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smorgasboarder
The NZ Shred crew hard at it on
a recent “working holiday” to
Japan, testing the Jones gear.
Just on a year ago they began a partnership
with Californian master surfboard shaper Chris
Christenson. Long story short, Chris’ shaping
career began with an apprenticeship under shaping
legend, Dick Brewer. Through his time with Dick
and the influence of his then neighbour, Skip Frye,
Chris perfected the skill of shaping boards to the
extent he became revered for shaping all manner
of craft from shortboards to longboards and even
big wave guns for some of the best in the business
such as two-time world champion big wave surfer,
Greg Long.
Chris also had a passion for the snow. Growing
up, when he wasn’t in school or surfing, Chris
spent every free moment of his childhood at
his grandparent’s cabin in the San Bernardino
mountains. Feeling the affinity between
snowboarding and surfing, Chris eventually set
up a shaping studio in Encinitas on the coast and
another in the Eastern Sierra Mountains outside
Mammoth Lakes.
Through the surf industry and snowboarding,
Chris became close friends with famed big
mountain rider, Jeremy Jones. Based on their
love of backcountry snowboarding and surfing,
Chris and Jeremy began a collaboration to create
a snowboard that captured the congruence of
snowboarding and surfing.
They explored the notion of incorporating “glide”
into their snowboard design. As surfers would
attest “trim” or “glide” is everything when it comes
to surfing. Without it you cannot ride a wave or
transition from one manoeuvre to the next. Glide in
effect is your engine that propels a surfer on a wave.
Glide is also important in snowboarding although
perhaps not as critical. Gravity will still propel
you down the mountain but your creativity will be
stifled. You have possibly laid witness to those
snowboarders who appear to seamlessly glide
through a powder gully, riding high on the wall while
further down, you grovel to get out of there. The
reason being is the snowboard design.
Chris and Jeremy’s partnership saw the
development of the “Storm Chaser” - a swallowtail
with a surfboard rocker and the ability for tight turns
on groomers or in the deepest powder. The first
template was a thin piece of wood hand drawn and
cut by Chris and Jeremy in Jeremy’s garage. They
used Chris’ surfboard shaping tools to outline the
shape, rocker and profile. Since this momentous
collaboration other models have ensued – the
“Mid Expander” and the “Lone Wolf”. These hand
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