drift, perspectives in surfing

André Falcão sat down with one of the youngest of a new generation of independent shapers, John Wesley, on his first shaping trip to Portugal.

Recently, there have been some new ideas about form and function in the face of a wave. More and more, surfers are ignoring the mainstream universe and looking for a board which help to support their level of surfing or find new styles of waveriding.

Some things never change, a tube will always be a tube and when you hang-ten, well, you hang-ten. But freedom of expression in the ocean is a just as important and worth considering. With all this creativity, and at the same time a return to surfing’s cultural values, shows that surfing is achieving a new level of maturity. So what can we expect from this path we’re now on?

The first visit of one of the youngest representatives of the new generation of independent shapers, John Wesley, was too much to ignore. I sounded him out on this enticing future of shaping.

John Wesley in California

André Falcão: Tell us about when and how you started surfing.
John Wesley: I started surfing when I was eight years old, my dad surfed so he went out a got me this insane board for 25 Dollars at a garage sale, I just remember that summer being so stoked when my parents would take me down to the beach and it was all I wanted to do.

AF: What was your perception of surfing during that time?
JW: Yeah when you’re eight you don’t really know much, I mean I surfed one spot, didn’t know about tides or swell, just knew if you go to the ocean there’s waves to surf, (laughs). But as I got older I became a lot more competitive and literally surfed every day, surfing was the only thing on my mind.

AF: Who were your main influences in that time?
JW: For a while, when I was 10-14, my main influences for surfing were all the guys in the Bruce Brown films, lead by Phil Edwards. At this age in my life I was really mesmerized by the fun summer-time vibe of striped shirts and high Levis and boards with D-fins.

AF: You still have your first surfboard, a 6’10” semi-gun. Why do you keep this surfboard? What do you like the most about it?
JW: I still hold on to that board mainly for memories, it’s a pretty wild shape when you look at it. With those six channels and all, but I just broke a side fin off it last time I rode it so its safe to say its retired for now.

John and Natasha

AF: How did shaping come into your life and in what moment did you feel, that shaping could become your job?
JW: Shaping came into my life when I was glassing boards shaped by my good friend Dodge, I never thought I could shape because I tried to shape with a Surform and got totally frustrated and ruined a blank so I just stuck to glassing, then after a while of just watching Gary Larson and Terry Martin and constantly asking questions I slowly eased into it and those were the days; making one board a week everyone better than the last, just surfing and building these wild boards was the priority of everyday and that’s when I really fell in love with it, and knew no other career could bring me the same happiness. At first that was really hard for my family to understand, “What do you mean your going to make surfboards for a living!?” I knew this is what I was meant to do because my whole life I’ve been pushed to achieve excellence. I could have done a number of things but I chose this and it chose me. Not because I couldn’t make it anywhere else but because this is my absolute passion, what I think of when I wake up and when I go to bed and that’s what pushes me to surround myself with the best people and continue to work hard because I’m at the point where I’m achieving my goals and dreams and there’s nothing that can match that feeling.

Shaping shot by Alex Swanson

AF: Tell us a little about working with Robbie Kegel and Gato Heroi. Did you learn a lot?
JW: Yeah, working and traveling with Robin was definitely the experience of a lifetime. I just showed up at the shop saying, “Listen I make surfboards, everything from start to finish; that’s all I want to do. I will do whatever it takes to keep doing that, I’ll sweep the floors clean up the shop, run errands, answer phones, whatever you need help ill do it just to get involved.” From there on out I would spent hours watching him shape and discuss the way boards go through the water, then shape my own boards at night. It was a ‘round the clock job; surf-work-shape-surf-glass-eat, a never ending lesson, and had some of the wildest times of my life. From there, I started doing some production boards first for Japan, then when Robin went on his tour of Europe, I got to shape boards for a number of clients I came to know well. At that point was the first time I thought to myself “Hey I’m kind of doing it, I get to go to work and make boards for clients from all over.” I’ll always remember that time in my life; I was pretty young to be doing that and really changed my life for sure. From there I got to travel with Robin on a little tear of the Pacific surfing the North Shore, experiencing Sunset Beach at its glory, getting scared to death, and surfing wild Pipeline on a 9.2 single fin longboard gun. That inspired me to take my shaping and surfing up a whole different level. From there we went and worked and surfed in Japan, and came all the way down to Australia surfing everywhere from Manly on up to Noosa for the contest and everywhere in between this truly opened my eyes and showed me, there is a whole great wild world filled with interesting people outside of cozy California.

AF: Besides Robbie, who inspires and influences you in shaping and in surfing? Who are your influences these days?
JW: I have a wide range of people that influence and inspire me in many ways; a lot of them are not connected to surfing at all. As far as surfing inspirations go, there are very few people in the water today that interest me as much as the iconic group of Bob Mctavish, Wayne Lynch, Nat Young, Ted Spencer and George Greenough. Furthermore the surfing footage and attitude of Mike Hynson, Terry Fitzgerald, Michael Peterson, Shaun Tomson, Gerry Lopez, Butch Van Artsdalen, and Joel Tudor have definitely left a mark on me as far as how I want to ride and draw lines on a wave on a variety of equipment. As far as my shaping goes there are a few guys out there that are really talented only devoted to handshaping, and not really influenced or phased by any current trend or hype that happens to be in surfing at the moment. As well have been able to accomplish great things outside of the shaping room. True leaders of their generations. Those are the guys that I would one day liked to be grouped in with when it’s all said and done.

