How was Costa Rica last week?
MB: Good, I was down in Nosara with my wife doing the old man’s trip (laughs). But I brought 3 boards with me: a 6’0″x 19 3/4″ x 2 3/8″ bat tail quad; a 6’2″ x 18 5/8″ x 2 1/4″; EPS shortboard and a 9’0″ x 22 5/8″ x 2 3/4″ diamond tail longboard (Hp1 Model). You grew up on Long Island, no? When did you start surfing and shaping? I grew up in Oakdale and started surfing in seventh grade at Sailors Haven on Fire Island. Started shaping in tenth grade, about 1993. I would pull the glass off of old boards and reshape them. After selling a few, I purchased some Clark foam blanks, which I shaped without a planer, and sanded them by hand. But by the end of that batch I had enough money to purchase a planer and electric sander. After doing about 20 boards I went over to work at Phoenix Surfboards with Squeak. He’s a great person who taught me how to sand, polish and gave me a lot of tricks. However, he didn’t teach me how to shape. You’re a teacher as well as a shaper? Yes, I teach technology
