Simon Travels: France 2006

By Simon Anderson

SEPTEMBER 2006: WCT QUIKSILVER PRO, HOSSEGOR

Agenda:

Previous Shapes Made in France:

In 2004, Andy Irons surfed 6' 4 x 18 1/2 x 2 3/8 RSQ DSC made at Oddessey factory Hossegor in Sept 2003. From a 6' 4 Burford blank (full shaped) and unsurfed until Sept 04 from the quarters to the final beating his brother Bruce in epic 8 to 10' Le Nord beach break surf, considered to be the best Europe surf contest ever staged.

In 2005, shaped for Kelly Slater 6' 1 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 RP XFC deep single, quarter finals defeated by Damien Hobgood.

In 2006, at this stage will be making boards for Jake the Snake, Trent Munro, Damien Hobgood, Tim Reyes & Paulo Moura.

Outcome:

The annual surfing and shaping trip to Hossegor, France, for the Quiksilver Pro is a fabulous opportunity to catch up with the WCT pro guys, check out the latest in design from the world’s leading board makers and get a close look as it all goes down, during this crucial leg of the 2006 World Championship Tour.

The excitement is electrifying as this is decision time. Although the King, Kelly Slater, has recently secured his 8th World Title, an unbelievable achievement, the remaining surfers are surfing hard in an attempt to secure a decent result to stave off relegation to the 2007 World Qualifying Series.

The aim of the WCT events is to hold the contests in the most challenging and perfect reef and beach breaks you could ever hope to encounter, or for the average surfer, dream of ever surfing. Unfortunately, this may not always happen, as Mother Nature is in control, but the memorable moments far outweigh the less superior times.

On this note, a big congratulations goes out to Joel Parkinson, Parko as he is commonly known, for his amazing performances. His surfing was simply brilliant, often dominating the event with his signature deep barrel riding and big airs.
Mick Fanning also surfed spectacularly, busting futuristic moves with speed and fluency. Both Joel and Mick have put in a strong campaign this year and should both be strong contenders for a World Title next year. Definitely two to watch!
Tom Whitaker, was also very impressive, still remaining firmly in the top ten. Jake Paterson also had some good results, but due to some miscalculations, fell just short of a quarterfinal win in the last contest. Normally, this disappointing situation, can happen to any of the WCT surfers, an unexpected elimination, but this particular event was a golden opportunity to put an end to Slater’s run. This was not to be and Kelly reigns supreme once again!

There are two main board manufacturing facilities at the back of Hossegor, Euroglass, essentially a Quiksilver and Channel Islands service centre and Oddessy, which has an association with Rip Curl.

I personally work through both factories as Xavier from Oddessy is the official importer of Simon Anderson Boards in France and Belly of Euro does the Quiksilver surfboard program. Being a member of the Quiksilver board team, we also supply Simon-shaped quiksilver boards for all Quiksilver Boardrider Club Stores.

The big advantage of this, is that I get to see all the pro's favourite boards, as they are repaired at each factory, giving me a great snap shot of where current design trends are at. It is imperative, if you want to keep abreast of shaping designs and trends world-wide, that I take every opportunity I can to get a feel for the flow of ideas from other leading shapers including Al Merrik, Matt Biolis and Mark Phipps, just to name a few.

Micky Picon at the Quik Pro, Hossegor 06

This year, I worked extensively with the barland preshaping machine located at Bayonne, which is located half an hours drive on the Payarge heading towards Spain. This machine is the first to be connected to a computer program and is still considered one of the best, producing pretty clean rockers. I am stoked that I had the privilege to work with a lot of the top guys on the tour this year.

As Darren Handley (DHD) took on most of the other WCT events this year he was unable to make the European leg, so I made myself available. In the absence of Darren options are slightly limited, however I took the opportunity to make boards for the Hobgoods, Jake, Deano, Kelly, Andy, Parko, Trent Munro, David Weare, Paulo Mora, Patrick Bevan and Micky Picon. The early feedback from the surfers was good, prompting me to work on a new small wave performance model called SXE (Simon XFactor, Europe).

Using the barland rocker and applying the subtle influences of the surfing and boards I’ve seen in France this year, a new shape has emerged. Testing will commence on the Goldie from Monday 15 October 2007. Keep an eye out for details of the SXE in the new base catalogues due for release asap.

I also caught up with Laurent Pugol (a former French pro surfer and current tow board exponent) on general quad board shapes and his experiences. He has been working with Stretch (US shaper of the year) and surfing with Nathan Fletcher and is credited with sparking the rebirth of four fin design and development.

I have been on my own quad development program for 3 months and managed to convince Jake Paterson and Kelly to try a 5' 10” x 19” x 2 ¼” four fin fish style board with fin control system, using M5 forward side fins and 1/8" smaller fins with double sided foil for the back. At the time of writing, they should have these boards and be surfing them soon. 

A big thanks to Xavier and Belly for supplying good shaping bays for Garth and myself and a special thanks to the Euro staff - Greg, Christian, Phil, Darren, Mark, Seb and also the crack Oddessy team - Charlie, David and Fee Fee.  

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