New Board - Al Merrick or Xanadu?

[MadeInNewJersey13]

Im loooking for a new board and I'm not sure what to get. I want sumthing 5'8 and not so skinny. I'm favoring either an Al Merrick or one of those Xanadu boards. Im 5 foot and weigh 86 lbs, and I can do most of your basic cuts and turns on my 6'2 matt kechele mx fish. Help me figure out which company board I should get. Either Al Merrick or a Xanadu or if you have any other company board that you liked a lot tell me that too. Thanks.

[tomcat360]

i say you dial up your local shaper- get exactly what you want. anyways youd prob be spending and easy 500-600 with a merrick, so why not get something personal?

[Broosta]

You just need to go and see a few different makes 'in the flesh(original meaning of 'flesh' )' and talk to the shop dudes alot before buying. It can take a while and several boards before you really know what it is you want. I know peeps on here keep saying to go to local shaper for a custom made board but its gonna be difficult to to tell the shaper what you want if you don't yet know nor have a point of reference - like saying how you got on with various shapes, how you get on with vaious glass thicknesses, how you feel about rail sharpness, tail shapes, wide point location, rocker, channels, concaves, vee, etc.
So my advice is probs to get a cheap second hand board which you keep changing so you get to check a few out - and then go to a shaper and have a chat when you know what you don't want .

[tomcat360]

good advice broosta- i was just saying when you know what you want, you should support the locals, give the money to guys who need it and get a really good board at the same time. it does kinda sound like you should ride some more boards before jumping to spend 500 bucks or more on a brand new board, which ends up not giving you that feeling
-tommy

[flex639]

ya defiently check out the boards in shops around you, i have an al merrick flyer right now and io love it.

[Brent]

But the whole point of going to a good/respected local shaper is they do know how to interpret & build on the following conversation.

"Hi, I'm Roy (smirk), I want you to make me a surfboard, I don't really know what I'm after however and I hope you can help me".

The shaper replies 'That's ok, I wish more newbies would come straight to me rather than spend 500-600 dollars on something that is, frankly, not suitable for the waves around here'.

"What do you mean" the newbie replies.

'Well' the shaper replies,'the waves we see 80% of the time here are windblown & onshore, maybe 1-3 foot max, yet all those name boards are too low volume, to steeply rockered, & too narrow in the nose to enjoy most sessions around here, I can make you a less aggressive board to start with, with fuller rails, you'll catch most of the waves you paddle for, you'll spend more time on your feet and your surfing will progress faster as a result, making surfboards for my clients is a long-term relationship for me. I trade their used boards in as they progress and we refine & interpret their wishes with each board I make for them. And best of all I pencil their name under the glass. It's their board'.

The newbie replies "well, lets get started"...I'm 86 pounds, I'm 5 foot tall, I'm a weak-ish paddler at the moment, I can swim well. I will be surfing XXXXX break most of the time.

Shaper replies 'ok, you need a 5'10" at this point in your life, I'll make the nose-rocker flat with a nice 12" nose so you can get into waves earlier since your padding isn't too advanced yet, I know that break well myself and we will do a medium glass job with a 4oz deck patch to keep the board light overall as you're only 86pounds, what about colours kid - fancy anything special?'

"No" newbie replies "all my friends boards are plain white, it seems all the non-locals here use flash coloured boards, I'd like to fit in with the locals & not draw unwanted attention to myself as I'm still, really, a learner, although I'd never tell them"

And there begins a beautiful relationship - one that will last for many years, through fashion, friends, & trends this new surfer & his shaper will be refining each board, getting closer to "perfect" for this guy, by all means flirt with other big name shapers, buy Al Merricks, Nev's or whatever...but your primary shaper (if you are lucky enough to have one within driving distance of you) should always be a clever & well-regarded localish shaper near you.

Just my 5c worth...

[globesurfer]

Well Done...

Are you a shaper Brent?

[Brent]

No, I'm not,I'm a huge fan of hydrodynamica though (if there is such a word) and love reading & learning & experimenting all the time with different surf craft & fins etc.

