RIP Kamikaze as plea goes out to back local shapers

DEAR reader if you are a surfer and you enjoy the freedom of being able to ride whichever kind of board you find the most fulfilling, here is a word of advice: support your local shaper. There's a friend of mine who makes boards for a living – or to rephrase – made boards for a living. Some might call him a bit of a dinosaur but that never detracted from the fact that he had a strong local team of hot young surfers. He is the kind of chap who never really pushed himself onto the market with any kind of advertising campaigns, apart from the odd small-ad in the classifieds.

In the primary years of his career in board building you would hear stories of dodgy boards coming out of his shaping shack, fabricated rumours of suspect marks under the glassing, the brown rings of a coffee cup for example, or maybe a few stray dog hairs. But it was always the best local surfers who were riding his boards when I was in my teens. A British junior champ, a red hot free-surfing goofy footer and a certain Porthleven based psychopath and self harmer. All this from a team of finishers and glassers with nicknames like 'Sandthru' or 'Bubbles' and a head shaper with over 20 years of shaping under his dusty belt and a whopping eighty four thousand one hundred and fourteen boards created. Maybe more, think about that. A damn fine contribution to Cornish surfing. Fact. His willingness to experiment has seen a boom in the number of fish, quads and other bizarre craft in the West Kernow line-ups in recent years. However, all this good work has been overshadowed by trendy Australian imports or worse, the cheap Chinese imports that have caused a severe case of lost mojo. The cost of petrol-based toxic chemicals in a market swamped with Chinese tat has forced him to turn a corner in his life. His love of fresh air and a pretty cool young family just seems to be more appealing to him now and who can blame him. An all-round good egg and a damn good surfer to boot. To Mutley and the Kamikaze crew: I salute you. My new board (and last) is sweet, and to everyone else: support your local shaper before it's too late. RIP Kamikaze.