Shaping Bay
Ryan Lovelace of Point Concept Surfboards
by Paul Costales

If one was to ever get bored of their surfing, of the equipment they ride, of the lines they draw on a wave, look no further than a young, energetic surfer to get all fired up about surfing again. This young man is Ryan Lovelace, and his passion comes to form through his one-man board building enterprise, Point Concept Surfboards. Santa Barbara has many shaping legends, men that have not only shaped thousands of boards, but helped shape the direction of surfing through the curves they chose with their planers. Take Al Merrick, who has decades of experience, an army of shapers, sanders, and glassers, CNC shaping machines, and elite pro surfer sponsorships like Kelly Slater. On the flip side of that, opposite in almost every way, you have the 22 year-old Lovelace, who shaped his first board here in Santa Barbara on his 19th birthday because he didn't have enough coin to buy a Fish off the rack. He has managed to turn his art, skill, and energy into a truly one man operation that creates half a dozen boards a month for surfers who drool over his creative shapes and attention to detail.

The Point Concept headquarters are at lower Garden Street. From the design phase to the shaping, sanding, glassing, and application of custom artwork and logos, Ryan himself does it all here on site. There aren't as many fully one man operations as there used to be, and those that do exist aren't as easily accessible as Point Concept. Ryan is an eager young shaper with a website, blog and YouTube presence, which gives his board building process transparency to potential customers and enthusiasts alike. To the common bystander, the world of underground board building seems shadowy and difficult to bust into, which makes Lovelace and his accessibility a breath of fresh air.

The downfall of Clark Foam and the rise of alternative surfboard materials have gone hand in hand, and Ryan's hands are on any kind of material he can experiment with. Currently, his standard blank is made by Ice9 Foamworks, a sugar-based Polyurethane foam that is much more environmentally friendly than previous Polyurethane blanks. The density of this foam allows Ryan to use less resin and glass (6oz glass is standard for a PC board unless a special request is made.) An example of an experimental material Lovelace has used is Texalium, an aluminum-coated fiberglass that is very stiff, yet tough to glass with. The good thing about a shaper like this is he is willing to try anything a customer wants a board made out of. He is too young and excited about expanding his skill set to turn down any opportunity.

The shapes Lovelace is most excited about right now are Hulls. We'll let Ryan explain Hulls:

"Hulls are an adapted (George) Greenough kneeboard shape ...they need a good wave to work to their full potential but you can still get incredible glide and speed on a short wave. Hulls use a ton of different curves and bends to work right; there is a heavy S-deck, a long belly/roll to flat bottom, very pinched 50/50 rails and a really domed deck. All of those curves end up blending into one another and they all rely on the previous/next curve in order to work...so one curve can't exist without the others, which makes them very shaping-intensive and very particular. They are ridden from the middle forward, not on the tail like most boards, you drive from the middle and also cutback from the middle, a correct cutback or bottom turn will engage the whole rail, nose to tail, and project you like nobody's business down the line. The less you do the faster they go."

Ryan has been experimenting with the Hull concept, messing around with stringerless shapes and very thin bladed rails. The pinnacle of Ryan's Hull work to date is the "She-Hull" (in the photos, it is the black board next to the tree), which is getting rave reviews amongst its riders. Each month Point Concept sells a new style of board for a special deal of $450, and March will feature the She Hull - a great chance to try out a hand-shaped Hull by a local builder at a ridiculously low price.

In addition to Point Concept, Ryan has a joint board building company with a fellow named Raphael, called Timberline Surfboards. These are hand shaped boards made from Paulownia, a fast-growing renewable timber product grown in Asia. These guys have a system all dialed in which makes a light, dense, and strong board that will last a lifetime. These boards are available custom-made, or off the rack at the Beach House.

Where the future will take Ryan Lovelace and Point Concept Surfboards is unknown. He still enjoys making boards for people too much to call it work, but he knows he'll always be making boards somehow or another.

You can check out Ryan Lovelace's surfboards at: pointconceptsurf.com, timberlinesurf.com, and videos at: YouTube.

Photos courtesy Ryan Lovelace, Morgan Maassen, and Kyle Lightener.

# # # #

# # # #

# # # #

# # # #

# # # #

# # # #