Catching Up With: San Francisco Surf Shaper Thomas Meyerhofffer

agathawasilewska

• October 12 2009
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Thomas Meyerhoffer’s unconventional board designs have attracted attention across the globe. In this interview, Meyerhoffer discusses his designs and his plans for the future. Listen to part of the interview here:

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Thomas hails from Sweden, and his pragmatic approach to life combined with a  curiosity to make things better have made him one of the most sought after industrial designer’s of our time. Thomas has a long record of success in many categories ranging from furniture to sporting goods- his sail design for NeilPryde changed the sport of windsurfing and his partnership with Apple led to the first ever translucent computer in the 1990’s. He is also the man behind Scott’s new goggles and Flow’s unique snowboarding bindings.

After relocating to San Francisco’s Bay Area in 2000, Meyerhoffer took up longboarding, falling in love with surfing and the magic of riding a wave. This new passion set him on a path that eventually lead him to create a board design known as The Meyerhoffer. Thomas says that his initial motivation to change the look of the longboard grew out of his frustrations with the lethargic turning of the board, he wanted to see if he could create a board that encompassed the stability and ease of forward movement afforded by a longboard, but could move with agility and speed.

“His motivation was to create a board that would make the experience of surfing and catching a wave more accessible, thus allowing the typical surfer to catch more waves with less effort…”

Initially, Meyerhoffer looked at the challenge as a personal endeavor, allowing him to combine his craft with his new passion. He began learning how to shape boards in his garage, taking the craft very seriously all the while looking at the structure of the board and the nature of a wave for answers. He says he was not interested in creating a board that was for the pros, rather his motivation was to create a board that would make the experience of surfing and catching a wave more accessible, thus allowing the typical surfer to catch more waves with less effort, and further fueling the stoke.

The project has turned into a full-fledged business venture, and spawned a partnership with Global Surf Industries and its Managing Director Mark Kelly to bring the board to the masses. While the reaction of the surfing public has been predictably skeptical, the first run of boards have sold out and Global Surf Industries has a backlog of orders that will carry into 2010. After riding the ‘Meyerhoffer,’ the San Francisco chronicle quoted Peter Mel as saying, “I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know how good it would feel for how odd it looks. It just had a real nice flow to it.”

Meyerhoffer is now on a world tour of sorts, riding and promoting the board. He spent the summer overseas in France and Australia, where surfers have received the board with strange looks. After paddling out, however, many have come back with big grins and enthusiastic responses, according to the shaper. Meyerhoffer says that the tour has given him so much more that just the satisfaction of creating a great product- seeing the joy and the stoke of each surfer that rides his board has turned a business venture into a personal journey to bring surfing, in a slightly new one to the masses, one wave at a time.

Watch Meyerhoffer talk about the construction of the board and its rate-ability by Global Industries here:

Watch The Meyerhoffer in action here: