board#162: Switchfoot board !

Dimensions: 5'6 x 19 1/2 x 2 1/4
[completed in June 2017]
Model Voldemort

The story: I love my town. I try to give back to my community as much as I can. Last year, I donate a board for the Ecke Magdalena YMCA which basically raised my children (click here for the story). This time I picked to help my favorite band. Switchfoot is an Encinitas-based christian band who rock not only by their music but also from deeply caring for people in need. Every year they throw a huge free concert at Moonlight Beach to raise money for a cause, usually helping children from our community. During this event, they host a fundraiser party where they auction donations. I made a Switchfoot surfboard for this event. Few days before the auction, Vincent, my husband and I surprised the band during a soundcheck before a Del Mar fair concert. I was so shy that I sent Vincent to hand off the board while I was hiding in the crowd. But Switchfoot frontman, Jon Foreman, paused the soundcheck to thank me for the donation (see video below). Later this week, I hard that the board sold for $1,000 and the couple who bid on it decided to give the board as a present to the Switchfoot who are excellent surfers.  That was the last new about that very special board.

The shape:  I thought the board would need to stand out for an auction and I went for an unusual shape, the Voldemort model I created for my friend Clement. But I made sure the volume would be generous enough to allow the board to be surfed my a majority of potential bidders. 

The artwork: the artwork was a no brainer: Switchfoot logo ! I loved it so much I wanted to keep the board :) 

board#161: egg for Tanya

Dimensions: 6'6 x 21 1/2 x 2 3/4
[Completed in April 2017]
Model Vader

The story: Small world. Tanya is a tandem surfer. I used to be a tandem surfer too but before many years before her. So we never overlapped in the line-up. But our path crossed through surfing anyway. Like it was meant to be. The tandem surfing community is a like a family. Even if we don't know each other we are like "cousins" as we share the same passion in our blood (once a tandem surfer, always a tandem surfer). She expressed her wish to have a board shaped by me. It was such a great pleasure to make her "solo surfing" board.

The shape: As any tandem surfer, Tanya is mainly in the water with her partner on a huge tandem board. It takes a lot of hours of practice and only little left to surf on her own (speaking by experience). Therefore she asked for board with plenty of volume to catch tons of waves when she gets the chance to go out on her own. This egg also allows her to execute cute some turns if needed.

The artwork: Tanya's favorite artist is Chloe Early. She is obsessed with her paintings and asked me to have piece that was particularly meaningful to her on her board. It was tricky for me to blend a rectangle on a surfboard without breaking the lines of the outline. I went for a modern vibe with asymmetrical diagonal painted under the painting (which was printed on rice paper by Boardlams).  By respect for the artist, I contacted her to show the board and she was stoked for Tanya. Tanya was stoked too. I was stoked for Tanya. Therefore everyone was super stoked !

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.