THE SPORTY SESSIONS--BOARDBUILDING FUN WITH CORT GION  10/07

For as long as I can remember loving surfboards, I’ve been particularly enamoured with the gun shape.  Not exactly the most useful board, unless you happen to charge huge waves on a regular basis, but still a board I always wanted to own. Perhaps to use once or twice a year, but mostly to enjoy on my wall as an enduring piece of art and surfboard grace. No other surfboard form equals the gun in the quality of its lines. My mentor, Cort Gion, is the first person I think of when I think of this type of board.  Cort lived on the North Shore for 20 years, shaping boards for many of the best surfers of that era.  His favorite type of board to build was the big gun. After ordering some special blanks for myself and my friend Lakota, naturally I brought them down to Florence to Cort for a real educational experience, and a heavy artistic expression session.

Cort with the guns cut out and roughed 9’2” left and 10’6” right

Many stringer options are possible when ordering blanks. I got creative.  The gun blanks are on the right. 10’6” and 9’2”

This 9’2” for me has a double 1/4” bass stringer with 1/8” cedar outriggers at a 3” offset and red glue.It has a little more curve overall in the outline and width in the tail than a full “rhino chaser”. Designed more for the big lumpy Oregon waves than a reef.

I think Lakota was imagining the type of waves he’d use his 10’6”  for when i took this. That’s a big board.

I had also brought down a 7’4” semi-gun blank for a board I wanted to take with me to Kauai. Cort and I worked together to build this double soft wing pintail semi-gun. I got a lot of great use of this board on my trip. It has a 3/4” green foam and 3/16” cedar T-band stringer and a green glue cut outriggers at 6” offset. The bottom is single to double concave within vee and it is a thruster.  Many of the waves in Kauai require a long paddle out to get to, so this board was terrific because it paddled so well. Also, that nice, tight tail never let me down in critical situations.  The board worked suprisingly well in smaller waves too.  Cort’s favorite wave in Hawaii was Sunset, so I asked him to help me build a “Sunset”  board.

Lakota’s gun has a 1/2”  bass T-band with 1/8” cedar and 1/8” cedar outriggers at 6” offset That’s a lot of lumber!  Feels good.

You can do some amazing stuff with a plastic spreader

Magic! Don’t try this at home.

Are you kidding me?

“The Heater” in the background with “Kauai Hi” on rack

Here we are with our finished guns.  Think we’re stoked? My 9’2” is glassed with an orange tint and is called “Vitamin Sea”. Lakota’s 10’6” is glassed clear with a green single fin and is called “The Heater”.