John Oppito has broad shoulders, a week鈥檚 worth of stubble, and the type of handshake that makes you wonder why you spend most of your waking hours behind a keyboard. On an overcast afternoon in late January, he鈥檚 sitting on a stool next to his shaping bay in an unassuming, windowless warehouse nestled on the fringes of Asbury Park, New Jersey. It鈥檚 known as 听and has developed a reputation as the hub for one-of-a-kind hand-shaped surfboards on the East Coast. It鈥檚 less than two miles from the Atlantic Ocean but feels a world away. A fan hums in the background but fails to quell the bracing resin fumes. Oppito, 32, has on a navy blue New York Rangers sweatshirt, brown paint-splattered pants, and low-cut sneakers that鈥攍ike almost every surface here鈥攁re caked in foam dust. 鈥淓verybody assumes my last name is Rozbern,鈥� he says with a chuckle. He understands the confusion and explains that it鈥檚 actually the street name of his parents鈥櫶齢ouse, where he first started crafting boards. Over the last decade,听Oppito has become synonymous with , the label he created and co-owns with his friend and business partner, Kevin Strickland.

Rozbern Surfboards, along with the听boards Oppito shapes for the alternative-board collaboration 鈥攚hich features designs from shaping luminaries Rich Pavel, Gerry Lopez, and Ryan Lovelace鈥攁re the antithesis of generic. His creations often include elaborate color work and unusual customizations.听One example is听the听seven-foot Widowmaker channel-bottom board听with a psychedelic resin-swirl deck, which听earned Oppito honors at the Boardroom International Surfboard Show last weekend in Del Mar, California.

Oppito鈥檚 functional art听stands out for more than looks, though. He takes no shortcuts, building the boards by hand from start to finish. At a time when it feels like most hard goods are available at the click of a mouse, it鈥檚 refreshing that there are still people out there providing custom craftsmanship with a personal touch. Next to where Oppito signs his name on each board, along with the dimensions, board model, and customer鈥檚 name, he also writes, 鈥�!鈥�

Yet Oppito won鈥檛 wax philosophically about the pureness of hand shaping or assert that there鈥檚 only one ideal way to build a surfboard. 鈥淚 have nothing against the machine,鈥� he says more than once about CNC听instruments that are the norm for mass producing boards in the surf industry. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tool. My opinion is that as long as you鈥檙e transparent about what about what you鈥檙e doing, it shouldn鈥檛 matter how the board鈥檚 made.鈥� Oppito has only brought in a couple of board glassers in the last year to help him keep the turnaround time on his custom boards between four and eight weeks.

鈥淚 shaped a fish for my first board,鈥� Oppito says about his board-building origins in the shed behind his parents鈥� house in Eatontown, New Jersey, during his senior year at Monmouth Regional High School. 鈥淎 fish is not an easy first board to shape. I glassed the whole thing. The fins ended up ripping off by the second session, because I didn鈥檛 put enough glass reinforcement on them.鈥�

From there, Oppito learned every stage of the board-building process and developed a DIY听ethos out of necessity. In California, Oppito explains, you can go to any supplier and buy a blank, resin, and everything you need to start shaping. But when he was starting, there was nothing like that in New Jersey, no factories to get information from. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 walk into a reputable glass shop and say, 鈥楬ey, I want to sweep your floors and learn how to laminate a board.鈥� I just figured it out trial and error鈥攕o there was a lot of error.鈥�

Oppito doesn鈥檛 bemoan his roots. His surroundings influence every board he builds. 鈥淚 feel like, growing up in New Jersey, you have to shape everything, because we get literally every type of condition听imaginable,鈥� he says. Ranging from ankle-high summer slop to world-class overhead barrels in the winter, the waves in the Garden State can be as fitful as traffic on the turnpike. Rozbern鈥檚 models reflect that diversity;听they include grovelers, shortboards, longboards, fish, twin-fins, and step-ups that fuse alternative and performance characteristics.

