It's a little thing called ratios...
I won’t lie to you. I’m deeply, madly, head over hells in semi-platonic love with the San Clemente surfboard shaper Matt Biolos.
Oh you knew that already? Yeah, something about writing his praises, every other month, for the last 10 years might’ve spelled it out. If gay was my game, I’d be so bear.
But why be ashamed when he’s a titan of the game? A shaper genuinely interested in others’ opinions, who actually listens to the marks he shapes for, a man whom God has given everything: money, popularity, family.
He tears me to pieces with his average-man vibe. And, so, I wanted to ask, today, me in Jakarta, he in California, about what makes a magic plus a little side-talk on the good and bad of being a career shaper.
BeachGrit: Okay, first, amid all the awesome, what do you fucking hate about shaping?
Biolos: I really get tired of the grind, the battle of managing production and running the back-end and the financial strain of biz. The stresses of growing or shrinking. Always feeling like you need to have some thing new going on, or coming out. The dirty part. Also, 30 years of foam dust gets old. My skin is permanently dry and damaged. My hair is falling out in weird ways…my eyes are going fast. Gotta wear glasses at work now. I also hate that no matter how many great boards you make, no matter how many deadlines you hit or how many miracles you pull off, there’s always some one not happy or someone whose board got built wrong or took too long.
BeachGrit: What is it about the gig, about owning a large surfboard company that thrills you to bit?
Biolos: I like the freedom to travel and see the world. Been flying around the planet building boards for over 25 years now, but the last couple have been most rewarding as I am now bringing my entire family around with me. Last year we followed the ASP tour a bit and went all over South Africa, stopping and visiting Dubai on the way. We also went to Europe for a month, visiting Spain, France and Portugal. It’s great being able to work with world-class athletes. I like the challenge in that. I really enjoy designing in general. Whether it’s for the pro’s, or even more rewarding at times, the average dudes, like me.
BeachGrit: What are the variables of making surfboards or manufacturing that you wish people knew?
Biolos: Well, like any business, it’s rife with employee issues. Anyone with manufacturing would know what I mean. We manufacture! We don’t just write orders to factories and wait for containers. We build a lot of boards and it requires a lot of skilled craftsmen. People are not robots. They have emotions, get tired, and sick, or bored. When you have a couple dozen guys: machine operators, shapers, air brushers, laminators, fin guys, fill-coaters, sanders and more, there are ups an downs. tThe same goes with equipment. Machines act up, air compressors explode, air lines burst, power tools go on the fritz. Supply chains can go awry. The bell curve of manufacturing in a some what seasonal biz, means our raw material suppliers get hammered in the spring and getting deliveries can be difficult. The same goes for cash flow. You make hundreds, thousands of boards. You pay for all the materials and labor and overheads. Then you ship ’em to retailers and wait… wait… wait… to get paid. It causes strains. These things are inherent in pretty much any business. On a different level, there are crazy detailed variables with building boards on a high-performance level. We actually go through and weigh individual blanks for our team riders, picking the lightest ones, of seemingly identical blanks, before cutting them on the machines. On cold humid days, it’s almost impossible to get light laminations here in California. Dry warm days make for really nice light boards.
BeachGrit: Tell me, what’s the most profound thing you’ve learned about surfboards, as in, what’s the… secret to magic boards?
Biolos: It’s all about balance. If one aspect is extreme then a counterbalance is needed. More curve on one aspect requires less curve on another. After 15 years of designing in CAD, I have come to notice some consistently recurring relationships in magic boards. There are certain things that just seem to work. Like, if your outline has a nose which at 24” is 1” narrower than your tail at 24” it always seems to balance best with a certain ratio of measurements in the bottom rocker in the same positions. I have little ratios like that which tell me things.
BeachGrit: What about shaping? What does it give you?
Biolos: Shaping has given me everything. The incredibly fortunate life I have is all from shaping surfboards.