasser who almost had a heart attack from the work request… He was in charge of glassing the two large carbon fiber stripes and cover the edges with pinlines. The Cobra logo printed in white by Boardlams. The board stayed for almost 4 months at the glass shop as they were reluctant to start this very technical glass. It came back with a couple of imperfections but overall the board looked amazing and amazingly similar to the Mustang. When Philippe sent me the picture of the board on top of his car, I almost fainted.

The testimonial: Philippe just placed an order for a second Mère-Made board which will match the 2nd Mustang he just acquired. Both of them (board and car) will be shipped to Switzerland.