The Mind Behind Dave Rastovich’s Unbreakable Surfboards w/ Gary McNeill
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Gary McNeill is a lifelong surfboard shaper, who focuses on hybrid construction, environmental sustainability, and hand-shaped designs. He has been shaping surfboards for Dave Rastovich for years and in this conversation he breaks down exactly what goes into building boards for one of the most respected surfers in the world. Gary gets into flax construction and why it holds up so much longer than a standard board without adding excess weight. He also talks about what it actually takes to shape for a surfer as dialed in on volume as Rastovich. He describes the channel design behind his twin fins and why it changes how the board holds through a turn. We discuss why most surfboard companies have no interest in building something that lasts, and we also take a rare look into the thinking behind boards that have shown up in some of surfing's most iconic footage.
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Chapters
3:02 From Thruster Competitor to Shaper
5:01 Teaming Up with Dave Rastovich
7:03 The "Castles in the Sky" Board Story
9:19 The Taurus Channel Explained
13:25 RTT & Pip: Sizing the Twin Fin Fish for Any Wave
24:42 Developing the Flax Construction
27:43 Why Flax Outperforms Other Materials
30:50 Mass Adoption & Designed Obsolescence
33:43 Dane Reynolds and the Acid Surfboard Test
35:27 Advice for Riding Alternative Boards
38:48 New Shapes & What's Next with Dave
45:24 Quickfire Round: Perfect Surfer & Fin Preferences
49:07 Tier Lists: Board Sizing, Cross-Training & Sign Off
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