AF: Nowadays, there is an alternative and an independent movement in surf culture, where an explosion of different shapes and types of surfboards has happened. What do you think about all this?
JW: I support the alternative heavily, and feel that the future will hold a vast array of classically inspired but revised to modern standards allowing people to ride waves reminiscent of the past but to a whole new level. That is in play as we speak with many shapers. At the same time though if you want to go out and ride your vintage Hobie that was shaped in 1962 that’s 3 inches thick and has box rails, go for it, its your decision and if that piece of equipment makes you have the most fun you possibly can then I fully support that. There is no reason for people to surf with any other intentions than to just have fun and vent out some stress of the daily grind. This idea is slowing seeping into mainstream surf industry, with their involvement in the alternative scene higher than ever before I feel that will just keep growing. This isn’t anything new this process has been in place for years and its encouraging that there is no right or wrong way to ride a wave its totally up to the individual and that mentality is now on a public scale.

AF: As a shaper, you leave a part of yourself in each board you make. What moves you?
JW: I’m really fortunate that I have people who out of all the hundreds of shapers and board labels in the world go out of their way to order a board from me. And not just any board, boards I personally love to shape. When I am in the shaping room I spend as long as I need to, in order to make sure that board is exactly how it should be, in my mind there is no room for error. So this current mindset of some of my contemporaries who have hand shaped only dozens of boards then get an order of maybe 20 for the month and decide, “well that sure is going to take me a long-time, I would have to be in the shaping room all day, I have other things I need to do, I’m just going to cut these” is totally unacceptable and something I vow to myself to never become. People wonder why I incorporated gold into my logo is because it is found to be rare, the highest quality and symbolic of something that is worth achievement such as in an award or something, and that is what I want my work to develop into.

AF: What distinguishes your work and the boards that you develop?
JW: Basically the models I offer are all derived off my personal quiver, I have spent countless hours refining each model by riding and testing them myself one at a time, over a period of time to arrive at the boards you see today. My models right now go down two categories; one is my midlength and longboard shaping that is refined hull entry into vee single fins. The other are my shorter, curvy templates of twin and multi fin boards that are inspired my past templates but the modernized rails and foils to make them functional for quick beach breaks and the surf I encounter here in California.

AF: Of all the boards you shape, hulls, fish, logs, which ones do you most enjoy shaping? And which ones do you prefer surfing with?
JW: That’s a good question, on a good day with a nice open wave there’s nothing like laying down some carves, trimming and tucking under the lip on a board with some volume and length. I personally click with larger boards on bit larger waves that’s the ultimate for me.

AF: Which model of your range of surfboards, would you recommend to someone who wants to start to surf with one of your boards?
JW: For someone who is new to my boards, I would really want to know their background and what they are currently riding, for the surfers who are really comfortable on hulls I recommend the Cresentmooner, Spacepin , and Doublender. For more longboard oriented surfers the cali 66 is really smooth classic trimming board and the NAT is fun as well , and finally for people riding shortboards , the Lennox and TWIN FIN PIN I really stand behind.

AF: You’ve travelled a lot. Where have you been?
JW: Travelling has made the biggest impact on my life and who I’ve become. So far I’ve been to Mexico, North shore Hawaii, South Carolina, British Columbia, Japan, Australia, Spain, and France.

AF: You’ve already visited the south of France and the Basque Country. How did you find these trips?
JW: Honestly the Basque country and south of France are some of my favorite places in the world. I really like the waves and they suit my style and approach to surfing, the people and culture are really attractive and interesting to me just because it’s so different from suburban California. I was able to enjoy some really great food; it’s the one place outside of California I could envision myself living for a long period of time, its beautiful and made a huge impression on me.

AF: First time in Portugal. What have you heard about us and our waves?
JW: I can’t wait to get to Portugal; I’ve heard nothing but good things about the waves and the people. The coastline looks insane as well; it has the makings of being an amazing trip.

AF: What do you expect from this visit?
JW: I expect a lot of hard working coming up, long days at the factory , a lot of traveling on trains , planes and buses , but overall a good time , always fun to meet and work with new people, and surf new spots.

AF: What projects do you have in mind? What can we expect in the future?
JW: I have some secret projects were testing right now, but mainly continuing to develop and fine tune the models and start to see two sides of my shaping. My love for surfing midlengths and longboards derived from the Australian Involvement period of rolled entry with vee through the tail. My shorter twin fin and single fin classically inspired modernized foil and shaped to produce functional beach break and California surf machines. I have some great people on my team helping me out everyday. We work really hard at what we do day in and day out. We will keep pushing to deliver the most exciting and highest quality work that the surf industry deserves, and you can be sure you will not see any computer cut JW’s as long as I am in control.

Photo by Greg Swanson

Visit John Wesley’s web site.