About me
遠藤 勇一
Yuichi Endo
1956年生まれ
小学校の高学年のとき、昔の小坪トンネルくぐって友達と自転車二人乗りで行った鎌倉由比ヶ浜で米兵が
浜からタタタって走って波に乗る今で言うスキムボードだね。
その原型の丸い板で遊んでんのを見たんだよ。子供ながらに衝撃を受けちゃってさ。
家に帰ってすぐベニア板にタライでさアウトライン引いて鋸で切ってペンキ塗って作ったよ。
それが初めてのサーフィンであり、シェイプ第一号だね。笑
15歳で初めてロングボードをしたのは腰越の一本松。
確かMALIBU SURFBOARDだったかな。
もともと手先が器用だったこともあり、工作するのが好きでサーフボード作り始めたのも自然な流れだったのかも。
18歳のときからサーフボード工場で丁稚みたいな感じで仕事を教えてもらったんだ。
最初はフォームにレッドシダーのストリンガーを挟む仕事をしてました。3年間もずっと。
その後フィンをフォイルしたり、サンディングしたりラミネートしながらシェイプの修行を積んだんです。
70年代当時は様々な形態のボードが沢山テストされた時代だったから。
シングルフィンからツインフィン、それからちょっとしてサーフィンブームが起こった時だね。
その頃の経験が30年以上過ぎた今に凄く活きてんだよ。
最近もいろんな形のボードが生まれている。面白いもんだな。
シェイプを学んで30年以上、ギアーズを興して24年(2009年現在)、
ここ数年はさらにもっと歴史を遡ってアライア削り始めちゃったからね。
きっかけはABE SHAPEの阿部博さんに影響を受けたのが始まりなんだけど、古いビデオを見たり、トム・ブレイクがその当時のボードと写っているモノクロの写真を見て刺激を受けて、イメージを広げ削っていきました。
テンプレートも自作でね。
けどアライアは木だから、実際に波に乗って調子みて、またアウトラインを手直し出来たから。
最初は苦労したけど、それが面白かった。
最近は茅ヶ崎のビーチから鎌倉、波が上がれば東のリーフのポイントによく入ります。
アライア、もちろんロング、シモンズのリスペクトモデルの『お餅』にも良く乗っているよ。
パイポ、エアマットにも乗るね。
そう、波に合わせるっていう感じかな。
年に一回だけど、ロングのプロ大会にも出てますよ。
大会にしかないピリッとした空気を肌で感じられるからね。そういうのも大事にしてる。
だけどもっとも大事にしてるのは楽しむ気持ち。
ここだけの話だけど、俺波乗り大好きなんですよ。
About me
Yuichi Endo
Born in Kamakura Shonan, 1956.
My friend and I used to ride a bicycle together, doing a Niketsu ride（※） through the old Kotsubo tunnel to Kamakura Yuigahama when we were seniors, in elementary school.
One day, I saw this American guy at the beach doing something extraordinary. He was running towards the waves from the beach with a round wooden board in his hands having the time of his life. (The board, I guess, was the original version of what we now know as a Skim-Board.) As a kid I was shocked and overwhelmed by what I saw. I went straight home, grabbed the first round thing I could see, which turned out to be a Tarai (a special old wooden Japanese water pouring thing which you would find in a Ofuro. ) and used it to draw a circle around on a Beniya wood (a sheet of plywood). Trying very hard to make a funky looking board like his. I cut it out with a saw, and painted it. That was my very first experience in surfing and shaping ever!!! Talking about first experiences, the first time I ever rode a long board was when I was 15 at Ippon Matsu Point in Koshigoe (a surf point in Fujisawa). I think I was riding a MALIBU SURFBOARD, then. Shaping came pretty natural to me since I’ve always been good with my hands. I just loved making crafts.
When I was 18 I landed in a job in a surfboard making workshop. I was so psyched to be working and living my dream but the reality wasn’t quite what I hoped. I felt like a spare part for the first couple of years there. But eventually I acquired the skills of shaping etc. and was on my way to becoming a board designer. After that I learnt to foil, sand, and laminate fins.
That was back in the 70’s when the fledging surf industry was still finding its feet. Up and coming board designers were coming up with new designs all the time. It was a crazy time. The result of more than 30 years of tireless research and design are now seen in the quality of the boards available today. I found GEAR’S in 1985 and recently, I have actually turned back in time and started shaping Alaia. It started off by getting influenced by HIROSHI ABE from ABE SHAPE. Though, at the same time what also helped me shape was from watching old videos, and checking out the boards from those days in Tom Blake’s black and white photos. They were such great resources to widen my imagination giving me great inspiration. While I was inspired by these early greats, I always brought my own ideas to the boards that we made at GEAR’S.
Alaia as you might know is wood and it’s not easy to shape. I literally had start shaping it, take it out on the waves, try it out, then take it back to the workshop (since it’s wood, it’s possible to do that). It’s a long and drawn out process of making them.
These couple of years, I go surf around Chigasaki, Kamakura, even go to east reef points where ever there’s waves. I personally like to use and try out different kind of boards; Alaia (of course), long boards, “OMOCHI” (in Japanese it means sticky-rice-cake) which is made by a respect model, Simons, Pypo, and air-mats, depending on different wave conditions. Also, once a year I take part in professional long boarders competition. You can only feel that pounding excitement being in a competition, and it’s essential part of my life in order to feel that. Although, I believe that the most important feeling, which you should never forget, is to simply enjoy surfing. Seriously, I am a shaper but my life is more about surfing!!!
※ which means two bums - around Shonan area it is COOL and commonly done for two kids to ride one bicycle together. The one in the front is in charge of the pedals and the other one in the back stands/sits and clings on to the person’s back in the front. (Thou’ watch out for those cops, you do get caught. It’s illegal.)