American Craftsman: Carving a Wave

As soon as the ancient Polynesians hopped on to pieces of driftwood and rode them into shore, man became fascinated with the art of surfing. Not long after that they started carving that wood, and later numerous other mediums, into something that could tame those waves. Humans began to explore the spiritual connection they have to the waves. Thousands of cultures, including that of the native Hawaiians, even based much of their deeply ingrained cosmology on surfing. As time went on man mastered the creation of those things we call surf boards. It has been many decades since those past Hawaiians passed that trade onto the rest of the world, and the world has taken the hobby by storm. Today there are over twenty-three million people who consider themselves avid surfers, and many more boards that are being sold every year. Surfing has become a major industry and has spread far from those sandy Hawaiian shores to the farthest reaches of the earth, including the eastern American coast, Australia, and even Greenland. Anywhere there are waves man will find a way to ride them. As Allen White, a surfboard maker for over 43 years, puts it “It’s engrained into us as soon as we feel the pull of a wave.”

Allen White started in the industry of surfing when he was eight years old. In surfing talk he would have been endearingly referred to as a “gromet”, or a young aspiring surfer. When he was twelve he began helping at several surf shops around the town in which he grew up, Virginia Beach. This town is famous for its surf culture. There he picked up work that no one else wanted to do, like sweeping the floors and taking out the trash, just to get closer to what he loved. Soon he was helping with the boards themselves. He learned to fix dings, and other damages to the boards. After he graduated high school, in 1975, he partnered and opened his own shaping business at the age of 18. In 1977 he moved to Florida. There Allen kept, off and on, with board making, opening and working with several businesses before he downsized to open his own part time shop that he works out of now. While he worked off and on he also worked as a fire fighter for 19 years. The shop he owns now he opened in 2014 as a retirement “studio”. There he could keep creating his art while doing the other thing he loved most: surfing. His Shop is called “Foam” and is located in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida.

When a board is being made it starts out as what is called a “Plug”, or a big foam blank with a wooden “stringer” that runs through the center of it. This strip of wood gives the future board more strength and stability. The blank will then be rough cut close to the ideal size and general shape of prospect surfboard. Allen uses a variety of stencils and shapes to shape a board to a customer’s concept of the final piece. After Allen has a concept in his mind for the finished board, the blank is cut out with a skill saw and various other tools. The cut blank is then shaped, by hand, to the near perfect dimensions of the final board. Allen then uses another host of tools to find the shape of that final board within the foam. He will start with electric polishing wheels and work his way down to using hand held sand paper, to work the tooled grain down to be near invisible to the naked eye. This makes the unfinished boards appear “creamy” and smooth, especially when the Fiberglass coating is eventually applied. Every part of the shaping matters. From Its thickness, to the rails (sides), to the belly (bottom), all parts of a surfboard will affect its hydrodynamics and how well the board will “ride.” Every aspect must be considered by the board maker, and even tiny mistakes, or changes, can deeply affect the performance of the finished product. All this Allen does by feel and touch alone. Allen at this point will also add cuts and holes where attachments will be put later; for fins and leashes.

After this, and after the board meets the size speculations of the paying customer, the board is moved into the paint studio, where Allen will use multiple methods to get the customer’s design onto the face of the board. Sometimes he will hand-paint the design, and other times he will use printout stickers, depending of the preference of the customer. When the board is painted it is moved to be “glassed.” In this process the foam board will get several coats of fiberglass that will protect and toughen the board’s surface, along with giving it stability, weight, and a shiny coating that surfboards are now recognized for. At this point the fins and leash attachments are put in and the finished board is handed off to the customer.

Custom surfboards are now a rarity, even though this used to be the norm. Something Allen Says is both a symptom and a cause, of a much larger problem. With surfing, he says, when a custom board is requested by a surfer, the maker “Knows what’s going into it.” Allen says that now, because boards are mass produced, the manufacturer is moved far from the consumer. This not only degrades the quality of the board, but takes away from what surfing is supposed to be. It “removes from that equation of man and wave.” Along with this Allen does things for his customers to make that board “truly” theirs. One example he gave was a man who had a protruding sternum which would affect his comfort level and performance on other boards. To mend this Allen designed a board that would specifically fit him while he paddled by including a recessed area on the “deck” or top of the board. Something one could never get with a mass production board. “These are the kinds of things that bring us in touch with ourselves” as Allen puts it. “Outsourcing is killing us, both me, my business, and the customer.” Allen takes his love of surfing seriously, as do many others who enjoy the sport. To them it isn’t just a sport. It is, indeed, a way of life.