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ABOUT

I live in San Clemente, CA with my wife (Blair) and 3 kids (Hendrix, Giovannina, and Bowie). I love shaping surfboards.

Ever since I was a young kid, I loved building things with my hands. It's something that is special to me and is something I thoroughly enjoy.

 

This led to handshaping my first surfboard 9 years ago as a sophomore in college. I first started shaping because I wanted to be able to build surfboards that were specific to my own creative ideas and how I surfed. When I was younger, I wished I had some artistic ability with painting, drawing, photography, etc. Unfortunately the talent wasn't quite there. After I made my first surfboard I realized this was where I had the space to convey my creativity. I always loved surfing and surfboard design so this became the perfect creative outlet.

 

After college, I went on to earn my Doctorate in Physical Therapy not expecting to make a living out of shaping surfboard. After finishing school, my love of surfboards led me to leave Physical Therapy and continue pursuing the path of shaping foam. Thankfully, I learned a lot of concepts in Physical Therapy school that made me a better shaper. The most important being analyzation of movement patterns and how each individual moves (surfs) differently. Movement patterns in everyday life vary so much between individuals, By watching how someone surfs or listening to their description of how they surf, it becomes easier to make a board more specialized to the individual

It allows them to receive the maximum amount of joy possible out of any time spent on a wave.

Where my passion lies for what I truly enjoying shaping and surfing is in twin fins. For the past few years, it's been exciting exploring the different ways to make the most versatile, high-performance twin fin surfboards I can. This includes ankle-high, big, hollow, windy, slabby, gutless, very big waves, and everything in between. Why I often use asymmetry is to accomplish this goal. I believe that in a wide range of waves being ridden frontside and backside, it is possible to make a twin fin that adds greatly to your surfing in terms of speed, fluidity, hold, and versatility while not taking any performance aspects away by only surfing with two fins.

I still enjoy making boards other than twin fins and know these other designs based around more or less fins hold so much value for certain conditions, but my passion is for exploring how far a twin fin can go.

Skateboarding has also been a huge part of my life even before surfing came into the picture. It's been super fun figuring out ways to incorporate the two together. Because of this, every board that is sold, 10% of the sales go to supporting a skateboard community project in Arusha, Tanzania with Small Steps for Compassion. 

 

In summary, what it comes down to is one specific board design is not going to work for the entire mass market, because everyone surfs differently. There are so many different ways to ride a wave depending on what type of equipment chosen. I want to help you see surfing in a different way to break up monotony.

 

I like the term "made for enjoyment" because I want keep surfing as interesting and exciting for myself (and others) as I can.

 

Surfing is fun and should be treated as such.

Ashton Surf Photo.jpg

Contact: ashton@ahvessels.com

...or text/call (863) 430-5389

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