A key thing with building boards for big waves is experience and knowledge.
Of having the first hand experience of what's needed to get into the wave in the first place, to make it down the face intact, and cover enough ground across large open faces before the lip karate chops you in half.
With a lifetime dedicated to pursuing the most challenging waves he could find, there's very few shapers who have Jim's first hand experience of surfing such vast variety of large challenging waves.
And the knowledge to be able to build boards for these types of waves.
If you're needing a board for larger days, pretty hard to go past one of these.
Ride them from 6’10 - 9’0
Hit the Road
I've always loved building bigger boards for those days... when the ocean is roaring like a tiger and the sets are marching in like herds of stampeding elephants.
Laying a 7' plus blank down onto the shaping stand and seeing a board for serious waves coming together, touches something deep in my heart. And makes me feel like I'm building Ferraris and Lamborghinis, ha!
I still enjoy getting out on the bigger days, although I'm not as reckless as I used to be... the body doesn't bounce as good as it used to, ha!
And I love feeling the non stop evolution of these boards for bigger waves. The constantly improving handling, the higher speed capabilities and the improved drive and power that can be extracted from turns while actually becoming easier to turn.
It's a wonderful ongoing journey that i wouldn't trade for anything!
Jim