He developed a shape called the Hound with local charger Mark Gilmartin, who earned Surfline鈥檚听 for a draining barrel he navigated on a听mango-tinted听five-eleven board听the day before Halloween 2017. That board was Oppito鈥檚 first try at the design. He still has it鈥攚ell, at least half of it. 鈥淚 think it lasted a whole winter until it broke,鈥� he says as he reaches down behind a stool and retrieves the severed tail end. 鈥淭his thing saw more tube time than most people have.鈥� Although Oppito also has Gilmartin鈥檚 original order card, with all its specifications and a template for the Hound鈥檚 outline, he likes to keep 鈥淢agic Mango鈥� nearby for reference. 鈥淵ou can nail all the numbers but not have a board come out as you mean it,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 lot of shaping is by feel and muscle memory. You know how the board should feel in your hand. You know how it should look under the lights.鈥� 听

But then there鈥檚 seeing the board in the water with his customers. Oppito sounds like an anxious parent when he describes waiting for feedback. 鈥淭he worst is when somebody is surfing a board for the first time and I鈥檓 surfing with them,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 even concentrate, because I am constantly watching them and wondering, Is the board working well? Are they liking it? Does it look good? Is it flowing like it should?听I have all these thoughts racing through my head, and I can鈥檛 even focus on surfing myself.鈥�

Those nerves fade amid the whirring of Oppito鈥檚 Clark Foam鈥搈odified Hitachi planer听back in his factory. 鈥淚n the shaping bay, I鈥檓 in my element,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 really just focused on making the board come out as I have it in my head.鈥� When you watch him at work with his bulky Sony wireless headphones on, it looks like he鈥檚 in a trance.

While the countless variables that go into creating a board can make an average surfer鈥檚 head spin, regardless of the fumes, Oppito consumes himself with the process. It provides structure. 鈥淚 approach the blank the same every time,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檒l generally plane the blank to thickness first, cut it out, set my bottom concave, foil the deck, and then turn the rails. The best part is when you do the final sanding screen and everything comes together. This thing that has taken life slowly along the way, when you sign your name, you get to see all the hard work in a tangible object.鈥�

That sense of satisfaction is fleeting. 鈥淓very time I make a board, I think it鈥檚 a good one. Then I look back at it even weeks later and think, Oh, I could have done this differently,鈥� Oppito says. 鈥淲hen you start not doing that, you stop progressing. There is no such thing as a perfect surfboard. You can always find something that you could do differently.鈥�

The post Inside the Mind of a Custom-Surfboard Shaper appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

鈥淚t鈥檚 bigger than I thought it was going to be,鈥� Mike Gleason says after catching a glimpse of the waves at his home break. 鈥淚t鈥檚 cleaner too.鈥澨�

The wind is offshore. A haze clings to the ocean, but is burning off with the morning sun around 10 a.m.听on this weekday in late March. The waves are shoulder-to-head-high. They crash on the sandbar with a thud. They drown out the Johnny Cash song playing inside Gleason鈥檚 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. He鈥檚 in the driver鈥檚 seat, wearing a light blue t-shirt, faded jeans, and black Nikes. 鈥淲ow, it鈥檚 way bigger than I thought,鈥� he repeats in between spits of chewing tobacco.

For those not familiar with Gleason鈥檚 location, the reaction might be disbelief rather than surprise. He isn鈥檛 in California or Hawaii. He is in Long Branch, New Jersey.听

鈥淪ome people don鈥檛 even know that New Jersey has a coast let alone waves,鈥� says Pat Schmidt, a 20-year-old pro surfer from Manasquan, New Jersey, who, like Gleason, is sponsored by Volcom.

