board#113: longboard for Sarah

Dimensions: 7'6 x 21 1/4 x 2 3/4
[completed on September 2015]
Model Valerie

The story: as you may have noticed all my posts start with a "The story" section. This is because I do custom surfboards and there is a story behind all of them. Some stories are very cute. Like this one. One day I receive an email from Michael. He is on a mission. He wants to surprise his girlfriend Sarah with a custom surfboard for her birthday. After a couple of emails back and forth, we decided it would be best to have her involved as she is surfing already for quite a while and she would probably want to have her input in the specifications of the board. However he surprised her by meeting me when she thought she would go for some random errands. I had my ordering sheet ready to take notes for her upcoming birthday present. 

The shape: talking with Sarah about her board, I found out she was surfing my home spot!!! This is great news for me because I know exactly what kind of waves she will be dealing with and it helps me refine the dimensions needed. She wanted a longboard and I suggested she should try mine as she weighted like me. She did and she decided it was the right board for her. Of course, we adjusted a couple of dimensions for her surf style. The shape went pretty smoothly as I know this model by heart (almost!)

The artwork: I received very specific directions about the artwork. I could tell they put a lot of thoughts about it. The main piece on the deck was a chinese sign which says Sarah's name with real hand prints from her daughter. In the back, Michael asked for a stylized representation of the beach with Sarah's and her dog foot prints. I could tell this board would be very special for Sarah.

Michael's sketch with my suggestions in pink ;)

real hand print from Sarah's daughter

Here is Sarah and her new board !!!