Quote...

DT a surfer who shapes. He won "board of the show" or some such award at Sacred Craft. Photo Marsek

"You can only become a Jedi when you can craft your own light saber."
-RK as quoted by Daniel Thomson. We had a chuckle about this line, but how true it is...

I spent some time talking with Daniel "Tomo" Thomson at his short-term surfdorm residence in deepest, darkest North County San Diego. His is a fantastically hydra-headed story. Part Greenough neophyte, part fish-renaissance inspiration, part shredding bro/brah, part visionary shaper of the moment. Undeniably, he is a surfer. The most refreshing piece of our conversation was his view of himself not as a shaper but as a fully involved surfer. He just loves surfing so much that he wants to understand and explore all it's facets. He shapes because he surfs. He shapes because it gives him entrance into realms of new capabilities.

I have a friend who is an average surfer, much like myself. He got the bug to shape his own fishy and set to work in my "shaping bay" (bwahaha). The boards he made are not the prettiest, but they're his. Note to all: shape your own board, at least once. It will at least give you an appreciation for the undeniable skill of the shapers who put boards under our feet. Maybe, just maybe, it will fulfill the part of you that Tomo speaks about, the part that is in search of a complete involvement with surfing in its nebulous, beautiful forms.