Academy Intern
1/9/14
Alternative Research Paper Growing up I always loved being in or around the ocean whether it be surfing, fishing, or just hanging out at the beach. At a young age my dad taught me how to surf and I instantly fell in love with the sport. As I grew older I spent more time in the water and became curious about the boards I was riding and all of the different options there are and the theories about how they are designed. I soon met Mason Dyer who builds surfboards as a career and I became good friends with him. In the beginning of 2012 I built my first surfboard under his guidance. Now I have built five surfboards and helped in the production of many others, I still love it but feel I still have a lot to learn. During my internship i focused on shaping surfboards. The process of shaping is when you take a big foam block called a blank and you cut it and sand it down into a surfboard using a wide variety of tools like an electric planer, hand saws, sureforms, and sandpaper. This process started with wood back in the 1940s and in the 1950s switched to foam blocks instead. Over the years the designs of surfboards have changed from big heavy longboards that weighed close to 40 pounds, to now a more modern short board that only weighs a few pounds and allows you to move more fluidly in the water. The surfboards now are more oriented towards a high performance style of surfing and the new surfboards are much more maneuverable. As the demand changed surfboard shapers had to change their products and craft. A successful surfboard shaper puts in countless hours of shaping and developing their own style, they must also know people in the industry and then begin to network with other shapers, distributors, and possible customers in order to maintain a profitable business. You must be able to produce a quality surfboard that people want to buy, and to do that the surfboard must either be built extremely well or it must be innovative in some way in order to set yourself apart and create a need for your unique product. It is key to meet deadlines and have a strong work ethic in order to strive in this industry, according to Wyatt Henderson, a laminator at the Dyer Brand factory "You have to be a self starter in this industry. Whoever hires you will know if he likes you within the first week just by looking to see if you are a self starter. You must be a hard worker and get things done in a timely fashion or else nobody will want to hire you" (Henderson). This career is tricky because you get paid on a basis of how
