SURERMAG.COM ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

SURFERMAG.COM: You started out shaping and selling progressive short boards, which you still do, but over time you began to move on into other areas of shaping. At what point in your career did this transition take place and what inspired it?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I think what influenced me in working on all the other stuff was in ‘93 or ‘94 I was shaping out of Rich Pavel's shaping rooms in Point Loma. He's got a couple bays there and Dick Brewer used to come out here three or four times a year and he used those bays too. He saw me in there one day and then kind of took me under his wing. So I was around that guy till about 1999. I was working with Brewer for like six years and just being around that, the older generation, and taking in the craftsmanship aspect of it sort of opened my eyes to other things. I was also always a big Skip Frye fan, and in ‘95 or ‘96 I saw a segment of Tom Curren at J-Bay riding a fish. I'd always known about those fishes but watching him I said to myself I've got to get one of those. At that point I had never ridden anyone else's boards since the first one I had made myself. But since I was such a big Skip fan I had to get one just to have it. I got that fish and it just completely changed everything for me. I was so hooked on it. I bumped into Skip after I had had the board for about a year, and I hadn't attempted to make one yet cause I didn't want to be rude or anything, but I was so hooked on the shape that I had to ask him. So I said, "Hey, this board is so amazing and I'm a shaper and I kind of want to start making boards like this cause I'm super into them," and he was really responsive and stoked. I started making them from there and now his bay is the next one over, so we get to work right next to each other. And just seeing what he does, I mean I'm not into the "retro" thing, it's more like versatility, and Skip's boards have proven they have a place cause they're everywhere. And there are a bunch of other shapers down here in San Diego like George Dolan and Rich Pavel, who have never stopped making them. I feel like I was the fist young guy to pick them up, but I'm not into the whole retro thing, the whole time bandit thing where you go completely back to the point where the boards don't work. The ones still getting made work.

SURFERMAG.COM: What shapes do you find yourself making the most?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: Probably about 80% shortboards, and I'll include the fish in that category too. But I do some longboards as well. I like to do traditional style longboards. Those are kind of Skip influenced. I like to make noseriders and the way I approach those is as if the 60's never ended. I'm not into the whole high performance longboarding thing, that's what I think shortboards are for. I think there is a beauty to longboarding, so I enjoy shaping those. I don't get to do a lot of them but they are all hand shaped. It keeps me versatile and keeps me from going nuts in here making the same thing all the time. Right now I'm actually making Brad Gerlach and myself 12'8" stand up paddleboards.

SURFERMAG.COM: What shapes are your favorites?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: Guns probably. Anything from 7', which is like a mini-gun, up to 9'6". Making those and looking at them you get so charged up. I'll take them and put them up against the back wall and just go "yeah," thinking about what they're going to do.

SURFERMAG.COM: So we were talking about the fish a little bit and about you being one of the first of the younger guys to start making them. Do you feel like you are sort of helping to carry on a San Diego legacy, helping to keep quality production of the fish in its hometown?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I'd sound pretty cocky if I said that.

SURFERMAG.COM: Not in a cocky sense. What I mean is do you feel connected to that history?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I do feel really connected to it and I do want to carry it on. Especially what I learned from Skip. Not so much what I learned from him shaping wise, but more what I learned from him about the shaping lifestyle. He marched to the beat of his own drum his whole life and I have so much respect for that. And the stuff he makes, I mean there is no one else doing what he does. There probably isn't one Skip Frye board in the whole world that wasn't shaped by him and not too many shapers can say that. I don't think there are any at his level that can say that. But yeah, there definitely is a San Diego connection to the fish. You see other guys in other towns making them and you'll kind of get a little competitive. But it's just for a laugh, there's no bitterness or anything.

SURFERMAG.COM: What do you think it is about some retro shapes? What is it that makes some boards appealing to surfers 30 or more years after they were considered state of the art?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I think the reason a lot of that stuff is coming back is just because of the flow that those boards have. They are so simple and a lot of that has been forgotten in surfing. With people trying to do 20 maneuvers into the beach, flopping their butts around, they forgot about letting the wave do some of the work. They forgot about just keeping it smooth. But I hate the word "retro," I think of all those boards as "traditional." They were thick, and floaty, and functional. They draw different lines that are smooth and now you are able to use modern material and modern design applications to build them, which makes them work even better than they did before. But don't get me wrong, the modern day thruster has its place and when the waves are on there's nothing that works better.

SURFERMAG.COM: Do you feel like traditional shapes have a universal appeal to all surfers or do you find yourself making them for a specific clientele?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: Well it keeps changing. A few years ago some people would see a fish and think it was a kneeboard. But now I can't make them fast enough. And if you think about it, like five years ago, everyone would just have one board in their quivers. Something like a 6'2" x 18.5" and that would be what they would ride from 1 foot to 10 foot. But now, it seems like people are just more open-minded and are finally starting to realize that there is no one board that works in all conditions.

SURFERMAG.COM: Do you mostly ride your own equipment now, or do you ride stuff from other shapers as well?

CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I have a pretty good collection of Skips going right now. His and mine are mostly what I ride, but I like riding other peoples boards too. I'm buddies with other shapers and every now and then we'll trade shape blanks and glass them on our own and that helps me to stay open. I have to stay open, I can't be stubborn and stick to just my stuff. Sometimes I'll go into surf shops and check out boards to see what's going on, just to see what's changing.