Off the shelf or Custom

A custom board is only as good as the surfer's ability to articulate his needs. In other words, YOU, as the buyer, have to know what you want your board to do. That means you have to be good enough, as a surfer, to identify what it is your board doesn't do, or what you want it to do better. The ideal customer brings his board to his shaper, and says, "Here's what I ride when it's (small and soft, big and barreling, head high and stormy, when I got to Puerto Rico...), but I'd like it to (catch waves easier, work better in the tube, come off the top cleaner, boost higher...). From there, the discussion begins. Sorry, but order forms are a shot in the dark, for the most part. Unless you really know design and really trust your shaper, you're getting what the shaper can crank out, to your specs, as fast as possible, with little consideration to foil, edge, rail shape/volume, outline curve... Order forms should be used by retailers only to order boards for the rack.

Whoever said earlier in this thread that you need to talk to your shaper is dead on. And if you don't know enough about what you want in a board, and I'm not talking about numbers... that's the shaper's job.... I'm talking about performance... than don't bother with a custom. Go get yourself a CI or Lost...or Pavel, or Stretch... and have fun. They're great boards refined over years with feedback from some of the best surfers in the world.

 

Yup, Zach nailed it.

Just remember, if your going to build a relationship with a shaper there is no better time than the present to start it!