board#160: asymmetrical shortboard for Vincent

Dimensions: 5'4 x 18 5/8 x 2
[completed in March 2017]
Model Versatile-A

The story: Third iteration of the asymmetrical shortboard board model I created for my husband Vincent (see board#100 and board#136). He still loves the benefit of the tail/rail asymmetry (see the shape section) and the original artwork! 

The shape: The idea is to build a board that would have different specifications on the toes/heel sides since the pressure applied is different (more power on the heels, more control on the toes). The toe side has the longest rail and pinched rails for optimized penetrance of the wave while carving a nice arc. The heel side is the shortest for smaller arc to quickly bring the board up to the lip.

The artwork: still using the concept of the shifted stripes which highlights the asymmetry.

I met Matt Kinoshita (board#155)

Dimensions: 6'2 x 18.7" x 2.4"

[shaped in December 2016]

Model Velociraptor (from the flash flood warning, blocking the moutain road on my way to Matt's shaping room... I thought I'd see a T-rex crossing the road in my headlights)

The story: Matt Kinoshita is the master shaper and owner of Kazuma Surfboards, one of the most prestigious surfboard brands worldwide, based in Maui. Matt is not only known for his amazing shaper skills but also for openly sharing his shaping secrets on social media. In addition to a Youtube channel, Matt regularly posts on his instagram account to his loyal 31K followers. He honestly tackles some controversial topics of the surfboard industry and teaches his shaping techniques without holding anything back. He also takes the time to answer most of the questions from his followers. Instagram is where I got my golden ticket for Matt's shaping bay... He offered me to come visit him in Maui and I didn't sleep on his offer. I immediatly booked my ticket.  

Few weeks later, I landed in Maui with my respirator in my small luggage. I left my family in CA as I knew it would be an intensive training with Matt for most of the day. I had booked a small room through Air B&B in the mountains. My night table had some local delicacies and ear plugs for the loud roosters singing all night long. My host was a japanese single mom, Tomo. She became my friend as we were sipping local beers and dining together, after a long dusty day. Matt might be a cyborg from the future: he doesn't sleep! The first day, I got a late start, meaning meeting him at 6am. One day he texted me at 4.30am saying he was done with his work for the day and I could come over for training! I remember texting back that I needed to wait for the Starbucks to open (at 5am) to drink my coffee before I could fonction properly :) The 5 days went fast. I was expecting to be watching him running his factory but Matt had planned to make time for me during which he was 100% dedicated to my training. He took on his own time to teach me his legendary techniques while sharing his point of view on the surf industry. My head was hurting every single evening from the huge amount of priceless information I had to digest. I actually took a lot of notes from which I made a powerpoint presentation at the end of the training. Yes, Matt is a living legend of shaping but I has been also lucky to get to know the man behind the mask: not everyone knows it but Matt is also an active firefighter, a highly graded jujitsu master, a family man and of course an incredible surfer. Despite his very complex schedule he managed to make me feel a special guest. I'll be eternally grateful for his welcome.

The shape: of course I got to shape during my training. This board I had to make was a kind of end-of training test. I had to shape Matt himself, his favorite board. Yep. BIG DEAL. He gave me a sheet of paper on which was printed a CNC machine file 3D view of the board with full dimensions. When I shaped that board I was so stressed that I made few mistakes that I spent much time trying to correct. I was bit disappointed with my performance and I could have done much better, at home with my own tools. The board still came out great and I took all the feedback in (more learning !). Matt glassed it to surf it. He said it was a good board. Such a unique opportunity. An honor to have shaped a board on which Matt put his logo next to mine.

The artwork: Just plain white. Because the goal was shaping, not spray painting. Actually our two logos looked so good that no artwork was needed.

with his son, operating the CNC machine

Matt gave me some home work !!! :)

board#153: shortboard for Nicole

Dimensions: 5'8 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4
[completed in December 2016]

The story: I was lucky to have Nicole as my first girl team-rider when she was only 13 . Not only she was shredding the shortboard I made for her (board#034) but also, later on her longboard (board#098). As she was growing so fast, it was time for another shortboard !