When most people imagine a perfect day of surfing, they probably envision tropical, turquoise-colored water and palm trees swaying in the foreground. Gleason has a different ideal. This morning it鈥檚 53 degrees and the water hovers around 40. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gorgeous out,鈥� Gleason says. The conditions are balmy by his standards. He鈥檚 accustomed to surfing in frigid temperatures and water that looks more like an IPA. In the Northeast the best waves often coincide with the harshest weather. That was the case in January when Gleason drove two hours north to Long Beach, New York, for one of the season鈥檚 biggest swells courtesy of Winter Storm Jonas. After hunkering down in a motel room for 24 hours, Gleason trudged through two feet of snow on the beach to get to the waves. He surfed overhead, barreling waves for an hour and a half despite 30 mph winds and pelting snow. 鈥淲hen a snowflake hits your eye, it burns,鈥� Gleason says. 鈥淥h my God, it burns. But there were only eight of us out in the water and it was absolutely firing.鈥�

He came back the next day and surfed five hours.听

鈥淚t is a special breed that really embraces the conditions,鈥� says Billy Hume, Volcom鈥檚 East Coast marketing manager. 鈥淭he guys up here are a bit of psychopaths. They will paddle out when it鈥檚 two foot and 25 degrees and they still love it.鈥�

Gleason thrives when the conditions are most inhospitable and has garnered respect as one of the best surfers from the Garden State. His reputation, though, isn鈥檛 confined to the East Coast. He鈥檚 landed photos in national surfing magazines, was ranked by Red Bull last year, and starred in Volcom鈥檚 feature surf film鈥�Psychic Migrations.听At 31 years old, Gleason鈥檚 surfing continues to progress.听

After checking two nearby spots, Gleason goes back to the first. He turns left onto a sand covered side street and passes six 鈥淣O PARKING ANYTIME鈥� signs. He doesn鈥檛 seem to notice, or care, and stops in front of a battered bulkhead.听

鈥淚n the summer the people who live here will call the cops,鈥� Gleason says鈥攎otioning to a three-story modern beachside home. 鈥淏ut for now it鈥檚 cool.鈥� He wrangles his wetsuit out of the trunk. It has an attached hood and is five millimeters thick, as are his neoprene boots and gloves. They鈥檙e as essential to surfing year round in New Jersey as a surfboard. Gleason鈥檚 current quiver includes 17 boards. He has twice as many wetsuits.听

He shimmies into the suit and pulls on the hood, covering his shaved head. His thick beard still protrudes. Gleason鈥檚 facial hair鈥攚hich calls to mind a frontiersman more than a surfer鈥攃ombined with his stocky, barrel-chested physique is partly why his friends gave him the nickname 鈥溾�� about eight years ago. But the sobriquet is also due to Gleason鈥檚 approach in the water. His turns are powerful and ferocious. When he hits the lip, he displaces water like a geyser. He while pumping through the tube. He goes right on one of the bigger waves this morning鈥攑icks up speed鈥攖hen lofts an alley-oop. The 5'6″听board seems glued to his feet. He鈥檚 not wearing a leash.听

鈥淭hat's the only air I can usually do,鈥� Gleason says after returning to the lineup. He pulls off his wetsuit hood. He says he鈥檚 warm. He catches another wave within a minute.听

Gleason stood up on his first wave at this same beach when he was six. His father, a sales representative for a trucking company, worked as a lifeguard on summer weekends and always brought his family along. The youngest of three boys, Mike developed an affinity for the water and excelled at any sport on a board. 鈥淗e鈥檚 just always had a natural style and flow,鈥� says Bryan Gleason, Mike鈥檚 brother. Soon, the youngest Gleason was skipping soccer practice to surf in the fall. He started surfing in the winter when he was 12, often riding his bike to the beach then paddling out alone. When he was 17, the only Volcom team rider from the Northeast moved to California. Gleason got his spot.听

Within a year, Gleason too headed west. A trip to California during Thanksgiving of his freshman year at Monmouth University when he 鈥渟cored crazy waves,鈥� convinced him to transfer to Santa Barbara City College for the next semester. Soon after that, he received an offer from Volcom to pursue surfing fulltime. He left school. He鈥檇 spend a month in Hawaii then another in California every winter along with trips to the Caribbean, Mexico, and other premier surfing destinations. But it was also around that time when he moved back to New Jersey. It鈥檚 remained a fixed-foot ever since. 鈥淚 love New Jersey too much,鈥� Gleason explains of his decision not to relocate permanently. 鈥淭his is home and where I want to be. It doesn鈥檛 matter where you go in the world, you鈥檙e never going to experience a true Jersey day that is firing. It鈥檚 so dang perfect. For its size, nowhere gets as good. Every wave you鈥檙e getting a tube or have the opportunity to get one.鈥�

