Buying a surfboard off-the-rack at your local surf shop is quick and easy and instantly gratifying, but nothing quite compares to picking up your new custom surfboard and finding on the underside of the stringer, written in pencil next to the very dimensions you specifically requested, the beautiful words: for Gerald/Tiago/Barry etc.
Ordering A Custom Surfboard: What?
Most surfboard shapers will have a series of standard surfboard models that are available in a range of stock dimensions. Buying a custom surfboard might mean simply ordering one of these standard models because you can’t find the size you want in stock. Alternatively, it might mean tweaking a standard model slightly to suit your purposes, or working closely with a shaper to come up with something completely new that is the product of your combined experience.
Ordering A Custom Surfboard: Where?
Custom surfboards can be ordered in person at the factory, over the phone, on the internet, or via a surf shop that has a relationship with a particular shaper or brand. The importance of having an actual conversation with someone about your new board depends on whether you already know exactly what you want, and on whether what you want can be easily communicated in writing. The larger the brand, the harder it’ll be to talk directly to the shaper himself, but even the best known UK surfboard shapers are generally available for a chat.
