Noted shaper Matt Biolos uses a "rock-o-meter" to explain the mysteries of… rocker!
I’ll be honest, I’m an absolute fool when it comes to engineering. My brain was not built to handle nuance, maybe, and so technical information gets stored in a giant confused mental warehouse. I don’t try and sort out what things really mean. I am satisfied simply knowing to what they generally refer and so the finer points are always and forever lost.
I suppose someone with my condition is generally called “retarded.”
And it was in this state that I waltzed into Matt “Mayhem” Biolos’s San Clemente shaping Mecca wearing Saint Laurent canvas sneakers done in a Bloods handkerchief motif, never-before-washed (1.5 years and counting) APC raw denim jeans with gorgeous marbling around the knee and crotch, a white Theory button up unfortunately browned at the neck, a Bread & Boxers wife-beater, Saint Laurent sunglasses (Classic 28 black w/gold lenses), a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust from 1971 and a Saint Laurent cross bracelet sent to me by our very own Derek Rielly. I love him!
Surfboard shaping is, of course, a fine science. The variables are close to infinite from length to width to thickness to…ummmmm…thickness. In the first episode of Like, Bitchin! Matt explained volume and how it relates to good overall surfing. He also explained (to me) which side of the surfboard is called “the deck.”
And now here we have him explaining rocker.
Do you know what rocker is? In my confused mental warehouse it was stored under “surf shit” in the same box as “bonzer” “potato chip” and “Nia Peeples.” I knew it had something to do with the way a surfboard curves but had no idea which part of the surfboard. The nose? The tail? From rail to rail?
Matt not only teaches us what rocker is (watch me sort of pretend to know!) but why it matters.
He is very smart. And now we are all very smarter too.
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Thanks Matt that really cleared it up for me!
The videos probably and Morgan’s writing!
How FUCKED is it when the white shirt’s collar browns?
ps nobody can explain rocker. At least in a way anyone can understand. Its the surfboard version of String Theory.
It seems quite simple to me?
Last week, I went to interview noted shaper to the stars, Bill “Stretch” Reidel at his Santa Cruz factory to get schooled on the advantages of the four finned surfboard. I was wearing Dot Dash wraparounds, a backwards, New Era San Francisco Giants “flexfit” cap with 2 week old seagull shit on it, a plain white, Hanes “Beefy Tee”, Royal Blue “AND1” Men’s Pro League Basketball Shorts, a pair of camo Sanuk “Sidewalk Surfers” (8.5 years and never washed!), and a blue macramé friendship bracelet given to me by the WSL’s very own Peter Mel!
Aaron Gold has been shaping since he was 12; he’s from Hilo, and he charges.
Is it just me, or is Chas a dead ringer for footballing beanpole Peter Crouch?
most hated man in surfing?
bit unfair.
why not wash the jeans?
because, fashion.
It’s old but such a golden period! I remember being stunned by Rosie’s simple gorgeousness!
Old article from Stab but Rosy never gets old
Thinking and hearing two-fifths of fuck-all looking at that rocker-ometer
Matt biolos has 90 degree rocker on his man boobs.
Is Stab recycling stories again? The clip from Vimeo is 3 years old
…none the wiser after that, ‘mafraid.
*3/4 of commenters furiously googling “surfboard rocker before commenting*
Think you might find simon Anderson shaped his own boards and came up with a few good ideas hen again he’s not American so you guys wouldn’t register him
Either is MR
“Who’s Aaron Gold?” Haha…
Btw, Chas, did you happen to ask about the progress of my demo board from Biolos? Lowers has been fun and I’m itching to shoot my Like Bitchin! segment soon.
PS. Yes, I’m going to run this into the ground!… so we’re clear…