WE ALWAYS RETURN TO THE LOCAL HAND SHAPER!

                    Nestor Ramirez Puerto Ricos's Master Shaper in action (circa 1980's).



     I was reading the latest edition of SURFER magazine and an article named "THINK LOCAL" stole my attention as I was reading ,my mind focused in the reality of the content and the simplicity of its meaning. When you read a surfing magazine your thoughts are transported to the possible reality of the actual pro surfers and their extraordinary habilities displayed in extraordinary surfboards. We start to day dream in a perfect wave in Uluwatu, Chopes, Bells, Pipeline or Tresles. We dream about perfect Al Merrick, Rusty's or a DHD surfboards in this perfect conditions. The money that this moguls put in marketing to proyect this dream is incredible, at the end we fall in this dream.
    If we want to get our holy grail in surfing which is a magic board, you have to "THINK LOCAL". The local shaper is the physician that know the cure for our disease, because they really knows you and get to know your habilities and limitations. The honesty in this relation is the key for success. He knows the waves that we surf, because he surf them and adjust your wavecraft to fit this wave.
   To get this goals we have to start a close relationship with the shaper, be honest and grow your habilities with  trial and error on your surfboards. Al Merrick will never have this interaction with you. But if we see his macrocosmos he had this long relationship with Kelly and Rob which has ended in superb wavecrafts. Even the WCT surfers think local, when they arrive to Hawaii, they think of Wade Tokoro, Erick Arawaka, etc.
   I think that the CAD machine is an excellent technologic tool , but at the end the shaper have to correct the lines of the clone that the machine cannot bend, using his hands.  Different materials are great, as has evolved after CLARK FOAM closed. But each material have their role and their population.
    In my opinion Puerto Rico have a unique breed of master craftmans that define all the qualities of the local shaper. The quality of their wave vehicles is higher or equal to who are considered best. We need to think out of the box and appreciate the high quality product of our local shapers. They are the ones that have the real tools to make your magic carpet.

ALWAYS, THINK LOCAL!