On the Road with Jimmy Lewis :Standup Journal | Page 6

headquarters, we were welcomed to the top-secret back room where the paddle magic happens. In the center of the room was an even more topsecret carbon race board that Terrell was working on. Without asking, Jimmy Lewis grabbed a pot of resin and a patch of fiberglass and conducted a mini master class with some of his little tricks of the trade. Jimmy has always been incredibly generous with his technology, his suppliers, and his tips. He loves to share and to see others do well. He’s the biggest fan of other shapers and brands, often wearing a shirt from a competitor that he respects. He’ll be the first to call a turd a turd without any considerations for the feelings of the shaper, but he’ll also give massive credit where he feels it’s due. And he is truly a fan of any brand that is built around the shaper and designer… just like QuickBlade. At any rate, we spent a few hours in the QB Flume Training facility, had a nice sushi lunch and moved on.

“He’ll be the first to call a turd a turd without any considerations for the feelings of the shaper”
Another one of our stops was in Cardiff Reef. Jimmy went to school not far away, so this was a local break for him. He went to breakfast with some high school buddies who hadn’t seen him since he left for Maui in 1969. The crowd at the beach was a gang of good-ole boys swapping stories and talking trash. It was like a reunion. Glassy, five-foot rollers were coming in. Jimmy went out on his 9’5” Striker, a low-rocker wave board that carves tight while also being friendly for the cheater-fives. Despite his humble statements about not being much of a standup paddler, Jimmy was dropping in and hitting some nice bottom turns. He smiled and said, “That’s the first time I’ve ridden this board...not bad.” You might be surprised to hear a shaper say something like that. How could Jimmy make boards that he’s never ridden? The answer might sound arrogant to the uninitiated, but when you know Jimmy, you just hear his honesty: “I don’t need to ride a board to know it’s going to be good. I’ve been doing this long enough to know how it’s going to surf as I’m shaping it.” My business partner and I smiled and shook our heads when we first heard this explanation. From our distributor’s point of view, we want to check and tweak prototypes and release new models on an
PHOTO BY JL Ahead of his time: Lewis built this 16-foot custom racer for Laird years ago, using an ocean kayak as a rocker template.

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