My father took me to Huntington Beach Pier, rented me a surfboard, I paddled out and didn’t come in until after dark. I was hooked. That was the last time I got to do that. Dad was pissed. Lucky for me we moved to H.B. the next year.

My first exposure to shaping came in ’65. Sam Hawk was taking old long boards, stripping the fiberglass off, reshaping 4' 6" Blackball Beaters and for one summer we got to surf after 11. Next summer they changed the rules to soft boards only.

In 1968, I went to the North Shore. I was around Tiger Espere, Sam Hawk and Owl Chapman who were always shaping new boards. This was the birth of the short board. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the shaping room — even if it was just racks in the backyard. 

Fast forward 30 years. I’d been working construction, raising a family as a single Dad and still getting in the water, often. We’re living in Laguna Hills. I’m driving down Laguna Canyon and Brian Bulkley is having a moving sale. I bought a few unfinished blanks. I looked up Chris Hawk, who had been shaping since high school and got a few lessons. 

We moved to Capo Beach, I ran into C. Hawk again. He’s fine, shaping some boards for Terry Senate and is ready to move on. So Terry gives me my big break. Terry had shaped something like 30,000 boards and is truly a shaping legend. He’s the most patient boss I’ve ever had. I got to work for Terry for 4 years and got to meet a lot of other shaping legends. Terry knows everybody.

I had met Ron House, another shaping legend, who was a neighbor of my parents in San Clemente. After being around the manufacturing district in S.C. for awhile, I asked Ron if he ever got real busy, if I could finish some of his boards. Ron is the leader of Stand Up paddleboard development. Just about anyone who paddle surfs will say the first board they were on was a Laird/Ron House. I’ve been scrubbing/fine sanding Ron’s customs for a few years.

Ron’s planer work is second to none! Whether it’s a short board or an 18' race board to go from Molokai to Oahu, Ron is at the cutting edge of the sport. His approach to shaping is unique and just seems to come natural to him. His boards are collectors items. Gerry Lopez, a lifelong friend of Ron’s, comes around and shapes new models. They are admirable watermen and are constantly evolving the sport of paddle surfing/racing to new levels. It is an honor for me to be around it.

The EPS foam that we’re using is a little different touch than the polyester foam that most surfboards are made of. I have always seen foam dust as sacrament. I’m happy shaping it, making it out of blanks, or sweeping it up. Of all the things a human being can do in life, I get so much joy from making toys (sporting goods) for people to have fun in the ocean on. Human powered watercraft.

If you think about it, each and every wave, like us, is only here on earth for a short time. Waves, like us, are unique and will only happen once. Once a wave has broken, that’s it. Never again will the opportunity for anyone to ride that wave happen again. At the end of the day, the time we spend riding waves, might be what really counts. To have one’s life be, in that instant of eternity, intertwined with that one, unique wave, born from winds and currents, thousands of miles away, is truly a gift from God or nature.  

— Michael Mauri