That鈥檚 why Gleason calls missing a swell in New Jersey 鈥渁 nightmare鈥� and 鈥渢he worst-case scenario.鈥� He鈥檚 not alone. When Schmidt saw the forecast for the Jonas swell he was on the North Shore of Oahu. He booked the next flight home.

While Gleason initially would never turn down a trip because it offered more exposure, the landscape of surfing in New Jersey has shifted. It鈥檚 no longer the underground scene it was back in 1996 when became the first (and still only) surfer from New Jersey to qualify for the ASP (now WSL) World Championship Tour. As surf publications have gone digital, features and galleries about the Northeast appear online almost every week in the winter. 鈥淭he more publicity you get the better you鈥檙e going to do,鈥� Gleason says.听

But the increased notoriety has drawbacks. Gleason remembers days when there would be only one or two photographers on the beach. Now, they often outnumber surfers, saturating the content. Carter McCoy, a photographer and Gleason鈥檚 friend, recalls countless times he鈥檚 taken a good shot of Gleason, only find minutes later that someone has posted a photo from the same angle on Instagram. 鈥淭hen everybody knows where you鈥檙e at,鈥� McCoy says. 鈥淚t goes from one person to a packed lineup. It鈥檚 harder to have those secret solo sessions.鈥� 听Sometimes if Gleason and his friends find a good spot to themselves, they鈥檒l turn their phones off. 听Other times they鈥檒l head north to the Cape or Maine and search for more secluded breaks. Gleason rarely ventures south. The logic is simple.

鈥淚 hate surfing in crowds,鈥� he says.

This morning, he didn鈥檛 have to worry about that. There were only four guys in water. Gleason knew all of them. Still, he paddled out to an empty peak near a jetty with wooden pilings sticking out like acupuncture pins. Gleason hadn鈥檛 surfed in two weeks because the Atlantic had been quiet, but he鈥檚 learned to cope with the fickleness of his playing field. He bartends during the summer. He鈥檚 as passionate about fishing as surfing. If the waves are flat and the water is clear, he鈥檒l free dive. He runs hills and swims laps, so when waves arrive, he鈥檚 ready. It also helps that he seems to have the sandbars and currents at his home break memorized even though they constantly change. He muses about topics like swell interval and direction with the attentiveness of an oceanographer.听

鈥淵ou can usually see the trends of what the swells are doing,鈥� he says. 鈥淩ight now we are in a bad trend.鈥�

The lack of swell and warming conditions cast doubt over whether the inaugural Cold War would take place at Asbury Park Casino Beach. It鈥檚 not your typical surf contest. Instead, New Jersey pros Sam Hammer and Andrew Gesler selected 14 of best surfers from their home state and New York, divided them into two teams, and squared off in man-on-man heats. The limit for the waiting period was extended from March 18th to the end of the month, before it was finally called on for the 25th. “It wasn't the classic Jersey surf we wanted, but we dealt with what we had,'' Hammer about the shoulder-high waves and 50 degree temperatures. “We want this to be cold. We don't want it to be as warm as it was today. We want people to freeze their asses off.”

While Gleason likes competition 鈥渂ut not so much for surfing,鈥� the Cold War was an exception. He surfed for Gesler鈥檚 team, won his heat, and helped the side to the victory and $8,000 prize. He was also named MVP. He won a grill.

Back in the water at Long Branch, a little more than a week prior to the Cold War, Gleason wasn鈥檛 concerned about if the contest would run, the next stage of his career, or even the hole in his fishing boat that needs repair. Right now, he scans the horizon. He spots a set wave. He鈥檚 in the perfect position. He waits a few seconds, then in a flurry of motion drains his hood, yanks it back on, and flips around. He takes two strokes and pops to his feet.听

He disappears into the barrel.

