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Welcome to the 21st Edition of The Bodyboard Report! 🤙

Every rider has ridden a stock board off a rack. Fewer have ever sat down with the actual person who shapes them and said, this is exactly what I want.

Over the coming editions we are going deep into the world of custom bodyboard shaping, real interviews, real workshops, real ingenuity, and a proper look at the materials and methods behind what actually ends up under your belly or knee.

Consider this the opening chapter with 5 shapers briefly introduced, more added as we go along, and eventually a full sit down, hopefully with every single one of them.

Let’s go custom! 👇

Join the global tribe and inside the new online community there’s a 10% OFF voucher waiting for you and your friends, courtesy of Hubboards

/ˈrəʊnɪn/

A ronin (浪人) literally translates from Japanese as "wave man" or "floating man," symbolising a person adrift like a wave in the ocean. Historically, it refers to a masterless samurai in feudal Japan who lost his lord or clan.

Ronin Bodyboards runs out of Morro Bay, California, built entirely around one man, Jason Buckmaster. JB gets first dibs in this report, as I have always been super impressed with the feast for your eyes of crazy x retro x awesome x unique custom shapes and colours that comes out of the Ronin bay.

Best viewed, rather than explained 👉 Ronin on Facebook

For 10 years JB was simply a loyal Toobs customer, until he walked in one day asking for something outside the norm, a V-tail with a single concave bottom and deck contours.

The shop looked at him like he was crazy. That conversation turned into a job.

Jason became the last custom shaper Toobs USA ever had on staff, and he learned from the best in the business.

Nick Mez Mesritz, the same shaper behind NMD, flew all the way from Indonesia just to spend a week showing him how boards are really built, a gesture Jason still calls one he will be forever thankful for.

He went on to shape every custom Toobs order for 2 years, right up until the brand closed its custom program in the middle of 2017.

Rather than walk away from shaping, he started Ronin the same year.

Every board is hand shaped, hand signed and individually numbered, right down to a mini board line built for the groms, each one logged publicly under the hashtag whatsyourboardnumber.

"We are bodyboarders, making bodyboard specific products."

Out of Hawaii, shaper Blake Arakawa’s RIAT Custom Bodyboards are built entirely around what they call the surfer shaper relationship.

There is no rack of stock boards to grab and go. Instead you start a conversation with the shaper directly, refine it over as many rounds as it takes, and end up with what the brand calls your magic sled rather than just another board.

It is a slower way to build a board, and that is the whole point.

Every custom order starts with a 150 USD deposit, and from there it is genuinely back and forth between rider and shaper until every spec, from rail shape to channel depth, is dialled in exactly right.

Loyal customers get rewarded for coming back too, each additional board earns a bigger discount off the base custom price, building all the way up to 50% off by the fifth board.

RIAT also runs a small line of leashes and apparel alongside the boards, but the custom relationship is clearly the heart of the brand.

Milk Bodyboards comes out of Arcachon on the French coast, founded in 2006 by former pro rider Mathieu Desaphie.

Before Milk existed, Mathieu had already spent time working on product development for other bodyboard brands, and in 2005 he opened his own shop, Licious.

Milk followed a year later, though the first boards did not actually reach the water until 2007.

On a side note: Mathieu founded Sen No Sen back in 1999 as a wetsuit and clothing label, well before Milk Bodyboards even existed. It started as a 100% bodyboarding brand and later grew into eco-conscious wetsuits and apparel for the wider surf market, still independent, still based in Hossegor. Ambassadors have included Pierre Louis Costes and André Botha, and Mathieu still runs the company today.

Back to Milk, and what makes the brand stand out almost 20 years on is that every single board on the line, custom and stock alike, comes from one pair of hands.

Legendary Portuguese bodyboard shaper Carlos Fernandes, known as Shaper Gato, has been crafting custom boards for close to 3 decades now.

Refresh Boards was Shaper Gato's home base for close to two decades.

Gato shaped for over 10 years at a factory called Lazer before teaming up with rider Nuno Barrela in 2007 to found Refresh Boards in Peniche, Portugal, described as the only Portuguese bodyboard factory offering fully personalised custom builds with after sales support.

By 2018 he had passed 10 000 boards made there and was marking 23 years in the shaping bay.

Hand Picked is the brainchild of pro rider Michael Ostler, but the shaping bay belongs to a name that carries serious weight in this sport, Marc Rossouw.

Marc spent years building his reputation under his own label, Rossi Bodyboards, out of Durban, South Africa, refining templates and building a client list that included some of the sport's biggest names, before eventually selling that business on.

Marc relocated to the south coast of Sydney, where Hand Picked's headquarters and shaping bay now sit alongside a flagship store in Caringbah.

Over 30 years into his career, he is still hand shaping and innovating. With the White Lion V2 Bat Fly Tail, Marc was able to curate a new tail design that has the positive effects of a classic bat with the drive from extra volume through the centre point, yet it also has the hold of a crescent tail. (See image 👇)

Marc now backs a team that includes Lewy Finnegan, Jack Baker and Luke O'Connor.

When Marc Rossouw sold Rossi Bodyboards back in Durban, it was Mika Justino who picked up the old factory and began shaping and distributing gear such as quality fins and leashes under his new MStar brand.

The young gun quickly built a name for himself, and it appears the old dog… or cat has his claws into everything custom…

In 2023 and again in 2024, Mika partnered with Gato himself for a special collab and limited residency at the MStar factory.

The pair put their heads and talents together and gave local South African riders a genuinely rare shot at owning a board built by Shaper Gato’s hands outside Europe, in partnership with Shaper Mika.

Running from 12 - 21 August at Cokes, a hollow right hander in the North Malé Atoll, rated one of the heaviest breaks in the country.

This is the tour's only Asian stop this season, and the first time in the event's history it has been held here rather than in Malé.

It is a mixed slate, Women's Prime Series running alongside Men's Prime Series and Junior Men's Rising Series.

Some solid lines and good rides came in today (Thursday).

Scan through the completed live stream on IBC YouTube to check it out. 👇

Don’t forget to join the global community and grab one of these! 👇

Disclaimer: The Bodyboard Report is published for informational and entertainment purposes only. All images, media, and referenced content remain the copyright of their respective owners and are used for editorial commentary and community sharing. The Bodyboard Report does not claim ownership of any third party content.