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Shapers Bay - Dan Cobley

Give us the about yourself. What inspired you to get into shaping?:
I was drawn to shaping for the pure love of surfing. I always enjoyed working with my hands and building things as well as have had an interest in problem solving and puzzle workings. The variables that go into making surfboards are so broad and complex that the puzzle never ends. It’s a life long love as people, waves, and conditions change.

With so many people shaping, what makes your boards stand out?
I don’t think that my boards stand out in any cosmetic way comparatively to other shaper or machine boards. The difference with my boards is that they are all hand crafted for each individual surfer. I work with the customer one on one through shaping appointments or phone calls with long chats to work through the puzzle of what board will suit them best for the wave, style, or stage of life they are focusing on. It’s true that most surfers invariably want a single magic board. Even the fortunate few who have the resources and the storage space to have a quiver the size of jay lenos car collection end up riding just a small handful of them. What I’ve found is that working more closely with the individual I can dial in that more magic board and get them on a better board then what they have been on. The truth is that our waves selection here varies so much and I’m not just considering that you can surf a point break like hags or a beach break like torrance in the same day and the waves are so different that its not fair to a shaper to be expected to make a single board work optimal in all conditions why Hell you can be surfing porto and get one wave and have it the tube of your life and then the next wave is more mush then san-o! Again, I am now just trying to work with each individual surfer and make the board that will best work for them in the conditions they are most often going to be surfing.

Each spot in the South Bay breaks differently and the surfing styles change almost as much. You need to design for constantly changing environments (surf conditions) and individual customers - how do you balance making a great looking board with one that actually functions with all these variables?
I have made some funky stuff over the years; curving prabolics, giant boards, multiple strangers, odd construction methods and materials, knee boards, kite boards, etc. Nothing really to brag about or even be proud of at all. :) Shaping hasn’t changed too much. The machine has taken over production which has led to way more consistency in rack boards. Just five years ago the best quality brands had machines that would only cut the blank so close and they would still have to be finished by hand and the discrepancy in shapes was so drastically different that the quality of my hand shaped all the way through were on a whole almost more consistent. These days however the machines have gotten better and as a result my quality has had to improve to match or exceed the competition. As it were I used to just try and do as well as the next guy but these days my focus has been more geared towards a constant betterment in board function for the individual. It’s something that you can’t buy off the rack! I found I cannot exceed the quality of the construction of a merrik or a lost but I can match that quality and exceed the function for the individual. The beautiful thing about custom is that working with a knowledgeable craftsmen boards can progressively improve over time and because the boards get better so do the surfers.

Where do you see surfboards going in the next 5 years?
I don’t pretend to think that I can see the future. The current trend is shorter and more functional volume. I think this trend will stay around for a while especially in the southbay. I have a feeling a lot of grumpy older dudes are going to get mad at sup guys and start ordering regular surfboards with the volume of a sup just to compete paddling. I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see the fish movement come around again around again in the next few years either. Also, I think normal shortboards are going to shorten a couple inches as a norm and widen out through the end sections as surfers realize the benefits rocker can play in function and then they’ll get longer, flatter and thinner and then get shorter and thicker again. It’s a cyclical thing but what’s cool is that with each generation that passes the intricacies get ironed out and functionality becomes more radical. Long live the shaper!!

More Info:
Dan Cobley has been shaping surfboards for pros and hobby surfers for 15 years. His shaping room is located on “shaper’s row” in Hermosa Beach. Open by appointment. Make yours today. Call 310-469-2671 dancsurfboards@hotmail.com