The post Forget California. Mike Gleason Surfs New Jersey. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

One afternoon in early December, Leonardo Fioravanti stands on the back deck of the Quiksilver House on Oahu and surveys the Banzai Pipeline鈥攖he most photographed and arguably most dangerous wave in the world. He bounces up and down like a boxer ready to enter the ring. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pumping!鈥� he yells into his cell听phone. Kanoa Igarashi, another Quiksilver sponsored surfer, hastily waxes his board nearby.

鈥淎re you wearing a [wetsuit] top?鈥� Igarashi asks?

鈥淣o,鈥� Fioravanti says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so hot, and if you get a big [camera] shot it looks way better.鈥�

鈥淵eah,鈥� Igarashi replies. 鈥淵ou also get way more wrecked if you hit the reef without one.鈥�

Fioravanti, 18, doesn鈥檛 need the reminder. The four silver-dollar-sized听scars on his lower back are ample proof of the consequences of听surfing over Pipeline鈥檚 jagged, lava rock reef. On January 31, 2015, during his third round heat at the , Fioravanti wiped out then got compressed against the reef. His body went numb. Everything went black. He got the wind knocked out of him.

鈥淚 have been injured before, but this was different,鈥� Fioravanti says. 鈥淚 have never experienced that much pain.鈥�

Fioravanti managed to undo his leash and swim to the surface. He raised his hand for the water patrol. Within two minutes he was stabilized on a stretcher and carried off the beach. Over 7,500 miles and two oceans away in Hossegor, France, Fioravanti鈥檚 mother, Serena Martini, watched her son鈥檚 injury unfold on the live webcast. It was a little after midnight. She had just flown to France from Hawaii with Stephen Bell, Fioravanti鈥檚 stepfather and the global team manager for Quiksilver. Bell received a call. It was Kelly Slater, his good friend. Slater provided updates and then gave the phone to Fioravanti.

鈥淚鈥檓 OK,鈥� Martini remembers her son saying. She knew he wasn鈥檛. She and Bell didn鈥檛 unpack their bags. They flew back to Hawaii that morning.

At Queens Hospital in Honolulu doctors diagnosed Fioravanti with a fractured L1听vertebra. They gave him a back brace and told him he wouldn鈥檛 need surgery. But eight days later when Fioravanti returned to France and met with a back specialist in Bordeaux, he found out the vertebra was not only fractured, but had tilted and would in fact require surgery. When Fioravanti recalls the news that if his vertebra had shifted an inch or two more he would have been paralyzed, his typically ebullient tone becomes subdued.

鈥淚 thought I might never surf again,鈥� he says.

The injury was just the latest in a string of obstacles on Fioravanti鈥檚 journey to reach his dream: winning the (WSL) world title. There are 486 surfers who have registered at least one point on the WSL Qualifying Series (QS) in 2016. Fioravanti is the only Italian on the list. Born in Rome, he grew up in the town of Cerveteri and learned to surf when he was four with the help of older his brother, Matteo. Italy is hardly a surfer鈥檚 paradise. Summer months are plagued by long flat spells, and even during the fall and winter waves are fleeting in the Mediterranean.

鈥淚t is like lightning in a bottle,鈥� says Jason Baffa, who spent 108 days in Italy in 2012 filming for , which explores the country鈥檚 surfing culture and features Fioravanti. 鈥淵ou have to be in the right place at the right time and even then there are only waves for an hour or two.鈥�

For Fioravanti, the meager conditions were not a deterrent, but rather served as motivation. When there were waves, his mother wrote him excuses to get out of school, and he鈥檇 surf until it was too dark to see. In the summer, he鈥檇 wait until around 6 p.m. when a ferry鈥檚 wake would create two to three waves.

鈥淭hat was the highlight of my day,鈥� Fioravanti says.

