Posted by Jason in
Bennett's Blog | August 23rd, 2010 | No Comments
Last weekend I had the honor to compete in the Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off honoring Simon Anderson. The other shapers in the shape-off were Pat Rawson, Brian Bulkley, Michael Baron, Larry Mable and Matt Biolis. When I was asked to be a part of this I was a little unsure how the whole event would unfold.
I had a couple months to prepare and I searched the internet for the board Simon rode at the ‘81 Bells contest. We where told this would be the board we had to duplicate and I was trying to get an idea what I was getting into. I was real young around the early 80’s and I think I rode my first wave in ’81. The guys I was shaping against where full blown shapers at that time. The only guy who maybe wasn’t was Biolis but I’m pretty sure everybody else was. I only shaped a hand full of 80’s design so I needed to practice, plus we only had an hour and half to duplicate the Simon. David Barr offered to show me a few things and he was the perfect person to learn from on these designs. He was shaping and competed as pro in the 80’s. We practiced a few before the event and after a few I felt ready. I had them down in under an hour and half considering it was a real easy design: flat deck, down rail, and mostly a flat bottom with some vee through the tail.
The day before the event I got to meet Simon, he came through our factory with Gary McNabb. It was funny because he was looking at all the boards we where building and most of them where all thrusters and I thought to myself he probably is thinking these fuckers have all been biting my designs for years now pay up bitches. Actually he is cool and humble guy. We were all hyped that he came through.
Anyway, the day of the event we all got our first look at the board and it was nothing like I was practicing. It was a lot more modern than I expected. Simon was saying he couldn’t bring an old one because he is always trying to improve the design. With all the morning anxiety 12:00pm came up real fast, it was my turn to shape. I got into the room a little nervous while trying to get all the kinks worked out. I started off with a few hiccup’s then after about 20 minutes I put my head down and zoned out all of the people staring at me through the glass and started mowing foam. The hardest thing was the lighting because you couldn’t see any shadows. I had to shape completely by feel. I had to trust my hands because my eye’s where blinded by the sun shinning through the bay windows. I blew threw the board in about an hour. That left me with a half hour to clean it up and fine tune things. All said and done, I was just stoked to get it done in the time period and hit all my numbers. It was a great experience and an honor to meet Simon Anderson and duplicate one of his boards.
JB
Simon Anderson – InnerViews from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
Brian Bulkley, David Barr, Gary McNabb, Larry Mabile, Matt Biolis, Michael Baron, Pat Rawson, Simon Anderson, Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off
Posted by Will in
News | August 5th, 2010 | No Comments
SIMON ANDERSON TO BE HONORED AT THE SACRED CRAFT CONSUMER SURFBOARD EXPO
Event marks 30-year anniversary of the legendary Australian’s revolutionary Thruster design
This year marks the 30-year anniversary of legendary Australian surfer/shaper Simon Anderson’s seminal Thruster surfboard design. On August 14 & 15 Sacred Craft will honor Simon Anderson during the Tribute to the Masters Shape-off presented by US Blanks.
“Simon Anderson’s surfing suited single-fins, but the events at the time were all being won on twins. Frustration led him to consider a weird-looking mix — three smaller fins, one set three inches from the tail, the other two set 11 inches up and on either rail a la the twinnie,” explained surf historian/writer Nick Carroll. “The first Thruster, made in October 1980, went with Anderson to Hawaii that winter, then on to California, where he convinced Nectar’s Gary McNabb to make a Thruster model. Back in Sydney, he went to work at his own factory, Energy, and made two more Thrusters. On one of his boards, he won the Bells-Coke double again, and surfing history took its biggest turn since polyurethane foam. Simon never took full commercial advantage of his Thruster concept. “I’m too lazy” was his judgment, but perhaps closer to the truth is that it was never in his nature to deny others a chance to enjoy their surfing.”
The six shapers, which will include Chemistry’s own Jason Bennett (the youngest shape off competitor ever) will be asked to replicate the Thruster that Anderson rode during his legendary 1981 Bells Beach victory, an event that featured the largest waves ever ridden during that historic contest. We will be Ustreaming Jason for the duration of his time in the shaping room. Should be pretty cool.
“I’m very stoked to have the Thruster’s 30-year anniversary honored at Sacred Craft,” said Australia’s Simon Anderson. “It’ll be good fun to get back to the States and see some old friends and see what is happening with board design over there.”
“US Blanks is once again proud to be a part of the Sacred Craft Expo and the Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off honoring Simon Anderson. We feel that Simon is the perfect honoree for this year’s Tribute as his contributions to design and innovation have certainly left a profound and lasting mark on the industry.”
The Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off will take place on Saturday August 14th, 10:00am – 6:00pm.
jason bennett, Sacred Craft Expo, Simon Anderson, Thruster, Tribute to the Masters Shape-Off
Posted by Will in
News | July 14th, 2010 | 2 Comments
Sunday July 18th @ 8am-9am Chemistry Surfboard’s own Jason Bennett will be featured on the XTRA Sports 1360 AM radio talk show, “Down The Line“. He is honored to have the chance to sit down with Scott Bass and Jeff Baldwin to talk about everything Chemistry as well as his upcoming entry into the Tribute to the Masters Shape-off honoring Simon Anderson at the Sacred Craft Expo.
Down The Line is a radio show every Sunday morning dedicated to everything surf. Take time to lend an ear because it should be an interesting one.
jason bennett, Jeff Baldwin, Sacred Craft Expo, Scott Bass, Simon Anderson, Talk Radio, Xtra Sports 1360 AM
