Rocky has shaped four boards for me in the two years I’ve know him, with another one in the works. I am having a blast on his boards and have never been happier with my quiver. Rocky is passionate about surfboard design and committed to dialing in shapes that work best for his clients.

Before he puts the first scratch into a blank for a customboard, he’ll know not only the surfer’s general size and shape, but what they want from the board, their experience, surfing style, the types of waves and particular breaks they surf, the other boards they’ve surfed, what’s currently in their quiver, what they like and dislike about those boards, etc. Basically, he takes a very informed approach to his custom board design and has a lot of fun doing it. The results speak for themselves.

I’ve been surfing for 25 years, including time in San Clemente, Newport, Huntington, Santa Barbara, Oregon, and Hawaii. I’ve bought boards off the rack and had custom boards made, a couple of which I’ve really liked. But I’ve never had a shaper as passionate about making sure that I get the best board for my purposes, which for Rocky has also included a couple of sessions seeing my surfing first hand. Rocky is a true craftsman, who shares his love of surfing by building boards that hold their own as works of art with the added benefit that you can surf the hell out them. It does my surfing soul good to support traditional hand-shaped board making and has definitely improved my surfing.

There may be a place for mass-producing boards to sell off the rack to anonymous surfers, but Rocky will build a better board for you and you and your surfing will be better for it. That’s been my experience.

Thanks Rocky.

Jon Niermann

Austin, Texas