Mark Richards - Style twinnie V2.0

6'3"x20 3/4"x2 3/4" 5.75 lb

I got such good feedback on my first one I decided to make another just to sell. Again, it has the new logo, this one is rendered in walnut burl, kingwood, balsa and paua abalone.

This is what its proud new poppa had to say about it: "Took the board out yesterday for the first time. I am a longboarder and your board is my first venture into shortboarding. I was truly amazed how easy it is to catch even small waves with this
board...This board is going to get a lot of use. Nice work!" "Took the board out again yesterday...I want you to know it's my favorite in my quiver and I'm getting ready to take it back out today."

More photos of minitanker

Mini-tanker 5-stringer singlefin

6'10"x20 3/4"x2 3/4"

Most fun I've ever had on a singlefin, this thing is cool! Also the first board pimping my new logo, thanks to JD San Jose for the great design. Logo is laser-cut from balsa, kingwood and paua abalone shell. Stringers and nose/tailblocks are red cedar. Weighs in at a deceptive 6 lbs.

Round pin thruster

6'6" 11 1/4 - 19 1/8 - 13 7/8 - 2 1/4

Quite proud of this one. Think it is one of the most refined shapes I've yet made. Plus, it is the one and only carrier of my now-retired "mostly harmless" logo in exotic wood inlay. This has yet to be paddled out for the first wave, it's for a buddy in mexico.

Mark Richards-inspired twinnie

6'3"x20 3/4"x2 3/4"

One of my new favorite boards, this thing is just so much fun!! Fast and loose and drivey, I just can't get enough of it in any kind of surf!

Compsand thruster

6'5"
2.25 thick
13 3/8 nose
20 mid
13 3/8 tail

Made this one for a friend, but didn't wind up giving it to him... Long story.

Ultralight at 5.5lbs.

Balsa composite egg

6'8"
2.5 thick
15 nose
22.25 mid
16 tail

Pretty, isn't she? I went through my entire supply of balsa to select the boards that would look nice together. I love the shimmer on the bottom grain on this one.

Bumblebee quad compsand

6'6" long
2 3/8 thick
15 3/4 nose
21 7/8 mid
16.5 tail

Wide-tail bumblebee-style turbo quad.

This is another new phase of construction methods for me, with solid balsa rails and 1/8" balsa skins over ultralight foam. It's called "composite sandwich" construction, or CompSand for short. This made for boards weighing as little as 5.5 lbs, but tougher than normal glass-over-foam construction.

The Makore Fish

6'2" 17-22.75-17.5-2.75

Figured Makore veneer old-school fish. This is my pride and joy. I've put more water time in on this board than any other I've ever had. She's looking a little more worn these days, but she surfs just like the day I put that final gloss coat on.

deep double concave thruster

Thick rails and extreme bottom concaves on this one. Amazing what vacuum pressure can get 1/30" veneer to conform to.

A New Direction

6'5" 14.5-21.75-16-2.75

This was the start of my move into wood-over-eps construction. There was quite the learning curve involved in this batch of boards, but I think the results were quite nice. These are the boards that really helped me learn about vac-bagging and epoxy, as well as finish quality control with epoxy.

Bonzer stubbie

At 5'11" this is the shortest board I have made/ridden. Wide and flat, it was my introduction to stubby/fishy boards. It was a TON of fun in mainland mexico surf. It was 3 layers of glass with epoxy over what wound up being my final Clark foam blank, the legendary 6'2"C.

The "Fat Penguin"

This was an experiment in many ways. I made the blank myself from materials from home depot, then used plans from a very controversial shaper to make this very unusual shape. then, since the shape was so ugly, I hit it up with some equally unusual artwork. In the end, the "fat penguin" wasn't what I had hoped it would be, but it was ridable, at the very least. It was a good introduction to epoxy resin, and was to signal the end of my use of (smelly) polyester resin.

Blue Bonzer

6'5"x20 3/4"x2 5/8"

This was my first attempt at a bonzer bottom and fin setup. I loved this board, but like so many others it had to go to make room (and money) for more boards.