The Uluwatu Surf Villas are perched atop one of the most beautiful properties in the world, overlooking the most famous wave in Indonesia. With so many talented surfers and shapers coming through the villas for a visit each year, USV partnered with architect Jay Nelson to design a one-of-a-kind shaping bay on the property, nestled in the trees, and built to inspire building magic surfboards.
From USV’s shaping bay, “Handcrafted” was born. Now on its third episode, the series invites a shaper onto the property, and gives them carte blanche to shape, well, anything they’d like. In the latest release, Encinitas, California’s Kobe Hughes details the unique experience. We gave him a call to find out more about him, and his experience building boards in such a magical place.
When did you shape your first surfboard?
I shaped my first one when I was 10 or 11, at a shop called UNIV in Encinitas. They had a little shaping room in the back. Burch [Ryan Burch] helped me do my first one in there. It was a little 4’5” fish.
How did it ride?
It actually went sick. I still have it too. The coolest thing is I remember Ryan getting a wave on it. He’s like 6’4 and he was shralping on it. I was tripping. But after that, I didn’t really start shaping boards again until years later.
You cite guys like Burch, Skip Frye, Derrick Disney, Zach Flores, etc as your biggest shaping inspirations. Why do you think so many unique shapers come from San Diego?
A product of the waves for sure. And now, my generation has all those guys and their designs as inspiration. The fish was invented for San Diego’s reefs, and it’s cool that where we come from is such an influential place in surfboard evolution.
From fin placement to rail design, an Asym seems like a technically challenging board to shape. Is that the case?
Yes and no. An Asym is more challenging in some aspects, but at the same time, it’s actually less challenging than shaping a thruster because you’re not worried about things being symmetrical, so you’re more judging the shape off of the look and feel. But there’s definitely still a lot to think about, and I’m no expert. There’s so much more for me to tap into, whereas someone like Burch has already narrowed his designs down over years of R&D. The cool thing about Asym’s is the boundaries feel limitless with how you can make them. There’s so many variations of things to try and I’m still in a real experimental stage — I’m still learning so much with each one I shape.
You touch on this in the edit, but there seems to be a misconception that an Asym is only meant for going in one direction.
Your pressure points and the way you push on a surfboard are totally different from your toes to your heels. So shaping an Asym is more about considering that, than the direction the board is going. It’s funny that people think it’s such a directional thing. That’s kinda the first thing people ask when they see them.
Do you consider a left vs right when shaping one?
I’m thinking more about making a well-rounded board, but I do think about the waves that I’m going to be surfing. Obviously a board for big Uluwatu vs a board for San Diego is going to be made with a different outline and rocker, but then that’s the same for a thruster anyway.
Speaking of Uluwatu, what was it like shaping a few boards on site at Uluwatu Surf Villas. Did you feel a little extra magic in there?
Yeah, it was unreal. The shaping room is so sick — just beautifully built, up in the trees, and on top of the cliff. It’s honestly a pretty surreal experience. I was so stoked they let me in there for a bit. I was in there for hours shaping solo, just like, whoa. The entire time I was tripping out. It was so rad.
What did you shape on site?
I did four. I made one shreddy little fish — a straight cut with a little hip. And then I did two with the wide point back, friendly shapes, with a bit of extra foam. I’ve been pushing the wide point back on all my boards lately because I have a real narrow stance. So that seems interesting to me. And then I did a little Asym fun gun, dolphin nose thingy, for catching bombs out [at Uluwatu]. I intentionally built that one for a goofy at big Ulu’s. I could ride it but I didn’t shape that one with myself in mind [laughs].
You mentioned that a thruster feels like you’re dragging an anchor. Do you ever ride them anymore?
Yeah, I’ve made some thrusters in the past year or two because I want to learn how to foil them properly, and you can get real techy with rockers on high performance shortboards. And thrusters have such a solidified place in surfing. They obviously aren’t going away. And I still like riding them, its just that you can get such a different feeling on twins and quads and I’ve been gravitating towards that feeling.
Related: More Cliff Carnage at Uluwatu as Development Continues Unabated
Do you find that because you shape and ride your own designs that it’s easier to tell what you like or don’t like about a board and then make changes?
Yeah, for sure. I’m just starting to really understand what I’m feeling and why, and that has definitely made surfing and shaping more fun. I just feel like I’ve learned so much since I was just riding thrusters and trying to do tricks [laughs].
As a professional surfer, do you see shaping as a hobby or career?
For now, I try not to think about it because every time I do think about making boards as a business, it spins me out and I don’t know which direction to go with it. I just want get things right, and take my time with it, because I’d hate for things to pop too early.
It’s definitely something I’ll eventually consider, because shaping doesn’t feel like work. But for now, every time I think about putting a logo on a board I’m like, f—k, like that’s so blown. Plus I don’t know what to charge or anything like that [laughs].For now, I just want to keep doing it for fun and making myself and friends boards, and then I’ll see where that goes.
For now I’m just hyped on doing things like this — shaping boards at Surf Villas, riding them in sick waves out front, seeing friends ride them…I can’t wait to get back over to Indo and see how this first batch goes. Plus, now Surf Villas has a glassing room on site so I’m gonna see if they’ll let me shape and glass a board in 24 hours. I think that would be so cool, shaping a board for a swell. Like, it’s gonna be pumping tomorrow? Cool, let’s get in there and make a board for it. That’s super inspiring.
Related: Wanna Shape Your Own Surfboard? 13 Must-Have Tools From Pyzel Himself