board#089: mini-gun for the YMCA

my 7 year old daughter with the board donated
to the YMCA Dance Department

Dimensions: 6'8 x 19 1/2 x 2 5/8
[shaped in July 2015, completed in March 2016]

The story: it happens that I don't get enough coffee when tracing my outline and I end up cutting a board with the wrong dimensions. This one is the perfect example. I was supposed to make a shortboard for Paul  when I totally got the widest point wrong (from very far). I didn't noticed until I was done... I am like "wait a minute... that shortboard looks like a mini-gun to me !!!..." Of course, I reshaped one for Paul with the right wideness [see his actual board here] but I keep this shaped blank in the corner of my shaping room. Juts in case. And almost a year later, that board found an owner. The YMCA Dance department (where my daughter dances) was having an end-of-the-year performance with the Endless Summer theme... I suggested I could donate a special board for the occasion. This is how that old shaped blank was back into business!

The shape: The shape was a classic shortboard shape which ended-up a mini-gun due to an outline mistake. I accentuated the pintail to make it even more  a big wave board. The final result was so cool that my husband wanted to keep it !!! Too late, it is for the YMCA!

The artwork: The Endless Summer theme was of course a requirement. It was an easy one for me as I had done a couple of similar artworks in the past: one on a real Robert August longboard [click here] and a replica on one of my shapes [board#018]. I suggested that the famous silhouette should be a dancer for the occasion. This was printed on rice paper by Boardlams while I painted the board with the orange/pink famous color combo. 

The beautiful glass was performed by Global Glassing in Oceanside.

The testimonial:  Because the Dance Department was raffling it, it was on display in the YMCA lobby for a couple weeks before the drawing. There were even some posters made for the occasion ! The board went to a photoshoot with the dance team. This board became the "star" of the YMCA for a while !!! A lot of my friends bought some tickets as well as my husband who wanted it back :) First the tickets could only be purchased in person but they had to open it up to phone purchasing as it was so popular! I was super stoked! Then, it was the big day of the performance. The whole Dance Department did a terrific job on the show. The kids were amazing on stage. At the very end, the board came on stage for the raffle drawing. I was called on stage too... Most of the people in the audience had bought some tickets so the whole place went quiet when my daughter dove her head in the ticket jar... And the winner is.... a woman named Andrea who bought 200 tickets!!! She was not in the audience but I got to meet her in person later this month and she was stoked: the board is now in display in her living room until her husband gets the permission to  take it in the water. I hope this happens because like all Mere-Made Surfboards she is made for the Ocean!

this poster, for sure, landed on the wall of my shaping room!

Photo by Rob Randolph

... and the winner is...