Here's another reason why I like my local guy...
He made for me several years ago a really fun hybrid fish, I love it! I went back to him late last year asking him to make me a similar beast as a summer christmas present to myself.
For some bizarre reason when we were working out my desired dimensions for this one he told me to go home & get my wetsuit. I asked him why...His reply was, "well, this is going to be a summer board right?" I said yes. He then said. "I need to know how much your wet wetsuit weighs so I can deduct that weight off this board's total volume so you end up with an EXACT handling replica of that last one....but this one will be for when you're not wearing a wetsuit".

Three weeks later I picked up my summer hybrid fish...it's one inch shorter & slightly more refined than the other one. Under the glass is "5'11" x 20" Brent, Summer"

Show me an Al Merrick shop stock board that refined for you, or a pimply teenager working for $8 an hour at some no-name clothing store posing as a surf shop who surfs once a week who cares THAT much about you & your surfing.

This is why I say go local...

[globesurfer]

Wow your shaper seems like a really cool guy!

[tomcat360]

right on brent, right on

[Broosta]

Yep I'd deffo love to have a shaper like that near me Brent, you are one lucky dude .

My reality is there is only 1 shaper within 6hrs drive and he is utter 5hite and not actually worth using as he is cheaper than big brands but noway cheap enough considering the quality!

So my shaper is Brian Bulkley (lost team shaper) who lives in California USA (there is a California just up the road from me!) but he does come over to uk a fair bit to shape and I now have my name on my boards too but admittedly I don't have any 'summer' boards. I have to travel to Cornwall to find a decent shaper in this country and so I thought I might as well use an exceptional shaper rather than a good shaper since the prices are not really much different and they are all in Cornwall anyway and so don't really know the east coast waves. I chose Lost because they are not built for perfect waves and I had used their off the shelf boards and loved them.

I've tried boards from Lost, Al Merrick, Spider, G&S, Maurice Cole, Beach Beat(uk), Sick Pig (uk), Tunnell Vision (uk), Nigel Semmens (uk), Matt Barrow (uk).

Ones I got on best with are:
Lost - now using Lost customs
Maurice Cole - unfortunately don't have access to customs.
Matt Barrow - would deffo consider next time but I'd already ordered my Lost boards when I tried one of Matt's.

Obviously a good shaper nearby is the ideal situation, and I am very envious of anyone who has this .

[Brent]

Yes, point taken also; that's the one quirky thing about NZ...for a country of 4 million people in total we have about 20 working/practicing shapers (not counting Roy) *smirk* we are swamped with good shapers wanting work - boards are cheap & the customer service you recieve are excellent as a result. Besides cause we're so far away from everything else name-boards are way more expensive here as they've got international freight charges wacked on em.

Anyway, anybody else got good shaper experiences???

[k mac]

*puts hand up* youve seen the board n'uff said . The guy's real freindly approachable person had a few chats and all met up a couple of times too talk about the board at the end of it he came dropped it at my place had a lil chat said phone us if the surfs on and well go for a surf .. also you cant beat the satisfaction of having a board that says 'hand shaped for kane' underneath now just got to get used to the smaller board

[MadeInNewJersey13]

You just need to go and see a few different makes 'in the flesh(original meaning of 'flesh' )' and talk to the shop dudes alot before buying. It can take a while and several boards before you really know what it is you want. I know peeps on here keep saying to go to local shaper for a custom made board but its gonna be difficult to to tell the shaper what you want if you don't yet know nor have a point of reference - like saying how you got on with various shapes, how you get on with vaious glass thicknesses, how you feel about rail sharpness, tail shapes, wide point location, rocker, channels, concaves, vee, etc.
So my advice is probs to get a cheap second hand board which you keep changing so you get to check a few out - and then go to a shaper and have a chat when you know what you don't want .

I have problem with getting a custom board. . . I don't think any of my local shops do shaping. So its almost like not an option for a custom board.

[tomcat360]

if you are near the coast (which it seems you are) i am sure that you can go into a shop and ask for the name and number of a shaper. usually the people wont wanna work in a shop, especially if they make boards only by request. so dial up your favorite surf shop and ask them. if all else fails, you can look on swaylocks.com and find a new jersey shaper (they are plenty on there)

tommy