http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com international surfboard shaper living the dream Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:50:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_492" align="alignleft" width="342" caption="looking at the concave"][/caption] Concave is the term given to the curve shaped into the bottom of the board, the depth of the concave varies on the board model, waves to be ridden and the shaper: for a sucky wave like pipeline - a  deep single concave going to ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/03/05/a-z-of-surfboard-design-c-concave/                 http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/03/05/mb-testing-the-allstar/ Surfboard Blanks The raw material for most of the boards I shape is made from the polyeurothane foam (PU). The first blanks were made at the end of the 1950's by a couple of famous Californian surfboard shapers but the man credited with perfecting the common blank as we know it today was ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/03/03/a-z-of-surfboard-design-b-blanks/ Last week I was back in england shaping various surfboards at Seabase.The weather was really good for the end of febuary,people were daring to talk about a good summer!!!!!!! But the best thing I saw was the waves.South and North fistral firing all week.             The Boy's though were all surfing Little Fistral ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/03/02/fistral-beach-my-home-break/ [caption id="attachment_540" align="alignleft" width="580" caption="line up shot"][/caption] Finally I made it to the Portugese coast this weekend a solid two hour drive from Seville through orange groves and trees full of blossom. Through the border very mountainous and green following the coast beautiful sunshine .  When we got to the coast ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/02/16/atlantic-weekend/ Yes that's me paddling out on my own on the 31st January.  Friday night there was a big storm in Seville but checking the wind guru website for the waves in Canos de Meca I saw there was a window to get a good two hour surf  on the Saturday ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/02/09/surfing-on-my-own-at-the-faro/ Fin Angle If you imagine a line drawn perpendicularly to the bottom of the board the central fin is always set at 90 degrees to the board but the two side  fins are tilted off this line by a certain amount, outwards.  On my boards I use four different fin angle ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/02/09/a-z-of-surfboard-design-a-angles/ [caption id="attachment_444" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Coming to Soul"][/caption]           I made my first trip to Soul surfboards in Seville, in January 08.  Leaving England at this time of the year was a god send.  It was the middle of winter and not much good surf to be had. I was coming because of a ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/02/05/coming-to-soul/ The beauty of my job is that as long as the work gets done it doesn't matter when, so you are free to go and catch waves at the drop of a hat if  the surf is pumping  as it was today. Its 120 km from Seville to Canos de Meca ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/01/21/big-drop-at-the-faro/ Turned up first good swell of the year tide was a bit high not hitting Apartamentos the left at Canos de Meca so  Team Soul decided to hit the faro 4-6 ft on the sets perfect clean waves 50 guys in the water. The good Spanish surfers are a bit more diminutive than ... http://mattbarrowsurfboards.com/2009/01/10/six-foot-waves-at-the-faro-of-trafalgar/