Still, he and his family realized that for him to get noticed, they would have to venture outside of Italy. The Fioravantis started spending summers in Hossegor (where Leo now lives with Martini and Bell) and entered contests all over Europe while Leo was still in grade school. After a junior contest in Portugal, Quiksilver offered him a sponsorship. He was nine. Soon, he was traveling to Hawaii, Australia, and Indonesia with big name riders like Slater, Jeremy Flores, and Dane Reynolds. When Fioravanti told other surfers he was from Italy, he always received the same response: 鈥淎re you sure there are waves there?鈥� Although Fioravanti speaks five languages, he let his surfing answer those doubts. He was the European Junior Champion in 2013. The next year, his first on the QS, he finished 28th and was one result away from qualifying for the world tour. He appeared poised to reach his goal in 2015.

Then the injury happened.

After Fioravanti鈥檚 surgery on February 14th that required two titanium rods and four screws, Martini wanted to hug her son. She couldn鈥檛. She was afraid she would hurt him. 鈥淗e could move a little bit,鈥� Martini says. 鈥淏ut he needed assistance with almost everything.鈥� Helping Fioravanti into his brace was a two-person job.

In March, Fioravanti started his recovery at the (CERS), one of the best rehabilitation centers for athletes in Europe. He trained seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. He got his brace off after six weeks, and had some added motivation. He could see the peeling waves at Capbreton outside the large glass windows of the gym.

鈥淲hen you are that age you think you are indestructible,鈥� Christiaan Bradley, Fioravanti鈥檚 shaper, says. 鈥淏ut after it was all taken away from him, he realized how much he needed surfing in his life. He went at it with all his effort.鈥�

Bradley shaped Fioravanti a retro-style 6鈥�0鈥� single fin board, painted red, white, and green like the Italian flag, to help ease the transition back into the ocean. Fioravanti rode the board his first surf back, three and a half months after the injury. He still had the rods and screws in his back. On his first wave, Fioravanti and screamed鈥ith joy. 鈥淚 felt like I had won something,鈥� he says. Five months later, after a second surgery in June to remove the hardware, after two-a-day surf sessions and yoga classes to regain his form and flexibility, he did win. He took first place in the ISA World Games U-18 Championship at Oceanside Pier in California.听

But Hawaii and the Pipeline still loomed. Fioravanti鈥檚 first event this year? The Voclom Pipe Pro. Martini tried to dissuade her son from entering. 鈥淗e listened but said he had to go [to Hawaii],鈥� she says. 鈥淗e said this is my life.鈥�

鈥淭he North Shore is where you prove yourself in front of everyone,鈥� Fioravanti says. 鈥淚t is the place where you have to step up and show you can hang with the big boys.鈥�

Although he put on a tough demeanor for his friends and family, Fioravanti confided that he was 鈥渓ittle scared鈥� and 鈥渘ot very confident鈥� for his first surf back at Pipeline in November. Despite catching some of the standout waves of the winter, those worries persisted. The night before the Pipeline Pro, he could hear the waves pounding from his bunk bed in the Quiksilver house. Fioravanti tried to block out the recurring dream he鈥檚 had since the injury. He鈥檚 underwater and everything is black. He can鈥檛 move. He hits the reef and it shatters into a million pieces.

During his first heat, he displayed no fear. He caught the two best waves and won by 9.33 points.

鈥淟eo always charges,鈥� says Roberto D鈥橝mico, Fioravanti鈥檚 friend and one of only the handful of other Italian pro surfers. 鈥淗e is a gladiator.鈥�

But during his third round heat, Fioravanti waited 12 minutes before he took off on a wave. It closed out. He couldn鈥檛 escape and slammed straightforward.

鈥淗oly shit,”听Bradley thought watching the webcast. 鈥淗e鈥檚 done it again.鈥�

鈥淚t felt like d茅j脿 vu,鈥� Fioravanti says. But this time, he didn鈥檛 hit the reef. This time his 6鈥�10鈥� board didn鈥檛 break. This time he swam to the surface and when water patrol jet ski approached, he didn鈥檛 wave his hand. Instead, he shook his head and said he was 鈥渁ll right.鈥�

He paddled back out.听听

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