"The days of nose riding have passed and the short-board revolution is upon us"states Ellis Ericson when asked about the direction he is going with his crafts coming out the shaping bay." The trim is still essential but now its time to turn!"he quickly adds to his statement.
As his shapes transitioned their way along a past time line, the first couple of sleds to come to light were some experiments for himself and Jason 'Salsa' Salisbury...Both with their sights set on screen time in the final surf trip for the up and coming 'Tracking' movie by the man known as Jimmy James. The boys are leaving town next week atop a trio of fossil fueled machines, with swell in their sights. Before they set off I asked for a quick run down on what was what regarding his choice of finished shape...and in true form he did just that..."I'm experimenting with stringerless blanks for increased flex and a lighter finished product. Also the addition of a squarer tail will hopefully brake track more easily and increase turning radius. an advanced fin placement at 10" gives good pivot and allows forward riding of the board. But at the end of the day it's a glorified mini mal. Ha"As more and more of his finished foam-crafts hit the racks and are quickly snapped up and tested at the local Tugu break...queries have come in left and right regarding custom orders. pretty surprised with the response, Ellis gave me a modest yet witty view on the situation..."For some strange reason, and i dont know why...people are starting to take interest in surfboards I like making. They are like ''Can I get a board'' and I'm like ''Yeah I guess..'' Then I take their size, weight and star sign - head to the Deus shaping bay and molest a blank of foam until Im happy with the character, personality and handsomeness of the result. An exchange of money happens and the customer goes and enjoys Mother Nature in its purist form...hopefully riding balls of energy to the nearby shoreline in a fashion they are happy with."
He's got a way with words that Ellis does, Succinct and honest...perfect traits in a human being me thinks. Anyway, i don't really understand how a blank gets to a finished piece of surf-able art without a planning pen touching paper....but its not my job to know and i like keeping that aurora of 'Magic' about it. Keep it up Ellis!
