“Let’s go sit in the sun outside,” Tommy George said before leading us out of the dimly lit surfboard-shaping warehouse and into the brilliant sunlight. “It’s cold up here.”
Screeches from the Long Branch train station interrupted the conversation before it even began. So, Tommy opened his notebook and grabbed a surfboard order form with the “Eye of the Sun” logo on top.
It was time to order a new longboard. George invited me over to the West Ave. warehouse to take a board deposit and talk surf craft design. We poured over details about my last longboard; the size, the width, the edges, the rails, the tail, and more.
Tommy listened as I told him what I liked about the board and other aspects I didn’t love. He also listened as I tried my best to equate how I surfed on my previous board, to the design elements he might include in the custom shape he’d eventually hand back over to me. The thought of waxing this board, putting a single fin in it, and riding waves on it was still hard to rationalize.
At any given time, “The Shop” can go from a place of silent craftsmanship to a symphony of terrific power tool drones backed by sonic “Master of Reality” tracks from the boys’ boombox. These are signals that work is taking place.
In other instances, this musty garage run by board builders turns into a surf community networking event. All in one day, George might shape boards, take an order, talk to his friends, glass a board, and tell the same friend they need to leave because it’s time to work, or close shop.
When entering the shop, it’s common courtesy to let work take precedence though. Board-building is an art, a learned skill and step-by-step process all its own. And it's not good for anyone to interrupt a board-builder who's in the zone.
After the order, I watched as Tommy mowed foam. The bright outside world turned to black and white as foam flew into the air, almost like surf crashing into the sand. Just as every shaper does, George hangs tools, lights, and inspiration around a pair of racks to facilitate the shaping process.
On this day, he was shaping a “mid-length” or “fun board” single-fin surf craft for a friend from Little Silver. George began by drawing the outline on an 8-1/2 foot chunk of foam, cutting it, taking preliminary measurements, and started whittling away.
“I'd say most people come to me for alternative, high-performance boards. Also, I guess for a modern take on classic nose rider longboards,” said George. “Stuff you can’t get in surf shops. Taking aspects from the past that worked great as far as outlines go, and then adding rocker, and bottom contours, and fin placements, and rails that are updated, and still being refined.”
The life and business of a surfboard shaper here are ruled by ever-changing conditions. Fall and winter are characterized by boards for large swells -- think Hurricanes and winter storms. Shapers working during spring and summer will often receive orders in anticipation of the smaller waves of the warm season.
“Not only the volume changes season to season, but climate control and workability changes,” he explained. “April to June are good months for work weather-wise. Glassing [surfboards], you want 75 degrees. But we’re making chemical adjustments to push outside those ranges.”
His small business allows George to test his handmade craft in waves all around the world.
“The biggest months are from May to October. Every day you’re at the shop — shaping, glassing, organizing t-shirt stuff, inventory, social media — unless the waves are firing. And when wintertime hits from January to March, head south to Panama for the winter to test out designs we made. We come home and the new creative juices are flowing from time in the tropics. And we try to make it better every year. It seems to be going in that direction.”
This lifestyle has become a business model for George. Eye of the Sun surfboards are now being ridden by beginner, intermediate, and expert surfers from New Jersey, the East Coast and beyond. These boards are all hand-shaped by George in Long Branch. Some boards are glassed and finished by George and friends on West Ave, others by friends at The Heavens in Asbury Park.
Along with George, Justin Perry of Long Branch is chasing a similar endeavor. J. Perry Surfboards come out of the same warehouse as Eye of the Sun. Both Tommy and Justin feed off each other as well as other shapers and surfboard glassers like Mike Covello in Ocean Grove, and James Piehler from Middletown.
Today, surfers from Long Branch can watch the board-building process, and experience the fruits of American-made labor when in the water trading waves.
“Building boards allowed us to be all on the same page working together and having a common understanding that this is about surfing,” recalled George. “We can make money in the process, and build community in the area which was lacking. Those guys and people like Josh Peterson helped me.”
The recent success of Eye of the Sun surfboards is just a drop in the growing surf industry bucket. Even so, George feels proud to help progress a respectful and fun surfing community.
“We don’t get waves very often. So, the whole community aspect of bringing surfers together and giving common ground for everybody partially through business and connecting with everyone in the water. If someone is riding the boards it might strike up conversation, rather than riding a board made in China or Thailand. It’s special for people to get a board from someone they know, start to finish around the corner from waves they're surfing and designed for them. It takes surfing a step further because there’s a deeper connection to the way of life. And that’s why I’m shaping to preserve that way of life, definitely not because it’s the most lucrative thing.”
Ryan Gallagher is a business owner and freelance journalist based in Long Branch. He covers local news, community events, restaurants, and the hospitality scene. He can be reached at ryanpgallag@gmail.com.
"It’s special for people to get a board from someone they know"