Congrats Jeff Haney: 2nd Florida Shape Off Winner 2009
Old Guys Rule and Young Guys still rock: Big thumbs up to Jeff Haney overall winner of the Florida Shape Off, scoring one for the Old School camp, and to the first runner up, Pete Daly, young shaper from Daytona
Actually a congrats to all the shapers: Glenn Klugel, Pat Madden, Chris Birch and Pierce Meyer. As both Ricky Carrol and Juan Rodgriquez said before they declared a winner, not only shaping the boards in the time and space allotted is extremely difficult, so is judging them. Even though both judges had eyed and felt the blanks already shaped throughout both days of the contest, and Ricky started measuring the short boards an hour before Pierce Meyer (last contestant) finished his long board, it still took them a good thirty minutes to award the winning board. What made it more challenging was the fact that even though all the shapers did a top-knotch job, they had two totally different styles of boards to judge. They picked a winning short board and a winning long board, and then chose the one that came the closest to replicating the parent board.
Ricky Carroll expressed great admiration for the job the "New School" shapers had done, as some of them had never shaped or even seen the style of longboard that they were asked to replicate. Heck, they were years from being a gleam in their parents' eyes when that board came out! "They did a fantastic job. That's why it's so hard to pick the best out of all." This is the reason the Florida Shape Off only has 1 winner and 1 runner up; to pick a 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place would be nearly impossible. To answer an attendee's question as to what happens with the losing board, there is no such thing. All the blanks shaped are being done so by the best in the industry; in our minds they are all winners, especially for donating their time and talent to the cause of highlighting the unknown heroes of surfing that make surfing possible: the shapers.
Still, this is a contest, and only one of these magnificent pieces of work can be chosen as the winner. Interestingly enough, both the winner and runner up ran into a little trouble when shaping their blanks; Jeff Haney actually had big trouble when he dropped his planer, bending the blades, which he didn't notice until he made passes with it, looked down and saw the Grand Canyon streaking along the bottom of the board. (Read about Day 2 on the blog) He was more surprised than anyone that he had actually won. And Pete Daly had started shaping and noticed that the template provided "wasn't right." In all the commotion, it was left behind, so he proceeded without one, also shrugging his shoulders at the possibility of winning.
So Jeff Haney gets to keep the trophy until next year, when it will get passed on to the winner of the 2010 Florida Shape Off! Till then ...catch you in the water!
Check out photos from the 2009 contest
Raffle - Chance to win a custom shaped surfboard!
Just $1 gets you a ticket for a chance to win a surfboard shaped by Bill Eberwein at last year's shape off. A one-of-a-kind replica of the Robert Strickland/Skip Savage Con Rail Model Surfboard. The raffle is to benefit the Surfrider Foundation
Florida Shapers: Stand up and be counted!
Whether this is your business or you are following ancient Hawaiian surf tradition of making your own board, we want to see how many of you guys and gals are out there. Submit your entry to our directory.
A Very Special Thank You:
All great things spring from great people. Thank you to Scott Bass, Event Creator and Organizer of the SACRED CRAFT Consumer Surfboard Expo who recognized the disconnect of shapers from the surfing community and Chris Christenson, brain trust and craftsman of the "Tribute to the Masters Shape-off" competition. These guys are bringing it back home: to the surfboard and the guys and gals who make them so that the rest of us can enjoy the ride. 
