Anyone ever get a board from Austin Surfboards? He's a local shaper, Virginia Beach. His designs are cool, his vibe is positive, he responds quickly to customer inquiries (mine)...but, before I chunk out the coinage, just wondering how his boards perform / hold up....? http://www.austinsurfboards.com/
ive heard good things about them, couldnt be specific though. hes a pretty big dude so im sure over time that has helped him to design them to hold a tank. not sure if im likin that whole marbalized bowling ball look on some of them.
I live in virginia Austin is a really good shaper and his glassing is even more impressive. Hes very talented at fishes and long boards, i think his mentor was really old school.
under the radar Appreciate the input, guys. Yah, Austin's a big fella (video on his website & on utube). Which makes me think that he works harder to understand how best to shape a board. You know what they say: the best coaches are never the superstar players...they're always the guys who had to work their asses off to play the game. Austin loves surfing, it seems, and he's far from the quintessential size to be a surfer, so he works harder to 'get it right.' Just my 2 cents worth, there. My impression is that Austin is 'under the radar' as a shaper on the national scene, and part of the reaon is that he's an east coast guy. More reason to seriously consider his work, 'cause he understands our surfing environment...
Austin learned the craft the traditional way, by shaping and not scraping (meaning the scraping of highly preformed Clark foam blanks). He does wonders with glass and resins. You can color & tint the boards however you want; he also does fine woodwork (stringers, nose and tail blocks, etc.). Austin also uses quality materials - talk to him about the glass type, weight and number of layers you want for your board. An outstanding individual.
My roomate has an Austin. It's a beast triple stringer, pretty flat rocker... I see him get some nice noserides on it. You should get one!
Austin is also dialing in his custom surfboard shaping skills on both modern shortboards and longboards, using R&D and feedback from his younger Austin Team shredders. So far, this 2008 season, all of his team riders had made it into their shortboard/longboard event finals at various contests such as ESA,ECSC,etc.
Here is an example of some of his woodwork on a custom paipo/glass bodyboard he made for a VaB waverider:
That's gorgeous. And creative at the same time. I don't need any more boards but my next couple boards will be from Austin....