The shape: classic performance shortboard !

The artwork: since Nicole spends a lot of time surfing in Hawaii, she asked for tropical flowers which I printed out at Boardlams. I also surprised her with a custom Mere-Made logo with the mermaid wearing a matching flower in her hair :)

The glass was done by Tiger Glassing.

board#141: longboard for Rico

untaping board#141 at SWOP Surfboards

Dimensions: 9'0 x 21 3/4 x 2 5/8

[completed in August 2016]

The story: I got the shape Rico Leroy a couple of longboards (board#054) before including one shaped in Eric Arakawa's shaping room in Haleiwa (board#119).  Here is one more for my favorite waterman ! 

The shape: the idea was to reproduce the shape from his Haleiwa's board I made for him (and which is stored in Hawaii) so he can have one in France. I worked by memory on this shape, trying to reproduce it without any precise dimensions.

The artwork: Rico's heart is hawaiian and he wanted to honor his culture by adoption. The triangles on the deck are in memory of his friend and surf legend, "Buttons" (Montgomery Kaluhiokalani). The deck displays the hawaiian flag in greyscale. All of this took me countless hours of masking ! But totally worth the sweat ! 

(I shaped the board at SWOP Surfboards' workshop. The glass was done by Nicolas at Lacanau Surf Designs.)

with Nicolas (who glassed the board) and Rico

<3

board#136: asymmetric shortboard for Vincent

v2.0 vs original

Dimensions: 5'4 x 18 5/8 x 1 15/16
[completed in July 2016]
Model Versatile-A

The story: v2.0 of the first asymmetric board I made for my husband Vincent (see board#100). He was so happy with the benefits of a slight asymmetry of his previous board that I was asked to reproduce it.

The shape: The idea is to build a board that would have different specifications on the toes/heel sides since the pressure applied is different (more power on the heels, more control on the toes). The toe side has the longest rail and pinched rails for optimized penetrance of the wave while carving a nice arc. The heel side is the shortest for smaller arc to quickly bring the board up to the lip.

The artwork: still using the concept of the shifted stripes which highlights the asymmetry.

comparing comparing. it better be the same!

board#129: shortboard for Vincent

Dimensions: 5'7 x 18 1'8 x 2 1/16
[completed in April 2016]
Model Ventura

The story: while my husband was in Nicaragua, having the time of his life with his friends, I thought it would be a good time to shape him a new board. Just in case he would not want to come back home from his surf paradise :))))

The shape: he just snapped in half a board that Axel Lorentz shaped for him when he came to California. He mentioned he really liked it. I thought I would just try to replicate it (I still had the broken pieces to figure out the shape!)

The artwork: the good think about surprise board is that I can't ask for the owner's opinion. Therefore I can just follow my own ideas, still thinking about the recipient. I went for discrete dark blue/black stripes which end-up making a V pattern... for Vincent, of course!

The testimonial: This is Vincent's go-to board when the swell is above 6 foot.

board#122: shortboard for Paul

Dimensions: 6'6 x 20 3/4 2 11/16

[completed in January 2016]

The story: Paul is a board collector and obviously a Mere-Made board collector since this one is the 4th in his quiver! (see previous boards: board  #067, board #091,  and board #092).   The fun fact about this one is that Paul ordered it without knowing that it was already fully paid by one of his friend. Very cool friend!

The shape: The new board is actually an iteration of board#092 with a "compressed" version of the previous shape : i.e. shorter, wider, fuller, flatter for more versatility. However I kept the foiled rails which are Paul's favorite.

The artwork: Paul gave me two keywords for the artwork: "bright colors" and  "stripes". He could not make me happier (he knows I am a huge fan of stripes ;)). I made diagonal bright red stripes with matching rails. We call it the "peppermint board" .

Testimonial: last time I surfed with Paul, he told me: "since I surf your boards I am such a better surfer. Thank you for shaping me boards which improve my surfing." I almost cried.

I got to surf with Paul last month!
And look what he was riding !...