Ascent Surfboards by Calvin Chau

1. Your Name: Calvin Chau

2. Your Brand name: Ascent Surfboards

3. How did you hear about us? Swaylocks/ Google

4. How was your initial experience at Foam E-Z? Welcome, encouraging, and knowledgeable. Brad and Grant are very friendly, gave me advice, and answered all my questions.

5. Why did you want to build your own board? After performing numerous repairs on existing boards: everything from nose repairs, tails, rails, spider/ hairline cracks, delams, FCS fin plug repairs, I decided to try my luck at shaping a board. I was frustrated with constantly repairing old boards. Winter was also around the corner, and my boards were in no shape to handle the incoming swells. My goal was to shape a board that would be tough and durable.

6. Shape of finished board? Shortboard Thruster

7. Size of finished board: Length 6’2” Nose ~11” Width 18 ½” Tail ~14” Thickness 2 ½”

8. What blank did you use? Marko Foam 6'2"H Short Board Blank

9. How was your board building experience? My first board building experience was very time consuming, educational, and ultimately very satisfying. I spent countless hours examining boards at local surfshops, surfing the web for design and specs before starting. After determining my dimensions, I used BoardCAD and AKUshaper to design my template. Using a surform and sanding block I shaped my first handshape. Paddling out on my first board was the most rewarding.

10. Did you use videos, books, web, other? Yep, all of the above.

11. What videos, books, web, other did you use? JC’s Shaping & Glassing 101, Greg Leohr’s Epoxy 101, Swaylocks Forum, YouTube, and every site returned from Google searches.

12. Do you recommend these resources? I must’ve watched John Carper’s Shaping 101 ten times before even touching my blank. I’d highly recommend his video, he shows and explains a lot of technique and design concepts of shaping an average thruster. Greg Leohr shows you how to shape a fishboard as well which was nice and the camera quality is better, but I found JC’s dialogue much better for learning and amusing too.

13. What do you wish you knew going into this project? I wish I knew a more accurate way to measure the rocker. Wish I knew how to accept the fact that it wasn’t going to be perfect better. As for glassing, wish I knew to keep my laps cleanly cut.

14. What would you recommend to someone else for their first time? Don’t be afraid to try shaping. The initial investment may be steeper than you’d like, but the accomplishment you’ll feel afterwards is wayyy worth it. Don’t expect a perfect board, it’ll look something like a surfboard and it’ll be surfable. Watch JC’s Shaping 101. And wear a respirator; you don’t want this stuff in your lungs.

15. What tools did you find most useful? Surform, Sanding Block, Calipers made from scrap plywood

16. Where did you run into trouble? Routing the finboxes. I used the Future Fins routing kit and followed the instructions exactly but my deep cut was not deep enough. I had to extend the drill bit further and re-route multiple passes making sure the slot doesn’t get too deep.

17. What kind of fin system did you use and why? Future Fins! Solid fin system

18. Did you glass the board and what was that experience like? Glassing was messy! It’s a whole different skill to master. Glassing in the finboxes was scary after reading horror stories of people melting their boards from overheating and exotherming. My fears were increased as the resin in my cup became too hot to hold and the cup started melting. I ran to the freezer for icepacks. I’d recommend using a slow curing resin to install your first set of finboxes, it’ll help with the sweating and panicking you’ll experience.

19. Where did you shape and glass your board? On my homemade shaping stand in my garage.

20. What type of board do you want to make next? A little 5’4” Quad